[Anime Review] Toradora!

"I'm selfish, inpatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control

and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you

sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." 

     -Marilyn Monroe

I'm sure you've heard this expression before: "don't judge a book by its cover" It's a very simple phrase, the meaning being that you can't judge something by what it appears to be, and it's a phrase that you hear repeated, over and over again, no matter where you go in your life. However, despite this, I think you'd be surprised by just how often we judge things superficially, whether it be anime, movies, situations, and most of all: people, way, way, too often. I bring up this for two reasons. This relates to the review because when you first see Toradora and read the description of the show, it's all too easy to completely dismiss, because on the outside, Toradora looks like every other boring slice-of-life/school romance anime that has ever been created, with a bland protagonist, nerdy best friend, and tsundere love interest all wrapped in a high-school setting that has at this point past the point of "done to death" and reached the point of "this is really getting old, please stop".
     But while on the outside Toradora may look incredibly bland and passionless, the product of the dangling flesh off of the actually interesting-looking shows of the season, included only to fill the space, it's actually possibly one of the most competent anime I've ever seen at exactly what it does and accomplishes by the end of its run. The second reason is while Toradora is undoubtedly a story about a misunderstood teenager named Ryuugi and a fierce girl named Aisaka Taiga discovering for themselves exactly what this thing called love actually is, it is also, somewhat, about "judging a book by its cover". About the dangers of stereotyping the people around you. About those personas we put on during our every day lives, when we're with acquaintances, friends, or even family. About those hidden emotions and desires that we never tell the world or can't admit to ourselves, that will eventually, inevitably, make themselves visible for all to see. And why that's okay.
     Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, I hope you've had a great day thus far, and welcome, one and all, to anime review 15#. Today we take a look at the heavily acclaimed slice-of-life-romance anime: Toradora(exclamation mark technically, but seriously, that will just mess me up so screw it), and maybe along the way, find out for sure who "best girl" really is. Now then, let's begin.

Toradora was brought to us by the animation studio J.C Staff, a studio that I"m quite fond of, even if few seem to share my view point. They've brought us nice little shows over the years, all three seasons of Shakugan no Shana, Selector Infected WIXOSS, Ano Natsu de Matteru, A Certain Scientific Railgun and its sequel A Certain Scientific Railgun S. If you were to put me on the spot, I'd perhaps say that Toradora remains their strongest work(though arguably WIXOSS and Railgun S are better), which sort of shows that they typically don't produce particularly exceptional anime much of the time. That's why it's surprising, I guess, to see an anime like Toradora come from them.
      The director was Tatsuyuki Nagai, who you may recognize, and for good reason, since he is a quite exceptional director. He's brought us works such as Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Ano Natsu de Matteru and A Certain Scientific Railgun, which sort of makes it odd that he directed something as mature as this anime. It was written by Mari Okada of WIXOSS, Anohana, Nagi no Asukara and Gosick fame, and the series aired between October 2, 2008 and March 26, 2009. Into the plot. 

Ryuuji Takasu is ready for the best year of high-school he has ever had. Till this point, he had been shunned by classmates for his fierce looks and eyes that seem to glare at whoever he looks at, so he has had trouble making friends and convincing the teachers he doesn't want to beat them up. However, this year, not only is he in the same class as his best friend: Yuusaku Kitamura, but also the girl he has had an borderline-obsessive crush on for the last few years: the optimistic and cheerful Minori Kushieda, but since Ryuuji has absolutely no intentions of confessing his feelings, well ever, he is content to watch on without doing anything. The second thing to happen on his first day of school is that he meets Aisaka Taiga(and by meets I mean she punches him in the jaw and walks off). Taiga has earned the nickname "Palm-Top Tiger" throughout the school, because while she is so short that it's easy to mistake her for a small child, she has a violent and aggressive personality and will take absolutely nothing from anybody.

A rocky first encounter.

After this meeting, it would seem like the two would like nothing more to do with each-other, however, various circumstances draw the two together again, as Ryuuji accidentally discovers Taiga's love letter to Kitamura. After calming her down enough so she won't impale him with her sword, Ryuuji strikes a deal with Taiga: he'll help her confess to Kitamura properly, as long as Taiga helps him get closer to her best friend: Minori Kushieda. I'm sure you can see where this is going. So, as the two agree to help each-other with their own romantic endeavors, they not only begin to discover the true nature of their respective crushes, but also each-other, as Taigi learns that Ryuuji is not in fact a no-good delinquent as much as actually a really nice guy, and Ryuuji learns that there is far more to the Palm-Top Tiger, his group of friends, and the very nature of love, than he could possibly imagined. This sets the stage for one of the, in my opinion, absolute best slice-of-life/romance/drama anime of the last decade, that along the way turns from exactly what you expect to something you never saw coming, and by the end, has more profound things to say about love, relationships and people than any romance Hollywood or other mediums have produced for the last few years. An anime not without flaws, but deserves all the praise I'm about to give it.

The first thing you need to admit about the nature of Toradora is that it is built primarily on a foundation of cliches and archetypes. This is not an original plot, many have done this story before and many more will do so in the future, and, at least at first, all the characters are cliches you've seen a million times before. Ryuuji is "the nice guy", Taigi is such a tsundere that she has pretty much become a poster-child for the archetype in the last few years(along such "deres" as Asuka from Evangelion, Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari and Shana from Shakugan no Shana), and all the other characters fit into archetypes such as: "the guy with glasses", "the ball-of-energy", and "the manipulative bitch". Locations are pretty typical as well, because when it isn't school it just has to be a festival, or a beach, or pick whatever cliche you want out of a hat. However, what you really need to give Toradora credit for is how it handles these familiarities of the genre, instead of letting everything play out in a typical way, it actually takes these archetypes and crafts and develops them, investigating the ever-changing character dynamics and relationships and uses them to hammer home its thematic point, which is not easy to do no matter what genre you are talking about: to deliver a firm message without sacrificing characters or exposition to make sure you get your point across.

You have to admit, when she's not punching you, Taiga is freakin' adorable.

It just takes a little while to get there is all. You will undoubtedly watch the first half of Toradora with a judging look on your face, because it's really nothing that special. Sure, a few moments split up the mediocrity in that time frame, but the first half of Toradora is hardly anything you've never seen before in a million other slice-of-lives. It's not bad by any means, after all, the show has a good sense for comedy and cuteness(particularly in Taiga's case), and the characters are enduring if one-dimensional, but no doubt you might be wondering what all the fuss is about for these span of episodes. It wasn't till much later on, at the end of the school festival arc that I was really sold on the show, and that's a whole 13 episodes in... which you know, is more than half the show, so that's a huge problem really. What I want you to take out of this section however, is not to let your expectations drop this show in the first half, because that will ultimately let down the experience of the whole show. Instead, appreciate a little the build-up and moving character pieces in this first half, because undoubtedly, this first half is a very well orchestrated, very meticulous set-up of the story contextual and thematically. How about I put it like this? If you took the first half of the show and cut it entirely, the show would fall apart at the seems, because what the first half is most definitely not is filler, and for that, I'm grateful. And hey, it's still not terrible, so if you like these kind of shows you should be more than entertained for this first half.
     But yes, I've built it up enough, so I'll admit it: the second half is where the anime really comes alive for me. Suddenly it isn't watching stereotypes amble through a non-existent plot, it's watching characters grow and change as their emotions and desires push forward the plot to an inevitable and emotional conclusion, making the last 5 or so episodes of show tense and satisfying as all these relationships that the anime had built up in that first half play out and collide, and it's satisfying as hell. That's one thing I really give Toradora credit for: it has an ending, and not just an ending, but a perfectly concise and complete ending, that leaves no room for a satisfying sequel or anything like that, and that's something I think is a little under-appreciated: an ending. Mostly how these slice-of-life play out is that they end inconclusively; relationships still developing so they never actually go anywhere, and plot-lines unfinished because there wasn't enough source material or whatever. This completeness is what puts Toradora above other anime of the genre, it just doesn't hint at relationships between characters and leave the two in a sort of "shipping limbo", it fully explores each and every one, giving each plot-line a conclusion, as well as each character. And after 25 episodes of watching these characters, you are completely and totally satisfied with what you have seen, and me personally, didn't want to see anymore. That's rare, especially for an anime, where you are lucky if your favorite show even gets a third season after leaving the story at a crappy cliffhanger(yes, I'm looking at you Spice and Wolf(and yes, I'm still bitter)). Some may not like the ending because it wasn't quite what they were looking expecting, but I thought it was great, and rather sweet as well.
     I guess the biggest problem with Toradora as a whole is that it holds back itself by simply being what it is, and yes I intend to explain that further. What I mean is that while Toradora takes what it has and develops it wonderfully, it still doesn't manage to break free of the shackles of the stereotypes and archetypes it has surrounded itself with. It's still an "anime rom-com" at heart, which means for all the great drama there is plenty of melodramatic moments, for all the great dialouge there is a couple exchanges that will no doubt make you groan, and hell, there's even a little fan-service along for the ride(though it's thankfully very, very scarce). Now, I'm not trying to say you can't craft an amazing story out of a very familiar premise. For example, the manga Stealth Symphony managed to take the typical shounen formula, setting, and protagonist and practically transforms every aspect of it into something unique and entertaining by the end, practically deconstructing its entire world, but despite this, it still is true to what it is, never feeling like a satire or a genre deconstruction. So yes, despite the archetypes and despite the setting, I think Toradora still could have been able to craft them into something that was so good that the familiar formula did not matter. I just don't think it quite gets there. Which is a shame, but nowhere near a deal-breaker.

Things get real in the second half of the anime.

A common criticism I've seen of Toradora is that it's predictable: that it isn't hard at all to determine who is going to end up with who by the end of the series, and I've got a couple of mixed feelings about this problem. First yes, you can pretty much see where the entire series is going from the second episode, not all the great twists or development or emotional scenes, but you'll probably get an idea of the final placement of things. On the other hand though, the anime doesn't really have any intentions of trying to conceal the end placement of the relationships of the characters, in fact, you could argue that it spoils the ending in the very first episode, and it does this because the anime has a point to make and a moral to teach, and regards anything that would stimulate contextual tension, well, I wouldn't say irrelevant, but rather less important than the message. That's great and all, and I appreciate that Toradora never really backs down from that stance and tries to make unnecessary drama, but at the same time, tension and uncertainty are very important tools in keeping your audience engaged with your story, and without either for the most biggest question of the entire show... is a questionable decision, at least in my opinion. I recognize that this won't be as much as a problem for some people, or others might not pick up on the message so it won't matter, but still, I felt I needed to address that before I moved on. Now, let's talk about characters.

From left to right: Ami, Kitamura, Minori, Taiga, Ryuuji.

So for characters, I'm going to do something a little different. There's five main characters of this show that

you need to remember, and I'm going to tackle them out of order for the most part, just so I can save what I really want to talk about for last. But first, our main character: Ryuugi, how does he hold up as a character? Well, I'm sorry to say, not great. Despite other archetypes in the show getting development to justify their behavior, Ryuuji very much stays in the role of "the nice guy" for the entirety of the show, and he doesn't exactly have any interesting conflict or drama, he just mostly tries to do what he thinks is best for everyone. What I do want to talk about, and what I consider the only really interesting part to his character is how the show turns those good intentions against him, particularly at the end of a certain arc, where it's brought into question whether Ryuuji tries to help people without truly knowing how to fix their problems, and ends up making the situation worse. It's a rather cool idea, but sadly it doesn't get brought up too much, so ultimately,while he isn't a bad character, sadly our lead looks rather flat compared to the rest of the cast.
     Minori is the target of Ryuuji's affections, his crush throughout the show, and who he seeks to get closer to for its entire duration. She is a cheerful, optimistic girl who, in the words of Ryuuji "is as radient as the sun", who looks to spread merriment wherever she may be, which allows her to deal with Taiga's quirks or whoever else she might be dealing with, like a character I'll be talking about in a little bit. However, this personality cloaks a girl with serious issues when it comes to how she views other people and herself, a cloak that the anime spends plenty of time slowly stripping away to show the rather depressed girl inside. Now, I recognize that Minori's character as a concept is nothing exactly new, but you rarely see this kind of character as well developed as she is, and not in terms of huge revelations, but rather that the anime provides a very clear reason for every action she takes in the anime, even if those reasons are sometimes buried under layers of subtly or metaphor. And on a personal note, her character's resolution in the last episodes is by far my favorite in the entire show; just see for yourself, it's just awesome.
     I think Kitamura's character was sort of pushed to the side to make room for the development of the other characters. He's by far the worst and least focused on character of the anime, only getting a single arc to himself, which means that all his development needed to happen in that single arc, which means that said development is rushed and not very well handled. In his role as Taiga's crush, Kitamura sort of plays the role of the down-to-earth character, one of the only ones who recognizes all the barriers that his friends have put around themselves and allows him to see people for how they truly are, which is why he makes friends with Ryuuji despite the rest of the class being scared away by his looks and eyes. But there's also a slight problem in there, because while the anime tells us that Kitamura and Ryuuji are best friends they rarely act like it, Kitamura almost being in the role of the "knowledgeable-onlooker" for the whole show. Rather stale as a character really.

And that's why Ami is best girl. 

Ami is best girl, and if you disagree, we can chose a time and place to fight later, for now, I want to defend my answer. By "best girl", I don't mean Amy was the one I was rooting to end up together with Ryugi at the end of the anime(I was more or less on Team Palm-Top Tiger for the whole time), but what I mean that Ami is probably the most interesting character in the entire show, so let me explain why. Introduced in episode 5, Ami is a child-hood friend of Kitamura, who due to her stunning beauty, works as a model and spends time outside of school of the first four episodes of the anime. However, her sweet and dainty personality is nothing but an act she puts on for her classmates and acquaintances, hiding a cold and manipulative girl who views herself above others and is not afraid to verbally abuse anybody she doesn't like. That of course, until she meets her match in Taigi, Ryuuji and Minori. I say that she's the best character because she's the one who most illustrates the message of the show while still being to go through her own well-paced arc, trying to earn the admiration of classmates by changing her personality, but she's ultimately a tragic character, because she can't earn the admiration and love of the people she actually respects because they see her not as the perfect model that she projects, but rather a normal girl. She's also the one to voice of one of Toradora's most interesting themes, that is "love vs admiration", which I won't spoil for you, because I want it to be something you think about for yourself when the anime raises it, but I think it also speaks volumes for her character and development.
    And now it's finally time to talk about the main heroine of the anime, the Palm-Top Tiger: Aisaka Taiga, and I must say, I love this girl; she's one of the most enduring characters I've come across in anime. Taigi is a tsundere beyond a doubt, but like Minori, the show takes the archetype to its full potential, going into detail of what circumstances would drive a person to adapt a "tsundere" personality, and this of course leads her to being the second-best character in the anime, only second to Ami. However beneath her hot-headed surface personality, Taiga is revealed to be a somewhat clumsy and quirky girl, unable to control her own emotions which leads to her making bad decisions, which is why having a best friend like Minori(and of course Ryuugi) to control her, is so good for Taiga, as they are able to look past her pride and sarcasm to help the well-meaning girl underneath. And while her tsundere personality traits get a little tiring in the first half of the anime on occasion, she does somewhat "drop the act" in the second half, as you discover the true reasons behind her personality. I know she's the main focus of the show for all intensive purposes, and with that should come perks for her character, but she's well handled as a character no matter how you look at it, a tiny, fierce, sweet, strong, prideful tiger that at the end of the day, just wants the best for the people she cares about... plus, she's kind of adorable as well, if we're being honest.

An example of the typical animation of the show.

As we move into animation, I'm sorry to say that J.C Staff won't exactly impress anybody with their work here. Their studio has never been particularly the "crisp-of-the-cream" in terms of animation(in fact I think the only time they impressed me with their animation quality was in Railgun S), but still, considering how good this show actually is, I would have liked to see some extra effort put in. Colors and backgrounds are extremely bland, making the anime miss some vibrancy and life in certain scenes, plus, character designs are pretty standard as well(beside Taigi, strangely). It very standard looking, which is why I appreciate even more how the production value seemed to go up as the anime continued. Now, admittedly, this just might be me hallucinating, but I swear everything in general looker better in the second half of the anime, particularly the last few episodes. What I can confirm is that the animation production will increase exponentially during scenes of great importance in the latter stages of the show, and they do look very nice, giving even more power to scenes that are emotional and well-written on their own, so thank you for at least that J.C Staff. Overall though, it's nothing too special. 

The same goes for the OST. Thought the music was done by Yukari Hashimoto, who has done some actually rather brilliant OSTs such as Mawaru Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi, Toradora's is rather standard, plenty of cheerful slice of life jingles and calm piano pieces inter-cut with various instruments. It's not all bad I guess, and some tracks such as "Kaze no Kiite" and "Psychocandy" are rather catchy and upbeat, which do well for background music, if nothing else. However, there is one song within this OST that I can safely categorize as brilliant, and that is the song "Lost My Pieces", a truly haunting yet beautiful song ripe with emotion, that plays during one of the biggest emotional high points of the show, and damn is it effective. It's really unfortunate that the copy-right hammer has fallen on this great song, but since I need for you to hear it ine some shape or form, I've got the second best thing in the form of a piano cover. If the actual song does ever get released without being taken down, I'll be sure to link it below. As for openings, I know a lot of people prefer the admittedly catchy first OP: "Pre-Parade", but I find it a little annoying to be honest, and much prefer the second opening "Silky Heart", which is so good that it even made the first part of my Top 50 Anime OP's Countdown. 

Silky Heart

Lost My Pieces(Piano Cover)

It took me awhile to actually figure out how much I liked Toradora. As much praise as I've been giving it, it was always in the back of my mind that this was at its core just another slice-of-life/romance, but at the same time, I was wondering how much I could actually penalize the anime for that. However, through writing this review and taking a look back at the show a few months after I initially finished it, I've come to the conclusion that I sort of love this anime. Yes, it's cliche or maybe even melodramatic at points, and yes, some characters are sacrificed for others, particularly the supporting cast, and hell, even if I don't, I know a lot of people hate the ending. But for me, Toradora at the end of the day is absolute proof that an anime can be more than the sum of its parts, that it can take all of these things and situations we've seen so, so many other times, and turn them into probably one of the best slice-of-life/romance anime we will ever see. And yeah, I know that's a big statement, but after looking at the thematic under-pinning, and the characters, and how well built up almost everything in the anime actually is, I find that Toradora makes it onto the list of anime that I can completely recommend no matter who you are, because it truly has something for everyone, and it truly has a profound point to make that we all can and should take to heart and apply to our lives. And hell, there's not a lot of pieces of entertainment in mediums that can say that. So yes, the Palm-Top Tiger has won me over at the end, and I'm thoroughly pleased to be counted as one of the people who love this anime.

Final Verdict: 8/10

P.S: "I don't... want that."



Recommended Anime:

Clannad

Not very similar to Toradora if we're being honest, the characters and goal of both anime are very different, but still, they both represent some of the best of the genre, and have fantastic pay-offs later on in their respective series if you're willing to put in the time. 

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Another triumphant work by Tatsuyuki Nagai, but rather concentrates on emotion more than characters, which is makes it better and worse than Toradora in a lot of ways. 

Goodbye for now guys.

Enjoy the review? I mentioned Railgun, so why not check out my review of the first season of A Certain Scientific Railgun?

Click here for my countdown of The Top Ten Best Anime Endings. 

Or if you want a book review, click here for my review of Watership Down. 

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