Literature I'm obsessed with Toradora
This little weird story began when I saw the first opening and asked some friend about it. It was the first op from Toradora! (the exclamation mark is in the title, it's not that I'm screaming or something)
When I saw the series I loved it a lot, even some things that disturbed me a bit, like Ami (all of her still disturbs me) and some scenes when Minori gives (specially Ryuuji) some creepy eyes.
More recently, I need to watch it again, and Minori's creepy eyes looked more justified, because she has some issues, and she's basically crazy in the head. And I love her. In fact, I love all the characters; except Ami, although I accept her existence as necessary for the plot, her role is very important. Crucial, I dare to say. Everything was going OK until I found that some nice dudes translate the ten novels into English. I went nuts. I read the ten books in less than a fortnight, watching the TV series at the same time, without subtitles.
I love the novels for so much details, some gags that the TV series hasn't (although the manga has them), and the climax that each novel build at the last pages of each of them, specially the last ones. The novels wins over the series in almost every subject, except the ending (ep. 25) where the TV series is formidable. That black sailor fuku is simply gorgeous, but more importantly, what it represents, in terms of time, space and feelings.
In a more personal point of view, some situations reminds me some events of my personal history. The feelings of unrequited love, shattered hearts revived, but it's a bitter-sweet feeling. I consider myself very romantic. Or am I a masochist?
Anyway, I love Toradora! (this time, the exclamation mark are mine)
I hope you find its good points, and could enjoy it.
Literature Toradorable?
Toradora is at its core a giant love pentagon focused around an ever expanding cast of highschool students. Now if that sentence didn't immediately trigger some sort of retching gag reflex for you, Toradora may be worth checking out. The overarching plot centers on Face Of A Thug Loser Nice Guy Ryuji and the tsun-tsun-dere-dere pettanko Taiga as they each try unsuccessfully to hook one another up with the other's friend. If that seemed like an awful lot of blue text it's because characters in this show stay very close to stock tropes for much of the series. Its not necessarily a bad thing because the various characters, cliche though they may be, are executed very well. In fact their interactions drive the entire first half of the show, and manage to do so quite well. This is precisely when the viewer is hit by Toradora's famous curve ball, and where the base irreparably breaks.
The later episodes darken very quickly and weight much more heavily towards drama than comedy, and Toradora's biggest liability is undoubtedly in the Mood Whiplash this creates. At its core its almost two different shows. A slice of life comedy at the beginning and a romantic drama at the end. Neither one is bad but they often highlight diametrically opposed parts of a characters personality and the sudden change can be jarring at best and seriously strain believability at worst. Your Mileage WILL vary when it comes to the ending. Whether you think it is well executed character development or cheap emotionally exploitative dross crow-barred in to the ending will depend a lot on you and your expectations for the show. But either way, its well worth finding out. For all the hatedom its engendered Toradora is an ambitiously scripted and well executed show that tries (if not necessarily succeeds) to buck genre expectations.
Literature Not a fan (Anime Dub Review)
I hadn't seen many Rom-Coms or works about Tsundere before Toradora!. Strangely enough, I often had limited investment watching the show, yet it still made me feel both emotional and frustrated. Maybe I missed something, but on the other hand, maybe there's value in the first impressions of a casual viewer.
I found Ryuuji & Taiga's dynamic alright. Ryuuji was a solid character, but came off as too much of a Butt-Monkey sometimes. Will everyone give him a break? Taiga sometimes annoyed me, but it was good to learn the why behind her actions. Although I was more irritated than amused by the running gag Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male.
Wait, was I supposed to not point that out, and instead just laugh and say "Haha, classic"?
Minori seemed like a decent character, although her feelings were sometimes hard to parse out. Ami came off as a misguidedly manipulating Smug Snake, which may be a sweeping description, but I wasn't really invested enough to care more.
The biggest red flag I had, though, was Kitamaru. This guy was flat. Really flat. I could hardly discern any traits outside generic nice guy, which is why his outburst over Sumire felt so jarring. And after that, he's essentially irrelevant.
The more the confusion and miscommunication over the characters' feelings piled up, the more I grew impatient and exhausted. It's not so much that the destination was predictable; it's just that I didn't find the journey fun. I guess incessant Will They or Won't They? miscommunication isn't my thing.
The ending where Taiga disappears felt somewhat frustrating, illogical, and pointlessly melodramatic. Wouldn't Taiga tell Ryuuji what she was doing directly instead of vanishing without a word? Well, whatever.
If you're into the Tsundere archetype and like Will They or Won't They? drama/miscommunication, maybe you'll enjoy Toradora! more, but for me it was more of a mild roller coaster between slight investment and frustration.
Literature Exceeded my expectations with flying colors (Anime Review)
Alright, so once Toradora got dubbed, I figured I'd check it out. Seeing as it was one of those "tsundere meets everydude" Rom Com animes featuring one of the "Four Tsundere Wonders™", and that I had seen two of those four shows featuring them, finding one mediocre and the other atrocious, I had set my expectations very low.
After watching the first episode, however, I was pleasantly surprised. See, what separates this show from Shakugan no Shana and The Familiar of Zero is that it's actually well-written. Very well-written, in fact. The characters actually have fully-developed personalities instead of just being archetypes. Ryuji, the male lead, despite having the Face of a Thug, is actually a nice guy who likes to clean and cook, and laments nearly everyone at school being afraid of him. Taiga, the female lead, known at school as (The Palm-Top Tiger), would appear to be the usual tsundere character you've come to know and love (or hate) upon her introduction, when she uppercuts Ryuji for accidentally bumping into her (even after he apologized). However, the show then introduces her best friend, Minori Kushieda, who she is really close to, and is remarkably more relaxed when she's with her, so she now appears to be an average short-tempered, bratty teenage girl. Furthermore, as the second episode reveals, it turns out she hates her nickname and the fact that people fear her, just like Ryuji. And this isn't even the full of it; the characters get explored more and more as the series goes on. Character Development is the name of the game here, and Toradora is a star player. This level of depth is something you don't normally see in this type of anime (let alone one featuring Rie Kugimiya in a tsundere role), so it's a great breath of fresh air. I can actually sympathize with these characters; I care about what happens to them, I want them to succeed in their goals, I feel bad for them when they're sad, and so on. These are characters I can get invested in.
Toradora is a very character-driven story, and the rich cast make the show an excellent and very enjoyable watch.
Literature Undoutably one of my favorite anime of all time!
Before starting off with this review, I would highly recommend this anime to all of those who had enjoyed animes like: Clannad, Angel Beats ect. or just any high school setting/romance/comedy/slice of life anime in general.
I stumbled upon this anime out of pure randomness and immediately I was intrigue by its characters and story. It tells the story of a nice guy name Ryuji, who is mistaken for a delinquent by everyone due to his fierce-looking eyes and how he meet a loli/tsundere girl name Taiga and develop a romantic relationship with her. Although, they started out liking the other person's friend, it is no surprise that they will end up liking each other instead the person of their crush. Even the name of the anime foreshadows that conclusion.
However, even though knowing in advance what is going to happen, it is the journey of how do they get there is what really draws you in. It started out with lots gags and jokes and not that much characters development in the first half but as soon as you hit the beginning of the second half, that is when things started to become more dramatic and we get to see more characters development.
For me, I started out not knowing what to expect but I set a really high expectation and I was right for doing so because it totally nailed it. Every single one of those " here is the part where you should cry" moments are incredibly well done.
I loved how it builds up a lot of emotions and then just exploded at the right moment, especially the Christmas Eve festival episode. It was one of the series biggest highlights and probably one of the best attempt at a dramatic moment that I have ever seen. That episode contain my favorite moment (an incredible transitional moment) in the entire anime as I was very moved by that particular moment when that "certain someone" had a love epiphany.
And another great moment was the ending. At first, I felt that I was cheated( I literally screamed when this happened) but later the anime redeem itself at the very last moment which was a welcoming surprise.
As silly as it may sounds, Toradora change my view of love and relationships and made me realize the beauty and the power of true love. I was left truly speechless after watching Toradora. So bottom line, if you the have time then you shouldn't miss out on this anime.
Literature What do you mean it's not awesome?!
Here I am, just finished watching Junni Kokki, and discovering it's intended audience is young japanese females. So I pick up Darker than Black, intent on expunging any hint of tarnish on my manliness WHICH HAS BEEN IN MY FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS. And then, I picked up Toradora by accident, when I was taking a brief break from hurtling towards Darker Than Black's.... finale. And wouldn't you know it, but I couldn't put it down. I mean, it's not as though I had any real empathy for the characters, or laughed helplessly at four AM over one of the running gags involving a parrot... Urusai, urusai urusai!
So I liked it! So what?! Stupid Dog!
Literature Not a Fan (Repost Review)
(I originally posted this review on 7/14/2018, before Toradora! was moved from the Light Novel to the Literature section)
I hadn't seen many Rom-Coms or works about Tsundere before Toradora!. Strangely enough, I often had limited investment watching the show, yet it still made me feel both emotional and frustrated. Maybe I missed something, but on the other hand, maybe there's value in the first impressions of a casual viewer.
I found Ryuuji & Taiga's dynamic alright. Ryuuji was a solid character, but came off as too much of a Butt-Monkey sometimes. Will everyone give him a break? Taiga sometimes annoyed me, but it was good to learn the why behind her actions. Although I was more irritated than amused by the running gag Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male.
Wait, was I supposed to not point that out, and instead just laugh and say "Haha, classic"?
Minori seemed like a decent character, although her feelings were sometimes hard to parse out. Ami came off as a misguidedly manipulating Smug Snake, which may be a sweeping description, but I wasn't really invested enough to care more.
The biggest red flag I had, though, was Kitamaru. This guy was flat. Really flat. I could hardly discern any traits outside generic nice guy, which is why his outburst over Sumire felt so jarring. And after that, he's essentially irrelevant.
The more the confusion and miscommunication over the characters' feelings piled up, the more I grew impatient and exhausted. It's not so much that the destination was predictable; it's just that I didn't find the journey fun. I guess incessant Will They or Won't They? miscommunication isn't my thing.
The ending where Taiga disappears felt somewhat frustrating, illogical, and pointlessly melodramatic. Wouldn't Taiga tell Ryuuji what she was doing directly instead of vanishing without a word? Well, whatever.
If you're into the Tsundere archetype and like Will They or Won't They? drama/miscommunication, maybe you'll enjoy Toradora! more, but for me it was more of a mild roller coaster between slight investment and frustration.