Toradora Review

Mini Review

Pro: Decent animation and music, Premise, Comedy is sometimes funny

Con: Over dramatic, Characters are either treated bad or annoying, Story suffers because of this.

Final Thoughts: All I can say is I tried. I really really tried to love this romantic comedy that anime fans all over the world fawn over like ants at a picnic. They eat this up claiming it to be the next coming of anime god saying how great the story and characters are, but to me I could never properly digest it. It's like throwing up something that did not taste necessary bad, but you will never want to eat it again. That is basically my feelings towards this anime in a nutshell. Now before any of you get too upset let me explain my reasons.Romance and comedy are two of my favorite elements and the main two reasons why I love to watch anime. I grew up loving Ranma1/2 and other Rumiko Takahashi works and in my opinion very few animes ever come close to blending these two genres as good as works by her. (and trust me I have seen a lot of romantic comedies) So I went into Toradora with and open mind. Not gonna lie the premise is intriguing. Two friends trying to hook each other up with their friends and eventually falling in love. Love it now, how do they go about telling this? With drama. Ok. Wait a lot of drama. Ok.... REALLY INTENSE DRAMA. Uhhh. Like every person has a tragic backstory. Wait. REALLY TRAGIC FIGHTS and EMOITION ALL AROUND. What??? Sorry Toradora, but you lost me.

Ok let’s look at the characters now. Taiga looks so cute! Wait she is a tsudere…the annoying kind of tsudere and...she has the most tragic story of all. They put her on a mountain and try to live off her throughout the entire show. Ok well now I'm not a big fan of her. NEXT!

Minori is cute funny full of energy and awesome. Oh and she’s loves our protagonist......which will never work out.....well thanks for that slap in the face anime. It’s like if they took Dory from Finding Nemo and made her fall in love with Marlin and did not treat her with any respect. That is the treatment they give Minori, the only character I really like and it sucks all kinds of ass. No it's all about Taiga folks, Taiga is the only character everyone should care about and if you don’t like her (as I did) you will not like this show (as I did). It’s a lot like the anime sailor moon where if you are not a fan of Usagi and Mamo you will hate the show because it is all about their relationship (for the most part). The only thing I could find to praise about this show is the animation, music and maybe one or two jokes. The openings are really good too. So basically don’t watch this show if:

• You don’t like the annoying kind of tsudere

• Great side characters that are treated horribly for no reason other than to promote others

• A romance that gets way too much focus

• Enough tragic stories and drama to flood the Grand Canyon

But I suppose people are allowed to have different opinions and if anything this anime does get a two star in my book. It is far better than most romantic comedies out there and I can think of a lot worse. It just pisses me off that people can think that anyone can like this and take it as a personal insult if it is not in your top ten anime romances. So now I leave it up to you viewers. Watch the first episode or two at least (as I did) and if nothing satisfies or rings any bells, drop it (as I did). The pictures above should give you a good idea of what you are getting into. Some people may like this kind of romance, but not me. No matter how popular this show is I cannot deny my own personal taste because it will always override whatever else an anime has going for it. I would not ride this roller coaster again since I did not have fun the first time around. No matter how many people encourage me to do so.

Final Score: 2 stars

Recommendations:

Angel Beats/Golden Time/Ranma 1/2

#toradora #review #2stars #2008 #goldenage