[Skullmeat]

Alternative Titles
English: Toradora!
Synonyms: Tiger X Dragon
Japanese: とらドラ！

Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 25
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Oct 2, 2008 to Mar 26, 2009
Premiered: Fall 2008
Broadcast: Thursdays at 01:20 (JST)
Producers: Genco, Starchild Records, Magic Capsule, Yomiuri Advertising, TV Tokyo Music
Licensors: NIS America, Inc.
Studios: J.C.Staff
Source: Light novel
Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy, Romance, School
Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Let me ask you a question.... why do you watch anime? Is it for the visuals? The action? The characters? The story? Toradora! is one of the animes that made me revisit this question. When an anime redefines what anime is to you, where do you restart? How do you reclassify everything you have ever watched according to your new standard?

Ryuuji Takasu, a gentle, but often misunderstood high-school student, due to his intimidating face, which makes people think he is a delinquent. On his first day of class, he crosses paths with Taiga Aisaka, the notorious and foul tempered "Palmtop Tiger" who mistakes Ryuuji's bag for that of her crush, Yuusaku Kitamura. Embarrased, Taiga attacks Ryuuji, who eventually tells Taiga that he has a crush on Minori Kushieda, Taiga's best friend. Realising their unique situation, they decide to help each other.

I began to watch Toradora! on the recommendation of a friend of mine, thinking that it would be your average romantic comedy/slice of life. After all, it has the elements of those genres, and I expected nothing more. But as I watched, the surface layers of your everyday romantic comedy anime began to slowly peel away, so unobtrusively that I didn't even realize the changing tone of the story until much later. Even after I had realized that this was not the simple anime I had been expecting, I had become so invested in the fleshed out and dynamic characters that I couldn't stop watching. I genuinely cared about the characters on screen and how they would react to their increasingly complicated relationships. In fact, I was so deeply invested, that when the story hit not one, but several emotional climax, I actually cried. A rarity for my usually cold and and detached self.

However, Toradora! has one big issue: Inconsistent animation. Even from shot to shot it varies wildly, like for example a classroom scene which constantly switches from the teacher to the students, which in an anime with a story as engrossing as Toradora! can be really jarring.

Despite a glaring flaw, Toradora! is a masterpiece, and now my new favorite. A must watch for anyone even remotely serious about anime, and the new standard for which I will unfortunately judge all others, even if I'm not sure how.
My rating: 9/10

[Jiggly]

Definitely going to watch this now. I was making the same assumptions when you first mentioned it to me in Discord - now I'm really curious.

I like the addition of the all the pictures. Art style looks decent too.

[Aeolian]

Only 25 episodes long?

I tempted to watch it but probably won't end up doing so.

Thanks for the review & share.

[Customer]

This was once my favorite anime. The Palm Tiger will always be in top 5.

Really recommend this.

[Blink]

One of my favorite anime, also my first one.

[Skullmeat]

One of my favorite anime, also my first one.

That is one hell of a starter anime. Wish I was that lucky.

[Elf]

Fucking love this anime, well I did wish he would get with my waifu Minori however we can't all be happy :c

Also has feels.

[Skullmeat]

Fucking love this anime, well I did wish he would get with my waifu Minori however we can't all be happy :c

Also has feels.

So many feels.

[Jiggly]

Woah, didn't realise this was so popular. I was going to recommend it for a stream sometime, but it looks like loads of you have already seen it!

[Elf]

Woah, didn't realise this was so popular. I was going to recommend it for a stream sometime, but it looks like loads of you have already seen it!

One of the most beautiful shows out.