AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Toradora! - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

Jiggy · 2009-05-21, 01:56

Short impressions:
Toradora's first thirteen episodes on their own would have been my favorite anime--simply delightful, loaded with twists that kept defying my expectations, and all the quirk and comedy I could ask for. I'd go 10/10 without hesitation for those. Beyond that point, Toradora headed for the serious realm and kept all of its wonderful characterizations but tossed out the element of surprise. Still incredible, but 10s are a little difficult to get out of me. The second half is more of a 9, so I voted 9/10 for the overall series.

Long impressions with examples:

I watched four episodes of Toradora one day--and completely shot my sleep schedule so that I could watch the other twenty-one the next. Needless to say, I loved it, but I loved the first thirteen episodes most by a wide margin and I think a lot of that has to do with the way Toradora kept surprising me. Before I go on, I admit that I don't watch much anime compared to what most people here probably do. I haven't even seen as many as sixty-five series and that's if I include standalone movies, so maybe surprising me isn't that difficult, or maybe I haven't watched enough for a decent basis of comparison... So, my apologies if any of this ends up sounding silly. Still, for what my limited experience tells me, these were my thoughts and how Toradora subverted them:

I expected Ami to go on with two-faced antics for fifteen episodes if not the entire series--instead, she turned around in two. I expected Taiga's self-consciousness about her body image to be the only conflict for that first swimming episode--instead, she couldn't swim. I expected the cosplay cafe idea to go through; it was tossed out two minutes later. I expected Taiga's father to work out; he was tossed out two episodes later.

I expected that Ami would beat Taiga in the swimming race and that Taiga would simply tag along with the group anyway (to make them both winners, basically), but I didn't predict ambush antics, leg cramps, or Ryuuji nearly drowning. I expected that the plan to scare Minori would fail, but I didn't predict she'd turn it around on them.

I expected Minori to be a typical weird girl with nothing much to her, and I expected to have no problem with that because I tend to love the weird girls and guys in anime. But Minori did have more to her character. She amazed me in episode three with her determination and clever phrasing in the old shed, and kept on delivering with wacky hijinx (e.g. cute girl radar), a phenomenal conversation about love in the context of ghosts, and many other character traits.

And episode 13's race was rapid-fire with the surprises. I expected that Ryuuji would cleanly make it to Taiga after something got in his way, but after he overcame various obstacles, Minori passed him by and I realized that was exactly what I wanted and started cheering for her. After that, I thought Minori and Ryuuji would be the only obstacles to each other near the end, but in came the track team. I thought Ryuuji would take them out, but instead Minori dealt with them and then in came another batch of four--so then I thought that since Minori took out the first two, Ryuuji would definitely take care of the rest to make him look like the hero. Nope, not so. Minori went back for a double round of heroism and finally I thought no way Ryuuji's going to accept this: it's been on his mind that Minori knew better for Taiga with her father situation than he did, so he'll hold back the last four and tell Minori to go on because she deserves it. No, expectations subverted again: he doesn't accept it, but they go to cross the finish line together.

If it isn't obvious, that was my favorite scene (and episode) for so, so many reasons.

The second half of Toradora stopped surprising me and I guess I was a little disappointed by the safer territory. I knew something was going to happen to Taiga's star the moment she mentioned it being precious. I knew Ryuuji would play Santa for her. I knew he wouldn't be able to give the hairpin to Minori. And again, most of all I knew that Ryuuji/Taiga was so set in stone that the drama was just a little lost on me. The two of them running away caught me off guard but not in a way that made logical sense to me (unlike Minori's great participation in the race) and so did Taiga leaving on her own, but that's basically it for the second half.

Also, with the way Taiga's character eventually played out, I ended up feeling like her progression was backwards. Near the end of episode 13, she was giving internal monologues that Ryuuji and Minori could stop worrying about her because she could stand up on her own, and she had proved it with her scene in the beauty contest. That was a strong Taiga who I liked. But as time went on I found myself stepping further and further in line with Ami's implications that Taiga was beneath Ryuuji.

If the theme was supposed to be that a dragon and tiger are an equal match for each other, then by the end I think Toradora missed the mark because it seems like she needs him--for moral support, for companionship, even for something as basic as food--but he only wants her. Reading over the other comments here, I guess the novels were better about this thanks to giving more of Ryuuji's inner thoughts, but of course I only watched the anime... And it seemed basically like Taiga had both physical and emotional attraction, while Ryuuji had physical attraction and a sense of wanting to take care of her, which isn't quite the same. Kind of one-sided.

And that disparity wasn't there halfway in (at the race), when she was asserting her independence--even if only in her mind. It wasn't there when she and Ryuuji were kicking a telephone pole together, which I found just inexplicably heartwarming--it painted a beautiful picture of what equal footing they were on. (That's another example of what I mean by surprise, now that I think of it. I honestly found that scene much more touching than the eventual kissing scene.) I'm not suggesting Taiga shouldn't have wound up so invested in Ryuuji, but that one way or another I think they should have appeared more equal in terms of dependence on one another to really fit the theme.

Still an excellent series, probably in the top four of what I've seen.

2009-05-21, 01:56	Link #145
Jiggy Member Join Date: Jun 2008	Short impressions: Toradora's first thirteen episodes on their own would have been my favorite anime--simply delightful, loaded with twists that kept defying my expectations, and all the quirk and comedy I could ask for. I'd go 10/10 without hesitation for those. Beyond that point, Toradora headed for the serious realm and kept all of its wonderful characterizations but tossed out the element of surprise. Still incredible, but 10s are a little difficult to get out of me. The second half is more of a 9, so I voted 9/10 for the overall series. Long impressions with examples: I watched four episodes of Toradora one day--and completely shot my sleep schedule so that I could watch the other twenty-one the next. Needless to say, I loved it, but I loved the first thirteen episodes most by a wide margin and I think a lot of that has to do with the way Toradora kept surprising me. Before I go on, I admit that I don't watch much anime compared to what most people here probably do. I haven't even seen as many as sixty-five series and that's if I include standalone movies, so maybe surprising me isn't that difficult, or maybe I haven't watched enough for a decent basis of comparison... So, my apologies if any of this ends up sounding silly. Still, for what my limited experience tells me, these were my thoughts and how Toradora subverted them: I expected Ami to go on with two-faced antics for fifteen episodes if not the entire series--instead, she turned around in two. I expected Taiga's self-consciousness about her body image to be the only conflict for that first swimming episode--instead, she couldn't swim. I expected the cosplay cafe idea to go through; it was tossed out two minutes later. I expected Taiga's father to work out; he was tossed out two episodes later. I expected that Ami would beat Taiga in the swimming race and that Taiga would simply tag along with the group anyway (to make them both winners, basically), but I didn't predict ambush antics, leg cramps, or Ryuuji nearly drowning. I expected that the plan to scare Minori would fail, but I didn't predict she'd turn it around on them. I expected Minori to be a typical weird girl with nothing much to her, and I expected to have no problem with that because I tend to love the weird girls and guys in anime. But Minori did have more to her character. She amazed me in episode three with her determination and clever phrasing in the old shed, and kept on delivering with wacky hijinx (e.g. cute girl radar), a phenomenal conversation about love in the context of ghosts, and many other character traits. And episode 13's race was rapid-fire with the surprises. I expected that Ryuuji would cleanly make it to Taiga after something got in his way, but after he overcame various obstacles, Minori passed him by and I realized that was exactly what I wanted and started cheering for her. After that, I thought Minori and Ryuuji would be the only obstacles to each other near the end, but in came the track team. I thought Ryuuji would take them out, but instead Minori dealt with them and then in came another batch of four--so then I thought that since Minori took out the first two, Ryuuji would definitely take care of the rest to make him look like the hero. Nope, not so. Minori went back for a double round of heroism and finally I thought no way Ryuuji's going to accept this: it's been on his mind that Minori knew better for Taiga with her father situation than he did, so he'll hold back the last four and tell Minori to go on because she deserves it. No, expectations subverted again: he doesn't accept it, but they go to cross the finish line together. If it isn't obvious, that was my favorite scene (and episode) for so, so many reasons. The second half of Toradora stopped surprising me and I guess I was a little disappointed by the safer territory. I knew something was going to happen to Taiga's star the moment she mentioned it being precious. I knew Ryuuji would play Santa for her. I knew he wouldn't be able to give the hairpin to Minori. And again, most of all I knew that Ryuuji/Taiga was so set in stone that the drama was just a little lost on me. The two of them running away caught me off guard but not in a way that made logical sense to me (unlike Minori's great participation in the race) and so did Taiga leaving on her own, but that's basically it for the second half. Also, with the way Taiga's character eventually played out, I ended up feeling like her progression was backwards. Near the end of episode 13, she was giving internal monologues that Ryuuji and Minori could stop worrying about her because she could stand up on her own, and she had proved it with her scene in the beauty contest. That was a strong Taiga who I liked. But as time went on I found myself stepping further and further in line with Ami's implications that Taiga was beneath Ryuuji. If the theme was supposed to be that a dragon and tiger are an equal match for each other, then by the end I think Toradora missed the mark because it seems like she needs him--for moral support, for companionship, even for something as basic as food--but he only wants her. Reading over the other comments here, I guess the novels were better about this thanks to giving more of Ryuuji's inner thoughts, but of course I only watched the anime... And it seemed basically like Taiga had both physical and emotional attraction, while Ryuuji had physical attraction and a sense of wanting to take care of her, which isn't quite the same. Kind of one-sided. And that disparity wasn't there halfway in (at the race), when she was asserting her independence--even if only in her mind. It wasn't there when she and Ryuuji were kicking a telephone pole together, which I found just inexplicably heartwarming--it painted a beautiful picture of what equal footing they were on. (That's another example of what I mean by surprise, now that I think of it. I honestly found that scene much more touching than the eventual kissing scene.) I'm not suggesting Taiga shouldn't have wound up so invested in Ryuuji, but that one way or another I think they should have appeared more equal in terms of dependence on one another to really fit the theme. Still an excellent series, probably in the top four of what I've seen.