Toradora! Generic discussion thread

[Bonta Kun]

ehh not sure where to post such a thing but anyway I saw a doujin that is a different take on what goes on in the gym store room with Ami-chan and Ryuuji.
I have to admit it was nicely done...its one way of getting together. Now if only we got some moar!

p.s theres a really funny comic strip too about "Tiger"

[Olaguer]

Will there be a season 2 for Tora Dora? I've just finished watching Episode 25 which I think is the final episode. I also watched its special ova.

[typhonsentra]

The final disc is set to come out in... maybe a week? It's unlikely we'll see any story expansions anytime soon if ever.

[Olaguer]

Will there be a movie of this one?

[Astrid Widjaja]

I agree
hope there is a movie or maybe the OVA
love this anime

[Jetbent]

I started watching Toradora recently...

This may seem a bit off topic, but I realize now that when I first watched Shakugan no Shana, I thought it was awesome.

Then I watched Zero no Tsukaima, and I liked it a lot.

Then I watched Hayate no Gotoku, and got bored about halfway through.

If you guys haven't figured it out yet, the answer is: Yes, I'm getting tired of that annoying Tsundere voice... (Rie Kugimiya)...

I thought Toradora would be a good show to watch because the premise was interesting (I liked the Yakuza eyes, similar to Karin, and akin to Midori no Hibi), but the second I heard the Urusai Urusai, I mentally and physically cringed.

[Vexx]

Taiga is NOT the "usual tsundere" Rie-style. So if you can get past the first episode or two - you'll be okay. This series didn't flatten out the personality like ZnT or others have when adapting the source material.

[Jetbent]

Hmm... alright well I'll try to give it another go later then.

[Jetbent]

Hmm... I started watching it again... I'm kind of disappointed though because

Spoiler for Toradora, Impressions:

it seems like the series (as far as I've gotten... EP 13) has no intention of letting Ryuji end of with Minori... I've fallen in love with her character and want him to end up with her, but I feel like the show is taking the direction that Ryuji will end up with Taiga... bleh.

On another note, I agree about Rie's performance now that I've gotten a couple episodes in. I don't despise hearing her this time through, though it still sometimes seems that she's the same character in every show. Improvements are happening though!

[Tyss]

i wish for an alternate ending...

[npal]

Originally Posted by Jetbent

Hmm... I started watching it again... I'm kind of disappointed though because

Spoiler for Toradora, Impressions:

it seems like the series (as far as I've gotten... EP 13) has no intention of letting Ryuji end of with Minori... I've fallen in love with her character and want him to end up with her, but I feel like the show is taking the direction that Ryuji will end up with Taiga... bleh.

Originally Posted by Tyss

i wish for an alternate ending...

My ultimate gripe with the series

Spoiler for major spoiler maybe:

and the main reason I stopped enjoying the show near the end. Then again, the friend that recommended it advertised the alternative ending option seems possible enough so maybe I shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

Otherwise it was a decent series.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Jetbent

Hmm... I started watching it again... I'm kind of disappointed though because

Spoiler for Toradora, Impressions:

it seems like the series (as far as I've gotten... EP 13) has no intention of letting Ryuji end of with Minori... I've fallen in love with her character and want him to end up with her, but I feel like the show is taking the direction that Ryuji will end up with Taiga... bleh.

On another note, I agree about Rie's performance now that I've gotten a couple episodes in. I don't despise hearing her this time through, though it still sometimes seems that she's the same character in every show. Improvements are happening though!

The series is based on a set of light novels... not an ero-game. Many people seemed to have gotten that erroneous impression from the beginning. I'm not saying a twist ending isn't possible but the author of the novel had a specific story she wanted to tell and named the series with that in mind.

One of the primary differences between this story and a typical ero-game is that the women have their own vectors in life -- they don't exist purely for the enjoyment of the main character. Minorin, Ami, the class president, etc. all have their own desires and goals. Minorin has some very specific goals which may become clearer in the anime but definitely are specifically spelled out in the novels. There are a lot of parallels between Minorin and the class president in regard to their dreams and goals.

So basically.. if one has the expectation that this is a "harem erogame adaptation romance" ... yeah, its probably going to make you unhappy. Light novel series are just fairly different animals for the most part and it isn't taken well if adaptations heavily divert from that source material.

OTOH... a game involving the Toradora characters was produced later that *is* in the "harem erogame" vein apparently... and alternative endings are possible in that. So I suppose one could get the ending one would rather have that way

[Muyasuki]

Originally Posted by Tyss

i wish for an alternate ending...

Truthfully, with the way the series was handled (even up to the end), you can easily see alternate endings happening for both Ami and Midori without changing the majority of the plot. I really think the story was written so well, that (other then the first girl wins and the name of the series) you probably couldn't really pick out a clear favourite.

Personally, I'd pay to see either alternate ending. All the characters in the story were just written so well that you can't help but want to see more of them. Whether it be a continuation or a spin-off using the same characters in a different setting and/or situation.

[Vexx]

I'd love to see followup or spinoff stories involving the main or side characters. They were all written fairly well - and for the most part their personalities transferred well to the anime.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Muyasuki

Truthfully, with the way the series was handled (even up to the end), you can easily see alternate endings happening for both Ami and Midori without changing the majority of the plot. I really think the story was written so well, that (other then the first girl wins and the name of the series) you probably couldn't really pick out a clear favourite.

Nah, I think the problem with this theory is that you'd have to throw out/rewrite the first two episodes, including the show's opening monologue, and significantly downplay the explanation of the show's title in episode 2. These elements were crucial to the way the story developed going forward, and were major foreshadowing elements. If the writer had put them in there only to proceed to ignore them and go in some other direction down the road, I think it would have done the work a great disservice.

"The first girl wins" isn't an overly-used cliché, it's a reflection of the fact that the girl that "wins" is the one most connected to the story's primary theme/message, and those are established in the premise. While there are stories that try to mislead you and send you down wrong trails, most romantic stories don't do that. Ami and Minori, though well-written and well-developed, were ultimately there to help the author flesh out the nature and progression of Ryuuji's relationship with Taiga. Any possibility of them having a relationship with him was there to present a contrast and add some tension/friction to the story.

This is all because stories aren't "organic" like real life -- they were conceived in the mind of a writer who has a certain ending point in mind. Everything that happens is "pre-destined", and doubly so when it comes to anime adaptations that have a limited amount of episodes to arrive at a pre-set conclusion.

Vexx mentioned the PSP game that featured alternate endings, but it's important to note the way they made this possible:

Spoiler for PSP Game premise:

By having Ryuuji lose his memories, thus wiping out the anime/novel's main premise.

So all that to say, the author certainly gave enough material to allow people to imagine realistic alternate realities. But I think you'd have to ignore/downplay the author's own guiding hand in order to make that a reality in the show as presented.

[typhonsentra]

Does anyone know what the author's been up to since the series ended? She used to be pretty prolific (3-4 books a year!), is she taking a break or has she started on something new that just isn't drawing attention here?

[Crisis]

I was pretty disappointed with the way the anime ended.

Takasu and Taiga were suppsoed to help each other in winning the hearts of the persons they loved but they ended up falling for each other? That seemed wrong to me.
Taiga had finally been able to be comfortable around Kitamura after the dance - so it was mission accomplished for her but she deviated from her original plan?

I felt like slapping Minorin many times. Does she really love Takasu or not?

I would have been happy if Ami and Takasu had paired up. Takasu chnaged Ami and Ami's personality chnaged to a likable one over the course of the anime and I really admired and liked her. If only Takasu wasn't dense... and went for Ami.... sigh!

[Vexx]

They were helping each other to win the hearts of people they had *crushes* on... they didn't *really* know them that well (e.g. Minorin's own personal goal of being a baseball professional meant she simply was not going to get romantically involved with anyone). Kitamura had his own path --> student council president, he loved *her* and they spent a lot of time together (she loved him but was thinking of HER career).

The sheer time and exposure of Taiga and Takasu to each other had a lot to do with them falling for each other. They got used to each other, they got comfortable, they got to where daily life wouldn't be the same without the other.

Its complicated, its not "fantasy" love.... it was fairly practical. All the targets of love were not simply standing around like they do in simplistic date-sims. They all had their own goals and trajectories. That difference is one of the things that made the series unusual.

[Crisis]

Hmm.. Vexx what you said does make sense. I would have thought they would become family friends.. then again, that's me

[Vexx]

That's one of the 'bittersweets' of the story. In the Grand Scheme - it probably would have been a better match (Ami + Takasu). But the story wasn't about wish fantasy - the author of the light novels seemed intent on grounding the story in "the sort of stuff that actually happens".

One of the things that drew me to the series was that few or none of the characters were "cardboard targets" or wish fantasies. EVery character had their own goals and life vectors and weren't just simply "standing around waiting for the guy to sweep them off". There were multiple guys who each had their own directions in life as well.
When you think about it - Taiga and Takasu were really the only somewhat directionless people in the story. Everyone else *had* plans, sometimes at the expense of their love life (Kitamura and Sumire, for example).

Well... there's always the PSP game (which rewrites the story substantially so that various paths can be explored) or the doujinshi/fanfiction