Toradora!

[SPOILER WARNING]

Going back to the roots of the beginning of the anime journey for a lot of people!

I finished Toradora! not too long ago and I really liked it! But it wasn't always like that.

The first time I watched Toradora! I couldn't get passed the episode where Taiga confesses to Kitamura. I saw it as a bland, boring and cliché romance story that had been done dozens of times so I just dropped it. I was wrong.

Toradora! follows our main protagonists Taiga and Ryuji who have crushes on each others friends, Minori and Kitamura. Ryuji accepts helping Taiga get with Kitamura and Taiga accepts helping Ryuji confess to Minori. Taiga, after a few episodes, gets the courage to confess to Kitamura but he brushes it aside. We later find out that he had also confessed to Taiga a year ago.

Taiga and Ryuji spend a lot of time together and they end up falling in love. We also find out that Minori also liked Ryuji but she was too late to confess and decides to let her friends be happy. They run away together but later come back after Ryuji makes amends with his mother.

Unfortunately, Taiga decides to go live with her mother and they only see each other again at Ryuji's graduation.

I think it's safe to say that this does sound like a typical romance anime but I think it has a charm to it that not many stereotypical anime's can pull off. I also think a reason for this anime being so popular is that at this time there weren't a lot of anime's like this so it was kind of new (it came out in 2008) but I'm not sure so don't quote me on that.

I think the charm of Toradora! comes from the characters themselves. All the characters are likeable to an extent and the ones that aren't you can spot right away, for example Taiga's dad. Even Ami, who I couldn't, for the life of me, sympathise with, I've grown to respect and appreciate.

In the end I think the first time I tried to watch Toradora! I was also in a phase of "I only watch anime with blood and action because im edgy". Now I've come to appreciate simple, funny and cute romances and other genres for what they are. I think everyone should give any anime of any genre a chance. It might not be your thing but who knows it might surprise you like Toradora! and Charlotte surprised me (I have a review for Charlotte coming).

Rating: 8/10

Toradora!

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