Final Thoughts on Toradorable!
This is about the time when a slowpoke.jpg is appropriate, but there are some advantages to writing about a series approximately four months after everyone else has already put it behind them. The disadvantages are that everything I have to say is pretty much out-of-date, and it’s very hard to say something new about a series that has essentially been discussed to death. The advantages are that I can be pretty open about spoilers, since almost everyone who had intended to watch this series pretty much has.
One of the most notable things that Toradora! does is that it further bolsters J.C. Staff‘s reputation for “serious” rom-com dramas. The reason I write “serious” in inverted commas is because I want to emphasize that “serious” isn’t just one of two possible states in a binary, but more a scale with many fine gradations (and even this is an overly simplistic way to think about it). If we look at a few of J.C. Staff‘s recent romance series, it becomes clear that “serious” and “not serious” are insufficient to properly describe them… series like Honey and Clover and Nodame Cantabile might be more towards the “mature” end of the spectrum, but not because they’re dark and angsty, but because they’re so good at seamlessly combining the lighter moments with the heavier ones, so that neither feels like they’re getting in the way of the other. It helps that both are executed with a degree of restraint: they don’t go to ridiculous extremes with either the comedy or the drama, so the motion from one to the other isn’t so jarring, as can be the case with series that over-bake the comedy and ham up the drama. We then move into the “semi-mature” series like Kimikiss and Toradora!. These are high school romance series, so the usual themes of “growing up” and “coming of age” and “young love” are there, but they’re afforded a greater level of respect, which is what sets these series apart from others in the high school romance genre. What all these series do really well is that they understand that it’s all well and good to start out with characters that conform to archetypes, but they need to end up as something more than that by the time the series ends to be memorable, and I think this is why J.C. Staff is developing a reputation within the genre. Even something fairly frivolous like Hatsukoi Limited shows enough respect to its characters that it ends up being well above what is typically expected for the genre.
So the emphasis on characterization isn’t new for J.C. Staff romance series, but it’s one of the reasons why they’re generally so good. Toradora! is a funny series at first glance, because, despite the fact that it bears no resemblance to the other face of J.C. Staff: ie, the shounen magic-fighting novel adaptations such as Shana, Zero no Tsukaima and Index (series that are anything but renowned for characterization), there’s something of a superficial link between them, in that Kugumiya Rie is (again) voicing a small, flat-chested tsundere. I feel sorry for how Kugumiya constantly gets typecast sometimes, but, in this case, I’m not sure there’s an alternative. From pretty much the first episode of Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka, which coincidentally aired at the same time, I was convinced that Kugumiya was not the right voice for Yuuhi (I haven’t played the game, so don’t ask), but I never once for a moment thought that Taiga should (or could) have been voiced by anyone else, which says a lot about how much she takes ownership of the role.
So the characters in Toradora! do a lot of growing up, which is all well and good. They make a lot of mistakes too, which is realistic given that these are teenagers who are confused about their emotions and place in life, and there are bucketloads of angst to go along with the latter episodes. It’s almost redundant to point out how melodramatic the final handful of episodes are now, since that’s well established. And while they could have handled things much better (particularly with the pacing), I really liked the direction the story took. The thing that I thought was really distinct about Toradora! as a high school romance series is that the relationships transcended love. It was just as much about “respect” as it was about “love”. The characters wanted to be respected by each other, arguably moreso than they wanted to be loved, and the roles of “love” and “respect” within each relationship, particularly, obviously, Taiga and Ryuuji, were intertwined. It was only when Taiga knew that she was loved by Ryuuji did she come to believe that she could possibly eventually respect herself, so she took action (in the last episode) and aimed to change herself into someone that he could respect, and consequently she could herself. A lot of the relationships basically resolved themselves when there was mutual respect between the two parties, even the ones where no romance eventuated (which was the case for all but Taiga x Ryuuji). This was most apparent between Ami and Ryuuji. Ami’s great dilemma throughout the story was that she put up a facade to everyone else to win their approval. The problem with this is that no one really understood her true persona… except for Ryuuji. There’s a great sequence in episode 14 where this comes to a fore: Ami interacts with a whole heap of people in succession who each tell her that she’s mature, which Ami rightly sees as them complimenting her facade rather than her true self. It’s Ryuuji who eventually breaks this pattern, calling her childish for not taking care of herself. This catches Ami off-guard and changes the dynamic of their relationship, putting them on an even keel more than anything which happened before this. Ami’s child/adult facade and how Ryuuji manages to see through it basically makes the crux of their relationship and it’s brought full circle with their brief discussion in the last episode.
There's a fair amount of mutual respect between these two as well by the time the show ends.
I didn’t mind Toradora!‘s flavour of melodrama, since it understood the importance of setting up sympathetic characters before asking the audience to share their angst. But there were a few things that troubled me, probably none more than Kitamura’s role in the story. He starts off as a quirky, yet strangely popular individual that had a knack for drawing attention and admiration, but once his arc involving the student council president is over, his role in the story is basically reduced to “that guy” who girls crush on but eventually grow out of. It happened with Taiga, it happened with Kihara (who I’ll get back to in a second). The only interesting thing that happened to him in the series came in what I thought was the series’ worst arc, culminating in an over-the-top confrontation between Taiga and Sumire that was filled with punches, blood and tears that just came off as tacky and ham-fisted.
I wish there was more screentime for Kihara, because I quite liked her (I blame Nonaka Ai‘s voice) and felt a bit sorry for her. Her’s is probably the classic unrequited love story, but it was clear how frustrated she was by the fact that she was constantly making efforts to get Kitamura’s attention that all failed abysmally… yet she couldn’t actually just make that step to tell him her feelings (which is understandable given the circumstances… understandable, but not justified). I’m kinda glad that the hints in the final episode suggested that she’d gotten over Kitamura. She deserved better than constantly being ignored by her love interest.
I’m not sure whether I’d call Toradora! a good anime or a great anime. I know this is something that Michael from anime|otaku contemplated before finally settling on “good” anime. I’m still weighing things up, but on the probability of things, I’m probably inclined to agree. There are a lot of moments in it that are great, but there are a few notable moments where they kinda dropped the ball (the ending of the Kitamura arc being one). It’s a particularly good melodrama, which is a rarity, but if you compare it with another well executed romance melodrama that I do consider “great”, ef – a tale of memories, it doesn’t have the same thematic elegance or sense of theater. Toradora! kinda runs on heart, but ef is both ambitious and smart. It’s not the best comparison, but it’s about the best reason I can come up with as to why I wouldn’t put Toradora! in the same tier as ef – memories. It was certainly worth my time, though. There weren’t many other anime airing around the same time that had me so highly anticipating each episode.
I like this show a good deal. I do think that it had respect for its characters (maybe not Kitamura), and I’m glad to get so much out of it without being preached to.
On the contrary, I hate this show a lot (which is something Sorrow-kun already knows well enough). Many of the characters do very weird things, the humor doesn’t tickle my funny bone at all and I just hate Taiga right from the onset, and truthfully she didn’t redeem herself by being nice towards the end for me. This series barely passed in my eyes, but it’s one that I’ll definitely avoid rewatching.
I’m actually in agreement with AC that many elements of Toradora did not work (for me at least). Unfunny comedy, illogical actions, the supporting cast wasn’t given enough time and attention to develop (Kihara, Ryuuji’s mom, former student council president whose name I don’t remember), and an overall feeling of a super-compressed story in the second half. Stretches of episodes I’d just slog through waiting for that one sublime conversation, that revelatory moment that would validate the shows existence for me. There were so many missed opportunities I can lament about.
Yet, I do think it was worth watching. Toradora! delivered what I felt many similar anime lacked, the things I consider essential to character based drama series: meaningful change in the characters and outstanding moments of dialogue/action. These qualities just felt so right. It may not fully satisfy me on an intellectual level, and measures of goodness and greatness will always differ between people, but Toradora! was an anime I definitely liked.
Another advantage of reviewing a series months after the season where it aired has run its course is that, you get to see things _beyond_ the hype machine. Rather than being a “caught in the spur of the moment” thing, it becomes a more ‘personal’ experience. ToraDora is a heartwarming series that deserves that attention.
May AC bite his own words sometime in the near future, and realize what went wrong with his ToraDora watching. Ironically though, I think the shows that you “swear you won’t rewatch again in the near future ever” [with a tsuntsun conviction] are those that you ought to revisit, because more often than not, there’s something you’re missing out on (especially if you refuse to acknowledge other people’s positive take on it).
@ghostlightning
I feel a little bad because I missed your posts on Toradora. I was probably avoiding them at the time since sticking to one fansubber (or, more accurately, avoiding another) put me behind everyone else, and I was purposely staying away from discussions on Toradora for fear of spoilers. That’s why I’ve only just now finished the series and subsequently posted my reflections on it. But, reading the post you linked to, you raised a very good point about the show’s attitude towards “family”. I didn’t take much notice of it at the time, since it kinda popped up suddenly in the last couple of episodes, but looking back, you start to see what sort of influence their respective and shared families have on Taiga and Ryuuji, both as individuals and as a couple, and how this permeates through the entire show. It makes for a quirky coincidence since it aired at about the same time as Clannad After Story, which was all about family.
@AC
Yep. I mean, I can see why you didn’t like it, but I have a feeling shows like this are divisive. I remember when Honey and Clover first came out, there were quite a few rather vocal dissenters. The difference between Toradora! and H&C is that I accept that Toradora! has flaws… I don’t so much with H&C, since I generally think that a lot of its critics have missed the point. So yeah, it doesn’t bother me that you didn’t like it, and you’re certainly not alone. But I will be exerting my influence to get this anime onto the Year in Review list. :p
@kadian1364
Like I said, I accept this show has flaws. But it also has a nous for characterization which is well above par for the genre. Whether or not it’s a “great” anime will probably be always open to debate (and I hope it’s debated often, so that people watch and think about it). But for now I think I’ll settle on: “very good… not quite ‘great’”.
@usagijen
True. I try my best to disengage myself from any hype machine, but sometimes that’s almost impossible. I see this post more as a “reflection” than a “review”. Don’t ask me what the specific differences are. I guess the main one is that I don’t like putting spoilers into a review, since reviews are just as much for people who haven’t seen the show than they are for people who have. This particular post was definitely written for people who have seen the show, no question.
I’m not going to tell AC (or anyone else) how to watch Toradora!, since that’s up to them. If it were me, I probably wouldn’t be raising an eyebrow if a whole heap of people were praising a show that I had dismissed as rubbish. If it were a whole heap of people I respected on the other hand, yes, then I’d be wondering if I missed something.
@usagijen
I’m serious; this is one example of a series that I won’t watch again anymore. This series isn’t necessarily horrible per se, but there are just so many things about it that boils my blood; the same sentiments I had when I watched KimiNozo. Plus, although I read and self-reflect on what others have to say about Toradora, ultimately I make my own call and make my own judgment. Who am I to preach to others to hate this series in the first place, anyway? In conclusion, I don’t think (or hope) that there’s anything wrong with the way I watched it; I just don’t like it.
@Sorrow-kun
You know me, right? I just don’t like the series for reason I’ve repeated so many times already but what others think of the series is entirely up to them. If you want to put it into the Year in Review list, then who am I to stop you. It is one of those high-key anime for the year anyway. As for H&C, I haven’t watched it but I will, as soon as I have them in my hands. I’ve seen some negative reviews about it too, but I take almost everything with a pinch of salt and watch it first before I make any judgment.
No need to feel bad, and I appreciate what you said about my post. The thing about romance that is often unspoken of is that the happily ever after involves family.
This is why I really like Toradora!, and the Kare Kano manga. To be sure the main story is a romance, but the consequences of such isn’t ignored. And by consequence I don’t mean it is necessarily bad, but rather the things the lovers need to take responsibility for.
I actually did not like Toradora much when I first saw it and I had to drop it after 7 episodes (during its live run). When I read ghostlightning’s posts on the show, I had a change of heart and watched it again a few months after it ended and I ended up liking the show for what it is.
Although I wouldn’t put this show on my top favorites list.
this show has over 9000 rewatch value
I wonder if I should attempt to finish watching this series. I’ve got no aversions to melodrama(considering 1 Litre of Tears is just about one of my favourite serials ever) but what initially started off as a little bit goofy but ultimately sweet and entertaining quickly spiralled down into an over-the-top, sobfest that was so saturated with lugubriousness, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cringe. But based on your review here, I think I’ll give this show another go, just to see if I’ve completely missed a core element that makes this anime a good watch.
Nice, I thought that I would have been one of the last by the time I finished in late June, but this makes me feel better about my usual slowness. d(-ε-)z
I suppose the reason for my lack of motivation was that I found the first half to be somewhat lackluster in presentation, though admittedly not nearly as much as most high-school setting rom-coms. With an unusually colourful cast of personalities, the dialogue and character interactions had always been several levels above most, but I guess 10 episodes of bakachi and bakainu eventually lost its charm.
However, the second half did very well in exposing the characters’ insecurities and internal struggles. The usual lack of clarity and believability of melodrama in a high school setting has often left me unsatisfied, but Toradora’s was a case where I found it to have very genuinely explored the depth of characters we had been given time to connect with (I am also an open Ami lover. :v). Because of the palpability of their dilemmas and the believably angsty (but not overly so) reactions, all of the main cast had proven themselves by the end to be far more than the hollow archetypes that populate… most of high school anime.
I also wanted a bit more of Kihara; her attitude and her inability to confess aren’t really unique ideas, but I guess Nonaka Ai made her more lovable. Also awesome facial expressions.
While probably one of the higher tier romance dramedies, I also wouldn’t compare it to ef (but I’m a sucker for that sort of sappy romanticism and general artsiness.) It’s probably a highlight of the rather drab pre-Summer 2009 seasons, but I’m also hesitant to call it “great”.
[...] post on Toradora! and a great roundup of opinions around the sphere as well from Behind the Nihon Review (Sorrow-kun [...]