Toradora!
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 In this world, there's this... thing that no one's ever seen. This thing, it's very kind and gentle, and if anyone could actually see it, there'd be a whole bunch of people wanting to have it. Maybe that's why the world keeps it hidden from everyone; if it's hard to get, that makes it even more special. Yeah, but one day, someone will find it... and whoever does, they'll be the one who was supposed to find it. Because that's the way it's meant to be.
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Toradora! (Japanese: とらドラ!) is a Japanese light novel series by Yuyuko Takemiya, with illustrations by Yasu. The series includes 10 novels released between March 10, 2006, and March 10, 2009, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. Three volumes of a spin-off light novel series were also created, aptly titled Toradora Spin-off!. A manga adaptation by Zekkyō started serialization in the September 2007 issue of the shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao!, published by MediaWorks. The manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao! with the March 2008 issue, but continued serialization in ASCII Media Works' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh with the May 2008 issue.
The title Toradora! is derived from the names of the two main characters Taiga Aisaka and Ryūji Takasu. Taiga's name is almost homophonic with taigā (タイガー) from English tiger (the final a is more lengthened in the English loanword), which is synonymous with the native Japanese word tora (とら). Inversely, ryū (竜) means dragon, and is synonymous with doragon (ドラゴン), the English word dragon transcribed into Japanese.
An Internet radio show was broadcast between September 2008 and May 2009 hosted by Animate TV. A 25-episode anime adaptation produced by J.C.Staff aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between October 2008 and March 2009. A Blu-ray box set containing an original video animation (OVA) episode was released on December 21, 2011. NIS America licensed the anime and released it in North America in two half-season DVD collections in July and August 2010, with an English dubbed BD collection released in July 2014. A visual novel based on the series was released in April 2009 by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation Portable.
陰謀 (Plot)
Ryuji Takasu is frustrated at trying to look his best as he enters his second year of high school. Despite his gentle personality, his eyes give him the appearance of an intimidating delinquent. He is happy to be classmates with his best friend Yusaku Kitamura, as well as the girl he has a crush on, Minori Kushieda. However, he unexpectedly runs into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level"—Taiga Aisaka—who just happens to be Minori's best friend. Taiga has a negative attitude towards others and has a habit of snapping violently at people. She takes an instant dislike to Ryuji, and it turns out she is living in an apartment facing Ryuji's house. When Ryuji discovers that Taiga has a crush on Yusaku, and Taiga finds out about Ryuji's affections towards Minori, they make an arrangement to help set each other up with their crushes.
Over the course of the series, Ryuji and Taiga try to set up romantic situations to help each other get to know their friends, but many of the situations backfire. Their classmates observe that they are spending a lot of time with each other, leading to rumors that they might be a couple. Although Ryuji and Taiga try to dispel the rumors, they find that they do enjoy each other's company, with Taiga visiting Ryuji's house to share meals, and Ryuji checking up on Taiga to get her to school, and cleaning for her. They meet Yusaku's childhood friend Ami Kawashima, a popular teen model who transfers into their school. She appears to be friendly and is a self-proclaimed ditz, but beneath her facade is a rather mean and spoiled brat, and she quickly finds herself at odds with Taiga. In spite of this, Taiga tries to put up with her antics as Yusaku wants them to all get along, and Ami begins to grow feelings for Ryuji. The series follows the lives of these friends and how love blossoms among them.
A+に値する理由 (Why It Deserves An A+)
- Toradora! is more of a character study how they view each other as equals, the fact that they are honest with each other about who they are and deal with each other's insecurities and flaws allow them to form a deep bond. And how subtle it fleshed out and developed as lovers throughout the series.
- Excellent soundtrack.
- Both Taiga and Ryuji are incredibly likable and endearing characters, and they have excellent chemistry on screen. Not to mention, their romance was really sweet and enjoyable.
- Some of the other main characters, such as Minori Kushieda and Yusaku Kitamura, the former being Taiga's best friend and the latter being Ryuji's best friend, are also likable and important to the plot.
- Good voice acting in both sub and dub, with the sub having Rie Kagamiya, Yui Horie, Junji Majima, and the dub having talented voice actors like Cassandra Lee Morris, Christine Marie Cabanos, Erika Harlacher, Johnny Yong Bosch, Karen Strassman and Wendee Lee.
- Great animation in most scenes, especially the heavily dramatic ones.
- The animation was done by J.C. Staff, who also did a ton of stuffs like Maid Sama, The Familiar of Zero, Golden Time, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, and so on.
- The Christmas Festival arc is considered one of the best in the series.
- Tons of character development with a lot of the characters in the series. Taiga, Ryuji, Minori, Yusaku and Ami all get an ample amount of character development throughout the course of the show.
- Ryuji's mother, Yasuko is both funny and likable, even if she isn't the best parent in the world.
- The drama with Yasuko at the end was unexpected, but still welcome. We learn that she acted the way she did because she was still hurt by the disappearance of her husband, who actually ran away after she gave birth to Ryuji, but she does truly care about her son, and is worried about him when he makes the decision to run away and elope with Taiga.
- The conclusion of the series was incredibly satisfying in almost every single way. Not only do Taiga and Ryuji end up together, but they also make the viewers feel for Minori having to give up on Ryuji, which we learn is hard on her because she confesses that she was in love with him.
- It gives a sense of how it is to be experiencing maturity. In some ways, can bring in sometimes how you handle reality and responsibility.
F-資質 (F- Qualities)
- While most of the voice actors for the dub sound great and amazing as mentioned above, Erik Scott Kimerer sounded bland as Ryuji.
- Ami Kawashima can be very unlikable in the beginning, but she does undergo through some character development of her own later on.
- Taiga's parents are both painfully irritating and unlikable.
- The side characters, except for Yasuko, are somewhat shallow and forgettable compared to the main characters.
- While the first half is great and well-paced, the second half can be melodrama, over the top, and the last few episodes felt a little rushed.
- Some of the characters have done questionable decisions for either the right or the wrong reasons:
- Ryuji was very foolish for believing and trusting in Taiga's father that he could get a second chance of redemption with his daughter, nearly straining his friendship with Minori, only for him to show his true colors by swindling both Ryuji and Taiga in the end.
- Yūsaku goes insane and declares that he will quit the student council, then he dyes his hair blonde, all because he has a crush on Sumire, and becomes upset learning that she is planning to study abroad in America to be an astronaut.
- Ami confronted Minori and brings up the topic of her rejecting Ryuji, but she brushes her off and the two get angry at each other. Minori tells Ami that she shouldn't judge her because she couldn't see or read her heart and Ami accuses Minori at faking her personalities and hiding behind a mask. It gets worse next day, when Taiga and Minori accidentally run into Ami on their sled. Ami accuses her of doing it on purpose because of last night's argument and engages in a physical fight with Minori. This caused a rift between them and neither Ami nor Minori apologized for their actions.
- Minori acted like a hypocrite in the end. She berated Taiga for not accepting her own happiness and instead being more concerned about the happiness of her friend, even though that's exactly what she was doing to Taiga. The worst part is how his hypocrisy is never referenced even a tiny bit by any of the characters, especially Ami, who previously called her out for not being true to herself, but not for this hypocrisy.
- Taiga decides to stop running from her problems by returning home to reconcile with her mother and stepfamily and make her worthy for Ryuji. This confuses many fans as that choice of hers felt rushed and out of nowhere as she leaves without bothering to tell Ryuji that she transfers out of the high school, and the fact that she is not seen again until the last few minutes of the show.
レセプション (Reception)
The Mainichi Shimbun reported in April 2009 that over 3 million copies of the light novel series have been sold in Japan. By October 2017, it had over 5 million copies in circulation. The light novel series has ranked four times in Takarajimasha's light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! published yearly: sixth in 2007, fourth in 2008 and 2010, and second in 2009. In Kadokawa Shoten's first Light Novel Award contest held in 2007, Toradora! won an award in the romantic comedy category. The seventh volume of the Toradora! light novels was ranked tenth best selling between December 2007 and November 2008 by Amazon.co.jp. The second volume of the Toradora! manga was ranked 28th on the Tohan charts between March 3–9, 2009. Taiga Aisaka became the champion of the eighth Anime Saimoe Tournament in 2009. The Toradora! anime was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the thirteenth Japan Media Arts Festival in 2009. In 2009, Rie Kugimiya won the Best Actress in the third Seiyu Awards partly for voicing Taiga Aisaka. link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kugimiya_Disease_itansha,_CWT48_20180303a.jpg|thumb|A bike featuring Taiga The first Toradora! DVD was ranked 13th on the Oricon DVD chart between January 20–26, 2009. The second DVD was ranked 15th between February 24 and March 2, 2009. The third DVD was ranked 27th between March 24–30, 2009. The fourth DVD was ranked 17th between April 21–28, 2009. The fifth DVD was ranked 7th between May 25–31, 2009. The sixth DVD was ranked 11th between June 22–28, 2009. The seventh DVD was ranked 19th between July 20–26, 2009. The eighth DVD was ranked 13th between August 24–30, 2009. THEM Anime Review's Stig Høgset commends the anime for how it "actually resolves the relationship issue it set out to do instead of wimping out like so many romantic shows with several girls tends to do in an attempt to not make people angry or disappointed." He also comments Taiga as the "genetical marriage" of Shana from Shakugan no Shana and Louise from Zero no Tsukaima. However, he also criticized "Taiga's continuous behavior, particularly towards Ryuji" and the introduction of Taiga's father in which Høgset "felt that the whole story arc jerked me around".
トリビア (Trivia)
- Many of the characters' voice actors have portrayed other characters in the video game series Persona:
- Rie Kagamiya (Taiga) voices Rise Fujiwara from Persona 4, as well as her English voice actress Cassandra Lee Morris had voiced Morgana from Persona 5.
- Karen Strassman (Yasuko) had voiced Aigis from Persona 3.
- Erika Harlacher (Ami) had voiced Ann Takamaki from Persona 5.
- Johnny Young Bosch (Kitamura) had voiced Yu Narukami from Persona 4.