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Weekly Review: Toradora!

Ah, Toradora. What a cute anime. This show is one of the run-of-the-mill anime shows that focuses on high school students on their daily adventures. Except the anime does something a little different. Right away, we can tell that the two leads will end up falling in love, that’s just the typical plot of a rom-com, but the way it happens is what makes this show interesting.

Our main character is Ryuuji Takasu. He really is a kind person who enjoys doing household chores like cleaning and cooking; in fact, whenever he sees a dirty room, he can’t help but clean it. His appearance is totally opposite to his personality; he looks like a criminal. Those who don’t know him look at him and run away in fear of getting hit, which is pretty sad when you think about it. The other main character is the complete opposite; Taiga is a cute-looking little girl, but she’s not afraid to speak her mind, which includes throwing a few punches. I guess it’s true what they say, opposites attract.

On their first meeting, and after a few meetings, they both realize that they are in love with each other’s best friend. Forming an alliance, they both agree to do whatever they can to help the other, and thus a mutual friendship is born. The funny thing about this situation is that we later find out that Takasu’s best friend already likes Taiga, and Taiga’s best friend likes Takasu. So, in a sense, all it would take is for someone to speak from the beginning, but then we wouldn’t have a story, would we?

As the story progresses, each character does their best to help the other and put them in a situation that is pointed out by classmates later in the show where they can earn some points. This proves difficult as neither Takasu nor Taiga are good at talking to their crushes. To add to that, they never realize that they are slowly growing closer to each other. In fact, they are almost always together, a

As stated above, it’s a rom-com, so we already know how it ends and who ends up with whom, right? Yes, there is no twist there. Taiga and Takasu end up getting together at the end, in a rather strange way. First of all, they’re both really bad at telling each other how they feel, and second, they do it in a terrible way. His plan, due to some family problems with Taiga and others, is to run away and get married. Your typical high school girlfriend dream, right?

Of course, in the end, they decide together that it would be better not to go through with it. Once they get back to town though, we get a curveball when Taiga suddenly leaves without telling anyone. She leaves Takasu a note explaining the situation, but still she is sudden and she leaves you wondering what the hell happened. She leaves to try to make things right with her family and with herself. Although surprised, Takasu understands, much more than his friends, in fact. We have a little closure at the end, after graduation, Takasu sees Taiga at her classroom window, which he runs to and finds her standing there, where he can finally tell her that he loves her. A pretty nice ending. Definitely rushed, but cute.

So that’s the basis of the show, but is it worth it? Yes and no. It’s interesting, but typical. I for one would love to see a rom-com end the way it started, more or less. I mean, I really feel like Taiga and Takasu are better friends than lovers. It would still have been an amazing show if they stayed friends and ended up with their respective loves. As a bonus, it would have been different, which is even more awesome.

I guess I’m the only one who thinks so. In the end, it’s still a good anime that has a lot of laughs and feels unexpected. It was good so I suggest you go check it out.

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