Anime Toradora!

[Sangome]

[SIZE="1"]Yes yes, more fall anime. I'm sorry.

Anyways...I'm going to let Wikipedia do the talking this time:

[quote name='"Wikipedia"']Toradora!'s story begins with the male protagonist Ryūji Takasu who is frustrated at trying to look his best as he enters his second year of high school. Despite his gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent so he is utterly hopeless about his chances of getting a girlfriend anytime soon, and does not have many close friends either. After being greeted by his hungover mother in the morning, Ryūji goes to school and is happy to find that he gets to be in the same class as his best friend Yūsaku Kitamura and crush Minori Kushieda. However, it is then that he unexpectedly knocks into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level"—Taiga Aisaka—who just happens to also be in his class, and is a good friend of Minori.[/quote]

When I watched the first episode, I was like "Oh, great, another high school/cliche romance/tsundere series..." But then some events in episode two onward have convinced me to stay with it. It's a fun series, regardless, and I've even found myself relating with the characters a little bit [spoiler][Taiga's O HAAAAAAAAAAAI explosion at Kitamura, as well as her tensing up around him at lunchtime in episode four I related to FAR too well][/spoiler]. The music so far is eh in my opinion, save for the ending theme, [i]Vanilla Salt[/i], which is undeniably cute and infectious.

...oh, and the retarded parrot is amazing. Enough said.[/SIZE]

[Shinmaru]

I was actually only half-interested in the series before the season, too, but the first episode impressed me quite a bit, and I have been hooked hard ever since. This show strikes me as having a different feel than most high school romance comedies because I can really [i]feel[/i] the relationship between Taiga and Ryuji from the get go. It does not feel contrived at all, nor does it come across as if they're together because the show needs two romantic leads. Ep1 is solid, but the leaps their relationship takes in ep2 are so wonderful and so well executed and genuinely surprising. It is [i]so[/i] refreshing to see a series like this take a few chances and pull them off well.

So, yes, I <3 Taiga and Ryuji, Taiga especially thus far. Her crush on Kitamura is terribly adorable. [spoiler]The whole "Let's take pictures of Kitamura!!" bit could have ended up creepy, but instead it is really cute -- I think that is because Taiga is so inept at taking photos, and yet she loves them all so much.[/spoiler] I definitely don't want to shortchange Ryuji, though, because he is a damn good male lead. I like that he is sarcastic but does not come across as a full blown Kyon ripoff since he is so helpful to Taiga.

Yeah, this is quite the wonderful series through four episodes. I am a sucker for good romantic comedies, and [b]Toradora![/b] fits the bill quite well.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]Well, I came into the series knowing for sure I would like it unless it completely bombed ('cause of the tsundere and all), but it still turned out to be even better than I expected. And... um... what else can I say that wouldn't just be copying Shin's post?

Here, have a GIF of Taiga chewing:[/color]

[center][img]http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/6448/toradorataigachewingla1.gif[/img][/center]

[Meggido]

I wasn't really sure to expect coming into Toradora and for me the first episode left a lot to be desired. But being me I always give a series 2 or 3 eps so it has a fairly decent chance in my books. Well the second ep sealed it for me as I found it absolutely hilarious and have stuck with it since. I don't know why but I seem to be enjoying series where the girl beats the crap out of the guy. XD

[Shinmaru]

Haha, ep5 is fantastic. I love the new character, Ami, and it is nice that [spoiler]everyone important either knows about her "split personality" or suspects something about it (in the case of Minori).[/spoiler] The ending to the episode is interesting, too -- obviously, what Taiga is thinking has to do with [spoiler]Ami wanting to take time off modeling. I'm guessing the thing with the sweets is Ami desiring a more "normal" life instead of the regulated life I imagine she has as a model.[/spoiler]

My favorite part of the episode, though, is Minori's letter to Ryuji in class. It's set up perfectly with Minori waving to Ryuji in a flirtatious manner, and then [spoiler]the letter's tone is incredibly pissed off, haha. The little angry Minori face in the bottom corner of the screen seals the joke for me.[/spoiler] That got a huge laugh from me.

[Sangome]

[SIZE="1"]Here everyone, have an angry Minori, courtesy of the fine folks at 4chan's /a/:

[IMG]http://i37.tinypic.com/29zaa2v.gif[/IMG][/SIZE]

[Meggido]

That is one scary Minori. Well looks like I'm going to fall a little behind while I wait to see which group GG's translator for this series moved to after they dropped it.

[Desbreko]

[quote name='Shinmaru']The ending to the episode is interesting, too -- obviously, what Taiga is thinking has to do with [spoiler]Ami wanting to take time off modeling. I'm guessing the thing with the sweets is Ami desiring a more "normal" life instead of the regulated life I imagine she has as a model.[/spoiler][/QUOTE][color=#4B0082]I also picked up a similar meaning from the end of ep5. I'm guessing that [spoiler]Taiga recognized that Ami buying all snacks from the convenience store was similar to herself before she started mooching off Ryuuji. Thus she guessed that Ami is also living alone and, together with her taking time off from (or skipping out on?) modeling, that she's probably run away from home or something.[/spoiler] It should be fun to see how ep6 follows up on that.

[b]Edit:[/b]
gg's translator is working on the series with a new group now, under the tag qq. I recommend their release.[/color]

[Shinmaru]

Watched ep6 a couple of days ago, and it astounds me how swiftly [b]Toradora![/b] is moving and how much it has packed into just six episodes. In this one we have Ami [spoiler]making a big leap in her life by trying to throw away the emotional mask she has worn all her life. I loved the part where she stomped the holy hell out of the stalker's camera -- definite shades of Taiga and Ryuji kicking the pole in ep2.[/spoiler] Good stuff. I am looking forward to seeing how these characters evolve after this.

On the comedy side, great things happen whenever Taiga and Minori team up. Their "assault" on Ami in the beginning had me dying with laughter. Also enjoyed Taiga being let loose, knowing she didn't have to be embarrassed to screw with Ami since [spoiler]Kitamura gave her the go ahead.[/spoiler]

[Sangome]

[SIZE="1"]Slight episode 8 spoilers:

[URL=http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ittconfessionpb8.png][IMG]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6929/ittconfessionpb8.th.png[/IMG][/URL][URL=http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php][IMG]http://img156.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif[/IMG][/URL]

[spoiler]ITT: CONFESSIONS[/spoiler][/SIZE]

[Shinmaru]

Ninth episode is one of the funniest in the series yet -- everything from the strange greeting dance Minori and Kitamura do to [spoiler]Minori snapping cell phone photos of a nearly naked Kitamura[/spoiler] is hysterical. I'm glad I watched it when everyone in my house was awake, haha.

Then there's a great moment at the end where Ryuji and Minori are talking, and Minori once again subtly reveals just how perceptive she is ... and she also reveals some of the sadness probably lingering deep inside her. [b]Toradora![/b] does things like that [i]so[/i] well. An episode will be cruising along, full of hilarity, and then BAM! Emotional moment, and it's done perfectly. Love this show so much. <3

[kondou♥michiyo]

i'm currently watching it...
it's so funny!

[onigiriroll]

I finished it a while ago^^ I love Taiga! She is so adorable.
And, Ryuji is awesome :3 [spoiler]But I hate it that Kitamura ran after that jerk. She turned him down and he was CRYING.[/spoiler]That I didn't like. :|