

Toradora AKA Tiger X Dragon.







Story

Toradora AKA Tiger and Dragon, is a romantic comedy that involves a group of High School friends the story centers around Ryuji, who is often mistaken as a delinquent due to his fathers looks that he inherited. Ryuji has always liked Minori since middle school but they never talk to each other. At the start of his first year in high school. He manages to be placed in the same class has his best friend Kitamura, who is very popular. He is also in the same class as Minori and Taiga. Taiga is known as the Palmtop Tiger because of her height and feisty attitude. This show is about how Ryuji and Taiga form a relationship in order to solve each others problems. Eventually this relationship turns into something more. The group of main characters help each other with their problems though each have their own motivations for doing so. While still a generic slice of life show, it handles all the dramatic or touching moments with expertise.





Characters





Taiga

Taiga despite being small has a vicious personality. Ryuji bumps into Taiga on the first day of school, Taiga takes this as a show of dominance and punches him in the face.That night she breaks into Ryuji’s house with a wooden sword, initially seeking more violence. She is, however, won over by the food Ryuji makes her.

Ryuji

Ryuji looks like a delinquent thanks to his father. This is not an accurate impression because he is really a nice guy, who is borderline feminine due to his love for cooking and cleaning. He has a goofy single mother that he often has to take care of. His goals for the school year are to look more approachable and to talk to Minori. He meets Taiga and the two become friends, after a few fights.





Ami

Ami is an old friend of Kitamura, she shows up at the High School to escape from her modeling problems. She first meets Ryuji and Taiga in a diner and right away she gets a slap to the face. Ami is the typical double faced bitch, she is nice to people she likes and she is a bitch to everyone who she doesn’t like. Kitamura shows Ryuji this on the first day so he doesn’t get the wrong impression.

Kitamura

Kitamura is the most popular guy in school adored by most everyone. He is on the student council and is generally in a cheery and motivational mood. He is best friends with Ryuji and is the only one who really understands that Ryuji isn’t the troublemaker people make him out to be.





Sound & Music

The sound and music his handled very well throughout the series, including all the opening and ending songs as well as the voice acting. Especially the songs during the dramatic scenes really work to perpetuate the tension and emotion. All the opening and ending songs are catchy and reflect the tone of the current story.







Art & Animation

The Animation is unique but very crisp and clean looking. It’s good at showing fluid movements and character expressions. There is a good variety of environments and backgrounds. Each character is designed uniquely which makes for good variety.



Enjoyment

I really enjoyed Toradora. It keeps things interesting the whole way through with it’s small story arcs spliced across one large one. I always wanted to continue on with the next episode. This anime does a great job of satisfying all your requires for a rom/com.



Overall