Opening songs
OP 1- Pre-Parade (Rie Kugimiya, Yui Horie, Eri Kitamura)
OP 2- Silky heart (Yui Horie)
Ending songs
ED 1- Vanilla salt (Yui Horie)
ED 2- Orange (Rie Kugimiya, Yui Horie, Eri Kitamura)
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Episodes:25
We are coming upon a new year and I think I should review "Toradora!" before it turns 5 next year...so here it is (yes this anime is going to be 5 years old). We all know the generics of high school romance animes but lets go back to one of the few that were actually GOOD. I heard "Clannad" was awesome and had a good deal of it spoilt for me and my brother compared it "Toradora!" and claimed that "Toradora!" was second to "Clannad" in terms of the high school romance genre. Romance, confessions and love dovey behaviors galore, "Toradora!" is a great example of high school love and combines it with a great intense plot with tons of drama, tension and character interaction.
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| I-i-its not l-lik-ke I..I.. b-bought an extra o-one for you or anything.....! |
So, for an old anime, I actually do love all the songs used for the opening and ending themes. The first opening is "Pre-Parade" by all the seiyuus of the 3 main heroines. Its freakishly addictive, and all that auto tune voicing actually works for the song especially during the parts where they sing incredibly fast and you don't even know what the hell they are saying XD. "Vanilla Salt" by Yui Horie is the first ending and it was already an instant classic 4 years ago. It's a catchy ending with a solid tune.
"Silky Heart" is the 2nd opening of the anime and immediately it sounds epic to me, too epic for a high school romance anime. Needless to say its a wonderful song and is one of my favorites from Yui Horie herself. The 2nd ending is "Orange" by all our seiyuus once again. Its not as epic as "Pre-Parade", but sounds good in its own way. Not just another average "J-pop" song.
Rating:8.5/10
Even if it was an older anime, it does a fantastic job showing the development of feelings between 2 characters and blossoms into one hell of a drama fest. As a love story it does extremely well and even though the early few episodes made it seem like another regular "Romance/Comedy" anime without much "Romance" in it at all, it really pays the viewers to stick to it to about the 70% mark where things start to get a little bit more serious. It presents a great deal of character interaction, be it whether they laugh or have fun together, then intrigues us when they quarrel or get into fights with each other fighting over the one they love. Its truly a different experience that little other "Romance/Comedy" animes succeed in trying to do.
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| Worry not Taiga! I'd vote you for president any day if you're real! |
Ryuuji is a bad ass delinquent. Everybody is scared of him because of his bad ass hair, scary face and gangster attitude, but actually, he's your regular nice guy that just wants the world to be clean. He is misunderstood by every person on campus, except for his best friend Kitamura and his crush, Minori. On the first day of his high school life, he bumps into Taiga, known as another powerful delinquent, and she punches him straight in the face. After putting a love letter into Ryuuji's bag, she comes after him during the same night to kill him and take it back, only to be preached to by Ryuuji and they became partners in crime. Ryuuji would help Taiga get hooked up to Kitamura, whom she likes, and Taiga would help Ryuuji get closer to Minori, whom he likes.
"Toradora!" is a prime example of an excellent "Romance/Comedy" anime. THIS is how you do it. It focuses on a legitimate love story and not some heavily dumped fan-service roller coaster ride (not that I hate those). If you're into stuff like "Clannad", "Toradora!" is a must watch.
Peace.
