Feb 23, 2017
I thought OreImo had taken the cake for how much rage I could feel during an anime. Turns out I was wrong. Toradora is the single most infuriating experience I've ever had.
I would write an objective review but I simply can't write this without including the sheer pain I felt watching this atrocity. If you want some more objective stuff, skip to the next point down. I have kept this review spoiler free.
• The Definition of Insanity
I hate this show. I despise it. It went from generic, to boring, to anticlimactic all the while keeping me infuriated. And it left me with a lingering feeling
...
of hopelessness, confusion and still anger. And yet I watched the whole thing. And yet I enjoyed the story in a twisted way. My entire essence of being is bamboozled.
So, let's get this out of the way first. Don't like tsundere? Please God do not make the same mistake I did. Skip. This. Anime. The MC is a doormat for most of it, though better than some, and main-side character, Taiga, is full on tsundere.
The first few episodes set up the premise, doing so in a way that made me think, eh why not let's see how this goes. But I should have seen the signs and just stopped there before I went so far down the rabbit hole I felt I had to reach the bottom.
Instead, I suffered through a good 10 episodes at least of constant tsundere that made me want to claw my eyes out, and yet I still kept on watching. There's not much to say, any memory of the plot stored in my brain had been fused out by the rage I felt. It was lots of school stuff and relationships and backstory and was painfully slow and boring. I suppose I have to admit it did acceptably story-wise, though characters acted infuriatingly at times. I suppose that comes with the genre.
After getting through the middle of the show, things start heating up. Plot points everywhere, drama drama drama. Also tsundere, I don't think I mentioned that yet. On the bright side, Taiga warms a bit as the show goes on, like any not-trash tsundere should. Not that any tsundere is ever not trash. We have multiple characters that could be romance interests, attempts at hooking up, lots of exploring why that isn't happening, that kind of thing. Honestly the plot here drew me in, helped by the fact that Taiga was toned down.
The ending was... weird. I felt like it was trying to teach me a life lesson, but all it succeeded in doing was make me yell at my monitor that I would give the show one star if it went where I thought it would. It didn't, but the ending episode is pretty much a huge plot twist moment made, I hypothesize, precisely to infuriate me, specifically. Just a little bit more blood pressure after 24 other episodes of pure vain bursting. Then, in the last 30 seconds it diverts the plot twist and gives a really odd ending that left me... I don't know. It was... an ending? It wasn't really satisfactory but I don't know what to say is wrong about it.
• Actual Thoughts
Honestly the story was... Really good, I think. I had to struggle through so much stuff I hated, and yet I actually was entertained beneath the red haze. As I mentioned, the ending was extremely odd, but otherwise I'd say for a school drama it succeeds in its goals well. Though characters did act odd a couple of times. It explored the characters and the situations in ways that kept me intrigued, and the overall story arc was good.
Characters had depth to them, and seemed to act sensibly to their personalities throughout. Seeing each character's story unfold was legitimately interesting to see.
There were some genuinely good moments in this show too, and while I wouldn't consider it a comedy, I laughed about two times during the show. They were good, hearty laughs so they count for a lot more.
Sound and animation was fine. I was too distracted to notice sound but the animation was on par or better.
• In Closing
I can't fault anything about this show really... I hated every second, and yet... I would probably still recommend it to anyone who likes tsunderes. I enjoyed it, though some of that may be because I sometimes like watching stuff that makes me want to invert my body violently. If it had been less tsundere, had fewer silly character decisions and less cringe than I think I would have really enjoyed it fully.
Overall... a very spiteful, disgusted, 8 out of 10. I hated it. It's not as though I enjoyed it or anything, hmph, whatever... baka.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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