とらドラ！Toradora! - Review

Genres: comedy, romance, slice of life
Themes: love rectangle, school

Recently I have been getting into romance and slice of life animes. It's probably my staple genre combination, and I always tend to fall back on it. Of course I also enjoy action, fantasy, psychological as well. If it's got them all I'm in love.

Anyway, this anime was fantastic. I felt like the characters are extremely likable and generally original. Sure maybe their "stereotypes" are not that original, little cute girl that's got a temper or model teenager that's spoiled, however, their personalities are all unique. The main protagonist, Ryuuji is extremely likable. He's got what everyone calls a "delinquent" face, so everyone is initially scared of him, regardless the fact of how nice he really is.

The other main character, Taiga, is very cute, especially because of the conflicting elements. Tiny body, huge temper.

Oh, by the way, the title とらドラ！(Toradora!) is a made up word combining the words "Tiger" (tora) and English version of "Dragon" (dora). Did you also notice the pun? The main female name is "Taiga" and the man male name is "Ryuuji", which mean Tiger and Dragon, respectively. I thought that was a great symbolizm throughout the anime. Dragon is the only animal that can stand up to the tiger, yet at the same time, they are polar opposites.

The anime revolves around a mix-up in the beginning, where it ends up Ryuuji has to help Taiga win over her crush, who is Ryuuji's friend. At the same time, Ryuuji has a crush on Taiga's friend, who she ends up helping Ryuuji try to win over as well.

The other main characters are enjoyable parts of the show. At first they may seem superficial, but because it's a slice of life anime, they all experience psychological hardships like the rest of the world, and end up way more humanized by the end.

As a end note. This anime was FUNNY. Genuinely funny. There is not many animes that can make me laugh more than one or two episodes out loud. Maybe there are more variables behind it (like watching something alone for instance, you laugh less), however, this anime kept me laughing. Highly recommended!