Valiona
Since: Mar, 2011
10/14/2022 00:00:00
If you edit your review's subject, you can change the namespace and/or work title of the work to which your review belongs. I just did this for my review of Accel World, changing it from Light Novel to Literature.
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Not a Fan (Repost Review)
(I originally posted this review on 7/14/2018, before Toradora! was moved from the Light Novel to the Literature section)
I hadn't seen many Rom-Coms or works about Tsundere before Toradora!. Strangely enough, I often had limited investment watching the show, yet it still made me feel both emotional and frustrated. Maybe I missed something, but on the other hand, maybe there's value in the first impressions of a casual viewer.
I found Ryuuji & Taiga's dynamic alright. Ryuuji was a solid character, but came off as too much of a Butt-Monkey sometimes. Will everyone give him a break? Taiga sometimes annoyed me, but it was good to learn the why behind her actions. Although I was more irritated than amused by the running gag Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male.
Wait, was I supposed to not point that out, and instead just laugh and say "Haha, classic"?
Minori seemed like a decent character, although her feelings were sometimes hard to parse out. Ami came off as a misguidedly manipulating Smug Snake, which may be a sweeping description, but I wasn't really invested enough to care more.
The biggest red flag I had, though, was Kitamaru. This guy was flat. Really flat. I could hardly discern any traits outside generic nice guy, which is why his outburst over Sumire felt so jarring. And after that, he's essentially irrelevant.
The more the confusion and miscommunication over the characters' feelings piled up, the more I grew impatient and exhausted. It's not so much that the destination was predictable; it's just that I didn't find the journey fun. I guess incessant Will They or Won't They? miscommunication isn't my thing.
The ending where Taiga disappears felt somewhat frustrating, illogical, and pointlessly melodramatic. Wouldn't Taiga tell Ryuuji what she was doing directly instead of vanishing without a word? Well, whatever.
If you're into the Tsundere archetype and like Will They or Won't They? drama/miscommunication, maybe you'll enjoy Toradora! more, but for me it was more of a mild roller coaster between slight investment and frustration.