Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Toradora!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 27, 2014

There’s a tendency in anime, especially shōnen anime for some reason, where events can be depicted as downright devastating, only to be solved in a figurative snap of the fingers. Case in point: ToraDora, an agreeable if hardly groundbreaking anime that deals with two outcasts in high school who are initially nemeses but who (in best anime fashion) learn to work together and perhaps even forge more than a mere friendship. As the anime opens, Ryuji Takasu is uptight about starting another year in high school, an anxiety made no easier due to the fact that Ryuji is more or less completely in charge of his home environment, due to his hard partying (and usually hung over) mother. What’s really eating Ryuji, though, is his appearance: he has inherited his late father’s eyes, and they are evidently so menacing looking that most of his classmates are deathly afraid of him. (One of the anime’s shortcomings is the design of this element of Ryuji’s physique—his eyes really are not all that scary, frankly.) Ryuji tries to style his hair to cover up his orbs, but since he needs to be able to see where he’s going, quite often his eyes are visible to others, and that more often than not creates complete chaos. And so we’re initially left with the impression that Ryuji is a complete outsider with no friends and no prospects for a happy life, either at home or at school. And then—guess what? Pretty much out of nowhere, a kid named Yusaku Kitamura shows up, and it becomes clear that he and Ryuji are best friends, and have been for some time. So, Ryuji is not alone and indeed has at least the basis for a social structure, albeit an admittedly small one. But within just a few minutes, it also becomes clear that several other kids, while a little reticent to actually interact with Ryuji, are at least aware that the boy is not a threat, those menacing eyes notwithstanding. It’s a patently odd way to start out a series which depends at least in part on Ryuji feeling isolated. But that may indeed be the point: this teenager’s feelings may not accurately reflect the way others feel about him, and in that way, ToraDora is perhaps a bit smarter about adolescent interactions than it may seem at first glance.

As odd at it may sound, I was simultaneously reminded of two incredibly disparate anime properties as I began watching ToraDora. The whole hyperbolic reaction to seemingly mundane trivialities was extremely reminiscent of similar teenaged angst portrayed in Flowers of Evil: Complete Collection . Perhaps even more saliently, a weird love triangle is part of Toradora, much like it is in Flowers of Evil, and once again there's a very aggressive orange haired girl seemingly drawing the hero away from the girl the hero professes is his real true love. But that orange haired girl herself seemed to almost but a carbon copy of the title character of Shakugan no Shana, especially when she trundles about as a vicious tsundere weilding a katana.

That orange haired girl is named Taiga Asaka, and she is at least as feared by her classmates as Ryuji is, though in this case, it seems to be actually warranted. Taiga is about the most prototypical tsundere imaginable, throwing out insults and, even worse, punches at those with whom she comes into contact—which unfortunately includes Ryuji, who takes one on the jaw in his first interchange with the fiery female. Later, he has a huge melée with Taiga when he tries to retrieve his bag from a classroom that she's in. Later, he discovers the reason— Taiga had mistakenly left a love letter in it, or at least thought she had.

That sets up the basic foundation for the rest of the story, for Taiga shows up at Ryuji’s house one night and basically threatens to kill him (coming disturbingly close) unless he keep her love letter a secret. It turns out that Taiga’s only real friend at school is just the girl that Ryuji has had his eye on for some time but has been too shy to approach, and so a a rather rambunctious partnership is forged, where Ryuji’s literary skills help Taiga (think Cyrano de Bergerac, as reimagined for anime), while Taiga can hopefully lead Ryuji to the girl of his dreams. It probably goes without saying that no one ends up with whom they think they’re fated to spend the rest of their lives.

And it’s in this very element that ToraDora may seem a bit too padded for its own good. Taiga more or less makes Ryuji her slave, and the not exactly demanding boy goes along with it, forcing him into what at least appear to be semi-humiliating circumstances. But it’s a foregone conclusion that slowly but surely these two nemeses are going to end up working together, and perhaps even more. What’s left is an appealing but uneven blend of typical romantic longing, okay but hardly hilarious slapstick humor, and even occasional melodrama. Taiga is such an instantly unlikable character that there doesn’t initially appear to be any real reason to care about her, but through both character development, and the late arrival of another, even more problematic female named Ami, Taiga actually seems to have a beating heart underneath her brusque exterior.

The bottom line here is that though it struggles mightily at times to escape its genre conventions, ToraDora at its heart is simply about outcasts finding each other. It’s a story that’s been told countless times not just in anime but in a glut of other media, and so by now the tropes are so firmly set that it’s frankly difficult to completely escape them. That leaves the series to find its charm in smaller moments, with interactions between the characters providing most of the allure here rather than any overall sweeping plot arc. You may have seen this basic story countless times before, but ToraDora is neither the best nor the worst iteration of a pretty familiar tale.

Toradora!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

ToraDora is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of NIS America with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Much like the series itself, the animation here is enjoyable if never absolutely breathtaking. There are some decent design elements (even if Ryuji's eyes never seem to demon spawn, as everyone seems to think they are), with good, sharp line detail and nicely saturated colors (Taiga's hair actually morphs slightly, depending on what kind of light she's in). Deep auburns and purples are especially prevalent in the series and look great, but the entire palette in the series is nicely varied and pops quite well in high definition. Overall, though, there's a somewhat soft appearance to many shots, especially those with undetailed backgrounds.

Toradora!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

ToraDora features both the original Japanese language track as well as a newer English dub delivered via LPCM 2.0 tracks. The original Japanese voice actors are extremely distinctive, and so I'd recommend checking out that track even for those who don't typically like to read subtitles. The mixes here are not exactly identical, but close enough so that other considerations should be taken into account when making a choice, and while the English voice actors do quite well, the original language is probably the way to go here. Fidelity on both tracks is excellent, delivering dialogue and the series' kind of annoying J-pop score with clarity and no issues of any import.

Toradora!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

NIS America Premium Editions have been an incredibly handsome collection of releases, but they've also tended to drive collectors a little crazy due to their unusual size. The label has perhaps heard of these complaints and this is the first NIS America Premium Edition that I've personally reviewed that is housed in something at least a bit more compatible with standard Blu-ray packaging. A sturdy chipboard slipcase is just a bit bigger than a standard DVD case, and it houses a large clear DVD case sized unit holding four Blu-ray discs and four DVDs. Also included is a hardback book with interviews, character assessments and lots of illustrations. (The book is now considerably smaller than the ones that were included in the previous NIS America Premium Edition releases.) The on disc supplements include:

Disc One:

• Toradora SOS! Hurray for Foodies #1 (1080p; 5:04) offers some chibi adventures.


• Toradora SOS! Hurray for Foodies #2 (1080p; 5:37)


• Clean Opening (1080p; 1:31)


• Clean Ending (1080p; 1:31)


• Japanese TV Spots (1080p; 6:39)

Disc Three:

• Toradora SOS! Hurray for Foodies #3 (1080p; 6:18)


• Toradora SOS! Hurray for Foodies #4 (1080p; 5:03)


• Clean Opening (1080p; 1:31)


• Clean Ending (1080p; 1:45)


• Ami's Impersonations (1080p; 2:16) riffs on a story covered in Episode 6.

Note: The supplement score above includes the packaging and hardback book.

Toradora!: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

ToraDora takes a couple of relatively interesting detours along the way, but it's a fairly predictable enterprise from virtually the first moment, despite a somewhat rockier road than is typical even in a lot of romance anime. Taiga is a pretty unlikable character for a surprisingly long amount of time here, and Ryuji doesn't help his case by meekly going along with Taiga's humiliating treatment of him, but the moral of the story is that people can change and even outcasts can find happiness. That may not be especially profound, but it's worthy enough to make ToraDora Recommended.