kiryogi (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kiryogi) wrote,@ 2009-05-14 09:51:00 |
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Toradora!
Just yesterday, I had the pleasure of starting a marathon on "Toradora!". Which I just finished earlier today. I did episodes 1-24 until 9am this morning haha. Left the final episode for when I was more awake (Which was 4pm today), since it'd be the most important one to be well aware of on. That said, "Toradora!" is one of those drama/romantic comedy shows. In fact, you could basically say it's just another moe show. Which isn't too far from the truth. I almost wrote it off since it came off as that. As always with my stubbornness, I'm glad I didn't.
So, the premise behind "Toradora!" involves this delinquent looking guy named Ryuuji Takasu (the dragon!), who's not really a delinquent. But the fact that he looks the way he does, makes it really hard for him to make friends or ever getting a girlfriend. Well, fast forward to his first day in high school. He ends up running into the school's most vicious animal, Taiga Aisaka. (the tiger, taiga=tiger, get it? Also voiced by renown tsundere queen Rie Kugimiya) Antics ensue and eventually it turns out that they live next to each other, and they like the others best friend. So they end up helping each other get their respective loves.
What a perfect setup, but that's the gist of it. I admit I'm missing a lot of details too, but I'm not here to completely summarize the show. That said, this premise definitely lends itself to silly comedic moe antics. Such as Taiga being such a ill tempered person, and absolutely dominates Ryuuji in a master/servant fashion. However, there's more to the show than meets the eye. Sure, it still falls along the lines of a shounen romance in the end, but it's one of those shows that actually succeeds at the formula. Rarely does a show of this type ever really have actual progress or evolve the characters in a good manner. Although I say this now, I never really felt much fluff from "Toradora!". It always felt like a really concise viewing experience. The serious dramatic moments really outweighed any of the light comedic moe moments. Don't get me wrong though, there's also good laughs to be had, but when the relationships and drama start, it's full steam ahead. A lot of episodes end with a bang you'd never expect. The talent involved with this really help deliver it too. Although, only three that were really renown. That being Kugimiya Rie, Tanaka Rie (a minor role in Toradora!, but nonetheless a notable actress) and Horie Yui. (who plays Taiga's best friend/Ryuuji's love interst, Minori Kushieda). On Horie's character, she definitely has her serious moments, with Horie's range and acting managing to portray that extremely well. It always fascinates me how far she's come since her role as Love Hina's "Narusegawa Naru". She's often in major roles, and even sings a lot of the theme songs. In fact, she's the lead singer for both of the opening and endings in Toradora!. I somehow like to think of her as today's Megumi Hayahsibara.
Moving back to the show itself, besides having a great cast to work with, JC Staff also handled it in a very good manner. Toradora! was actually directed by the guy that worked on Honey and Clover. (Worked a bit on first season, fully directed second season) So if you did your research, you were going into romantic comedic moe hijinks done by a competent director. So it wasn't going to be your average moe show. Also unlike other JC Staff productions (Zero no Tsukaima, Shakugan no Shana), Toradora! actually ended and won't be milked to death like the forementioned. It was often a big concern if they were going to ruin the show by keeping it going endlessly, since it seemed they were doing an excellent job thus far. Aside from those doubts, one of the other shining key points was how they handled the sound. They crafted a score that was used in a manner that worked really well for the key moments. Which alone added more to the impact the show had in those moments. They also had insert songs/ending themes appropriate for the big moments. Something that KyoAni managed to absolutely fail on in their 2nd season of Clannad. You don't know how much of a mood killer it was to hear something super hyperactive after a really depressing scene. I guess it's more of a complaint to the current season, as both shows were actually airing next to each other as part of the fall 2008->spring 2009 lineup.
That should cover everything, but what can I say? Toradora! was a really pleasant surprise. It turned out a lot more mature than I had ever expected it to be. I mean if you looked at the premise, it really did seem generic. Now you'd probably would have known the outcome since the show started, but it was the ride there that really made it worthwhile. It's filled with many comedic, warm, and serious moments to enjoy. Every episode really felt like it covered a lot of stuff for just being in a span of 24 minutes. Which in actuality, it did cover a ton of the actual material from the light novel. Like a ton of chapters at a time. People were sort of worried they were rushing thru it too fast. But it turned out fantastic thankfully. Now I was originally going to rewatch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (The eternity you desire/Rumbling Hearts) for some masochistic reason, but Toradora! managed to fill that gap pretty well. (Although, I'm probably still going to rewatch Kiminozo soon) It's definitely up there somewhere on my list of favorites and I'd definitely invest on it domestically when it gets licensed. It's always nice that there's still something really good amongst all the generic moe crap that gets released every season. Although it did look like every other show at first. Now I know I haven't read a book in a long time, but I'm most likely going to be reading the light novel the show was based off of. That is, after I finish re skimming the show itself for more thoughts and details I might have missed.
On random note, I've finally decided to use my flickr and post my adventures that I do end up taking via the camera on my cellphone. (hopefully from my actual camera some day) For those that are interested, you can find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7752368@N0
Just yesterday, I had the pleasure of starting a marathon on "Toradora!". Which I just finished earlier today. I did episodes 1-24 until 9am this morning haha. Left the final episode for when I was more awake (Which was 4pm today), since it'd be the most important one to be well aware of on. That said, "Toradora!" is one of those drama/romantic comedy shows. In fact, you could basically say it's just another moe show. Which isn't too far from the truth. I almost wrote it off since it came off as that. As always with my stubbornness, I'm glad I didn't.
So, the premise behind "Toradora!" involves this delinquent looking guy named Ryuuji Takasu (the dragon!), who's not really a delinquent. But the fact that he looks the way he does, makes it really hard for him to make friends or ever getting a girlfriend. Well, fast forward to his first day in high school. He ends up running into the school's most vicious animal, Taiga Aisaka. (the tiger, taiga=tiger, get it? Also voiced by renown tsundere queen Rie Kugimiya) Antics ensue and eventually it turns out that they live next to each other, and they like the others best friend. So they end up helping each other get their respective loves.
What a perfect setup, but that's the gist of it. I admit I'm missing a lot of details too, but I'm not here to completely summarize the show. That said, this premise definitely lends itself to silly comedic moe antics. Such as Taiga being such a ill tempered person, and absolutely dominates Ryuuji in a master/servant fashion. However, there's more to the show than meets the eye. Sure, it still falls along the lines of a shounen romance in the end, but it's one of those shows that actually succeeds at the formula. Rarely does a show of this type ever really have actual progress or evolve the characters in a good manner. Although I say this now, I never really felt much fluff from "Toradora!". It always felt like a really concise viewing experience. The serious dramatic moments really outweighed any of the light comedic moe moments. Don't get me wrong though, there's also good laughs to be had, but when the relationships and drama start, it's full steam ahead. A lot of episodes end with a bang you'd never expect. The talent involved with this really help deliver it too. Although, only three that were really renown. That being Kugimiya Rie, Tanaka Rie (a minor role in Toradora!, but nonetheless a notable actress) and Horie Yui. (who plays Taiga's best friend/Ryuuji's love interst, Minori Kushieda). On Horie's character, she definitely has her serious moments, with Horie's range and acting managing to portray that extremely well. It always fascinates me how far she's come since her role as Love Hina's "Narusegawa Naru". She's often in major roles, and even sings a lot of the theme songs. In fact, she's the lead singer for both of the opening and endings in Toradora!. I somehow like to think of her as today's Megumi Hayahsibara.
Moving back to the show itself, besides having a great cast to work with, JC Staff also handled it in a very good manner. Toradora! was actually directed by the guy that worked on Honey and Clover. (Worked a bit on first season, fully directed second season) So if you did your research, you were going into romantic comedic moe hijinks done by a competent director. So it wasn't going to be your average moe show. Also unlike other JC Staff productions (Zero no Tsukaima, Shakugan no Shana), Toradora! actually ended and won't be milked to death like the forementioned. It was often a big concern if they were going to ruin the show by keeping it going endlessly, since it seemed they were doing an excellent job thus far. Aside from those doubts, one of the other shining key points was how they handled the sound. They crafted a score that was used in a manner that worked really well for the key moments. Which alone added more to the impact the show had in those moments. They also had insert songs/ending themes appropriate for the big moments. Something that KyoAni managed to absolutely fail on in their 2nd season of Clannad. You don't know how much of a mood killer it was to hear something super hyperactive after a really depressing scene. I guess it's more of a complaint to the current season, as both shows were actually airing next to each other as part of the fall 2008->spring 2009 lineup.
That should cover everything, but what can I say? Toradora! was a really pleasant surprise. It turned out a lot more mature than I had ever expected it to be. I mean if you looked at the premise, it really did seem generic. Now you'd probably would have known the outcome since the show started, but it was the ride there that really made it worthwhile. It's filled with many comedic, warm, and serious moments to enjoy. Every episode really felt like it covered a lot of stuff for just being in a span of 24 minutes. Which in actuality, it did cover a ton of the actual material from the light novel. Like a ton of chapters at a time. People were sort of worried they were rushing thru it too fast. But it turned out fantastic thankfully. Now I was originally going to rewatch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (The eternity you desire/Rumbling Hearts) for some masochistic reason, but Toradora! managed to fill that gap pretty well. (Although, I'm probably still going to rewatch Kiminozo soon) It's definitely up there somewhere on my list of favorites and I'd definitely invest on it domestically when it gets licensed. It's always nice that there's still something really good amongst all the generic moe crap that gets released every season. Although it did look like every other show at first. Now I know I haven't read a book in a long time, but I'm most likely going to be reading the light novel the show was based off of. That is, after I finish re skimming the show itself for more thoughts and details I might have missed.
On random note, I've finally decided to use my flickr and post my adventures that I do end up taking via the camera on my cellphone. (hopefully from my actual camera some day) For those that are interested, you can find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7752368@N0
