I think all of you still remember Toradora. Best 2008 drama ever. Here’s some techno to liven it up a bit again.

Thanks Ume!

There must be a reason why girls and machines go together so well.

Ok, so I’ll say this first, this post is a complete 100% spoiler post. If you haven’t watched 25, clicking Continue Reading will kill all the thrill Toradora ever built up. Hell, if you’re still reading on anyway proceed at your own risk.

First of all, I think Yasuko in her non-slut mode is actually extremely pretty. In this scene she reminded me a LOT of Alicia from ARIA. It actually made me realize that even though she’s the kind of mother she is, and acts childish and all, she is still, after all a grownup, and has been through more than most of us can only imagine. At the beginning of the series I must admit I didn’t think much of her, but this scene made me realize that, no matter what she seemed like in the series, she’s raised Ryuuji all the way without him going bad. Ryuuji’s right, I think that’s something pretty damn respectable no matter how you look at it. Just think of the number of parents who failed doing that.

Now, on to the lovebirds. The reason why Toradora trumps 90% of all anime love stories in my books is because this anime has closure. That’s right. Closure. Unlike other harem stories where the guy is undecided and STAYS undecided all the way to the end of the freakin undecided story, and still stays undecided with girls around him continuing to say “MAKENAI WA!” or continuing to dote on the guy until their lives end of old age, this one actually has an end to the love triangle, with the characters finally deciding who the right person for them is. The director has truly chosen to end this once and for all and close off the story before it gets long ang boring, and I think that even though we will miss the cast, its probably the best way to go.

I can’t say however, that I like how this ended. For one Taiga didn’t get as much screentime as I’d hoped, and there was nothing after Ryuuji and Taiga grew up or anything. Oh well, maybe the rest lies in the manga? Someone tell me if that’s the case.

Unlike a lot of hollywood movies or ero-game based/seinen/shoujo anime, the kissing scenes are left right to the end. This is the best thing about being Asian, the racy part always comes at the end, because realistically, people frown upon acts of courtship at the shallow stages of a relationship. People will only root for it once its grown deep enough, and its taken such a long time for them to get together and muster the courage to do it to each other. Though, I felt a bit confused and awkward when I saw this because it felt sudden and they were acting like mere platonic friends not too long ago. I guess the night tends to get people in the mood.

Oh, and don’t get me started about the no-sex thing. Being a teenager before I’m sure you guys can imagine the atmosphere at the time if YOU were in their shoes (or blankets, whichever way you want to think about it).

This scene is a really good painting of how much Taiga and Ryuuji were meant for each other. Holding hands takes quite a lot of courage (I can hear westerners laughing at us Asians now) because like I said before, public acts of affection isn’t something people around you are usually comfortable with. That’s why I think that it shows how close they are and how close they should be. I must admit, only the dragon can equal the tiger.

Yukari-sensei also earned my attention this episode. Her little speech about crossroads in life really got me thinking. Sure enough, those crossroads tend to force you to make a decision, and its those decisions which will completely change the course of your life one bit at a time. Most of these decisions don’t make or break your well being of course, but some really put so much impact on you it takes some real willpower to climb up again.

I think that Taiga’s choice of transferring and living with her mom has plenty of wisdom in it. It would be terrible to get married if your mom despised you. Her decision to reconcile herself with her family is nothing short of admirable. Reconciliation even during awkwardness has never not been good in my experience, and though we may offend or cast of another person, reconciliation is always a good thing, since everyone wants life to change for the better.

It seems a lot of side characters have been earning my attention in this series. They all seem to be developing so well in the background, no wonder so many other bloggers actually also start talking about the less-noticed side characters. If anything, Toradora has done more for its side characters than probably 90% of the anime I’ve watched.

Group photos are the best. They also represent a form of closure that will mark a part of everyone’s life. In this case, we get a half naked Kitamura, which will instead scar all of us for the rest of our lives. Aroduc. Not that it’s a bad thing though.

…and living abroad really isn’t anything to be proud of, but I guess if you’re going on a big prestigious scholarship and you’re Japanese, its probably a different story.

Teachers always look so proud and so happy about their students during their graduation. Perhaps its because its because it also represents a form of closure for them, showing them that they have indeed succeeded in raising good students, even though some haven’t really been ‘raised’… ah you get what I mean.

Also, it seems a lot of things can happen in one whole year. Maya and whatshisface are going all dere dere with each other now. Even though it seemed like a flash to us, they must’ve been really busy this year. Oh how I wish for a sequel now. Toradora ~After Story~

Finally, Taiga returns, and it seems that she’s sorted everything out on her side, and comes back from a school whose uniforms are sailor uniforms (KYAAA~). Somehow, she doesn’t look extremely cute in this uniform. Its probably because I’m used to seeing her in a coat and everything, but oh well. Zettais, DFC, Serafuku and tsundere all in one is any anime fan’s definition of perfection. Ahh yes, good things truly come in small packages.

P.S. Our loveable home parrot seems to have finally passed the JLPT lvl 100. Good Job Inko-chan on finally being able to say your own name! Time to get it a square hat and a certificate too.

So if sitting here in a boring room waiting for your favorite show to finally finish downloading isn’t bad enough, you get showered left right and center by sentence after sentence of what a paranoid you would consider potential spoilers, and part of you would start to think about the philosophical question of whether or not you will live to finally be able to watch Toradora 25. Have you had that experience? Because that’s what me and Kagamin are both feeling right now. To top things off, the ISP doesn’t seem to give a damn and provides us with their regular friendly service: disconnections every 5 minutes and a choked pipe, as well as a prerecorded telephone support welcome message saying “your call is important to us. Please hold”. Oh the oxymorons and idiosyncracies of modern corporations.

All of us have been waiting so long for this day to watch it together, yet we’re being served cruelly by the very thing that makes us realize we still have a life to live. We wait, and wait and wait, trying to preoccupy ourselves with other things and yet the day never seems to come. I can tell you when you really want to watch an episode of something, waiting for it is akin to catholic zealots awaiting the second coming of Jesus. Its that serious.

It also seems Haruhi’s getting impatient, and the night seems darker than ever before.

When I first started watching Toradora I thought all it was was just another moe flick like Hayate no Gotoku with no real story or another novel adaptation that was just made to sell merchandise licenses with like Zero no Tsukaima or a failure of an anime with a rushed ending like Shana (and ZnT). Contrary to my expectations, it turned out to be really good. And its not just good because it exceeded my very low expectations for it, but it was good because it actually impressed me more than CLANNAD, which was made by the gods at KyoAni itself. It turns out even commoners can shine.

Remember when I said Minorin was my favorite girl in the series? Well, that’s no longer the case. I see too much of myself inside her. She’s dishonest, untrue to herself, and always hiding her true feeling from everyone. Keeping it inside seems good, but maybe its because she feels that the people around her just aren’t close enough to her for her to tell her feelings to… at least, until she got into a fight with Ami.

That said, its probably better this way, since she’s finally found a friend who she can show her tears to. BUT. Having said that, I still hate her. I hate her for all the nonsense she spews out even in an emotional scene, and how everything she does always looks like some sort of fakage. She would probably earn bombs from being on a Chinese TV advertising show.

Now this picture was probably drawn by one of the better artists. It’s a good picture. Want to know why I think its a good picture? Most people cannot reproduce the expression of a person when trying to block their nose. The way her eyes narrow and her mouth displays an expression that radiates discomfort, really shows this artist knows his stuff. JC Staff’s been producing so much anime lately its hard to see how some of their artists cannot become geniuses.

Taiga on the other hand, is cuter than ever before. Like, I think she spent all her brand new status points from levelling up on just the cuteness attribute maybe its got something to do with a certain sidequest called “get boyfriend”? One would think that someone like her would naturally exhibit extreme cuteness and loveability, but it was the sheer lack of it in the beginning of this anime that probably made us all crave it even more. After all, that is the basis of the Tsundere Attraction.

All of a sudden Ryuuji and Taiga have so much in common it seems like they were destined to be together. Well, that’s the funny thing about these shows. Its that because there’s a script and storyboard, there’s a destiny for all the characters.

And Taiga and Ryuuji really go together really well. Better than what you’d expect when you saw her kicking and poking him around in the beginning of the show.

This would probably be one of the more memorable Toradora shows because practically all the scenes in it have a not-violent Taiga, and a very cute and very melancholic girl. After watching this, and finding that I’m enjoying watching them being troubled and finding life difficult, I am now officially convinced that misery sells.

Look at her, her large eyes and small stature, and the fact that she’s already pretty grown up just makes me wonder… Why do I find small girls so nice? Is my obsession over Taiga in this episode an indication of the existence of my inner pedophile? I really hope not…

Okay, so what I really wanted to say is, Taiga is actually a crossbreed of Shana and Nogizaka Haruka. But I’m sure she’d push me off a 100 storey building if she ever heard that come out of my mouth.

GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

One of the things I was asking myself after watching Toradora is: Why is baka-chi giving me the impression of a dog now? I mean, Toradora SOS aside, why… do I think she really looks like a cute puppy wondering if its master will ever speak to it again? Why is Ami making me think of dogs?! I know she’s got the puppy face in this picture, but… don’t you find it unnatural to look at a girl and think about dogs?

Man, you only get these sorts of scenes in anime.

So now that Ryuuji has decided to make Taiga his wife, and Taiga seems to be very eager to comply, but very embarrassed about it, I wonder if now we’ll get a nice wedding with a bride with a face red as a tomato. That would really be awesome. Though its great to see Taiga gradually shedding her tsun and insecure side, it would still be nice to see a bit of it again. Maybe after they are married?

It appears ASCII Media Works and Nintendo DS are coming up with something that will be recieved very well in the anime fan world in the next few days. A game called Dengeki Gakuen: Cross of Venus is an action/RPG game for the DS that will feature all the stars from light novels published by under the Dengeki Bunko label. So what’s so special about them? Well, for those of you who don’t know, the light novels include some famous names like: Shakugan no Shana, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu and Toradora. Feeling the excitement now?

The game’s going to be released on March 19th, which is like, just days away. Who’s getting it? (Gameplay pics after the jump)

This looks like its going to be an extremely fun game to say the least. Being able to play some of the most famous characters in the anime world in one single game would be any moe lover’s wet dream. Our prayers have been answered. Oh and for those of you who were wondering, the girl in brown hair (not Taiga) is called Kasugai Kizuna. I like that name.

Here’s a Nice Trailer too.

Kagami would probably be delighted to play it when it comes out.

… is what I can so hear Haruta saying now. I mean he doesn’t say it but I can hear the voice so loud its deafening. This is precisely the thing I love about Toradora. It really explains the world around, that even if you aren’t getting anywhere, the rest of the world is. Onee-chan ja nai yo. GAARUFURIENDO!

This is the kind of response 4chan would give to a troll post like Haruta’s “look I’m dumb and stupid, but I’m hooked up. How many of you anons has a GAARUFURIENDO?”

On another note, twintailed Taiga (IS FUKKEN WIN) reminded me of someone from To Aru Anime That I Watched Not Long Ago. Did I mention that she was FULL OF WIN? There’s something about twintails that makes them so attractive and so arousing. I just can’t put my finger on it.

I must also commend the director for such a good show of force in giving us the drama that we need. Minorin’s Usotsuki face will live through the centuries. Lookie Ryuuji your GAARUFURIENDO target is staring in your face calling you a liar. We need some KNIVES in this show.

Also, we need a bit more Higurashi-style Taiga.

…and Kawashima Shion.

Found some great vids today played by someone callim himself Geno-killer. He plays 2 good songs from Toradora with the precision and style of a professional bass player. The internet is such a pot of gold, I wonder what else there is to be found…

If there’s one thing I like about JC Staff, its the recent trend of them chibifying and comickizing the anime characters from anime that they animate that all started when they started their amazing Shakugan no Shana-tan series. I can’t wait for them to do a chibified version of Nagi-tan and Hayate-tan as well. Yeah. This is just a moe/kawaii explosion post.

Wuts with the ears…? I thought they looked like bunny ears at first.

Turns out they are actually dog ears -.-; And Taiga has tiger ears and a tiger tail

One thing I keep wondering is, why doesn’t Minorin have Bunny ears!? Whats that stupid flower on her head desu??

Flower girl ftw?

Seriously, Ryuuji needs to get a life. And choose someone already.

Yeah. That’s better.

God… Kitamura *facepalms*

Ugh. Inko unko face. Can’t unsee.

Man, I want to have an Index that I can hang on my balcony too.

*WARNING* BIRD LOCK ON *WARNING*

Looks familiar?

Well, okay.

I wonder how many people got the joke in this picture…

Buy the D*D~! キ　-_O b キ

Save electricity, says the moe biri biri.