Anyway, what are you guys talking about? IMHO, this story has improved its standing amongst other romance anime in my eyes precisely because of the turning point of Taiga realizing she likes Ryuji. The story can only get better from now on as Ryuji has to eventually realize who he really wants to be with.

Credit must be given to the author, Takemiya Yuyuko, for being able to balance comedy and good drama well. Credit must also go to series director Nagai Tatsuyuki for a good adaptation. Nagai’s previous directorial roles include Honey & Clover II, which might explain why he’s good in adapting romance anime.

Mark my words, Toradora is the best romance anime I’ve seen in many years, and it doesn’t rely on anything supernatural or science fictional as plot device or elements. So in this aspect of realism, Toradora is better than the Key/Kyo-Ani adaptations. (This is not to say the Key works are bad, not at all. )

In fact, I dare say the story’s good enough for a live action adaptation, though whether it’ll succeed depends on how good the producers are.

Right, enough mindless raving of this series for me today.

Aside from that, the characters in the lovcom has shown some slice-of-life moments. Not much happened. Must be waiting for an avalanche to trap them in the next episode so everyone can BE FRIENDLY!

(I’ll have some cup ramen, but depends on what flavor. ^^)

Rawr: The novels lose the WAFF pretty damned fast, from what I’ve heard, so for the people who were afraid this would go off the rails, story-wife, like ZnT did, this is a pleasant surprise. As for the naturalness of the relationship between Taiga and Ryuuji, it does show up here – that’s why she’s pushing him towards Minorin, even if he’s somewhat confused as to whether he should continue his pursuit and Taiga herself feels much more comfortable around Ryuuji than perhaps she should for a pair that started their association through mutual self-interest.

Surprisingly zero fallout from the previous episode, but it’s good to see the comedy making a comeback.

Penis jokes are great when used in an unexpected situation lol.

For me, Toradora was a pleasant surprised back when I read the first volume that KinnyRiddle translated the first volume in practically a week. After that, it was like an addiction, since it gave me this WAFF (something I haven’t felt from an anime series in a relatively long time). So I was already thoroughly enamored with the story of the series before it started. However, now with the anime and novels taking such a dramatic turn, I just can’t help but feel that it’s setting up more emotional angst than needed. Sure, angst and emo makes for a story. But a good story? I can handle angst and emo just fine, it’s just that I didn’t expect my light-hearted love-comedy to be giving me fits of rage every other moment.

I’ve never taken this show seriously Taiga and Ryuuji’s respective love interests. The past few arcs proved to me that I probably should have, but I still can’t. Bias as it may be, the only relationship I care for is Ryuuji and Taiga’s. This is mainly because their relationship is the only one I enjoy watching, and the only one that actually make any sense to me. I mean, the show is centered around their relationship. They’re relationship is probably what makes the show so entertaining. So the fact that they’re breaking that apart and making way for angst and emo just doesn’t sit well with me. Even if some say it’s a necessary step in order to resolve the conflict, I for one just can’t help but be dissatisfied with the turn of events.

I hope the next ep can get back to toradorable. Since this ep was pretty devoid of any of it’s signature WAFF moments for me. Also, I hope to one day see dere dere taiga, as opposed to tsun tsun dere.