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Toradora! (Anime & Manga)

Ryuuji, a nice guy, is mistaken for a delinquent and messes with Taiga Aisaka, aka The Palmtop Tiger. One day, Ryuuji accidentally finds Taiga’s love letter as she attacks in the night, as they make a deal to keep their secrets about who they have a crush on, as Ryuuji has a crush on Minori, who is Taiga’s friend, and as for Taiga, she has a crush on Yuusaku, Ryuuji’s friend as they both keep this a secret as Taiga offers him to be his dog to make food for her as she doesn’t eat much and coincidence they live next to each other. As they are both part of broken families, Ryuuji’s father left, and he has to pick up the pieces while his mom, Yasuko, works as a hostess for a bar, while Taiga lives with her father, but he isn’t around much because of work. As they both have to work with each other, Taiga’s Tsundere personality shines as she is cold and aggressive when she needs to be, but kind and understanding in times of hardship that she cares for the people she loves and will do anything to make it right in her eyes when she beats up one of the student council presidents that Yuusaku looks up to, but she leaves for America which breaks him and leads to Taiga to take action.

Taiga and Ryuuji become friends more and more as they help each other with confessions and their feelings with dealing with high school life, with the introduction of a new student, Ami Kawashima, as a young model who grabs people's attention. Taiga and Ami become rivals as she tries to hit on Ryuuji, which Taiga doesn’t like, as she is very protective of him. They work together during the summer at the poolside, where Taiga is self-conscious about her boobs, and Ryuuji helps her to beat Ami. This leads to a weird love triangle among all the characters, which is interesting in how the friendships form, especially between Taiga and Ryuuji, as it develops more and more, with Ami's rival helping them be on the same side.

I like how the story contrasts with Taiga and Ryuuji, with one being poor and one with money, but wants polar opposite things, as he wants to go to college but doesn’t have the money, while she doesn’t really care, as she is so rich that it really doesn’t matter to her. It becomes the focus near the end of the manga and anime. With manga, the pacing feels quick, as an arc doesn’t feel long enough, as it’s only 3-5 chapters, while the anime draws the chapters out to create more depth between the characters, in contrast to the manga and gives a proper ending as it ends on a sombre note of them running off from their parents, while the anime continues this, unsure about the light novel. As I really like the show, but the manga shows issues that I didn’t see before, but the anime makes it better. Taiga, as a tsundere, is an interesting idea, but doesn’t stand out that much to me, as I’ve watched over 60+ shows that other romances have done more unique concepts than this series. It is very well told, but feels mediocre in comparison due to the game of telephone between the characters. I like these characters, but actually, I have feelings for this character, which becomes very annoying as I prefer more of a focused romance between the main two, then it springs off to their friends, as it does in You and I are polar opposites. It worked for high school me, but their other work, Golden Time, might be more up my alley with a more adult romance with meet on the bone.