Toradora! Special

I had just finished Toradora! When I did some research and learned that special had just come out only two months prior. Excited, and since the original anime was so darn good, I quickly watched it, thinking it was going to be, at the very least, AWESOME. However, it turned out to be much more disappointing than I originally had anticipated. In fact, it made me almost cry - not with tears of sympathy or sadness or humor, but just plain BORING. Story: 7/10 Presumedly taking place a couple weeks after Toradora! ended, it started off logically but fell flat on its face in the first5 minutes. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but the fact that I knew this was going to be "one of those specials." Moe-blob, circular plot sort of thing, where the storyline isn't advanced and everyone remains static. Poo. I was really expecting some sort of plot twist or SOMETHING to keep me glued to the screen, but it just wasn't good storytelling. I think they went sort of over the top with comedy as well; the producers seemed to focus mainly on the natural humor and personalities of the characters to create simply a side episode. This was accomplished - halfway. I laughed, oh yes I laughed, but the slap-stick humor really confused me: was this the Toradora! that I had loved only one episode ago? The background is simple: a couple days (maybe a couple weeks) after Toradora! ended, Ryujji Takasu and Tenori Taiga are back again with Kitamaru, Ami, Minorin, and the rest of class 2-C. The whole episode focuses on one thing (the title of the episode): lunch. Bento boxes, to be precise. The lesson at the end made sense, but this was pretty much lame. Compared to the rugged sort of interactions the characters had in the original anime, this specials really let me down in terms of things like a deeper meaning, or worse: no storyline. Art: 9/10 I'll stand my ground on the art; like I said with the original Toradora!, the wonderful facial expressions are back! I love their realistic portrayal of anger or sorrow and especially embarrassment. The art was what made this so good in the first place: Takasu's scary face along with Taiga's small stature really made such a great juxtaposition, and continued while viewing this episode. The environment was crisp and clean, the colors bright and cheerful, never skipping a beat on the animation. So yes, the art deserved this great score. Sound: 8/10 I rated the sound decently high because I always loved the OP and ED; both are on my Ipod and have at least 10 plays already. Great songs; but, again, what irked me a little was the fact that there was almost no background music. I love, even a little, background sound to let the story flow better and to sort of pave the way for the next scene. Again, like the anime, it lacked background sound; but no matter, because what made up for it was, again, the voice acting. I love me some good actors; especially when they make the characters sound so real. You could tell their feelings just by listening to the tone of the voice; no small feat. If you don't believe me, try saying something happy followed by something depressingly sad; can't do it with emotion, can you? Exactly. Character: 7/10 Why so low of a character score? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO DEVELOPMENT. Static characters always incite my deepest anger; what makes a story good are the CHARACTERS. You can have the CRAPPIEST animation ever with the worse music in the history of nails-on-chalkboard, but if the characters are half-decent, so is the overall show! The only reason we know the characters is from the original anime; if this was a whole OVA or something on its own, I'd give it a 4. There's no development, no internal conflict, just silly moe-blob the entire time. Takasu stays almost exactly the same (though they do show a personality quirk of his the entire time). Taiga acts a little less tsundere, though not by much. Ami hardly appears, Minorin is there for very little time, and Kitamaru says barely anything. Then again, this is simply a "special" and I shouldn't berate it so hard, especially since this isn't part of the main series; however, I was more than disappointed with the work they put into this... Overall, I WAS entertained; though I may have said some harsh insults, overall it wasn't that bad. It just needs some polish (and a whole plot-rewrite) to be better. The only reason I didn't give this below a 6 was because I knew the background from the original series; if it wasn't for that, like I said, I wouldn't even be writing this review. I loved the comedy; the producers worked so hard on it, I thought I would at least acknowledge it. Wonderful laughs all around. However, I was also disappointed, so don't expect too much. Whatever; a good bento is a good bento.

Ok, what we have here is generally is a 1 off OVA of the parent anime "Toradora," it still follows the same genre and it still maintains the same cast, however this is one OVA that should have been included as an episode of its parent anime instead of a separate OVA. So my rating: Story: Good 7. Ok, so the OVA is all about Ryuuji who is having some insecurities of losing out to Yuusaku's grandmother who happens to make a good bento meal for the latter, so he does all the unnecessary things that he can to beat his best friend's grandmom's cooking, which overallit is the comic part of this OVA that makes it to have such rating. Art and sound: Mediocre 5. No need for me to say on this parts. Character: Mediocre 5. I did mention that the original cast of this OVA are still here. Enjoyment and Overall: Good 7. I not gonna elaborate anymore, all I can say is that this OVA is worth watching and one has to think of it as a long awaited episode that is finally been aired.

The triple cast is back with Taiga, Amy, and Minori! or should I say Kugimiya Rie, Horie Yui, and Kitamura Eri! Unfortunately, this show was mostly all about Takasu, Ryuuji's ego of trying to surpass a certain someone as a housewife. This isn't a bad thing but I'm assuming a lot of viewers were looking forward to a post scenario with our couple. The shows kick off with Kitamura Yuusaku a friend of Ryuuji by bringing a super deluxe fancy 3 stories tall buffet Bento to school. Kitamura being the nice guy as he wants to share his food with all his friends. They each trya little bit of something from the bento and of course Taiga wants the main course the Lobster and gets tease by Ryuuji. However, he then tries the chicken and finds out it's nothing in comparison to his ben-to. He soon declares war against Kitamura Yuusaku's oh-baah-sahn! Checklist of what makes a good Toradora OVA. Humor ✔ Lovable characters ✔ Ridiculous plot ✔ Ryuuji scary face ✔ The show sells itself the minute Ryuuji declares war. Showing his more real personality from the novels. Viewers who have just watched Toradora! now get to see Ryuuji's real side. A top-notch housewife! Every minute of the show was overjoyed with humor. Being able to see Ryuuji giving his all in his ben-to and seeing Taiga's cooking again brings back memories! Cookies anyone? Toradora! not only shines in Humor and having solid characters but also delivers life lessons. The ending of this OVA combining with the refreshing music is what makes Toradora! If you're a fan of Toradora! This is an OVA you must watch!

Review in brief: While this special does have something to offer to fans of the series it also partially disregards what made the main show so enjoyable in the first place. If you weren't a fan of Toradora! to begin with this probably isn't worth watching. Review in full: Toradora!: Bentou no Gokui is a zany one-off episode that focuses on Ryuuji early in the series. It shows a deterministic side of him that doesn't come up too often in the main series and gives the viewer a better idea of who he is and what drives him. However the plot feels a tad forced inthat Ryuuji would have to be triggered pretty hard to push the episode's main dilemma like he does if we're going by what the main show told us. Within the main show he typically doesn't become competitive for its own sake, but here that's about all that can be drawn from the situation. The way the main joke repeats itself doesn't make it as funny as the comedy in the main show either. In fact I can't recall any episode in the main show that recycled a joke as its main premise throughout its duration. It also doesn't help that most of Toradora! relied on and was seemingly built for story arcs that lasted 2-3 episodes. Perhaps this story could have been better if it had more room to develop. While the many characters present are generally themselves and the conclusion to the episode is nice, the episode as a whole just feels off-kilter. Lastly, Bentou no Gokui's general production quality is simply good enough for what it sets out to do. The visual style is no different than Toradora! ever was, but there aren't any moments where particularly interesting camera angles or special animation changes are used like they were in the main show. At least the sakura scene was nice. Meanwhile the voice acting is just as lively & expressive as ever, but the episode sounds somewhat empty as far as music & SFX are concerned. Of course both are entirely reused from the main show, it's just applied more sparsely than before, which is not to Bentou no Gokui's benefit. Verdict: It's a good thing they decided to skip out on this story in the main series as doesn't fit very well with the rest of it and would have thrown off the show