For Ryuji Takasu, his life in high school generally consisted of clearing up misunderstandings his peers have over his menacing appearance, despite his gentle nature. Unfortunately for him, the one new person he meets (rather abruptly) who isn’t the least bit afraid of him is none other than Taiga Aisaka, the “Palm-topped Tiger.” Having his first encounter with the tiniest bundle of fury in the whole school reconciled his classmates (for the most part) on how truly un-ferocious he is, but complicate his life further when she put a suspicious letter in the wrong schoolbag by mistake. See how this poor kid’s life just snowballs? Having discovered Taiga’s romantic feelings towards his best friend, Yusaku, Ryuji let’s slip in an effort to try and console the very angry and very dangerously clumsy girl that he had feelings for her own best friend, Minori. In a last-ditch effort to get her out of his house and to not violently maim him, Ryuji makes the promise to help Taiga confess her feelings to Yusaku. Little did he know just how much that would turn his life upside-down.
The chains of events from then on are a seemingly endless rollercoaster of hilarity, with one misunderstanding or confrontation to clear up after another. It’s been years since I’ve watched a high school romantic comedy with as much zest, even if the basic premise of the show is pretty formulaic. The comedy is further enhanced by the vibrant animation and an excellent Japanese voice cast. However, it should be noted that the Premium Edition of ToraDora does not have an English dub track, so anyone who doesn’t like reading subtitles might feel left in the lurch. (Although, if there’s an English dub it would be ghastly for anyone else but Lisa Ortiz to play Taiga.) This doesn’t detract from the viewing experience one jot, in my opinion, and NIS America makes up for the small lack with not only a unique elongated hard box as presentation for the two DVDs, but they include a full-color, hardbound episode guide for the discs. The guide is a real treat because it’s laid out almost like a school paper when discussing the anime episodes, and interviews with production members and voice cast are included to give some insights into the makings of these characters. An extra-extra bonus added is the inclusion of two animated shorts, involving super-deformed versions of the characters in whacky omake (literally “extra”) story settings.
ToraDora is by no means the “typical” romantic comedy because it has truly deep, non-cookie-cutter characters who have a life all their own. I feel rather glad that NIS Software picked it as one of their flagship anime titles they are beginning to distribute into the states, because they are a company known for giving plenty of love to the fans in terms of both bonus content and quality. Few anime companies give anime such special treatment nowadays, even for large set releases. To have brought such an energetic breath of fresh air as ToraDora to our shores, fans who have eagerly been crossing their fingers for this series can applaud and start throwing out the tired, wishy-washy series that seemed to have flooded the market from their collections to make room for this release.