Toradora

Toradora (とらドラ!) is a Japanese light novel series by Yuyuko Takemiya, with illustrations by Yasu. The series includes ten novels released between March 10, 2006 and March 10, 2009, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. Three volumes of a spin-off light novel series were also created, aptly titled Toradora Spin-off!. A manga adaptation by Zekkyō started serialization in the September 2007 issue of the shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Comic Gao!, published by MediaWorks. The manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao! with the March 2008 issue, but continued serialization in ASCII Media Works' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh with the May 2008 issue.

An Internet radio show was broadcast between September 2008 and May 2009 hosted by Animate TV. A 25-episode anime adaptation produced by J.C.Staff aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between October 2008 and March 2009. A Blu-ray Disc (BD) box set containing an original video animation episode was released on December 21, 2011. NIS America licensed the anime and released it in North America in two half-season DVD collections in July and August 2010, with an English dubbed BD collection to be released in July 2014. A visual novel based on the series was released in April 2009 by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation Portable.

The title Toradora! is derived from the names of the two main characters Taiga Aisaka and Ryūji Takasu. Taiga and tora (とら) are Japanese terms for tiger, while Ryū means dragon. A transcription of the English word dragon into Japanese is doragon (ドラゴン).

Plot

Ryuji Takasu is frustrated at trying to look his best as he enters his second year of high school. Despite his gentle personality, his eyes give him the appearance of an intimidating delinquent. He is happy to be classmates with his best friend Yusaku Kitamura, as well as the girl he has a crush on, Minori Kushieda. However, he unexpectedly runs into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level"—Taiga Aisaka—who just happens to be Minori's best friend. Taiga has a negative attitude towards others and has a habit of snapping violently at people. She takes an instant dislike to Ryuji, and it turns out she is living in an apartment facing Ryuji's house. When Ryuji discovers that Taiga has a crush on Yusaku, and Taiga finds out about Ryuji's affections towards Minori, they make an arrangement to help set each other up with their crushes.

Over the course of the series, Ryuji and Taiga try to set up romantic situations to help each other get to know their friends, but many of the situations backfire. Their classmates observe that they are spending a lot of time with each other, leading to rumors that they might be a couple. Although Ryuji and Taiga try to dispel the rumors, they find that they do enjoy each other's company, with Taiga visiting Ryuji's house to share meals, and Ryuji checking up on Taiga to get her to school, and cleaning for her. They meet Yusaku's childhood friend Ami Kawashima, a popular teen model who transfers into their school. She appears to be friendly and is a self-proclaimed ditz, but beneath her facade is a rather mean and spoiled brat, and she quickly finds herself at odds with Taiga. In spite of this, Taiga tries to put up with her antics as Yusaku wants them to all get along, and Ami begins to grow fond of Ryuji. The series follows the lives of the five, as seen primarily through the eyes of Ryuji, with the characters growing and developing through their interactions with one another.

Characters

Main characters

Ryuji Takasu (高須 竜児 Takasu Ryūji, Manga: Ryuuji Takasu)
Voiced by: Junji Majima (Japanese); Erik Scott Kimerer (English)
The viewpoint character of the light novels, Ryuji is introduced as a second-year high school student with a mistaken reputation of being an delinquent because of his sanpaku (glaring) eyes. He lives with his single mother, his father having left before he was born. Because of this, Ryuji has learned to be self-sufficient: he cooks and cleans, the latter to the point of compulsively cleaning up any messes he can find. He has a pet parakeet named "Inko-chan" (インコ Inko, lit. "parakeet") He has a longstanding crush on the cheerful and pretty classmate Minori Kushieda. After Ryuji meets Taiga, he often helps her with domestic chores, and develops a new reputation as the "only person able to stop the Palmtop Tiger" as well as having to fend off rumors that the two might be a couple.Vol. 1 Although he does not have a romantic interest in Taiga, he determines he wants to look after her, help her out as much as possible, and to be friends with her.
Due to the misunderstandings caused by his appearance, as well as his family situation, he tends to have low self-esteem. In spite of this, he is rather calm in most situations and is responsible, smart, and has great grades, even compared to Yusaku Kitamura, his best friend. In seeming contrast to his intimidating looks, Ryuji actually prefers avoiding serious conflicts and tends to put others first, to the point of losing sight of what he really wants in life.[volume & issue needed]
In the light novels, he sees a tender side of Taiga Aisaka that she hides from everyone. In the anime, he is dense when it comes to girls' feelings, especially when it comes to Taiga, Minori, and Ami. While initially seen as intimidating by most, he still manages to make good friends. His relationship with Taiga begins to change as he spends more time with her throughout the series. Eventually, he falls in love with Taiga and they become a couple at the end of the series.

Taiga Aisaka (逢坂 大河 Aisaka Taiga)
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese); Cassandra Lee Morris (English)
The other title character of the series, Taiga is a girl in Ryuji's class. She has a beautiful appearance, but dislikes the company of others, with the exception of her best friend Minori Kushieda. Because of her tendency to snap fiercely at others, and because of her diminutive stature (4 feet 8 inches in manga, 4 feet 7 inches in anime), Taiga's nickname is "Palmtop Tiger" (手乗りタイガー Te Nori Taigā). She often receives confessions of love from boys due to her cute, or as Ryuji puts it, "doll-like" appearance, but she turns down every single one. Despite her reputation, she is actually a clumsy girl who is very shy and awkward around her crush Kitamura.Vol. 1 Despite coming from a well-to-do family, her life with them was very difficult because of various problems. She lived with her father and step-mother and constantly fought with them,Ch. 5 eventually moving out and living on her own. Having come from a privileged household, she does not know how to do any domestic chores. Upon meeting Ryuji and learning of his domestic talents, she relies on him to cook for her.Vol. 1, 2 Aside from sleeping in her own apartment and going to school, she spends most of her time at Ryuji's house, so much so that his mother considers her a member of the family.Vol. 1 Eventually she falls in love with Ryuji and they become a couple at the end of the series.

Minori Kushieda (櫛枝 実乃梨 Kushieda Minori)
Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese); Christine Marie Cabanos (English)
Minori is a cheerful classmate who is Ryuji's crush and Taiga's best friend. She is captain of the girls' softball club.Vol. 1 She tends to be air-headed at times, although it is later revealed that she is very perceptive, being one of the few people to see Ryuji for the gentle person he is, and is also not fooled by Ami's facade.Ch. 15 When she hears rumors that Ryuji and Taiga are a couple, she pulls both of them aside and begs Ryuji to take good care of Taiga. She works many part-time jobs preferring to keep herself busy.Vol. 2 She enjoys food, having once made a whole tub of pudding,Ch. 1 and teaming up with Taiga as a struggling "diet soldier".Ch. 18 She is capable in cooking and cleaning as a result of her part-time jobs as well as taking care of her little brother while both her parents work.Ch. 34, 38 She is fascinated by ghosts and hopes to meet one someday, and one time, she opens up with her feelings about love to Ryuji. Vol. 6

Yusaku Kitamura (北村 祐作 Kitamura Yūsaku)
Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima (Japanese); Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Yusaku is a Ryuji's classmate and initially his only friend. He is the vice-president of the student council, the class representative, and captain of the boys' softball club. Yusaku wears glasses, and has a diligent personality. Although he thinks he is poor at talking to girls, Ryuji observes that Yusaku is actually quite popular with them.Vol. 1 When Taiga confesses to him, he reveals that he had actually confessed to Taiga a year prior because she was so beautiful, but was rejected.Vol. 2 While not buried in student council activities, Yusaku exhibits an eccentric personality as demonstrated in a bonus chapter where he plays the President card game without any clue of the rules,Vol. 4 and a summer trip story where he wears just a towel around and randomly flashed the girls.Vol. 5 In a later storyline, it is revealed he had a crush on the student council president Sumire Kanō, but got so depressed over her departure that he bleached his hair.Vol. 7 His nickname is "Maruo".Vol. 6, 7

Ami Kawashima (川嶋 亜美 Kawashima Ami)
Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese); Erika Harlacher (English)
Ami is Yusaku's childhood friend who transfers into his class midway through their second year of high school. She has been working as a fashion model, and is very popular with the guys and girls. However, behind the facade is a spoiled brat who looks down on everyone that she isn't trying to impress. Yusaku hopes that Ami will be honest with her true character, and not have such a dual nature. She develops a fierce rivalry with Taiga, and flirts with Ryuji to demonstrate how she can easily manipulate him to take him away. However, Ryuji and the other main characters are all aware of her true nature.Vol. 2, 3 In the storyline where she is trying to evade a stalker, she ends up depending on Ryuji and Taiga, although the latter blackmails her using footage of Ami's singing and reciting a list of Pokemon.Vol. 3 After seeing Taiga standing up to the stalker, she drops her sweet facade in front of Ryuji to chew out the stalker, and later asks Ryuji if he would come to love her real self.Vol. 3 Taiga calls her a dumb little chihuahua, even though Ami has no idea how such a description applies.Ch. 29, 32 She comes from a rich background; her family has a lavish vacation home that she takes Ryuji (and the gang) over the summer.Vol. 4 Over the course of the series, she becomes attracted to Ryuji despite regularly teasing him.Vol. 5