Toradora! OVA

T’is a long road to housewifedom.

Yes! A Toradora tag with Zabo!!! I watched it back when it aired figuring that Taiga would just be another one of Kugimiya’s tsundere stock characters. …Which I guess I was partially right about, but this series just had something more than what I expected. To this day, I still have no idea what that “something more” is, but I guess I’ll enjoy this OVA anyways

OH MA GOD TORADORA! Whoa what the hell are you doing? I guess they had some extra footage lying around in the JC Staff basement? I was so happy after I heard the news of a Toradora OVA it was really exciting! I know personally I fell in love with Taiga, Ami and my all time favorite Minorin! I thought the original series was fantastic and sooooo damn fun. Before I ramble on for hours and hours about Toradora, enjoy this OVA review with my good buddy! Zabobinator…

Hello my lovelies~ It’s TORADORA TIME!!! I can’t even begin to tell you guys how much I’ve missed this show. When I saw that there was an OVA coming out I flipped out. I mean, after Toradora finished my life felt a little…meaningless. I was sobbing for weeks! I went through maybe…10 tissue boxes? Ahem. So yes, it’s good to see Taiga, my favorite tsundere, once again.

It’s lunch time and the whole gang gets together to enjoy their food. Kitamura, much to everyone’s mirth, busts out an extravagant ben-to lunch, complete with lobster. His grandma has made it for him and he’s a little sheepish, as it’s hilariously oversized. However, everybody’s laughter is quickly silenced when they try it and realize that the food is all delicious. Ryuuji, however, sees this as a challenge, viewing his lunch as insufficient in comparison. Thus, he sets off on a mission to beat Kitamura’s grandmother and make the ultimate ben-to lunch.

And, of course, Taiga goes after the lobster…

Mio baa-chan looks like a BAMF. It’s no use Ryuuji. You gon’ lose, bro.

Needless to say, it doesn’t turn out too well. Ryuuji first tries pork cutlets with eggs but Mio baa-chan just whoops his ass with super onigiri. He goes shopping with Taiga, bemoaning his inability to beat Kitamura’s grandma. However, he gets inspiration, deciding to try for something she doesn’t possess: youth. So, he brings cup ramen to school only to find that Kitamura has cup ramen as well. And sandwiches, to boot. (Owned.) Later on, Taiga’s at the restaurant where Minorin works. Minorin mentions that Taiga’s become accustomed to eating Ryuuji’s food. Though her tsun side shows itself, Taiga begins to think about this…

And finally, Ryuuji completely loses it. He pulls all the stops and brings a RICE COOKER to class. He, of course, gets caught by the teacher and becomes the laughingstock of the class, because, really, who else would pull a stunt like that? Later on, he sits on the roof, wallowing in self-pity as he’s lost to Kitamura’s grandma (in a competition that was, seriously, all in his head). Taiga comes up and offers him some onigiri that she made herself. Ryuuji remembers how he taught her how to make it. However, when he takes a bite, something’s wrong. Taiga takes a bite when she sees his less-than-pleased face, only to find that the onigiri is WAY too salty.

Sucks to suck.

One of the many reasons why I love Minorin~

That night, at home, Ryuuji and Taiga put the salty onigiri in soup so as to cancel out the saltiness. Taiga is delighted at how yummy it is which causes Ryuuji to realize why Kitamura’s grandma always seemed to beat him. She always made lunches with Kitamura’s needs in mind. It doesn’t matter what’s in a ben-to as long as it’s made with somebody in mind. The episode ends as everybody meets up for a picnic. And they all lived happily ever after~ Because Ryuuji knows how to make a proper ben-to.

…I want to pinch her cheeks.

D’AWWWWWW!!!

End Thoughts: 

PFFT AHAHA and so Ryuuji’s position of ultimate housewife is safe once more! This OVA was a nice reminder of why I enjoyed the series in the first place. It had comedy, but there was an underlying message to it. Really, my only question is when does this take place? They used the first OP (which was a nice touch, by the way), so I assume it happened before the events that fell under the second OP? …Though I can’t really remember those clearly anyways, so it’s not like it matters much. I’m just going to assume that this was in that vague between time where Taiga stopped liking Kitamura, or after that.

This was also a nice example as to why Taiga is one of the less extreme (and therefore, better in my extremely biased opinion) tsunderes out there. Sure she used the whole “It’s not like I put effort into this or anything” line, but at least she didn’t hit Ryuuji or call him an idiot when her cooking wasn’t that good. As for Ryuuji, was he always that obsessed over with being a perfect waifu? Well, whatever. It was hilarious. His mental image of Kitamura’s grandmother was one of the greatest things I’ve seen all week. I’m rather glad that he never actually met the woman, since I much preferred the other version of her.

The animation felt a bit weird to me at parts, but that’s probably because I watched the original before I started paying attention to those kinds of things. But yeah, overall, it was a sweet OVA that just felt like another episode to the series (…which is probably because it was an unaired episode or something similar. I forget what. ). Really, it might have been a rather cheap move on J.C. Staff’s part, but using the anime’s OP and ED made it fit so well with the rest of the series~. Maybe I’ll watch the entire anime later. I had forgotten how much I loved this series.

Whooooaaa that was one great OVA! After watching that, I really want to go back and watch the series again! I have to say after hearing that familiar opening and ending it suddenly takes me back to a few reasons why I love Toradora. So what was the best thing about his OVA? Easy answer for me! We got to see our familiar duo of Taiga and Ryuuji! Man those two are so much fun to watch together. I liked that whole supermarket scene and Taiga’s line of adding salt to something sweet; I really love that line from the ending song! It always makes me smile.

So the whole time Ryuuji was trying to compete against Kitamura’s grandmother? Sorry Ryuuji! You just can’t win against something like that! I can always remember eating food my grandma cooked so I can totally see why Kitamura’s grandma is made of awesome. For me my grandma makes the best banana pudding and some amazing potato salad, damn it now I am making myself hungry again… Pro tip do not watch this on an empty stomach unless you are a master of making your own bento? If so I am so jealous right now.

Who else died laughing when the teacher discovered Ryuuji’s rice cooker? That scene was so good! So lesson learned do not bring your personal rice cooker to class. I couldn’t help but D’awwww after Taiga gave Ryuuji her homemade rice balls, and I was waiting for them to be either too salty or end up tasting terrible you know classic tsun cooking it always ends up bad. And the last moment that made me burst out laughing! Minorin’s “Yo Yo! Kitamura man! Let’s get rollin man!” Damn it Minorin why are you so awesome all the time? If I had an anime waifu it would definitely be Minorin; she is so much fun. Aside from great one liners like that, Ryuuji was rocking some of the best “evil” expressions. They were great even though he isn’t really evil…just misunderstood.

Man, I forgot how much I absolutely adored this show. Like Kara, I had a bit of a difficult time placing the timing of this episode. I can definitely say for sure that it was before Taiga and Ryuji got together because she moved away when that happened. That slightly upset me, but that’s an entirely different matter. The ending scene was sweet and it was nice to see the whole gang again. They all have this hilarious dynamic together and they’re all so individual. ESPECIALLY MINORIN.  Oh my god, her antics NEVER fail to make me burst into giggles. When she greeted Kitamura with her whole “Yo Yo! Kitamura maaan! Let’s get rollin’ maaan!” thing, I DIED. HAHAHAHA! She’s absolutely delightful.

Even without Minorin’s ridiculous behavior, this episode was HYSTERICAL. Trust Ryuuji to flip out and get super competitive about lunch-making abilities. His legitimacy as a housewife has been threatened, bitches. TIME TO GET SERIOUS!!!! It’s kind of sad that he’s gotten so attached to his role as a “housewife,” however. When you think about it seriously, you’re reminded of the fact that he’s had to learn all of this to take care of himself and his mother. I respect him for being able to embrace that sort of role in the household, as opposed to resenting his upbringing. Serious stuff aside though, it was so SO FUNNY to see him get increasingly desperate as Mio baa-chan continued to one-up him. When it culminated with the rice cooker incident, you knew he’d completely lost it. The boy’s got a competitive streak, that’s for sure! Trust Taiga to bring him back to earth and help him come to understand the true meaning of a ben-to lunch. Though, when I give it a little more thought, it may have been all the salt in her onigiri…

This brings me to my next point, however. I will forever adore the relationship between Taiga and Ryuuji. They just go so well together!  The best thing about their relationship is that all their feelings for each other gradually grew through all the bad times and the good. They rely on each other and teach each other lessons, even without meaning to. This episode was a prime example of that, as Ryuuji came to realize that his cooking could make somebody (i.e. Taiga) happy and that the reason why Kitamura’s grandma seemed so invincible was because she was making food that her grandson would love. Taiga and Ryuuji have a beautiful friendship and, of course, they’re my OTP. Man, I want another OVA guys… T_T