Ok, I'm not a fantastic fan of anime, or manga for that matter. I've always associated them with the emotional or "glorious" type. I swear a watch less than one anime series a year. (Ok, maybe a bit more for pokemon and digimon 10 years back...)
Something caught my attention, however, when i made a trip to youtube a few weeks back. Under the section, "Videos being watched right now" 5 colourful pics popped out. Usually i wouldn't give a damn. Of the 5 pics, 2 were usually sleazy anime shorts produced to give geeks something to fap over while they plan their next cheesy pick-up line. I swear, there was even one vid titled "ANIME GORY SHIT" which appeared there before. God, the poor bastard watching it must be socially awkward or something. (Amazingly, it had 12000+ views. Sick bastards, all 12000 of them)
On that particular visit, i saw this pic flash up. I dunno why, but on my sudden intuition i clicked it. I was not dissappointed.
I watched episode 10 of a recent anime called "Toradora!", lasting 30mins in 3 separate vids. It could not have been produced more than 2 months ago.
I did not understand a word of it; it was completely in japanese, even the video title was foreign.
But I was intrigued. The characters, although speaking gibberish, caught my attention.
I went to do a little research on my trusty google toolbar. I found its English name, "Toradora!", which basically means Tigerdragon! or something like that in Japanese. Here's a few promo pics:
The anime came from the manga, which came from the light novel, all of the same name. I smartened up, and went to search youtube with its English name. Smart move, although the characters still spoke Japanese, there were english subtitles. I ended up spending a full day watching the first 10 episodes, something i would never dream of doing normally.
For the anime freaks who have been in coma for the past two months, the plot is basically about this guy, Ryuji (Means Dragon) Takasu, a friendly, cleanliness-obsessed, self-reliant 16 year old high school student who has the devil's eyes. These eyes, while making him look striking, also makes him look like an intimidating, angry punk all the time, which causes his classmates to fear him greatly, at least for a while. He starts his school year, but comes into very bad luck when he bumps into Taiga (Tiger, get it?) Aisaka, a very beautiful, albeit very short and somewhat clumsy girl in his class. Despite her looks, she is a tigress, quick to anger and does not really socialize, except with her best friend. Everyone in the school are afraid of her violent ways, and give her the nickname, "Palmtop Tiger". She gives Ryuji hell on the first day, until she finds out that he knows her secret crush: his best friend. She is about to kill him for having that information, when he reveals to her that he is in love with her best friend as well. The two then work together to seek their goals, and all the while, Ryuji discovers more about Taiga's other troubled side as well.
This romantic comedy is very well written; the plot is engaging, the characters have a deep agenda behind them, and overall the series is very moving. Unconvinced? Surf the net, and get a second opinion.
There should be 3 episodes left, for those who have been following the series. If you're in singapore and have cable TV, check okto at channel 8 if i'm not wrong. It airs every thursday night, 11.30. If you missed it, youtube is chock full with its videos.
This is serious shit guys, the series is fantastic. I can't wait for next thursday. If you haven't done so, do yourself a favour and check out the first 2 episodes at the very least on youtube. I'll gouge my eyes out if you weren't even remotely moved.
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