That New Song Smell (Toradora 17ish)

I love this time of the year. Animes are starting to switch up their OP’s and ED’s so we get some awesome animation and really cool songs. I think it’s good for the genre to do this as well, towards the back half of a season I’ll lose interest and just skip OPs and EDs unless of course they’re truly exceptional. As many of you who view this blog already know I’m a big fan or Toradora and liked Vanilla Salt and Pre-Parade quite a bit. I’ve never been a big fan of Rie Kugumiya’s singing. However, I’ve liked the stuff she’s done for Toradora.

I also like the new song for the opening of Toradora Silky Heart. Here’s the OP video:

However the much more interesting thing to watch is the music video of Horie Yui. The dance is so cheesy it’s hilarious, watch hard for magic flying out of her finger too. Don’t get me wrong I really like this song and Horie Yui as a voice actress but I just about busted my gut while watching this video. I hope you can share in my humor.

The new arc for toradora also seems to be going in a great direction.

This is the start of a vicious love struggle. Of course the new girl is right, how could Ryuji not be attached to Taiga after spending so much time with her. They aren’t required to spend time together but they obviously like each other’s company and are extremely comfortable in the other’s presence. Frankly I both envy and don’t envy Ryuji, he has so many wonderful girls around him that I want to strangle him, but at the same time it’s also somewhat painful. The girl he’s liked for a really long time he’s having trouble connecting with. She won’t really let him into her life even though she’s subtly hinted that there is more going on then meets the eye.

Ami is also a wonderful character, wise beyond her years. Personally she’s my top choice and not just because she’s an idol. She has the best grasp on what’s going on and she’s only recently discovered that she enjoys Ryuji’s company.

What I really like about this series though is it’s not like it’s actually a choice. He couldn’t just walk into school and go “Minorin I choose you!” and then throw out a pokeball because she’d probably reject him. He actually has to make a decision on which girl to pursue. They all like him but unless he puts in the effort they’ll never actually love him.

Besides Minorin he seems rather disinterested but with the arrival of Maya Kihara who likes the ever popular Kitamura we have a new player as well we should. I think it’s fair to say that people can isolate themselves into a small world where they only know a few people but that’s why I think Toradora is great. Kitamura isn’t one of those people so of course there would be more people involved here than just the characters we’ve become very familiar with. The writers didn’t close themselves off in an attempt to make story writing easier.

That’s right Ryuji, look to the sky it will sort out your problems. The classic picture of teenage angst.

I would so love to walk in on something like this:

Anyways just some thoughts on Toradora 17 and I’m eagerly anticipating the next few episodes.