I've said before that I would try not to judge an anime by its cover and decide for myself after giving it a shot. That's what I'd like to do, but due to time and space constraint, I don't always get to do this. I've probably missed out on a number of good shows as a result, and I almost walked away from one of the best series I've seen of late if it weren't for Neko-tan's enthusiastic comments on Gmail Chat.

The series is Toradora, which grabbed my attention with just the first episode and easily climbed up to my all-time top anime list by the fifth (I'm at ep.10 right now).

At first glance, the series appears to be a typical high school love comedy with cute girls and a lead loli female. The fact that two of the main girls are voiced by Kugimiya Rie and Horie Yui adds to the impression that the series is selling the tsudere and moe of the girls. But it's not like that at all!

Indeed, the series is a typical high school love comedy, but the characters and their interactions are so interesting and well scripted, it's hard to tear one's eyes away from this spirited display of youthful fireworks. I often find myself holding my stomach from trying to contain the laughters, and I also find myself smiling warmly at the things they say and the way they act. I haven't found myself tearing up or feeling the heart ache so far, but judging from the amount and depth of character emotions and sentiments in the show, I won't be surprised if it happens by the end of the series.

The last anime of which I felt this much emotion was Honey & Clover. Toradora actually reminds me a lot of Honey & Clover. The settings are similar, where one's main cast is consisted of three guys and two girls in a university, and the other one is two guys and three girls in a high school. Both have down to earth characters and respective issues, and both delve deeper beyond the superficial romantic relationships which is common in many shoujo works.

Having said that, Toradora and Honey & Clover are geared toward different demographics and therefore have different view points and approaches on various themes. I think I'm feeling for both because Toradora speaks to my emotions due to my lack of experience in love, while Honey & Clover speaks to my logics and reason due to my experience and knowledge in life.

Speaking of which, I just finished watching episode 4 of the second season of Honey & Clover (yeah, I haven't finished it yet) before writing this. I didn't like the pairing of Mayama and Rika at all when I watched the first season or read the manga. For some reason, I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would when I watched the episode just now. I actually found reasons to support them. The seiyuu may have played a part in this change of heart, but I'd also like to think that I've grown more mature over the years.

Seiyuu-wise, the only seiyuu I was familiar with for the main cast of Honey & Clover was Ueda Yuuji, so I didn't really pay too much attention when watching the first season. I did start to notice Kamiya Hiroshi and Hamada Kenji after that, though. As mentioned above, I'm now able to appreciate the characters in H&C II better because of my growing experience with seiyuu. Sugita Tomokazu and Oohara Sayaka are great as usual!

Also as mentioned above, the only seiyuu I know for the main cast of Toradora are Kugimiya Rie and Horie Yui, neither are on my top female seiyuu list and usually aren't reason enough for me to watch an anime. My opinion of Kugimiya Rie used to be stereotyped because of her natural voice, but it has slowly changed over the past few years, starting with her role in Fullmetal Alchemist as Al. Once I see past her moe voice, she's got really great acting skills. Same with Horie Yui. I'm not familiar with Majima Junji, but he seems pretty good. I'll start watching out for him.

I'm still hesitant about buying the H&C manga because of the art style and am waiting for the DVD if it would be made available. I'm definitely buying the DVD for Toradora as well if it makes it and am pondering whether to buy the original light novels or not. I saw one of the spin-off volumes the other day when I went to Book Off, but that was before I started watching the anime so I didn't get it. orz

BTW, the OP song for Toradora, sang by the seiyuu for the three girls, is strangely addictive. I don't usually go for denpa songs, but this is just cute. XD