Toradora END
Admittedly, I haven't really watched many rom-coms aside from Kaguya-sama earlier this year, so I guess you could consider me a novice to the genre. With that said though, I sorta came into the show on a whim and went through the series in the span of a little more than a week, and it grew on me a bit, especially as the show reached its second half. Up to then, it seemed like much of the show was just going through many of the same story beats like other high school anime. However, what really made the show was its main cast. their interactions, and how much they end up changing over the course of the series. I like how it paints all characters, including Ryuji, the MC, of having personality faults and how those may be a detriment when interacting with the rest of the cast, like what the Ryuji thinks is best for others at first is not always the case. As an aside, for a rom-com animated by JC Staff, who kinda has a history of varying levels of production quality, I was quite impressed by the incredibly expressive animation on display throughout. But overall, it was a show that had a great amount of legitimately emotional moments, and even though the pairing could be seen from a mile away, it surprisingly felt natural and was ultimately satisfying.
