okay, then. Here's me typing at 2 AM on very little sleep and with class in the morning explaining it.
Sure, the romance in Toradora is predictable. You can see it coming from a mile away. However, the process of getting there is what matters, right? The initial interests of both main characters is completely wrong, but they remain persistent in trying to go for someone that is very obviously wrong for them in the eyes of a viewer. This is exactly like how high schoolers act when it comes to romance, even if it is in Japan. The subtle hints of growing interest continually drop throughout the series, and around halfway through the series (after episode 13, to be precise), these initial feelings start to blossom. One major player realizes this and tries to deny it, but ends up using the opportunity to remain close to the one she truly has feelings for. Every bit of romantic tension just builds up until, quite honestly, an unexpected yet extremely touching turn of events takes place. This is all just Taiga, for crying out loud.
Ryuji is probably more oblivious to the situation, because quite frankly, like most guys at that age and in that stage of their lives, they do not know what they truly want and are oblivious to what might be going on. He continues to pursue the wrong girl, despite being rejected many times along the way. The feelings for Taiga do develop ever so subtly as the series goes on, but being the generic teenager he is, he can't tell that his feelings for her are romantic until late in the series, despite less than subtle hints being dropped by people around him. Ryuji doesn't understand women, since he had never been romantically engaged with one. Sound like anybody you know in real life?
However, once Taiga and Ryuji 'confess' and run away together, the series stops being extremely relatable like it was before, but it developed afterward in quite the sweet way. I personally found the ending to be especially sweet, if not still perfectly in tune with the series' tone.
I would argue that this does slice of life just as well as it does romance, mostly because characters actually have depth and personality to them. Sure, Taiga is a tsundere, but she pulls it off in a way that actually made me like her more for it. Minori had her fair share of moments, and probably developed the most subtly out of the entire cast (but boy oh boy did she develop). Ami started off as the love-to-hate character, but as time went on, actually ended up becoming more tolerable of a person for being more sister-like to Ryuji instead of wanting his dick 24/7. He needed the talks that Ami gave him, and Ami slowly became able to be more mature and realistic, even if it came at the cost of sounding smug and arrogant. Kitamura...well, he certainly showed who mattered to him in the end.
The thing is, if you hate a romance that develops subtly, even inside all of the slice of life stuff, and then actually starts to blossom and have a conclusive ending...then just ignore Toradora. That's what gets me about Toradora: its main cast has a 2:3 ratio of boys to girls, and even then, it has a conclusive ending, one that makes sense, one that is enjoyable to get to. About halfway through the series it becomes very serious, yes, but it helps emphasize what the story really is about.
[/tiredmogsy]
