Someone: you’re very welcome. I enjoyed writing this review all those months ago for a show I really appreciated, and one of these days I should rewatch it and see whether I still would say the same things about it. :)

I think for me, Karekano stands out for a couple of reasons: one, it is a story that focuses on what happens during an actual dating relationship (they get together in episode 4), which is rare in romance anime; two, as you mentioned, it delves into the inner lives of Yukino and Miyazawa in ways that are very true to life and psychologically insightful, something Anno does well at his best. I basically went to school with competitive kids like those two and recognized their character traits and their flaws. With Toradora we have archetypes who have hidden depths, and whose situations are slightly less believable, though, as you also said, you get the feeling that you are learning something about maturity and life by seeing the way the characters grow. That passage toward maturity is the most moving part of Toradora for me and something there needs to be much more of in anime. Badly.

Anyway, this was a very enjoyable Review to read, and made me smile a few times as I remembered what I’d seen the past days.
Keep up the good work!

Greetings from Switzerland

In fact, I am more annoyed with H&C using the tired cliche of using unrequited love to define a character (several of them, in fact).  I like the friendship/personal growth aspects of H&C, but the love story aspects are pretty trite and convenient, making H&C feel more like a soap opera to me than ToraDora ever did.

Perhaps it’s just the fact that ToraDora’s characters are pigeonholed into modern anime stereotypes that upsets some older viewers? ToraDora is not a josei, it’s a shoujo for younger audiences.

kistories: you know, I did acknowledge that this isn’t on the same level as H&C or Karekano. Those are masterpieces of realism. I would, however, put it on roughly the same level as True Tears, which I did like a lot but acknowledged it had some implausible twists (like Toradora). They both have a lot of emotional honesty and genuine moments. I’d also add that screaming and crying over love does in fact happen in real life; the emotional restraint of H&C works for those characters because 1.) they’re older; 2.) that’s who those particular people are. Now, I do tend to prefer that mode which is why I rate H&C higher; I relate to people who tend to internalize their struggle and pain better. However, if you can’t see some of the same reflectiveness and character growth in Toradora! that marked H&C I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree. It may not have been to the same highly calibrated degree but it was definitely there, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence given so much of the staff overlap.

Andrew: I like that piece too. It’s one of the ones that play in the emotional moments and so I do remember it more than the other pieces; the jaunty, happy ones to me were relatively forgettable. But that’s probably because it’s correlated to the more memorable moments of the show.

but obviously this is simply my opinion, and i agree with pretty much everything else you said.

I just don’t get how people who praise H&C can see anything similar in vapid shows like this one.

The sound was wonderful, from voices to music, the timing was nicely done. This ties in with acting, which fit the animation, even if there were a lot of overly melodramatic scenes.
Story. At some points I felt it was brilliant, at other points I thought it was just..eh. Maybe this doesn’t tie in, but the whole coincidence-driven plot and the like didn’t keep me from cringing near the end of the series.
 
*shrug* who knows. I always talk crap about the show before I watch it, where I go googly eyed after the episode ends :]