Hi all, After touching on one the most prevalent themes in this anime yesterday (personality masks) I thought today I would talk about Toradora's trope subversion, which in my eyes helps differentiate Toradora from the numerous other school slice of life romances that come out every season.

The trope subversion is most notably demonstrated by the show's choice in main character. In many/most slice of life romances the leading man tends to be a sort of self insert character. The main character tends to have very few defining character traits, tends to be exceedingly nice/patient, and makes girls fall in love with him because essentially he has no visible flaws. If this description sounds familiar then that would be because Kitamura pretty much exemplifies this trope. In many other animes Kitamura would likely be a perfectly serviceable MC. Yet, Toradora decides to go a different route by making Ryuuji the leading man.

Ryuuji's character design right off the back separates him from the typical leading male character. He has a very sharp and intimidating face, with eyes that seem judgmental and piercing. Of course we learn very quickly that Ryuuji's physical traits are not a good predictor for his personality. Ryuuji goes out of his way to be exceedingly kind to make up for how intimidating he looks and he is quite patient. However, Ryuuji provides a flawed character model due to his self doubt, skepticism, and general unwillingness to put up with drama and fakeness (if you like this side of Ryuuji's character I would highly recommend watching Oregairu for a full realization of the skeptic anti hero MC). Ryuuji's presence as the MC also allows him to act as an interesting foil to the seemingly more perfect Kitamura (and I'd argue to a lesser extent Minori). It is Ryuuji's more obvious flaws and his willingness to accept them that slowly helps show the facade of perfection that Kitamura (and Minori) conceal their true personalities with.

Additionally I would argue that Taiga provides an interesting trope subversion. The trope of the small fiesty/cute girl is very common throughout many genres of anime. However, I'd argue that Taiga subverts this trope deftly as scene by the slow reveal of her kinder side. At this point in the anime it is clear that Taiga is acting out more so in defense then out of aggression. Taiga has been put in a position where she feels that people either don't take her seriously or are wary of her before even getting to know her. Taiga clearly desires to be understood and to be treated normally. Her character does take an even more interesting turn spoilers which I am excited to experience again and to see the first timer's reaction.