Tora Dora! Episode 1

My Thoughts
As far as first episodes goes, it does a great job of setting things up. Ryūji's character is really well-defined. It's hammered in quite nicely his issues with the fact that everyone around thinks him a delinquent--despite his actions to the contrary.

And Taiga's surliness goes a long way to defining her character as well.

Now, here's hoping there's more to her than a typical tsundere character. Not that I'm really expecting much beyond that, but it would be nice for something new on occasion.

Anyways, this promises to be a decent romantic comedy anime, so I'll see where it goes from here.

One thing that I am a tad hesitant about is the artwork. It reminds me a lot of the art from Code E and Mission E (I admit that it's the lack of a nose on Ryūji that brings up that comparison). But this is the same studio that produced Sky Girls so I expect it to pick up at least somewaht.

The final thing that caught my attent is: What exactly is up with Ryūji's mom?

Her first appearance she's drunk on the floor, and she acts more like a older sister than a mother. I'm actually wondering if that'll be something that gets "discovered" later on in the anime. But hey, she does support the family, even if it's by working at a hostess-bar.

Episode Summary
Ryūji Takasu who is frustrated at trying to look his best as he enters his second year of high school. Despite his gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent so he does not have many close friends.

Ryūji goes to school and is happy to find that he gets to be in the same class as his best friend Yūsaku Kitamura and the girl he's crushing on, Minori Kushieda. However, it is then that he unexpectedly runs into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level" — Taiga Aisaka — who just happens to also be in his class, and is a good friend of Minori.

Ryūji has a teacher conference, and when he goes back to his classroom to retrieve his bag discovers that Taiga's still there. He grabs his back, an action which Taiga tries to stop, and once she storms off, he cleans up the mess they had made.

That night, Taiga sneaks into his house in an attempt to steal back the bag, which contains a love letter to Kitamura. Once again, Ryūji and Taiga fight, with the end result that Ryūji makes Taiga a meal.

The next morning, he goes to her apartment (conviently next door) and cleans up her apartment for her.