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ToraDora! revolves around the story of Ryuuji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka - two people who are easily misunderstood by everyone around them. Ryuuji, for his eyes; and Taiga for her attitude. Being regarded as society's "unofficial delinquents", the two bump into each other on the first day of their 2nd year in high school, causing quite a stir - both in the school, and in their lives.

After Ryuuji inadvertently discovers Taiga likes his best friend, Yuusaku Kitamura - and Taiga discovers Ryuuji likes her best friend, Minori Kushieda - the two form an "alliance" to help each other out, which only causes more people to misunderstand them as a couple!

Far from being a couple, Ryuuji lives the life of a slave dog under the demanding and obnoxious Taiga. And with the transfer of Ami Kawashima, a part-time model, into their class, this only aggravates a somewhat defensive Taiga all the more.

Being a love-comedy at its best, ToraDora! focuses on these two misunderstood people as they steadily grow to accept themselves and each other - to the point where they can finally be honest with one another. A touching story that shares not only the serendipity of a love where you least expect it, but also the story of a love that goes beyond your conventional melodramatic drama.


Genre: comedy, romance, slice-of-life
Themes: high school

Rating: Teens, 13 and up

Running Time: 24 minutes per episode

Opening Themes (OP)
"Pre-Parade" (プレパレード) by Rie Kugimiya (Taiga Aisaka), Eri Kitamura (Ami Kawashima), and Yui Horie (Minori Kushieda) (Episodes 1 ~ 16)
"silky heart" by Yui Horie (Episodes 17 ~ 24)

Ending Themes (ED)
"Vanilla Salt" (バニラソルト) by Yui Horie (Episodes 1 ~ 16)
"Orange" (オレンジ) by Rie Kugimiya (Taiga Aisaka), Eri Kitamura (Ami Kawashima), and Yui Horie (Minori Kushieda) (Episodes 17, 18, 20 ~ 25)
"Holy Night" (ホーリーナイト) by Rie Kugimiya (Taiga Aisaka) and Eri Kitamura (Ami Kawashima) (Episode 19)



The title, "ToraDora!" (とらドラ!) comes from a combination of the words "tora", meaning "tiger", and "dora", which is the shortened version of "doragon", or "dragon" in English. The "tiger" being referred to in this title is "Taiga Aisaka", whose name sounds like "tiger" when pronounced in Japanese. The "dragon", on the other hand, refers to "Ryuuji Takasu", his first name of which contains the character "Ryuu", which means "dragon".

The reference is to an old legend where the only animal that was, supposedly, capable of going up against the Tiger was the Dragon. Ryuuji makes reference to this legend near the end of the second episode, after witnessing Taiga's little confession to Yuusaku Kitamura.

Amusingly, the word "tora" in the title "ToraDora!" is written in hiragana, which refers to the fact that it's a Japanese word (i.e. for "tiger"). Similarly, "dora" is written in katakana, indicating that the word is a loan word (i.e. English for "dragon"). This brings about the literal translation, "Tiger and Dragon", which refers to Taiga and Ryuuji, respectively.



Director:
Tatsuyuki Nagai

Producers:
Muneyuki Kanbe
Shinichi Ikeda
Takaaki Yuasa
Takahiro Yamanaka
Yuji Matsukura

Character Design:
Masayoshi Tanaka

Animation Production:
Masao Ohashi

Art Director:
Chikako Shibata

Music:
Yukari Hashimoto

Original Work:
Yuyuko Takemiya



1. Tiger and Dragon
2. Ryuuji and Taiga
3. Your Song
4. That Moment's Face
5. Kawashima Ami
6. True Colors
7. Pool Opening
8. For Whose Sake?
9. Let's go to the Ocean, you say
10. Fireworks
11. Oohashi High School Festival - Part 1
12. Oohashi High School Festival - Part 2
13. Oohashi High School Festival - Final
14. Palmtop Tiger of Happiness
15. The Stars Are Far Away
16. One Step Forward
17. Mercury Retrogrades at Christmas
18. Under the Fir Tree
19. Holy Night Party
20. Always, like this
21. No Matter What
22. The Scene With You
23. The Road We Must Advance On
24. Confession
25. ToraDora!


Sources:
Anime News Network
AniDB.net