Toradora has been an excellent series, but when it comes to it’s high school, lovecom atmosphere, can it really hang with the sentiment of greats, particularly the notorious, youthful, and vigorous School Rumble. This is by no means a true comparison, only an evaluation on sentiment.
Ryan Where Are You
I woke up on the floor with the taste of unidentified sentiment. It was Thursday in the EST, and too busy the day before, Toradora 15 was still in the experience queue, yet Toradorable wasn’t the source of longing nostalgia… why? I felt a bit broken that it wasn’t the sentiment of Toradora but memories of School Rumble I was feeling.
Attribute of Nostalgic Sentiment
Sitting and pondering between these series, I realized there was clearly more sentiment for Sukuran than Toradora. But Toradora is a strong series; notable, emotional, well-composed, +acceptable production values, and I do enjoy the contents. Interestingly, I can admit that School Rumble is generally weaker1 but has a ton of flare with a faint story, and in anime form it was simply okay, aside from the awesome source material.
In my view, Toradora has more meaning through characters and development. It also has lovable characters, good laughs, great chemistry between Taiga and Ryuuji, and +avg character chemistry all around. School Rumble is weaker on the surface and in depth, but it does comedy very well, and more importantly has very memorable characters and chemistry, a youthful tone, and an extremely comforting atmosphere/setting.
Those last few attributes of School Rumble accomplish something important, they generate nostalgic sentiment.
Missing When Gone
I’ve experienced 15 episodes of Toradora2, 50+ of School Rumble (and the manga), and my realization is that I’m viewing Toradora as a great series, but School Rumble generated enough sentiment to feel that it’s been a part of life and indispensable, something to take with me as I go. Toradora is turning out like a beautiful painting, something to gaze at, while Sukuran is like the amusement park experience, truly missed in the end, but still worth smiling about in the memories.
Frankly, I’m not sure Toradora will reach this level3, and it’s not only the Rumble which levels above; Minami-ke would be another example. Sitting around the table at the Takasu household vs sitting around the table at the Minami household… which feels more sentimental?
Questions on Nostalgia+Sentiment
Simple wonderment, I’m not sure any of these questions have concrete, universal answers, as everyone has various tastes and feelings.
- What generates sentiment?
- What’s the difference in effect and sentiment?
- What sentiment does Toradora generate?
- Will it be nostalgic sentiment down the road?
Complementary questions.
- Do these feelings relate to duration?
- Do these feelings relate to the environment of experience (lifestyle, etc)?
Quite a lot of questioning, but I’m sure simple answers are possible.
1 – Very strong in comedy, chemistry, and appeal, but does not speak much for drama, romance, conflict, etc.
2- 16 now, this was written a week ago.
3 – Perhaps with more material from the novels I will feel that comfort in the experience
Note – this is basic brew for perhaps a more concrete write-up.
Hm, probably not to be attributed to duration per se, but factors like “amount of time/emotions/effort invested into the show” (rewatching short series would most likely create a similar ‘nostalgia’ effect in the long run), or in terms of environment, how well you can relate with the characters, whether it hits close to home or what. Or, how engaging the series and its characters turned out in the end.
But yeah, somewhere down the road we’ll find out how much impact ToraDora had in our lives… sometimes it’ll just strike out of the blue, the nostalgia. Like how I feel about Boys be at the moment, and now I’m stuck with this ‘lingering desire’ to rewatch the series and re-immerse myself into it.
This was my first impression about Toradora, that its school atmosphere is somehow similar to School Rumble. Now that Toradora has been a great show as well, I’m ashamed that I’ve compared the two of them since the idea they are trying to invoke is relatively different. Although, their greatness as both series is comparable.
I think that the “nostalgic” part of me in Toradora’s part would be…rewatching almost 3 times episodes 9,13 and 16… For me, the 3 episodes where the epic XD. Pretty much the same as how I see the early episodes of School Rumble prior to Harima’s journey to the sea~.(1st sem)
I’m not as far as you in ToraDora but I think the effect of this is helping to renew my interest in anime. As for sentiment, I don’t know, but I do know that I will want to rent/buy this in the future. The sentiment is hard to describe because when I think about anime series (or TV series, for that matter), the sentiment is more tied up in what was going on in my life, who I watched it with, or how much I could relate to the show. I can’t really relate to ToraDora (except in the height).
O.o auu~ sorry for the delayed responses.
@usagijen
I see, duration as in length of the series vs amount of time spent in it. It’s interesting though that something like Umisho, which I only watched once, has a good nostalgic feel when glancing back on the experience. I hope I find something in Toradora in which I can remminisce about in the future.
Aw, re-immersion.
@foomafoo
Yea, they shouldn’t be compared on various levels because they have quite different tones, topics, objectives, etc. Glad to agree that they are both great in their own ways, but also interesting that you’ve pointed out specific episodes which generate nostalgia… I’ll have to check those out again.
The thing about Sukuran was that I’ve never rewatched it (I don’t rewatch much), it was a moderately paced experience (as opposed to marathoning), but I did get the rehash from manga to anime. There was just something about the depicted atmosphere/setting that really gave me good vibe memories; good times.
@Caitlin
Eye-to-eye! I feel what you mention expresses the way I develop this sentiment as well (where/how I was taking in the experience)…. could that be some sort of associated fondness? (Conditioning)
Perhaps we develop a “safety” series, which always will put us in a better mood due to associated memories or high relatability[, also how drawn into the setup we may be].
Personally, relating to the characters is so-so on my end. Though I find myself feeling sympathy often, natural identification seldom happens. Simply, I can’t picture myself in the shoes of many of the male characters I see, or at least in these specific media.
Because Toradora isn’t amusement park entertainment. It’s a serious reflection on high school life and the beauty of friendship. It’s very memorable, but it isn’t merely fun and laughs; I guess this may be the reason why it hasn’t been as nostalgic: we often shield out pain and suffering in our pleasant memories.
@Michael, true, TD has a more serious tone, but it’s 17 episodes haven’t had a high level of pain and suffering, really. I don’t think it’s entirely about the fun though. Aria, or other various SoL series don’t peak on the fun, but still can manage this sort of sentiment.
I may eventually find this with Toradora, who knows.
School Rumble was extremely fun though.