I'm having... thoughts... on "Another" and "Toradora!"

This is my first post since everything went down on this planet last March. Much has happened, to say the least.

I was just going to wait for my annual NFL conference championship weekend blog to return, but I was busy getting back into creating media again and got an idea. In between writing a soft Hylian-Zora romance story chapters, I started looking up various anime. I've finally seen the first four arcs of Hunter X Hunter; I'm anxiously awaiting season 2 of Dr. Stone; and I've seen a couple standalone anime series.

In particular, I want to talk about two of them: "Another" and "Toradora!" Genre-wise, these two don't belong together at all. Another is a primarily a horror anime and Toradora! is primarily a slice-of-life romantic comedy.

And yet I feel like the two share one major trait in common that I notice a lot in anime: the dramatic shift in style, tone, or even genre about two-thirds of the way through the show. I've seen this happen a lot - Yu Yu Hakusho, Mirai Nikki, Little Witch Academia, etc. 

As a general rule, I don't like these shifts. At best, they're pedestrian enough to shrug and roll with, but at worst, they can destroy the entire reason the show was appealing in the first place. Once YYH started dealing in the demon realm, it got way less interesting. LWA scaled back much of the fun cast in favor of a more serious group of characters who were not given much interesting with which to work.

The reason I wanted to talk about this is because Another and Toradora! epitomize how to handle a shift like this well (i.e. it doesn't affect quality) vs. how to handle it poorly (i.e. it makes me actively hate a show that I had been loving mere episodes before).

I should note that, except for mysteries since guessing along is part of the initial viewing fun, I don't really care about other spoilers. Shows should have rewatch value, and that means there should be a lot to enjoy even when you know what's coming. If spoiling ruins a story, then it likely had deep structural flaws anyway.

Nonetheless, before I go through them, I'll give you the heads-up that I'll be spoiling a lot of each show, but not so much that I think you need to avoid this blog. I can avoid the mystery reveal at the end of Another and I can gloss over much of the Toradora! ending.

ANOTHER

Let's start with Another.

This show, as the opening scene explains, is about a school that is dealing with an alleged curse of returning dead students. A transfer student, Sakakibara, has to have a hospital stay before entering the school and meets a short, eerie girl with an eyepatch one night after visiting hours ended.

The first four episodes of the 12-episode series play out like a psychological suspense mystery. The girl, Mei Misaki, pops up in random places and says to avoid her. The other students are clearly scared of her name and act like they can't see her. There are creepy dolls all over these episodes, and two characters who managed to get a lot of screen time are killed off in two of the most absurdly unforgettable death scenes ever put to animation.

But then, the final third of the show (eps. 9-12) drop the psychological elements entirely and go full slasher flick. The deaths, save about three, are effectively extras thrown in to bulk up the body count. Gore takes top priority; and the multitude of mysteries by this point is down to just one, which gets solved in between slashings.

And yet the two parts feel like they connect and were well put-together. I actually quite love this show and think it's a great example of horror mysteries done right.

So how did they do it? It all comes down to the second third of the show (eps. 5-8).

Many shows commit a cardinal sin in shunning the most enjoyable characters when things get serious in favor of underdeveloped "serious" characters. This is never a real problem because the first episodes of this show really only prioritized Sakakibara and Mei. There were others on the periphery, but they don't get a real focus until the middle of episode 7.

By that point, though, the two main characters have actually grown closer, with episodes 5 and 6 being almost exclusively driven by the two of them hanging out. The only reason the others get added is to give the show more people with which to tease death.

The show also pares back the mysteries naturally. When Sakakibara gets "unpersoned" in episode 5, it frees Mei up to actually tell him what's going on, and the librarian becomes more helpful. The mysteries cleared up because of a legitimate story development. By the end of episode 8, the only two mysteries left are: "Who is dead?" and "How do we stop the curse?"

While researching, it becomes clear that whatever stopped the curse once before happened at a cabin in the woods, which sets the students up for a cabin trip in the final episodes, securing the classic slasher setting.

Everything in the story felt deliberate, and because of that, accepting the change in tone was easier. And the final mystery's payoff worked out great because there were plenty of clues that were placed with multiple meanings -- it's revealed that memories have to be altered to allow the dead to walk again, so the erratic behaviors among the cast cannot easily be pointed toward one person on a first viewing (though it is absolutely possible. Enough clues do exist.).

That's not to say the show was perfect. The break beach trip in ep. 8 was anime-exclusive and undermines both future deaths and future reveals by creating circumstances that shouldn't be happening. And some characters go full-Castlevania II and lie until it's convenient in the story. (Most notably, the original dead student is called female and 'Misaki' until it's blatantly clear that Mei is eliminated as a suspect to the audience. Then, suddenly, we learn the original Misaki was male.)

Overall, however, I adored this story and have been playing the theme song non-stop. Seriously, both shows have excellent opening themes, and I'm glad Another just stuck with the one opener for its entire run.

For the record, both Japanese and English voice audio are excellent. English does a better job with phrasing what's going on so it's easier to follow, but there's no topping Mei's Japanese VA. She has the creepy ghost-like voice down to an art.

TORADORA!

And then there's Toradora!

I will start by saying that I absolutely loved the first 15 episodes and about 20 minutes of episode 16. It had a story I loved, characters who were great fun, witty dialogue, smart slapstick, heartfelt moments, and a litany of other great traits. It was well on its way to being a candidate for one of my favorite animated series ever.

And then the last nine episodes happen.

I should note that this show is considered a classic. While looking up the first opening theme (another banger), I found out that this show was many people's introduction into the greater anime world and Crunchyroll as a website. So I know many will find meaning in the final episodes and may even identify with some of the subject matter in the final episodes.

Anyway, here's why the show nevertheless crashed and burned in a span of just six episodes. Yes, starting from episode 17 and going through episode 22, by the time I completed them, I hated the show. I'd describe the episodes as a stumble that sends someone down a hill, which leads them off a cliff, down into a canyon, and when they land, they create a sinkhole that connects to a bottomless crater.

To explain what went wrong, I need to explain what the show was doing so right in the first place.

As I said before, this show is a romantic comedy, slice-of-life show that occasionally dealt with teen melodrama. It's the story of two main characters: Ryuji, a tall boy with a strong face that intimidates most people from even approaching him; and Taiga, a short girl who has instilled fear in most students at the school by being comedically violent toward most everyone.

In the first episode, the two realize that 1. they're neighbors, and 2. they're each best friends with the other person's crush. So although they get off on the wrong foot, they quickly join forces to pair each other off.

One thing I immediately appreciated was how the show approached the possible relationships. The standard in Rom-Coms like this (I've seen many that use variations of this trope) is to 'babyface' the two leads, to steal a wrestling term. See, in Rom-coms, the idea of destroying a current relationship with a new one via infidelity kind of kills the vibe of the film. So 'babyfacing' is where the current/prospective love interests are revealed early on to be either bad people, destructive, abusive, unwilling to compromise, or something else that allows the audience to justify leaving the current option.

(Unrelated, but one unique example of this is "Bride Wars," where the flaw is tipped, but not made clear until later. Anne Hathaway's fiancé enables her own self-defeating behavior of giving up on her interests, so when she starts asserting herself, he can't reconcile her new confident self with the meek people-pleaser he preferred. Not the best example, mind you; her assertiveness never benefits her and only makes the situations worse, so the positive message gets buried under incompetence. But it's one example that's still memorable to me for some reason.)

In Toradora, the main characters are made sympathetic, but they have very obvious character flaws that are preventing them from being with their respective love interests. Meanwhile, the two love interests are excellent reflections of what each one needs to work on.

Yusaku, Taiga's love interest, had been interested in her and seems to gravitate to girls who are similar to her but channel that aggressive energy into productive projects. So Ryuji needs to help her trust herself and others enough for her to become a positive force at the school.

And Minori, Ryuji's love interest, approaches stress in the exact opposite way Ryuji does - where he scales himself back and withdraws, she involves herself in everything she possibly can. The two serve as a good balance to each other's disposition, and with Taiga's help, gets them both to open up and discuss their approaches to the world.

I will say straight-up that I LOVE both of these relationships as they motivate the main characters to improve as people, and it seems clear that by the time everyone is officially together, they will all be the emotionally whole adults they were always meant to be.

And then there's the Taiga-Ryuji dynamic. Taiga is revealed to be living on her own because she didn't get along with her dad and stepmom, so she gets taken in by Ryuji, his mom and their pet bird. It creates this surrogate, found-family dynamic that I absolutely love. Although, the running gag is the two are a couple, it always plays up like more of a brother-sister dynamic. The two are mutually building the other up and the foursome really feel like a lifelong group joined at the hip.

And then, thrown in on top of all this is Ami, a model who transfers in a few episodes into the show. Ami is childhood friends with Yusaku, immediately hits on Ryuji, and both girls can't stand her immediately because she puts on an obviously fake-nice act to earn sympathy from people. 

Ami works as a great foil and bisected love triangle force. She is characterized deeply enough that you can see her with either boy, but her arc is clearly not romantic focused and it's clear the failure to be with either will force her to grow as a person as well.

So you have two main characters, one of which is assimilating into her newfound family, helping each other improve as people; two romantic interests who come across as great people and who already love their best friends, creating a tight-knit group; and a fifth wheel who is learning both how to be honest with herself and that 'herself' needs a lot of work.

This is the dynamic of the show for the first 16 episodes, and had it kept going like this, I'd probably be giving it a standalone blog as one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.

Unfortunately, there were still nine episodes left to screw it all up.

So what happened? They chucked nearly all of what I said out the window over the final nine episodes.

Episode 17 marked the debut of the second and final intro song (a major downgrade), and a song change has never so perfectly signaled a drop in show quality.

First, remember how I said it was rom-com driven with some melodrama thrown in? Those reverse completely, and suddenly we're in a Degrassi-style teen drama with rom-com elements present but scaled back.

Now, unlike Another, these elements were always present in the show, so it didn't feel as jarring looking back. But suspense/mystery to horror is a much smaller jump from comedy-driven to drama-driven. The show almost feels like an imposter of itself. (Tora is sus... I apologize. That was horrible.)

This is further emphasized by the fact that characterization of the five main characters gets altered, reversed or chucked out in order to fit the direction the story wants to move.

Taiga's aggressive demeanor vanishes almost entirely for the Christmas episodes (because she still believes in Santa... as a high-schooler...) and remains scaled back for the rest of the show. Ryuji goes on meathead-mode for a while and can't seem to intuit any of what the people around him are feeling, which he had been working on and much improved on over the show. A minor setback is one thing; he felt like he was back in episode 3 or 4 again.

It affects the other three as well. Minori probably gets it the worst, as she begins to feel guilty for events at the end of episode 16, and it costs her team the game in episode 17. She mopes for THREE EPISODES STRAIGHT because of this, and I was getting unnerving Sayori from DDLC vibes about her for a while.

Ami's personality switches back-and-forth depending on what role the writers need her to fill in a crystallized moment, and I'm pretty sure Yusaku had his main character status revoked at some point in all this because he fades in the background a lot and has his character destroyed in contrived, stupid ways. Basically, he becomes the Yamcha of the group.

Remember the found-family dynamic I loved? Yeah that went right out the window. In a move that was just unfortunate on so many levels, the writer decided that Taiga and Ryuji should be the main couple. This is despite the fact that Ami even calls out that the two have a family dynamic (though she notes that she sees Minori and Ryuji as surrogate parents for Taiga, which makes what's happening here SO MUCH worse).

This is why the changes in character and tone had to be made. By not 'babyfacing' the main characters at the beginning, they set up a scenario where the initial romantic relationships weren't DOA. That's great when you plan to let those relationships pan out to the end of the show, but when you plan to just pair the two main characters off anyway, it doesn't generate good feelings toward your show.

Because of all that, they had to do a rush job in the middle of the show. The next six episodes try to keep Minori mostly good by having her give Ryuji up on her own (She comes across Taiga crying in one of the least sensical sequences of the whole show and decides to tap out.), but not before making me genuinely nervous about this show going the tragic death route. Meanwhile, Yusaku gets caught up in multiple lies and feels like a weird appendage to the rest of the show.

Even the found family dynamic gets abandoned in favor of bringing both Taiga and Ryuji's extended families into the story. Hey, remember when we all learned that lesson mid-series about how family members who constantly use and abandon you are not family worth keeping? Remember when Taiga found her support system in Ryuji and his mom, who even called her 'family?' Clearly not, based on these last few messes of episodes.

I won't go into specifics of the ending; honestly, this should be enough to make the point clear. This show (and from what I can tell, the books they're based on) did not realize when the story they wanted to tell - and the story they were telling - had diverged to the point that they needed to change course. By sticking to their plan all the way to the end, they derailed a story that was proving to be great fun, and drove it off the roof of a building in favor of nonsense melodrama.

I do recommend the first 16 episodes, but be ready to be disappointed if you choose to see the final nine. I actually may have to rewrite the last nine episodes myself if I get some time.

Though, for right now, I have a lot of side stories for my current fic that need attending.