DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ComedyToradora!

REVIEWS

• 

  Pockeyramune919

  85/100
  A simple, yet charming episode of the heartwarming romantic comedy show, Toradora!

  

  My mouth’s watering just looking at it

  Bentou no Gokui (literally Bento Battle) is an unaired episode of Toradora. It’s mostly a fluff episode; Kitamura brings an extravagant bento box made by his grandmother. Seeing this ludicrously lavish lunch makes Ryuuji feel inferior, so he retaliates by trying to best Kitamura’s grandmother’s cooking.

  I watched Toradora on via its Blu-Ray, so I naturally watched Bentou no Gokui after I had finished the series proper.

  And let me tell you, don’t skip out on Bentou no Gokui despite it being an OVA with little-to-no bearing on the plot. It's good stuff. It’s actually better than the series as a whole.

  Okay, okay, hear me out before scrolling away. If you read my review, you’ll know that my biggest gripe from the series came from the beginning. Without this difference in quality to bog my perception of it down, Bentou no Gokui is optimal Toradora! The characters were all pretty funny and Ryuuji was surprisingly deep despite this being a fun little episode about cooking. Taiga wasn't an annoying tsundere in this episode, thus lifting the barrier to entry for the early episodes for me. While my favroite episodes of Toradora! were the dramatic ones toward the end, I loved this one as well

  Honestly, it’s the perfect episode of the “comedy” side of the romantic-comedy Toradora! The animation and facial expressions helped convey the comedy and the absurdity of Ryuuji’s “rivalry” was a riot. I consistently laughed throughout the episode. I can’t recall any other episode of Toradora! that had this effect on me. For this reason, I consider it the funniest episode in the show. Despite this focus on comedy, it’s still sweet, too. The romance is wonderfully apparent and it made me feel warm inside. Bentou no Gokui was the perfect blend of comedy and romance. While it wasn’t the most romantic episode, it’s romantic enough to be good. The episode, tonally, could fit well in the middle of the series, prior to the School Festival Arc.The music was superb as always.

  The perfect OVA if you’re a fan of Toradora! and can’t get enough. Honestly, I think it’s pretty good for newcomers as well. I didn’t see anything too spoiler-y, and it’s honestly a better exposure to the series than the first episode is, in some ways.

  8.5/10

  B

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• 

  TK8878

  64/100
  A silly side episode that has a little trouble fitting into the main story.

  

  Spoiler-free review

  Review in brief:

  While this special does have something to offer to fans of the series it also partially disregards what made the main show so enjoyable in the first place. If you weren't a fan of Toradora! to begin with this probably isn't worth watching.

  Review in full:

  Toradora!: Bentou no Gokui is a zany one-off episode that focuses on Ryuuji early in the series. It shows a deterministic side of him that doesn't come up too often in the main series and gives the viewer a better idea of who he is and what drives him. However the plot feels a tad forced in that Ryuuji would have to be triggered pretty hard to push the episode's main dilemma like he does if we're going by what the main show told us. Within the main show he typically doesn't become competitive for its own sake, but here that's about all that can be drawn from the situation.

  The way the main joke repeats itself doesn't make it as funny as the comedy in the main show either. In fact I can't recall any episode in the main show that recycled a joke as its main premise throughout its duration. It also doesn't help that most of Toradora! relied on and was seemingly built for story arcs that lasted 2-3 episodes. Perhaps this story could have been better if it had more room to develop. While the many characters present are generally themselves and the conclusion to the episode is nice, the episode as a whole just feels off-kilter.

  _Discussing the meaning of bentou under the blooming sakura is such an anime land thing, but it also sums up the general tone of this episode._

  Lastly, Bentou no Gokui's general production quality is simply good enough for what it sets out to do. The visual style is no different than Toradora! ever was, but there aren't any moments where particularly interesting camera angles or special animation changes are used like they were in the main show. At least the sakura scene was nice. Meanwhile the voice acting is just as lively & expressive as ever, but the episode sounds somewhat empty as far as music & SFX are concerned. Of course both are entirely reused from the main show, it's just applied more sparsely than before, which is not to Bentou no Gokui's benefit.

  Verdict:

  It's a good thing they decided to skip out on this story in the main series as doesn't fit very well with the rest of it and would have thrown off the show's pacing. It's worth checking out if you wanted more Ryuuji though.

  Related reviews:

  # [Toradora!](https://anilist.co/review/4248)
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