Toradora! SOS - Connoisseurs Banzai

A little pre-review banter, I lied! Actually, while I said I wouldn't be reviewing until next weekend, I saw this and just had to say something about it, so I decided to do sort of a mini-review, if you will. So without further adieu, here it is:

You will rarely see me review DVD extras or shows that can only be categorized as "moe", but just this once, I will make an exception for the cuteness and humour that is Toradora SOS. This show was released as a DVD extra in the Japanese release of the hit show, Toradora!, and features the main characters in a very tastefully stylized chibi-form discussing foods, and having a competition each episode about the said food.

While none of the 5 minute episodes bear any relation to the plot of the actual show, the well developed characters are out in full bloom, so it would benefit the watcher to have seen the original series beforehand. For as little as I've written about the show, I've pretty much described the entire miniseries, as there is not plot that carries over form one episode to another, and the focus of the show isn't in doing anything but making a fun little extra.

The biggest appeal is the animation and the characters. The chibi-style designs are just so darn cute, featuring not only a very well done super-deformed style, but also the addition of the characters animal references developed through the show, which just add to the cuteness, especially in Taiga's character.

Ill try not to get too fanboyish, so I'll move on to the other thing that appealed to me in this mini series, and that is the very well educated culinary histories of the food featured in the episode. Being someone who considers themselves to be fairly cultured in food, even i learned some fun facts that i found very interesting.

In saying that this series is funny, i don't necessarily speak of laugh out loud humour, but rather a lot of giggle humour that comes form the characters actions and great directing, as they never break from their established characters.

The whole series ends up being just over 20 minutes, so its a great quick watch, and i think that anyone who has a basic understanding of Japanese culture can get a good chuckle out of this. So until next time (not making promises anymore ;D), This is The Black Mac, signing off.

PS: the torrent can be obtained at a great website called tokyotosho.info, but i wont link to the torrent directly to keep them damn suits off our tails!

~Black Macgyver~