Being one of the more realistic-feeling slice of life anime in terms of its characters, Toradora! is truly a joy for viewers to experience from start to finish, and due to characters being hard to understand without the full context of the show, can be even more enjoyable upon a re-visit. Arguably, no character out of the main cast is more complex, compelling and utterly heart-wrenching to follow than the protagonist, Taiga Aisaka.
Though she starts out sharp-tongued and even more foul-tempered, behind her unbelievable attitude lies a backstory so well-written and compelling that there's clearly no better way her character could have been portrayed. Given that her true character and emotions are often so deeply buried within her throughout the show, it's natural that there's a good portion about her that's easy to miss.
10 Archetype Deconstruction
When viewers are first introduced to Taiga, it seems as if she won't be anything more than an overly-dramatic tsundere archetype: foul-mouthed, incredibly violent and rude to the point of being incredibly unlikable.
What separates Taiga from the rest and makes her so terrific as a character, however, is the fact that instead of remaining as a static, unstable character, she softens emotionally as the series goes on and though she can overreact and snap at times, genuinely matures into a sweet and kind character.
9 Mistaken Reputation
Taiga earned her school-wide "Palmtop Tiger" nickname for her short stature combined with her tendency to snap at others, and it only amplified after she continuously shot down the (rather plentiful, at least at first) love confessions she'd receive from boys.
The true reason behind her string of rejections is simply heartbreaking, as she was simply afraid to accept love from anyone due to own broken home. Thankfully, she learns how to be able to move past her upbringing and accept love- both giving it to others and receiving it- thanks to Ryuuji.
8 Familial Fears
Throughout the series, Taiga shows nothing but obvious disdain for her flaky father, but fans don't get to see much of her feelings towards her birth mother as they aren't really touched on in the anime after she returns from staying with her.
Near the end of the manga, though, after returning to Ryuuji, Taiga reveals that her birth mother is pregnant yet again, and that she has fears over not fitting in with the rest of her still-growing family- going as far as to remark that she believes she'd be nothing but a burden on them.
7 Avoidance Analogies
Whenever the nature of the relationship between Taiga and Ryuuji is brought up, the Palmtop Tiger is incredibly quick to snap back, arguing that there's nothing more to them than a simple master-and-servant relationship, with Ryuuji serving as Taiga's 'dog'.
This analogy, while harsh, is another one of her defense mechanisms so she doesn't have to come to terms with her own feelings. The scene that most notably solidifies this is after Ryuuji collapses after saving her from drowning and she possessively claims him as hers, saying that no one else can touch him, but afterwards stating that it was 'simply that he's her dog' when it was clearly much deeper than that.
6 Familiar Voice
For fans who watched through the dub of the series, there's a pretty good chance that Taiga's voice may have seemed familiar, and that's for an extremely good reason. Her VA, Cassandra Lee Morris, has had a number of notable roles that span across more mediums than animation dubbing, including video games.
Her most notable roles include Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Leafa from Sword Art Online, Morgana from Persona 5 and both Aoi Asahina and Angie Yonaga from the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc franchise.
5 Rejecting Her Romantic Interest
Fans of the series will already be well-aware of Taiga's early series crush on Kitamura, and her complete inability to act like a composed human being around him, but what's easier to forget is that she actually originally turned him down.
Kitamura confessed to Taiga, stating that she found her short temper and unique personality to be quite charming, but as she had no idea how to react, she immediately rejected him solely from shock. This makes her later pining over him even sadder, as it's natural to assume he'd moved on by then as he assumed it'd never happen between them.
4 Little Lonely Tiger
Taiga is quick to shove others away from her and insist that she doesn't want anyone close to her, but this is also a pretty obvious front out of fear. Going through some of her quotes from the series, it's made incredibly clear that despite her inherent desire to have others in her life that accept her, she's too afraid to seek it out herself.
Some of her most notable quotes that convey this are "It's alright, I can stand up again all by myself. Even if I'm all alone, I will survive." and "That star... it's hidden and lonely... just like me".
3 Bitter Resemblance
Although some, like Ryuuji, think that Taiga's 'Palmtop Tiger' nickname can be seen as somewhat endearing, it's the complete opposite case for Taiga herself. She openly despises the nickname, going as far as to knock Ryuuji to the ground simply for mumbling it whenever the two first met.
Interestingly enough, despite her hatred of the title, she often shouts 'ora!' (meaning 'come on!') but rolls the R whenever she's angry, so it ends up resembling a tiger's growl. Although one would certainly get knocked out for saying it, it's incredibly cute.
2 Ironic Meaning
It's incredibly uncommon for character's names to be given without meaning, and Taiga's is no exception, though hers ends up being relatively ironic. Taiga means "big, large" and "river", which is both ironic due to her short stature and her tendency to be incredibly hot-headed, as water is often seen as both healing and calming.
Her name is also the Japanese pronunciation of the English word 'tiger', and it's pretty clever that both meanings were able to fit inside a single name.
1 Hidden Injuries
Outside of her school uniform, Taiga tends to prefer wearing ornate dresses paired with long socks that cover most of her legs, but this isn't simply a choice made for style alone. It's shown to viewers relatively early on that Taiga's quite clumsy and often hurts herself on accident, and she actually wears long socks to cover the numerous scars and bruises that cover her legs.
She most likely views them as signs of her 'weakness', and as a broken child simply trying to exist on her own, it makes sense that she'd feel as if she had no choice but to hide them.