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We all know and love Berserk, but there's just one reason why I can't recommend this show to anyone.

The reason I don't recommend this manga, despite its popularity and widespread praise, is because of how it handles the topic of rape. While it's true that these plot points add weight to the story and attempt to portray real-world issues, the way they are depicted feels off. The victims are often shown in overly sexualized positions and appear unrealistically clean for the given scenario, which doesn't align with the gravity of the situation. To me, it feels like the manga is glorifying rape rather than treating ... it with the seriousness it deserves.

The art – 9/10
However, the art by Kentaro Miura is amazing and incredibly pleasing to the eye. The double-spread pages are insanely well-drawn, and it looks even crazier when you're holding a deluxe edition book.

If you don't mind the "glorified" rape scenes in the manga, you'll love this series—but otherwise, it's just not worth buying or reading.

edit: I dont understand why some of you think this is 'funny' while this is a real problem about the show holding it back, the rape scenes are obviously there for a reason but for the victims to be literally posed up and shining clean during them is insane to me, especially given the scenario where the rape occurs.

This anime changed how I looked at romance anime. I have watched this anime 3 times, each time at a different time period of my life, making the experience different each time. Never has an anime fully reached me this much. Even though I could not relate to any of the characters in the anime, I was able to connect to every character because of how understandable and likable everyone was. There was not a single character without a motive or reason to be like how they are; every character had a reason to act as they did.

The plot is very well written; there are ... practically no plot holes in this anime. Everything fits like a jigsaw puzzle; the beginning makes you interested in how the romance between Taiga and Ryuji will develop. The drama in this anime is not annoying at all; it's actually interesting how Taiga slowly loses her love for Kitamura and how Ryuji loses his feelings for Minorin, and how all the side characters have their own problems with this. It's really impactful to see the hardworking and unbreakable Minorin crash because of her feelings for Ryuji and how she wants to her best friend Taiga by not letting those feelings get in the way. The story between Taiga and Kitamura could be an anime all by itself, but in this masterpiece, it's just a side story. Kitamura confesses to Taiga very early in the story, at that time Taiga rejected him, only for her to like him back. This plot alone could be a 7/10 anime by itself; instead, it's just a small part of what is called Toradora.

Now back to what I meant with "I watched this anime 3 times." I have watched this anime exactly 3 times, and each time I watched it, I just grew to like it more and more. The first time I watched this anime, I was at a lonely time in my life, practically fully alone, only searching for quick dopamine hits in the form of romance anime. The first time I watched this anime, I was bored out of my mind because of how this anime progresses, and I did not like it, rating it an unfair 6/10. The second time I watched this anime, I was actually depressed and had pretty bad insomnia, only perceiving the drama of this anime and only seeing it as a sad story. The third time I watched this anime, I was able to fully appreciate Toradora, from the comedy to the drama to the romance. This anime is a perfect mix of those 3, fully making you appreciate every single thing in this anime. From the happy to the sad, from the romance to the drama, from the funny to the serious.

To fully understand each category of this anime - the drama, the comedy, and the romance - you need to watch it in different periods of your life, and after fully understanding each genre in this anime, then you can fully appreciate this anime. Yes, this review is fully based on my biases. Do I care? No, not at all. Anime like this should reflect your current feelings. This isn't about a complex plot or some complex power system; this is about understanding complex relationships between characters and how their surroundings interact with each other.

(I have actually no idea to word how I feel about this anime, so please mind the repetitive style of writing and shitty review)