Toradora starts off pretty well, and it certainly has its share of moments. But after three episodes, it's already falling back on standard cliche's of the genre. While it may have been foolish of me to expect anything else out of a Kugimiya Rie tsundere-led show, one can always hope. I guess just not this time...
Ryuuji started off as a more in control, competent character than the type that typically lead anime romantic school comedies. A few episodes later and I'm not so sure about that. I had hoped that the turn at the end of episode 2 -- our lead female Taiga getting rejected -- would have lead in an atypical direction, more in the vein of shoujo. No go on that one too.
I'm not quite getting the side characters as of yet. I'll need a bit more time with them before I can make any sort of real judgement. Kitamura could turn out to be quite the clever schemer, but that's left to be decided. It would be nice if -- within the next episode or so -- the series goes into why Taiga likes him so much.
As for why Ryuuji loves Minori, it must be her... I'll be nice and say spontaneity. Truthfully I usually like Minori's type of character, but something about her is currently rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe that too will be cured with time? Really I just want more of Ryuuji's parrot. That thing is comedy gold so far.
The OP is kind of catchy, but it can hardly be considered a good stand alone song. Kugimiya isn't a particularly good singer among voice actresses. There's good harmony between the music and animation though, with Taiga stomping her foot down at the first beat change being the most notable part.
All in all, there's nothing yet that will make me stop watching Toradora. However, I'm not exactly waiting on baited breath for the next episode either. It'll do, I guess.