Toradora! Special

This unaired episode of Toradora! was included in the Blu-ray box set and offers a light-hearted standalone story starring the familiar cast.

Ryuuji Takasu is a high school student whose intimidating eyes have earned him an undeserved delinquent reputation, though in reality he is a gentle young man who loves cooking and cleaning and takes pride in his homemade lunches. One day his classmate Yuusaku Kitamura brings an extravagant bento box to share with the class, and Ryuuji suddenly feels inferior about his own bento-making skills. Desperate to beat it, he throws himself into an obsessive competition, going so far as to bring a rice cooker to school.

The answer to his culinary crisis comes from an unexpected place: after Taiga Aisaka, the small but ferocious girl known as the Palmtop Tiger, brings him some overly salty onigiri, Ryuuji realizes that the true meaning of a bento lies not in its taste, but in the feelings that are put into it.