Wolf Hurricahe delivers another look, possibly contrarian:

Drama has taken over the show recently, putting Toradora into a very uninteresting emo mode. The cast just isn’t dynamic or interesting enough to pull off convincing drama, which had made each recent episode a 24 minute grind to get through. To me the drama between the characters has been over very trivial, petty things. I honestly can’t remember what Minori has to feel guilty about. Ami has been unbearable with her “pay attention to me, love me” attitude. Ryuji is in denial that he loves Taiga and continues to draw out all the drama with Minori. In fact the most bearable character amidst all this drama has been Taiga. Freaking Taiga, the most annoying character in the show. I can’t believe I just said that.

So far so good, but he completely wasted the impression with the very next paragraph:

Drama is not Toradora’s strong point. It is very rarely done well in this kind of show unless the cast is genuinely interesting like School Rumble. SR had plenty of flaws, namely that the story kept going around in circles, but it struck a good balance between comedy and drama with an interesting cast to boot. Toradora has really fallen on its face with drama that fails to impress.

Freaking School Rumble. I really wanted to love that show. But its idiocy was just unbearable. Its devotees keep claiming that it gets better further on, in another 20, 40, 60 episodes. I'm sorry, but there's just no comparison with Toradora.

Back on topic, Yamcha's main mistake is to confuse drama and melodrama of Toradora. Its drama is excellent, top level. It is the show's strong point. But Toradora's melodrama is overblown and unnatural, especially after 20. I have to wonder if he simply does not know what these words mean, or meant before the common use of "blog/LJ drama" muddied the water.

UPDATE: Another subtler point is, when Yamcha says "to me the drama between the characters has been over very trivial, petty things", he almost says the same thing that I said re. motivations and outcomes of Taiga et.al. But I still permit for the "issues of teenage love" to loom large in their minds. And you know, love is not necesserily some bullshit. Remember how Marimite is a "social commentary" to Jonathan Tappan? It can still be masterfuly written, directed, animated. I'm inclined to think it's the case of Toradora.