I'm reminded of the old Lenin quote, "There are cours where nothing happens and there are episodes where seasons happen", because Toradora was roughly like this for me:
Episodes 1-11: "Hey this is pretty good, I can dig this: it's cute, it's fun, it's silly, and it's got just a pinch of drama that makes it feel more substantive..."
Episodes 12-20: "Alright this is kinda boring tbh, I'm not nearly invested enough in these characters to particularly care about their teen drama nonsense."
Episodes 21-24: "ACTUALLY I DO CARE SUDDENLY! HOLY SHIT! THEY'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT‽"
Episode 25: "And they... I guess sorta stuck the landing? I mean there were good parts of this episode, but I feel like pacing-wise it would've been better if they just didn't have any conflict in this episode."
I didn't make it all the way through the show but I do remember thinking the character-writing was really strong, particularly the way Minori is evasive when it comes to matters of the heart.