True Tears 02
January 14th, 2008 by Shirukii
Another episode of True Tears and my fears of a fall in animation quality are being soothed, the visuals were just as good as the opener. The story is also coming off very well, Noe continues to intrigue me and even though I didn’t really like her much in the first episode, Hiromi is turning out to be quite an interesting character herself. I have a feeling it’s going to be hard deciding between this and Spice & Wolf to blog, although if ARIA subs don’t show up soon, I might not have to make that choice.
Picking up right where we left off, Noe tells Shin that despite being sad about Raigomaru’s death she can’t cry because she’s given away her tears. She goes on to tell Shin that he’s the first person she’s ever told about this, so he has to believe her. To get her tears back, she has to choose someone to give her their tears in return, lucky Shin.
As with anything concerning Isurugi Noe, rumors start to spread quickly, it doesn’t help that she starts to do things like wave to Shin from P.E. class, soon the whole school believes that she’s vying for Shin’s love. In addition to Hiromi living at his house being common knowledge, Shin begins to come off as some sort of player. Noe continues to do weird things like call Shin out from class to give him a handful of bird seeds, making him believe that maybe he’s a stand in for Raigomaru.
Meanwhile, Hiromi is beginning to notice Shin’s budding relationship with Noe as well. Her friend teases her about having some competition, to which Hiromi gives the standard “we’re not like that” answer. Later, she notices Noe by the chicken coop making a makeshift grave for Raigomaru, noting it’s weird she didn’t make a proper one instead, Noe holds a rather uninspired conversation with her until she finds the opportunity to bail.
Whether she admits it or not, Hiromi starts to take action as well, being more reactive to Shin at home, even giving Shin a not so subtle hint about how she feels of the rumors spreading about him and Noe. Also, she asks him to introduce her to Noe, under the guise of wanting to become friends, Nobuse taking her request in a slightly different light when he hears about it.
Soon after, Shin tells Noe about Hiromi request, naively thinking it to be sincere, but Noe immediately realizes that it’s a farce. The two come to the chicken coop to see Noe’s grave replaced by a proper burial site, probably made by Hiromi.
During basketball practice Hiromi has a ton of stuff on her mind and can’t concentrate, when she spots Noe looking into the gym she totally loses concentration and falls, the team takes five and Hiromi goes out to talk to her. Noe is rather blunt about things, she brings up the thing about Shin introducing each other and asks why she would lie like that, because Noe knows she doesn’t like her. However, rather than getting upset Noe takes it in stride and walks off. Hiromi’s friend comes to back her up but Hiromi knows that she’s the one at fault here.
That afternoon Shin goes to talk to Hiromi about Noe, not knowing what happened between the two. Hiromi apologizes for lying to him and remarks how amazed she is that Noe was able to see right through her.
Thoughts
I still can’t quite put my finger on why I’m liking this show so much. The story and characters so far are admittedly very good, but not the best I’ve ever seen. Maybe I’m just being swayed by the very above average animation? Who knows.
Noe was awesome in this episode, she comes off as sort of airheaded but the exact opposite can be argued. She herself mentioned she has a good eye for people and sure enough she saw right through Hiromi’s facade of wanting to become friends. It’s still not really explicit what she hopes to get out of her relationship with Shin though, while inevitably it will probably be romantic interest, it really does look like he’s just a replacement for Raigomaru right now lol. But I must say, Noe can be pretty creepy sometimes, staring up at Shin without saying a word for extended periods of time. Awwwwkward.
As for Hiromi, seems clear enough that she’s interested in Shin romantically, showing signs of irritation when she heard the rumors about him and Noe. I guess the friendship deal was one of those “know your enemy” things. She’s developing a weird fascination with Noe though, perhaps Nobuse was on to something…
One thing that is annoying me a little is these weird cutaways to Shin’s imagination. From the tools he has on his desk, his aptitude for art and the submission he keeps on talking about being rejected, I’m thinking he’s either a novelist or a mangaka? It wouldn’t be so bad if they reversed the order of those scenes, ie. show him thinking at his desk followed by the cut away, but to do it the way they are feels too random.
Anyways! True Tears is in the front runners of the winter season for me, which, given the alternatives might not be saying much. Hopefully it only gets better from here, Noe is brimming with potential as a character, I can’t wait to see how she develops.
~ Shirukii ~
15 Responses to “True Tears 02”
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Haha, Hiromi got own big time at the end of this episode. Damn, no x-ray version like the last one. LOL
Yeah, I agree with you that Shin’s imagination world was kinda weird and doesn’t really connect to anything at the moment.
Noe’s character is too weird for me. Some people said that Noe’s character reminded them of Haruhi. I was like “that’s bullshit.” I mean, Haruhi may thought and did some weird stuff, but most of them were kinda predictable. However, everything that Noe think or do for the past two episodes, most of them I was kinda like “Huh?? What are you talking about??”
The hint about Hiromi has some feeling toward to Shin definitely make this series more interesting. I just wonder what happen in the that made her to act this way beside her father died. They also showed something in the past about Shin and Hiromi. Hopefully, they will explain more in next episode.
BTW, Shirukii, the sub for ARIA the origination is out like today morning. Therefore, you probably gonna have a big decision to make, man.
The “no tears” reminds me of a comic I read back in college. It was a one-shot about a clown who was incapable of showing any sadness, even after his son died. He attempted to carve a bloody frown on his face, but he kept smiling.
Why would I mention that here? Because I have the sinking feeling that, like “School Days” and “Myself ; Yourself,” this will end in blood.
Loving this series so far……Animation=awesomeness!!! :D
Haven’t gotten around to watching any of the Aria series yet……I’m still a newb……..What’s spice and wolf’s regular air-time slot btw???
@ W4:
Myself, Yourself didn’t technically end in blood….at least not in the EPIC manner School Days did……
too early to tell whether True Tears has the potential for dark brooding
I think its either the shoes or the red pills aka “chicken feed” that are drawing me into the show.
Those and maybe roaches under shoes.
Let’s hope they don’t end this with a nice boat :).
Hmm, I’m hoping of a ShinXNoe ending because I don’t really like Hiromi. Although it’s pretty obvious that those two are likely to end up together, since most anime, two unrelated people living under the same roof usually start to like each other. The same thing’s happening in Kimikiss with Mao and Kouichi. Anime can be so typical sometimes. It’d be a nice change, though, if Shin really does end up with Noe. I’m rooting for her.
The music in the series really fits each scene well. I to like the Noe the best but she seems a little creepy.
ps: please don’t bring up Schools Days every time i think about Mokoto i want to hit something and i blaze in a furry of anger..
It might be just me, but whenever I watch an episode of True tears, My mind goes into overdrive trying to figure out WTF is the reasoning behind whatever the heck they are doing. Maybe it’s because of the damned picture book inserts plus Noe’s oddly wired mind, but it prevents me from really enjoying this series.
@ kenshin514: Huh, Noe similar to Haruhi? No way, they’re crazy. Haruhi is a megalomaniac whereas Noe is just eccentric and very confident in her ability to read people.
And I haven’t watched ARIA yet, I’m still holding out for subs not by AEN =\
@ W4: Eh, I’m not getting that impression just yet. Perhps a little foreshadowing from Raigomaru’s death, but still too early to tell.
@ Kanon_fan82: You need to hurry and watch ARIA, seriously it’s awesome. Spice and Wolf airs on Tuesdays if I’m ot mistaken.
@ Servbot: It’s the shoes.
@ lolikit; I’d hope not, lest the whole bloody end becme real old real fast.
@ ShadowFang: I’m all for Noe as well. And actually, you could argue both ways. Osananajimi characters (childhood friends) almost always get screwed over in love interest. Take Shuffle’s Kaede as an example. Noe ftw!
@ proxyman: I see the Makoto anger still burns strong in the hearts of anime fans everywhere.
@ Alias: I’m thinking it’s the picture book inserts. Noe’s behaviour might be a little eccentric, but she’s actually pretty sensible when it comes to human interaction, although she’s completely shameless.
Did you notice how this girl looks like Miyuki(SP) and Natsuki(MO) had a baby?
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b107/SlaughterChichi/MiyukiNatsukibaby.png
/random
quick question i forgot to ask.
Did Hiromi lie also when she said that Noe hits on any guy that she
sees from her tree?
@proxyman: I think Hiromi talks about Shin.
@Shirukii: LOL at least this group is the fastest one. Nah i dont want to say something bad about AEN but i will admit that this group is fast.
So far, Noe is a create character followed up by Hiromi and now we need to learn more about Ai-chan and that mystery guy.
Oh god! I can give you my tears if you want it. XD
Hiromi sucks at bball, she double dribbled and holds the ball funny.
@Michael 4chan made me read your comment differently >.
>>Let’s hope they don’t end this with a nice boat :).
Shirukii, this is another impostor comment @_@