True Tears 04, breaking my siscon meter
January 27th, 2008 by Shirukii
Maybe it’s just me being bias by wishful thinking, but my siscon meter exploded during this scene, it pieces together fairly well too, which I’ll get to later.
True Tears in general continues to impress me, in my mind it’s running neck and neck with Kimikiss as the best romance this season, perhaps slightly ahead due to better animation and lack of those damn frogs.
Episode Rating: 9.5/10
Picking up from last episode and Hiromi’s overheard confession, she explains that she had gotten to know Noe’s brother last year when their basketball clubs had a friendly match. As she continues her explanation Shin’s image of her begins to shatter, no longer does he see the fragile girl he thought Hiromi was, silent, reserved and seemingly always on the verge of tears. Not knowing what to think of this side that he’s never seen of her, Shin begins to (un?)consciously avoid her.
Conveniently, he’s caught by Ai-chan in the midst of his angsting, after she gets an idea of the situation, she drags him out to go shopping, just the two of them, to get his mind off things. Doesn’t really work though, Shin spends most of his time spaced out thinking about Hiromi. Ai-chan comforts him by saying that he’ll forget about it over time so he should cheer up, after all, she’s like a big sister to him and she doesn’t want him looking so down. Shin counters saying those are arrogant words considering he’s the one who hooked her up with Nobuse, which Ai-chan mumbles under her breath was completely unnecessary.
When Shin gets back home, Hiromi asks him rather directly if he’s avoiding her. Shin plays it off and starts rambling about how her request caught him off guard and how she should have just said from the beginning that she was after Noe’s brother, harsh words, considering how she may really feel. Their conversation is cut short by Shin’s mom, who Shin ignores and runs upstairs.
After school the next day, Shin is approached by Noe and offered his daily ration of chicken feed. Shin’s clearly not in the mood though and tells Noe that if she wanted someone’s tears, now would be the best time since he feels like crying. But Noe says that his current tears are worthless and takes him to a fountain, dunking his head in to “clean” them. Afterwards, she explains how she lost her tears in the first place, that it was her grandmother who took them, on the verge of death she took her tears so she wouldn’t cry anymore. So the only tears that will do are tears from someone close to her, always looking up, tears that can reach the skies.
As Shin and Noe stroll through the town they’re spotted by Nobuse and Ai-chan, who finally gets to see the famous Isurugi Noe, noting that she’s cute. Nobuse weakly insists that Ai-chan is cuter, sentiments which she lifelessly thanks him for. Seeing her down, Nobuse goes to hold her hand, but Ai-chan jumps away in shock, but she recomposes herself and grabs his hand afterwards. (I lol’d so hard at Nobuse’s look of pure bliss when she took his hand).
Meanwhile, Noe suddenly stops and offers Shin some help dealing with Hiromi, correctly guessing that she’s the reason Shin felt like crying earlier. Noe claims she can help him get closer to her as long as it makes him happy. Shin is touched by her feelings but changes the topic, offering to bring her to get some real food, not the inedible chicken feed she keeps trying to give him. Noe doesn’t think it’s inedible though and tries some to prove him wrong…only she ends up not being able to stomach her own medicine.
Later that evening Noe retells her day to her brother as the two shop for groceries, which ends up being an endless story about nothing but Shin.
the next morning, Shin runs into Hiromi when he goes to brush his teeth. He takes the opportunity to apologize for the way he spoke to her the other day, but in his absentmindedness ends up using facial cleanser as toothpaste. Hiromi has a good laugh and even takes a picture of the ordeal, noting that things like this happen quite often in anime and manga, but rarely in real life, Shin is relieved to see that he too can make Hiromi laugh and smile. With that in mind, he heads outside and is greeted by a surprise guest, basketball player number 4, Hiromi’s crush, and Noe’s brother, Isurugi Jun. He teases Shin for a while before getting to his point, his request is simple, he wants Shin to go out with Noe.
Thoughts
So, getting straight to it, I think Jun has a thing for his sister, one-sided, of course. From last episode it’s clear that the two are really close, both emotionally and physically, Noe didn’t hesitate in giving him a rather intimate hug. Noe’s actions are purely a product of her personality, she most certainly feels nothing more than sibling love for her brother, but the opposite might not be true, Jun seems to have developed a deeper love for his sister against his will.
The grocery shop scene was where my siscon meter exploded into a thousand shards. You could see it in Jun’s eyes when he was helping Noe put on her helmet, stopping himself from caressing her face. He also seemed agitated at Noe talking so much about Shin, largely ignoring it and referring to him in a sort of derogatory when he dis speak of him.
So why ask him to date her? Jun probably knows that nothing good would come out of a romantic relationship with Noe, or that it wouldn’t materialize in the first place. So he’s trying to use Shin as a means to suppress his feelings, probably a rare chance to do so as Noe’s personality would make it hard for her to find a boyfriend otherwise.
Those are my thoughts anyways, I think it pieces together quite nicely, but it’s still largely a theory at this point.
Other things of note in this episode is that the main focus of Shin’s picture book fantasies have shifted to Noe rather than Hiromi. Understandable seeing as Hiromi has personally admitted to liking someone else and Noe continues to get closer and closer to him. It’s questionable whether Shin had consciously thought of Noe as potential girlfriend material, but he definitely is right now, lol.
Hiromi is doing pretty terribly on that front though, she definitely has feelings for Shin, whether she wants to admit them or not. But she didn’t help her cause much by admitting that she likes Jun. Perhaps it’ll take Shin dating Noe for her to finally realize, admit and begin to act upon her love for him. Or maybe she’ll keep her pride and continue to chase after Jun instead. I hope for the latter, Noe end ftw.
Aaand Ai-chan, in my mind completely out of the race. There’s no doubt that she doesn’t like Nobuse nearly as much as she does Shin. But she continues to label herself as a sister figure to him and will probably never admit anything more than that in fear of ruining not only the friendship between them, but Shin and Nobuse’s as well. Which is too bad, I really like her character.
Lastly, I wonder how Shin’s family fits into all this, it’s pretty broken up. Shin seems to hate his mom and his dad appears to be constantly busy in the brewery. Then there’s the whole thing between Shin’s mom and Hiromi, which is pretty low on the part of Shin’s mom, hating Hiromi because of her mother.
Well, that does it for another week of True Tears, another week long wait lies ahead. Preview suggests that Shin and Noe get even closer, but still, something inside me is telling me to expect a Hiromi end.
Uguu~
~ Shirukii ~
29 Responses to “True Tears 04, breaking my siscon meter”
Leave a Reply
Please use [spoiler] [/spoiler] tags for spoilers.
Loading ...
Wow, I pretty much lol’d when I saw the caption to your final screen cap. Siscon ftw?
@ Pyrrhusonline: Whoops, thanks for catching that. I actually had the wrong screencap up, fix’d now. Which should make it funnier, I hope?
@Shirukii: Actually, yes, fixes the context up rather nicely. Although, I guess those who took some parts of Kanon into proper context would get the same Yuuichi Ayu vibe from the previous cap. Depends on how one takes it…
This cap definitely emphasizes the true nature of the “uguu~”! Bravo =)
I hate to make yet another post but…I just realized Noe said “I can help you get close to her”…
…..
Let’s hope this isn’t going to be a nice boat ending. Then again, with all the flight references, maybe it will be nice jet =)
YAY SISCON! :d
Jun> Shin because he was better hair.
I personally don’t really like Noe. She’s too crazy, obnoxious, eccentric and has too much of a big mouth. Well, maybe that’s just me, because I’m a girl, so I don’t find that “moe”.
It’s pretty sad to see Shin’s mom purposely block out Hiromi’s face in the family photo. I’m surprised Hiromi isn’t half-suicidal.
I like Noe’s helmet and goggles.
@Kaelyn: I agree with you that I don’t like Noe’s character that much because she seems to energetic, childish and most of time we can’t really understand what she tries to do or say. But I have to admit that when she explained about gave her tear away due to her grandma, it was really good scene. She probably will grow on me later on. BTW, a lot of people say that the Shin’s mom didn’t block the face of Hiromi in the picture, but instead it’s Hiromi’s mom, which I think it makes more sense.
@Shirukii: Hell yeah, SISCON FTW !!! It was the high-light of this episode. It seems like you don’t like Hiromi that much. Even though, we know that her cold expression within Shin’s house is due to her feel indebt once she moved to live with them. However, I think there should be more than just that. Her laugh in the end really make me like her even more. I don’t know I just find it interesting and looing forward to find out more about her personality. I am rooting for Hiromi x Shin ending.
Based on the picture in the preview, a lot of people guessed that Shin’s dad may have some sort of relationship with Hiromi’s mom in the past, which make Shin’s mom doesn’t like Hiromi. They even think that due to that situation Hiromi may be Shin’s half sister. If that happen I’ll be pissed. What do you think???
BTW, True Tears so far is way better than Kimikiss IMO. At first, only the frog is annoying me. Now, Mao and Koichi are even more annoying than the frog. I hope it will get better. Man, Koichi is such a dumnass.
Well if you like siscon, I have a feeling you are in for quite a treat…
I believe that rather strong hints are being dropped that Hiromi is actually Shin’s real half sister… most likely from an affair the father had with her mother hence the hate from the mother… And Hiromi is aware of it which is why she is trying to suppress her feelings… I don’t think she has any sort of feeling for the number 4, tough luck for her,he happened to be Noe’s brother (the end of episode 3 makes it pretty clear that she was lying to her friend, even her reaction afterwards when she just couldn’t stop talking about number 4, a fairly standard reaction when caught lying you try to build up on it to make it seem more believable)
lol, I was typing my post while you were typing yours kenshin514 (Are u from Mtl btw ?). I am actually watching the episode right now (around the 11th minute mark)and I obviously I haven’t seen that preview picture you are talking about.. I’ll be back as soon as I finish the episode.
First it’s beastiality and now incest? What next? Aliens?
On a side note - It displeases me when my comments go unanswered just because it’s a couple of HOURS late. I mean come on T.T
Noe can’t cry and Hiromi is a cry baby , at least in the flash backs…
I like Noe better so far with Ai a close second… Hiromi is by far my least and probably the one who wins out in the end… Noe seems far wiser than she is letting on and is hiding a deep pain it seems.. I enjoy it anytime she’s on screen.
If they introduce Aliens or espers in here, I am sure Haruhi Suzumiya will pop out of nowhere and do a cameo ^^
voodoomage, I actually agree with you that Hiromi is the most likely one to win in the end. That may seem surprising since Noe seems to be on the driving seat to victory BUT there’s the whole issue of tears, I think the tears she will end up taking from him are the one he will shed while rejecting her in the end.
The only way I see a Noe ending would be that she suddenly gets sick (or motor accident involving her brother) and shin sheds tear next to her bed in the hospital and then a remake of the scene with the grandma plays out and Noe takes Shin’s tear with her to heaven.
@ Pyrrhusonline: It’s the first thing that popped into my head when I saw her face, lol.
I, for one, would like to see this one end in your normal romance animu way. The good old days when your lead would pick someone at the end, they’d kiss and that would be the end of it.
@ Kaelyn: Noe’s the type of girl that would be interesting to meet in real life. I have some eccentric friends, but none of them as over the top as Noe, she’s unique, and that’s why I like her. Though I do see where you’re coming from, she can be rather obnoxious at times.
Hiromi is probably an unwanted offspring from Shin’s dad and her mom or something. Which would double the siscon vibes in True Tears, win win.
@ Servbot: Agree’d, along with the shoes. God I love her shoes.
@ kenshin514: Huh, interesting. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking for the past while. *points to response to Kaelyn above*. It sure would make for a nice twist, and explain her behavior towards Shin as well as the contrast between the treatment she gets from Shin’s parents.
As for Kimikiss, I don’t even care about Kouichi anymore, he’ll probably end up with Mao, which is cool. I’m more interested in Kazuki’s arc, he needs to end up with Futami, she’s too awesome not to win.
@ Boulayman: Haha, seems like this theory is a popular one. It makes perfect sense, really. And if that were the case, Hiromi would get a boost in my rankings, still not enough to overtake Ai or Noe, but still…
Nice imagination you have there btw, thinking of a death ending for Noe, that would be incredibly awesome and incredibly sad at the same time. I’d shed tears for her ;_;
@ Michael: D= I typically directly respond to comments for up to two days long. Only when they pile up and I have to answer like…20 do I get lazy and stop. Or if the episode has long since passed, or if it’s Clannad, because that happens on Fridays and I’m usually busy on the weekend.
…er, actually I kinda see your point. Haha. Sorry ;_;
And wha? Beastiality? You mean Raigomaru?
@ voodoomage: Noe was quite a crybaby in the flashbacks as well, she was bawling at her grandmothers bedside. Although, admittedly that’s more worthy of tears than having a trick played on you.
Noe is very smart when it deals with social affairs, so far she’s two for two. Once when seeing through Hiromi’s true intentions to befriend her and again when guessing the reason for Shin’s depression, as well as her adeptness at manipulating Shin into doing and feeling what she wants him to.
This was a make or break episode for me, since I thought the first three episodes were, on the whole, boring and nonsensical but thanks to Hiromi’s situation and the latent siscon action now I can’t wait for the coming fireworks to fly. Now if only the plot weren’t so predictable (Hiromi ending from half a world away) I’d actually be impatient for the next episodes.
siscon is on the minds of everyone who’s wathed this ep xD
Man……I used to think it was so wrong………but siscon does make for interesting drama :D…….
Seriously though, just from an intellectual perspective, I wonder why siscon permeates (some) anime……..
maybe it’s because incest would be taboo in Japanese culture???
Although if you look into certain periods of their history, the Japanese were just as guilty as the Egyptians or Europeans for “keeping it in the family” when it comes to dynasties ;)
But back to True Tears :D……..The whole scene between Hiromi and Shin was brilliant! Totally captures the essence of an akward conversation with a girl that you are attracted to…..especially the internal dialouge bits.
This *is* the best romance airing right now :)…….I find myself rooting for a different girl each week, which–believe it or not– makes for a really good viewing experience :)
Last week I was all for Noe….now after this ep., I want a Hiromi end lol :P……Both of them are so attractive in their own way :)
Noe’s scene with her grandma was incredibly well done, and makes the whole capturing tears thing really touching :)
Predictable end? Maybe…..but I’m still looking forward to next week!
Kick-ass animation ftw! :)
@Kenshin514:
Good call on Hiromi being an illegitimate love child (or at least perceived love child) that totally makes sense….
@ Shirukii:
Agreed that Ai-chan has no shot…….do you think she’ll end up with Nobuse???
NoeXshin ftw and as for kimikiss -_- dont like that show much. Im starting to miss the sunshine pie blogging XD
@Kanon_fan82: >> “This *is* the best romance airing right now :)…….I find myself rooting for a different girl each week, which–believe it or not– makes for a really good viewing experience :)”
Did you just count that chicken too?
@Danny: LOL you miss one guy here.
It seems like most of people here thought there is a 99% possibility that Jun had a feeling for Noe, one-sided.
Oh Well, then i will take that 1% and follow-my-heart.
Have anyone notice this? The way Hiromi use her eyes is much better than her mouth? So far if you talk about who has the greatness eyes, there is no one can defeat Hiromi. Am i right?
Siva you are right, there is something about hiromi eyes that draws you in somehow
Well, I may be (…okay, totally) wrong about this ending in blood. But it could end with Shin with no girlfriend. Both Hiromi and Noe have something going on with #4 (taking your siscon ball and running to the end zone with it k thx bai), and Ai’s with Nobuse. (And Saigomaru’s dead.) So, by default, Shin’s left holding his own.
Considering what Kyon, Yuuichi, Makoto and Sana underwent, maybe going through high school without a gf might not be such a terrible thing.
@ W4:
LOL……true true……but I wouldn’t put Yuiichi in that category…..He’s pretty awesome both on the personality scale and the fact that he’s a pimp :)
Ahh now you got me thinking about Kanon :P…….Nayuki ftw! :D
@proxyman: and the most detail one in this episode at 15:41
@W4: How many guys have you seen so far that can achieved Makoto’s path/goal?
@Kanon_fan82: LOL, you are right Nayuki ftw! :D
If her “Usotsuki” does not win you then i have nothing to say.
@ ItAintEazy: I’m still hoping for a Noe end, I don’t like Hiromi much. Depends on how the family thing turns out though, she might grow on me.
@ Danny: Seems so, great for siscon lovers like myself =D
@ Kanon_fan82: I think siscon’s appeal is that it’s a breakaway from societal norms in Japan. Social pressure there is so heavy that it would be a thorny path if anyone were to act on it, but the reality that it exists is undeniable, so it shows up rather frequently in anime. Most of the time it’s justified by making the characters non-blood related.
As for Ai-chan, I think she’ll break it off with Nobuse and admit her true feelings, but will be far too late into the game by that point.
@ proxyman; Hey, to be fair, I have blogged every episode of Spice and Wolf so far, just not in my usual style. If time allows, I’ll continue doing so.
@ Siva; I think the scenes with close ups of Ai-chan’s eyes beat out Hiromi, but I agree, her eyes are used very well to convey her emotions.
@ W4: I’d feel sorry for the guy if he ended up alone, he may be a little dense and misguided, but he deserves better than that.
Also, Ayu > Makoto (fox, not SD) > Mai > Nayuki
Bandai has just announced their license on True Tears and Shigofumi….M.3.3.w. subs is no longer advertising their subbed versions on their website. Wonder how they will distribute. If it’s by IRC, I’m tempted to download a client and upload the files to veoh for all to say!
Take that! Power ranger sellouts! (Best insult I could come up with, I’m tired!)
I am not convinced it can’t be a Noe-finish. In the very first ep, the second time he is drawing, the image he see is of the big tree… and as he gets closer to the ground - there is a girl there - who we now know is Noe.
Plus, it seems to me that the whole tears angle is going to have Noe need him more and more.
I’m not sure it’s pride that’s keeping Hiromi from being honest. She says something like, “I sealed it all away,” during episode 2 or 3, I forget which.
I don’t know what she’s trying to accomplish by shrouding herself in a brick wall and allowing nothing and no one in or out, but she reminds me of the main character from this book called “In the Lake of the Woods” or something, who hides his past, his trauma, and his real emotions behind a mask and later in the story it finally all comes back and bites him in a painful way, and does nothing but hurt himself and the people around him.
I believe that people who hide themselves in Hiromi’s fashion will never find true happiness, and will bring nothing but pain and ruin to those around them.
If you take a look at the title “True Tears” and think about it you may get something from it. It just a few days ago I think i get to understand some hints behind this title just because of one sentence “I sealed it all away,”
@Newprimus: Agreed with you that they will never find true happiness but i also believe that people have no other options left better than this one.
Oh, as for the talk about Kanon…
Sayuri > All.