True Tears 08, rise and fall of the childhood friend
February 24th, 2008 by Shirukii
Lookin kinda slutty there Hiromi
Quite an interesting episode, progression on all fronts, as superficial as it may be. Noe is coming to love Shin more, but it’s on the premise of his similarity to a deceased rooster, Hiromi is being quite bold with Jun, but it seems to be out of spite more than anything, and Ai-chan…Well, you gotta feel sorry for her, she finally gathers the courage to own up to her own feelings and is hit with the friend zone treatment. Oh well, it was inevitable.
Episode Rating: 9/10
Jun comes home to Noe sitting in the dark happily staring at a picture of their grandmother, saying that she’s found the one who will retrieve her tears. Noe tells him the good news, that Shin confessed to her and they’re going out now. Back at home, Shin is sorting things out in his mind, some crazy things have happened the past few days, between Hiromi dropping the sister bombshell on him, starting a relationship with Noe and being kissed by his childhood friend Ai, things are pretty complicated. Little does he know of the heartbroken girls he’s left in his wake though, Ai-chan for one, having her feelings denied by Shin.
The next day Nobuse invites Shin to head over to Ai’s after school, but given the situation, Shin avoids it by saying he’s got a date with Noe. Trying to justify his lie, he heads to the chicken coop, and sure enough, Noe is there tending to Jibeta, the two head out for a walk, being looked on from afar by Hiromi and Tomoyo, confirming their suspicions that the two are dating.
With everything that’s happened to him, Shin can’t hide his slightly depressed expression from Noe, who sits him down and hugs him to cheer him up, telling him that he should always look towards the sky. Inspired, Shin starts to recite what he’s written of his picture book so far, which is turning out to be a story about Raigomaru and his desire to fly. Needless to say, Noe loves the story and urges Shin to keep writing, the further the story progresses the further in love Noe seems to fall with Shin, and it seems like the feeling is beginning to become genuinely mutual, as Shin settles down into the relationship. Of course the one getting shafted here is Hiromi, who sits home alone reminiscing about the younger days when she used to cling to Shin’s side.
So what does she do? Take out her frustration in the most roundabout way possible of course, ruining Shin’s early morning high by sarcastically noting how well he’s getting along with Noe and uh…insulting his hair. Before leaving the house, she drops into the living room to greet Shin’s dad, who tells her that she should not feel as if she is imposing on them by staying in the house and that he considers her as his own daughter, nostalgically saying how close of a resemblance she bears to her late mother. Shin’s mom takes her bitchiness to the next level, saying that she does indeed look like her mother, with the same docile looking face with the ability to deceive and captivate the hearts of men, swaying her husband and Shin to her ’side’ in the house.
Meeting up with Jun for a date of sorts, it begins to snow when he and Hiromi meet, when asked where she wants to go, Hiromi simply says she wants to go to a town where it doesn’t snow. Going with the next best thing, Jun takes her inside to the basketball court, the one thing that they have in common and proposes a game, three free throws each, for every one they get in they are allowed to ask a question to the other that must be answered truthfully. Hiromi shoots from the free throw line while Jun offers to shoot from the three point line, Hiromi doesn’t take the bait and insists that he shoot from half court if they’re to do this, in the end she makes two of her shots while Jun makes none of his.
Her first question: how many boys has Noe dated in the past. A simple one word answer: zero, but Jun stretches it out, rambling on about how strong Noe is as a person, delving into her past and how she is often misunderstood, curious as to why he’s so thorough, Hiromi accuses him of having a sister complex, bulls eye guess, so it would seem. Next she asks why Jun is dating her, not even hesitating, he explains the situation, how Shin asked him to date Hiromi and how he would date Noe in return, Hiromi wonders if that would mean if one relationship faltered, would the other, Jun offers to do anything she wants to avoid that being the case.
As the two head outside, they run into Noe and Shin, who came to check up on Jibeta. Noe tries to talk to Hiromi, telling her that she has a better opinion of her, being the first one to have a proper argument with her. But as soon as she sees Noe smile, Hiromi gets angry, cursing her innocent smile and its ability to captivate Shin’s heart.
Back at home, Hiromi returns to find the remnants of the photo album Shin found, burnt, with but a shred of a picture of her mother remaining. Confronting Shin’s mom, Hiromi is finally fed up, she apologizes for having to be taken care of all this time and the trouble she’s caused and runs off. With nowhere else to go, she heads to Noe’s house and asks Jun to ride his bike, for him to take her to a town where it doesn’t snow. At around the same time, Shin and Noe are returning from their date, just in time to see Jun and Hiromi speed off on Jun’s bike.
Thoughts
Well, that pretty much confirms what we’ve been thinking all along, Jun has indeed fallen prey to the forces of siscon. Hiromi calling it out in the open was a shocker though, by far the most interesting thing she’s done all season. With that all but explicitly confirmed, the idea that he set this whole dating situation up to seal his feelings for Noe and at the same time shield her from the conflicting emotions she would feel if it were to come out in the open seems most plausible. With a Hiromi and Shin ending still probably the most likely, this leaves the door open for a double incest ending. Which would be an unprecedented amount of win, despite Hiromi getting the guy and Ai-chan left all alone.
I still don’t like Hiromi, who continues to lie to herself and others, that scene where she jabs at Shin and his relationship with Noe was pretty low, as was the scene with Tomoyo where she once again denies her true feelings towards Shin. And instead she’s pushing herself on to Jun, the two actually make a decent couple in a really retarded way, both running away from VERY similar circumstances seeking each other out as an emotional crutch.
As much as I like Noe’s character, this episode reinforced my belief that she is pretty clueless when it comes to relationship matters. While she is inadvertently wooing Shin, she’s doing it with the wrong mentality and for all the wrong reasons. I don’t know if I should call her naive or selfish, but she doesn’t seem to be taking Shin’s feelings into consideration much. The praise of his storybook and the encouragement to keep looking at the sky aren’t products of Noe’s affection, she’s just trying to mold him into what she wants him to be, which to me still seems to be a replacement for Raigomaru. She knows Shin likes her to some extent, but pulls at his heartstrings at her convenience and personal gain. Buuut, all that being said, she’s still ridiculously cute and earnest (selfish…but earnest), plus she seems to have a lot of fun with Shin, and the opposite is beginning to ring true.
And the one getting screwed (not literally) in all this, is Ai-chan. She works up the courage to make a move on Shin, discarding her false relationship and embracing her true feelings, the only one in the show to have done so thus far…and she gets shut down, hard. I don’t think Shin understood how bad his rejection was. He could have told her that he’s dating Noe now, and can’t accept her feelings, or even that he didn’t want to betray Nobuse, but the one thing he should not have done was tell her that he would forget that her confession ever happened. Ai-chan didn’t ask him to go out with her on the spot, she simply asked him to look at her, not as a childhood friend, not as a sister figure, but as a girl, one that he may come to like one day. Yet Shin shuts her down, tells her that he could never think of her that way, and vows to forget the instance which took all of Ai’s courage to build up to. Not that I can really blame the guy, hell if I know what I’d do in that situation, but still…that was pretty bad of him.
I’m still calling a Hiromi end overall, Ai has suffered a crushing defeat and will probably never be looked at in that way by Shin, they’ll likely make up as friends by the end of the series, but nothing more. And Noe…I think her “love” is far too shallow to be a series ending relationship, this might change over the course of the next few episodes, but I’m thinking it’ll be too little too late. Hiromi will undoubtedly come to accept her feelings and start to slowly act on them, seeing as she was Shin’s first choice in all this, it’ll probably work. Which, as I mentioned before, would be a good way to ‘give back’ Noe’s tears.
Shin! Hey Shin! Look! I can be moe too!
~ Shirukii ~
Aside: The more observant of you may have noticed that I split the summary section into two huge parts, one for each half of the episode. What I was trying to do was reduce the length of the summary portion of my posts. It didn’t really work, I ended up writing more or less the same. Things have been getting busy lately and I’m finding the little time I have for blogging in a week being reduced even further, in response I’m trying to shorten my post lengths, toying with the possibility of cutting the summary section out entirely, as I’m beginning to notice most people who read/comment have watched the episode already anyways. Thoughts?
29 Responses to “True Tears 08, rise and fall of the childhood friend”
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> With a Hiromi and Shin ending still probably the most likely, this
> leaves the door open for a double incest ending. Which would be
> an unprecedented amount of win, despite Hiromi getting the guy
> and Ai-chan left all alone.
I missed the memo. When did brother/sister pairings become okay? Surely I’m not the only one who thinks “Da Capo” and shudders. Granted that it’s not as squicky as a Ren/Colonel pairing, but can we at least hope for an epilogue free of 11-toed children?
Back to “True Tears…”
As we would say in the poker world: Noe’s way in front, Hiromi’s drawing thin, and Ai’s drawing dead. Yes, Noe’s not a perfect fit for Shin, but I won’t feel cheated if the series ends with Noe/Shin.
Anyone who’s read my previous comments should know that I’m looking forward to next week’s episode. >8D
Regarding your post lengths: if you want to save time and space, consider dropping the summary. I can’t speak for your other readers, but I don’t read your blog posts until after I’ve seen the episode; I don’t want to be spoiled. And the thoughts and comments are a bigger draw for me than the summary.
Please keep the summary. My Japanese skill level is still very low and it helps.
I am really enjoying this one. Still a ways to go and I am really not ready to call this one. I am coming to like Noe more with this show but, I still like Aiko better and really hope for a win for her no mater what happens.
The standard ending will be for Hiromi to get the guy but, somehow I think this writer has something else instore for us. At least I hope so.
The sleeve isn’t Jun’s, it’s Noe’s. It’s actually her coat. Well, that’s one of the theories since Jun’s shirt doesn’t match the color. Besides, you know how deceiving previews can be. I’m actually kind of surprised since you put the preview as the front picture, and then not talking about it later.
Don’t call my Hiromi a slut =w=”
Yes, I’m reading your blog AFTER the episode, so I’m just skipping the summary. But it’s just me.
Dangit, I too see a Hiromi ending but that does not stop me from hating it. Jeese, any ending but Hiromi’s would be good to me.
For some stupid reason, I’ve ended up watching the raws of the episodes now (however long it takes me to do it), so the summaries are actually useful to me. However, I don’t really want for your schedule to be complicated for my sake. It’d be a shame if there are no more summaries, but then I don’t envy your job 0_~
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Hiromi calling out Jun’s siscon….CLASSIC! I literally laughed out loud on that one
Anyway, I still don’t understand Noe’s obsession with Raigomaru, but that shot of her napping in the chicken coop was kawaii! :D
@ W4: Incest pairings have always been ok. That said, I’m one of the biggest siscon lovers among anime bloggers, I think only Stripey of Hontou ni Taihen Desu outdoes me.
I want the ending to be Noe-Shin, but I just can’t shake the feeling that it’ll be Hiromi.
@ Trunkmonkey: If I were to stop doing summaries, that wouldn’t really be an issue since I mostly blog shows on their sub schedule, not raw. In the rare instances that I do blog shows raw, I do even more detailed summaries and the entries are out literally hours after the raws hit the tubes.
I hope you’re right about the surprises, always nice to see some twists and turns, as long as they don’t pull anything stupidly out of place.
@ Kaelyn: Really? To me it seems like it is Jun in that scene, the two having settled down at a random inn to stay the night.
I don’t think Hiromi is a slut in the true meaning of the word, she just looked really exposed there, so I took a jab at it. There wasn’t enough in the preview for me to do anything past that, haha.
@ Michelle: Alright, thanks for the input.
@ zqube: Ai-chan looks like she’s out of the running, better start praying for a Noe end.
@ ItAintEazy: Major spoilers guys, view at own risk.
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@ Kanon_fan82: Seriously, only worthwhile thing she’s done so far. And while I do see why Noe was attached to Raigomaru, she is taking the “you seem like you can fly” metaphor a little too far. But meh.
Thanks for the comments on post length and such, I’ll think of something eventually.
Well, I won’t say much. For people who rooting for Noe x Shin ending, they’re probably jumping happily. On the other hand, after I finished this episode, I’m depressed, scratched my head for a while, banged my head the the wall and smash my computer many times. OK, may not be that extreme, but you get the point right, Shirukii?
Oh, BTW, from the last time, you say that it’s unnecessary for me to say sorry when my thought aren’t the same as you. Well, I have a friend who would think that’s very offensive if I say something bad about the character that he likes. That’s why I apologize because I’m not sure what is your limit. Well, I’m still gonna rooting for Hiromi. But yeah, you’re right that she’s not being true to herself but you have to understand where is she coming from. So I don’t think she is slutty, so you better STHU, Shirukii. Oh shit, I am becoming like my friend. LOL
Haha, why is everyone all on Hiromi’s case about being a skank? She gets the least action out of everyone! Is it her hot docile face?
I love how everyone is like damn, you have a docile face like your mom that draws the guys in. What if Hiromi and her mom both had huge butts or a gigantic rack? That would have pushed the step-daughter thing to new heights! And then the pictures of Yuasa-okasan would all have the chest or butt cut out.
Ai is so done, there is no way she can make a comeback. You notice it was not just a friend zone smash, it was a 3-hit friend zone older sister who I have never considered romantically air combo! Also, I doubt Shinichiro will end up with Noe, just because it is too far from the ending. Still too many episodes to break up and end up alone or with Hiromi.
Because Hiromi is a skank if she’s gonna sleep with Jun when she obviously loves Shin. ^^;
Seriously though, if that really is Jun, and if Hiromi really does do what I think she’ll do (which it most likely isn’t), I’ll be as pissed off as I was when Nice Boat episode 10 aired. >_< Shirukii, your comment at them being a retarded good couple together, and the comment “I’m tired” in the preview doesn’t help things either. o.o
I also kinda found it interesting to perceive that Hiromi’s “Take me to a town it doesn’t snow” response right after Jun’s “It snows whenever we meet” comment could have been taken as a “You’re not the one I really want to be with.” I’ve said this before: speculation is great.
The next episode is aptly titled “You’re having a hard time flying” seems to me to be directed at Shin by Noe, which might mean the two might have a falling out (after one episode of dating? Wow…). Of course, like Kaelyn said, previews can be deceiving, it might be minor, the two might make up for it soon. But there’s only 5 episodes left, and although a lot can get done in maybe 3, either way Shin and Hiromi might finally start having better conversations longer than a few sentences and don’t end with Hiromi insulting him. ^^;
I think that despite her insistence to the contrary that Hiromi still likes the snow, and maybe even deep down Jun too. Perhaps trying to run away from snow is like trying to run away for her growing tolerance of Isurugi Nii? Besides thus far Hiromi has only been honest with Jun, so there is still hope for them yet.
Aiko still has NJobuse, she just needs to let the devastation sink in fully.
To see Ai-chan bows out so early is heartbreaking, although i’m rooting for Noe. There’s no sight of her in the preview, i guess it’s over for good now. At least she has Shin’s *first kiss* ;)
“Sis-con.” HAH! :D
Sucks for Ai, maybe she’ll finally look at Nobuse and realize that he’s a great guy. Much more so than Shin. Not the last of her, I’m sure…
I was rewatching all of the episodes to current and I realized I dislike Noe. Her facial expressions are nice, but that’s all I can like about her. Don’t like Shin either, though I appreciate that he refused Ai.
I like Hiromi much more and her situation interests me more. I’ll be hoping for the best for her – whether or not she ends up with Shin. Go Hiromi-chan! *waves little flag* Can’t wait to see what happens next. :3
If NoexShin love is “shallow,” then what is HiromixShin? “First choice” and “don’t leave me behind” is pretty much all we got so far – which isn’t much.
And Ai? While not true incest, both Ai and Shin have described their relationship as sibling-like… technically meaningless, perhaps, but ironic.
I’ve actually wanted Shin to end with Hiromi, I can understand the way Hiromi is if we were in her situation we’d pobably be the same way. I can’t stand Noe for some reaosn, she’s cute but shes so naive I don’ t want her to end up with shin. I think hiromi and shin look better together. And I just think Hiromi has a lot of problems and is subconsiously trying to be like her mother because she was like “she’s still my mother” and she’s probably angry at herself for all the things going wrong wit hher life so she’s doing all these harmful (and things that we hate) to well..i dont know
But dont you guys ever have moments were your so sad and upset and you just do these horrible things that youd never think you’d do? I think Hiromi might die at the end though
7 years later…
Noe returns to the chicken house and discovers Raigomaru isn’t dead. He was in a coma…. and was waiting for her all that time.
Why settle for the Raigomaru imitation, Noe?
Noe X Raigomaru. Now that’s pure win.
On a somewhat related note, there was a TV special with the seiyuus going to Toyama prefecture, where the story takes place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXeXbu2VbAo
the only time incest was sexy was with that candy man or w/e it was called
Cant count out Jibeta either with more screentime this episode, however…it feels like a setup for a Hiromi ending where anything could happen.
Btw, Kabitzin, im going to de-throne your #1 for Reflectia on Pro-level for Audiosurf as soon as I hit “R” in my music list muahaha!
…
OMG Servbot, I was going to go to sleep, but now I have to stay up! Also, the idea of Raigomaru x Noe makes me puke in my mouth a little.
Noe does love cock. Chickencon is the new Siscon.
What? 22 comments so far and where is my lolikit’s comment?
>>”Shin! Hey Shin! Look! I can be moe too!”
I thought you were going to say “Shin! Hey Shin! Look! we can be siscon too!” XD
Why do i have this eerie feeling that noe is going to do something to hiromi because she is getting in the way shin’ichiro’s happiness *prays for a better ending then school days..* Cause in the preview’s you hear noe say in a serious voice ” your not looking at the sky”
And also id like to kick shin’s mom right in the ovaries for being such a bitch to hiromi, cause yeah its her fault ur husband had an affair when she was still a twinkle in his eye..yeah thats fair….ahhh im going through clannad withdrawl..can anyone sense my bitchiness?? >.
Oh my bad she said ” you having a hard time flying” but still!!!!
> Noe does love cock. Chickencon is the new Siscon.
If this is true, then we’ll be subjected to a version of “Da Capo” with Foghorn Leghorn replacing Nemu. And we’ll have Roy (and maybe “True Tears”) to blame.
Ow. My aching life.
You guys are starting to see the bigger picture. Unprecedented poultry fan service.
RIP Raigomaru
@ kenshin514: Ahaha. Don’t worry about it, I’ve developed a pretty high resistance to flaming, between having ran a forum, running a blog and 4chan, I’m pretty much indifferent to all forms of internet insults. But come on, you have to admit Hiromi looks pretty indecent in that shot, lol.
@ Kabitzin: Poor Ai ;_;
I don’t know why there’s so much emphasis put on Hiromi’s face though, she looks lifeless half the time. Though I will admit the expressiveness of her eyes is a cut above even the rest of the cast.
@ RJ: You’ve summed up the speculations I’ve come to believe pretty well. While I don’t think Shin and Noe will break up as soon as next episode, I think their split is nothing short of inevitable. Can’t really guess what will cause Hiromi to finally stop lying to herself though, we haven’t gotten much info on her thoughts or feelings.
Thanks for the youtube link btw, nice to see the behind the scenes animation work that goes into True Tears as well.
@ Crusader: Sounds promising, but perhaps a little too idealistic, the whole snow element ties in nicely though. Also, I’ll be rather disappointed if Ai returns to dating Nobuse as usual, both deserve better than false love.
@ nefesco: Indeed, but that’s pretty much the only title Ai will ever have in this love square.
@ Kari: I think to like Noe’s character you have to sort of ignore how underlyingly selfish her actions can sometimes be. I can do this with Noe because she extremely naive, but I can’t say the same for Hiromi, who knows full well the repercussions of her actions on those around her, yet continues regardless. I do sympathize with her situation though, Shin’s mom is one hell of a bitch.
@ Derek: Exactly, one reason why I want Noe and Shin to end up together so much is to emphasize the point that it’s not always your first love that ends up being your last.
@ Sneha: Sure there are times when I’ve acted extremely selfishly or lashed out at someone without reason, but after some cool down time I realize my mistake and take steps to remedy them, Hiromi just let them bottle up. And whoa random, why do you think Hiromi will die?
@ Roy Mustang: …wow *facepalms* I lol’d.
@ Michael: Candy Boy? That was incest and yuri, double the win, regular incest is fine too though =( why the hate?
@ Siva: lolikit doesn’t love me anymore ;_; BAAAW
@ Kay_Kay: Aww, we’re all going through the Clannad withdrawal, don’t worry, three more days until we’re back to it.
>> And also id like to kick shin’s mom right in the ovaries
Why does that sound so ridiculously painful D=
@ Servbot: I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned it…I knew it. Look what it’s turned into! Damn chickens.
It doesn’t feel right until I add my own chicken pr0n comment!
Let’s all hope Raigomaru wasn’t as Japanese as the rest of them!
PS: Stereotypes are so lame -_-