Shameful Otaku Secret!

I’m Not The One You Like

The march toward the end continues, and with only a couple episodes left, it’s time for something really horrible to happen, right? Who knows, I can’t pretend to imagine that I know what True Tears ever has up its sleeve. That’s my favorite part.

Recap

Seems I missed episode 10, but oh well. It was not bad. Hiromi moved out, that was the big development. And she just keeps getting more cheerful. The big festival is coming, Shinichiro has to get into dancing mode, his parents have to sell 20% more booze than last year, and Hiromi has to… eat popsicles and attempt to dress herself with her feet (most bizarre pseudo-fanservice ever).

I’m sure it’s not as weird as whatever you would have done if you’d lived alone at a young age. You sick fuckers.

First things first, Hiromi drags Shinichiro out to the beach in the snow.

I realize the significance of liking snow now, but Cheerful Hiromi is weirding me out a little.

She plants one on him. In the mouth, mind you. No half-assing. He seems more confused than walking on sunshine, though. And he’s still worried about how much he’s hurt Noe.

Apparently, it weirds him out too.

Miyokichi and Aiko have an absolutely sweet reconciliatory phone call. If you didn’t like that scene, you’re made of hard, hard stuff.

You cold, cold, people.

Hiromi plays a basketball game with the girls from Jun’s school, who keep tripping, pushing, and generally doing the flagrant foul thing. With the ref conspicuously absent, Jun walks straight onto the court and lectures his own schoolmates, causing a ripple of gossip and a frustrated Shin.

And what is with my tie?

So, the only sensible thing for Hiromi to do is attempt to break it off with His Coldness once again. She accuses him of only caring about Noe, but he still refuses to call it done. What a dick. He’s actually starting to look as if there’s something more to it than just the deal, but I could be imagining that. He’s become hard to read, but I still think he can affect the outcome of the show.

Well, let’s be fair. He cares about the bike, too.

On the Noe front, she slips into a goth or emo thing or whatever other ’80s revival it is you kids are doing these days when you get angsty. She’s wandered off. Jun calls Hiromi to try to find his wayward sister, and she aaaaalmost doesn’t pass the message on to Shin. But she proves she’s made of better stuff, and does call him. So Shin takes off in the middle of the night to find Noe carrying Jibeta out to the seaside.

Prompting the noeXchicken end speculations

Which worries him, because he’s finished his story, and while Raigomaru ended up waffling on his flight plans, it’s Jibeta who ultimately attempted to fly. But he dropped like a stone. The end. The end? This is for kids? Wow, I guess Shin is doomed to a career making sake after all.

Perhaps this is acceptable kids’ lit in the country that brought us Urotsukidoji

Incidentally, it’s been pointed out in plenty of places now, but chickens can fly. Really, yes, but domestic chickens’ wings are almost always clipped. That makes the “first flight for a chicken” line the only part that really defies accuracy.

What We’ve Learned

Shinichiro has spent a lot of time worrying about how much he’s hurting Noe, and now it’s coming home to roost HAR HAR. I’m not sure what she plans on doing, whether it’s throwing Jibeta off a cliff or herself, but the show is really pulling out all the stops in making us love Hiromi as much as Shin does, so I guess it’s big of him to care about Noe at all.

How come I’m wearing glasses? It’s cute isn’t it? Plus, Tomoyo’s wearing them now.

What will her reaction be to the end of the book, and which of the chickens represents who after all?

Thoughts

True Tears can still keep us guessing pretty effectively, and apparently plans to do it until the end. A couple shows are ending this week, but if I’m not mistaken we get two more of this one and I’m getting impatient (in a pleasant way). The blogs and forums are still doing some speculation on CharacterxCharacter endings, but I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as that. Regardless, I’m excited to see what’s coming.

Can’t Seem To Fly

Call me Legion, for I am many.

The Legion of Noe Fans on the Internet, that is. Nerd Rage in the making. Get where I’m going? They are not gonna be pleased this week, because this is not a visual novel and you don’t get to pick the outcome. Thankfully.

Recap

No dice on Jun dying in a motorcycle crash. But a fiery crash does happen. After finding out if Hiromi is OK, he goes about the process of grieving for his true love. You get the feeling he’d probably still care more about the bike even if Hiromi’s neck was broken, but did you expect any less? Anyway, she uses the flames to warm her hands, which gave me a laugh.

I was talking to the bike, but that’s nice.

Shinichiro’s mom is beside herself with guilt when Hiromi bolts from the house; after all, it’s kind of her fault. She goes out looking for both kids, even going as far as to call the cops. But worried Shin and Noe are already on the trail in a cab, and soon catch up with the flaming wreckage and take the pair home.

Just wanted to take this moment to verbally blow the director for this great shot.

Not before Shin embraces Hiromi… somewhat meaningfully. This makes Noe sad, and pleases Legion even less.

But really, what do you expect. ‘Oh hey, cool you’re not dead. Not gonna hug you though, that bothers those guys on the internet.’

It isn’t long before Hiromi is the talk of the town, and soon she and Jun are both suspended from their respective schools. Damn, Japan is hard core. Here in this country, if you put a girl on the back of your bike and try to kill her by riding off into the sunset in the middle of winter, they give you a medal. I’ve seen it. It’s got James Dean punching kittens on it, and if you look real close Sinatra is fucking a bald eagle in the background.

… is to HEY wait that sounded postmodern to me. I thought I was watching anime, don’t make me think.

Anyway, the kids are rough on Hiromi, and Shin finds himself pounding faces to defend her honor, but it doesn’t look so good for him when Noe finds that out. That makes her more sad. Somewhere on an anime room in a dark corner of IRC, torches are being soaked with oil.

Rather than big tragic gut-punches, True Tears prefers little torturous pinpricks of sad.

Shinichiro’s mom realizes she’s kind of been a horribly shitty person, and not only apologizes to Hiromi (even buys her ice cream, the universal sign in any culture of Great Parental Gesture) — she tells her the truth. And the truth is… she lied about that thing. “You’re not. I lied. Sorry for fucking up your head for the past few years.” Hiromi is understandably angry at first, but her life — and her feelings — just got a little less complicated. Now things look really bad for the Noe contingent.

And finally, Shinichiro is having a damn hard time writing his book now. It’s actually a fantastic scene when he’s explaining Raigomaru the Rooster’s flight problems and Noe asks simply, “Are you talking about yourself?” It’s quite a rare self-aware moment for the show (there are actually two in this episode), and it should easily bounce your accusations of pretense. Edit: And I’m so dumb I missed its real meaning.

Maybe she feels a little torture will make them square. I dunno, but sad and cute have rarely been combined so effectively. Like dead puppies.

It’s very sad when she runs away from him at the shore, but he returns home to find a surprisingly warm and apologetic Hiromi.

Preeeeetty sure that qualifies you for the Normal Teenager Club.

What We’ve Learned

This episode reminded me that I’m watching an anime drama and everything can’t be rosy, but it also further reminded me what makes True Tears so different. It’s not about broad sweeping changes that rock the course of human history, it’s about Shin’s mom buying Hiromi ice cream. It’s about little tiny victories and heartbreaks along the way that makes others’ attempts seem really ham-fisted and unsophisticated, even Clannad’s. Which is not to say that I think it’ll be that way for the remainder. I just think that when and if they do break out bigger guns, they’ll have the power to end worlds.

Burning bikes, fistfights, giant smacks… I’m betting this is the closest True Tears ever gets to Point Break.

Thoughts

I’m going to stay away from blindly stroking the show today, and think about my views on the future. I have none. This episode felt especially dreamlike, even for True Tears, and really made me want to just absorb and let what happens next come. There does appear to be some Aiko and Nobuse stuff going on in the preview, though.

Said without bile or sarcasm. This kid is a real champ, let’s hope he’s not waiting to snap.

There are no clear routes to predict anyway, although I will voice a thought that’s peeking back to me from the earliest episodes that people seem to have forgotten: If Shinichiro’s purpose to Noe is to “give back her tears,” isn’t the best way to break her heart?

A Town Where It Doesn’t Snow

[If you're not up to speed, check out the new True Tears info page]

Well. I realized as I sat down to watch this that I was super dooper excited. True Tears really is my favorite show right now, and you can bet I’m not throwing out that Trapper Keeper where I wrote “Mike hearts True Tears 4ever” all over in glitter sparkle pen. I still think it’s a fucking farce that Bandai is going to want $40 a pop for two-episode DVDs of what has to be the shortest series in town, just so we can see Crispin Freeman as Jun (mark my words…).

The Obligatory Recap

The pacing continues to be solid, with story developments coming fast enough to hold my attention but no so fast as to lose the feel of the show — nor does it seem like it’s going to run out of steam prematurely.

Shinichiro really seems to enjoy his time spent with Noe, which is ever-increasing. Perhaps he wasn’t just trying to convince himself he liked her, after all. In fact, he’s walking on sunshine, whoah. He’s writing a picture book again, this one’s about Raigomaru the rooster, and Noe couldn’t be happier to hear it. In fact, it even earns Shin a kiss on the cheek.

Speaking of smooooch, the aftermath of the Aiko kiss incident is as expected: while I usually knock the whole “pretend it didn’t happen” thing in dramatic anime, it’s not the show itself that’s pretending it didn’t happen. Shinichiro is actually taking the pretty mature route here. He says he thinks of her like a sister, not to mention he’s not willing to be a party to crushing his friend Nobuse.

Hiromi , suffering more subtle jabs than ever from Shin’s mom, starts to turn (even more) despondent.  While hanging out with cold-ass Jun, she wins a rigged basketball-driven truth or dare type game, and asks him two questions:

1. How many boys has Noe gone out with before? Zero. As Jun starts to ramble on about Noe, Hiromi calls his ass to the table: “Siscon.” I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been waiting to hear that.

2. Why are you going out with me? And not surprisingly, the cold cold bastard tells her. She slips in a third question — what happens if one side breaks up. His only reply: That would be a problem.

As if by cruel fate, the two pairs meet. Hiromi is not feeling especially charitable, but she doesn’t tell Noe about the Dirty Deal. Instead, she makes a pretty unkind comment about how easily Noe stole Shinichiro’s heart, before immediately realizing how much like Shin’s mom she sounds.

We end with Hiromi deciding to bolt from the house, probably for Shin’s mom’s benefit as much as anyone’s, and demanding that Jun take her somewhere (”a town where it doesn’t snow”) on his bike, despite the danger of riding in the snow.

What we’ve learned, what’s to come

Hiromi is now up to speed with the viewer on just about everything, only Noe is in the dark about the Deal. Let’s hope it stays that way, since Shin seems to really be into her these days. The Aiko-Nobuse situation is looking bleak, but look closely: the next episode preview sees Shin fighting with someone, but it’s not Nobuse. Could he be defending Noe’s honor?

Other interesting bits of the preview include a cop car (motorcycle incident or just Mrs. Nakagami calling in Hiromi as missing?), Shin arguing with his mother (probably over what he sees as her driving Hiromi out), and Hiromi apparently disrobing (eh?).

And furthermore

Can I just take a second to verbally spooge all over this show again? This week’s Magic Scene could be Noe and Shinichiro by the seaside, sure. But I think I’d vote for Hiromi vs. Noe by the chicken coops. The subtle range of emotion in both characters’ faces is absolute brilliance, down to Hiromi’s oh-so-tiny tooth grinding. I’d wager it’s even better than Aiko and Nobuse at the mall. Not to mention, Hiromi’s voice acting is the best on TV. Bandai have their hands full with this overpriced dub, no matter how many Crispin Freemans or Kari Wahlgrens they bring to the table.

At any rate, True Tears is my jam and it’s not disappointing me yet. It’s subtely fascinating and still surprisingly real, so I continue to have high hopes.