[Categories: Anime Reviews]
true tears 4-7: you burned your wings, now watch me fly
Ah, Ride, how I miss you.
There’s a lot to be said for subtlety and sophistication. While all too many shows these days play the fan service card or placate the eager fanboys in some other way, true tears (I can has capitalisation??) is one of the few that expects its viewers to appreciate something more than an upskirt/cleavage shot and instead moves the narrative along using those handy things called characterisation and storyline. I still can’t find fault in the artwork and music of course - the op/end themes are in one ear and out the other for me but the incidental score is outstanding enough to be worth a mention because it fits the gorgeous visuals so perfectly. The end result is something that brings joy in the slightest details; be it a barely-perceptible change in facial expression, such as those JRoxas picked up on, or other little touches that I doubt anyone but we hardcore fans of the series would notice. Some touches however cannot be ignored:
Similarly, take the gymnasium scenes for instance: a meaningful stare and an atmosphere breeding a storm of “Yatta! Cat fight!” here, a dash of violin-driven BGM there…and then the animators pay as much attention to the bounce of the basketballs as they do to that of Hiromi’s breasts. This sums up what makes true tears stand out from the crowd: it’s a show that doesn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence and as a result appeals to those of us outside the high school demographic, just through portraying romance and drama how it should be portrayed.
The misconceptions regarding this show are still at the time of writing reflected by MAL unhelpfully listing harem as one of its genres; granted, the relationships have stretched beyond the old love triangle but at its halfway point it’s more of a…love pentagon? My only worry at this stage is the “I am your father sister!” revelation - admittedly we still don’t know if Hiromi is telling the truth there but it adds a bit of shock value that I don’t feel the show needs. Shinichiro’s mother is still behaving like a cold-hearted bitch but with the possibility of her husband being seduced by another woman and fathering her child, who is now living under the same roof as her own family, who can entirely blame her?
Angsty sad girl in the snow
The clincher for me is just that: even when I’m making judgements about various characters (a habit I don’t exercise often, but really ought to stop doing with this series) they’re based on a logical series of events and reactions that leads the viewer to feel a certain way without forcing a no-brainer knee-jerk response. In that sense, it’s more like a bona fide drama piece as opposed to a sensationalist soap opera - instead of an obvious ‘laugh here’ or ‘cry here’ signal, you expected to decide how to feel at given points on your own. All the more reason really for me to pray that Hiromi’s bombshell is either handled delicately by the writers or written off as a false alarm because there’s plenty going on already.
The funny thing is, I can’t say I dislike any of the cast at this point - I can criticise certain moves they make but as for their characters, I can accept it all if not condone it. Aiko for instance has been leading along poor old Miyokichi, who came across initially as that laddish dolt but does in fact appear to be a decent fellow who deserves to be treated better. That scene during the shopping trip, where he realises how she doesn’t care about him nearly as much as he thought she did, is all the more painful when you see how he’s trying to ignore the truth and enjoy his time spent with her afterwards - he was only pretending not to notice to prevent awkwardness for both of them. As much as I feel sorry for Aiko to a certain degree, it’s only right that she should feel guilty about that.
As for the Noe/Shinichiro situation, my previous post barely expressed my relief at how I can now say I actually like Noe now. Her ‘kookiness’ only seemed strange because she’s an unusually honest and sincere individual whose defences begin and end with talking in those delighful similes and metaphors. When Shinichiro actually told her what she wanted to hear, her reaction was downright endearing; maybe Hiromi really has been grounding Shinichiro all this time because Noe’s brought a well-hidden side of him to light. The fact that things don’t seem to be pointed along any set paths to a predictable resolution makes that flawless presentation I mentioned earlier all the more worthwhile.
Talk your way out of that one, pal
Above all the biggest thing true tears has in its favour is, unlike the visual novel adaptations that make up the bulk of the competition, this measure of familiarity and the associated unpredictability that we see in real relationships. You can see certain things coming up a mile off but it has its fair share of surprises that stem from a very true-to-life portrayal of those moments where you’d look at them and think “Aww…” or, indeed, “I can’t believe you guys are so stupid!”. true tears is a rare and wonderful example of 2-D characters who are brought marvellously to life.
Posted on February 22nd, 2008 @ 3:09 am
A wonderful post. And not just because I agree with almost every word.
Posted on February 22nd, 2008 @ 3:35 am
Amazing write-up. I don’t know if it’s the post-ef effect at work here, but the whole Noe-Shin-Hiromi thing gives off vibes of the Miyako-Hiro-Kei quality, felt more specifically during the part where Noe and Hiromi were in their catfight cum argument.
The dynamics here are different though, and while Miyako got on Kei’s case, Noe seems to be thinking that Hiromi’s holding Shin back — definitely not an original thing, but the way it’s been played out makes me think that the whole preoccupation with what seems to be clichés is really quite farcical in view of this. I hadn’t realised it myself till that episode. Looking forward to your future posts on this.
Posted on February 22nd, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
@hashihime: thanks! ^_^ It’s always reassuring to hear people agreeing with you…or is it great minds thinking alike?
@Owen S: again, thanks. There are similarities with the love triangle in ef now you mention it, but as you said there are a few differences, and of course the importance of the execution wins out over that of originality. I’m praying for a UK DVD release that’s less like Bandai’s mind-boggling schedule and more along the lines of the quality releases Beez have provided us with so far. More tt reviewage to come later for sure!
Posted on February 24th, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
As per hashihime, I concur - A great post. I’m really trying not to talk about True Tears too much any more because all that comes out of my mouth can be translated as ‘fanboy fanboy fanboy’, I simply can’t find a bad word to say about it.