[Categories: Anime Reviews]
true tears 8-10: thru the eyes of Noe
Ouch, obvious. >_< As cheesy as it sounds, the hackneyed line about how “the eyes are the windows to the soul” gets a lot of mileage in this show. As for the whole ‘large eyes’ thing that is synonymous with anime in general (funny how you can forget about that stuff when you become a fan of the medium, huh?), I guess it has some sort of explanation in that the expressiveness of the characters’ faces, and eyes in particular, is one of the best cards in true tears’ deck - you can’t not pay attention to the looks in their eyes, and they say one hell of a lot.
The series isn’t particularly dialogue-heavy really, so a lot is conveyed by pregnant pauses and meaningful glances; in other circumstances this would make the narrative hard to follow - and, dare I say it, boring - but the effectiveness of the realistic fiction aspect is proved to me because I can read between the lines and think I understand what each of them are thinking. There’s a sense of connecting with the characters and their feelings here, which means that even if everything else goes wrong (not likely at this stage, but it could happen) I’ll remember it as a show which achieved that much, which really is something.
As I outlined last time this is a show that doesn’t take its audience for granted in that it portrays people behaving in an everyday manner and expects the viewer to be astute enough to catch on to this. Take Shin’s mother for instance: she’s been acting like the token bitch up until now but I’ve been holding out for a justification for her actions before judging her. The change of heart I’d been hoping for arrives in the nick of time and there’s something of an understanding between the two of them - a simple apology would be effectively denying the years of bad feeling never happened, so a more resigned and restrained intention to make a fresh start and accepting Hiromi’s presence comes across as being much more convincing. The “hate his mom here” or “cat-fight!” moments never really came: there isn’t a great deal of clumsy attention-grabbing or dividing the line between good and bad. Even Aiko, who has been treating her poor boyfriend quite badly, is feeling regret and let’s face it, she was looking for an easy way as opposed to meaning any harm.
Aiko realises her mistake
Noe is actually something of an innocent victim of circumstance at this point. The scooter crash, plus the news that Shin and Hiromi aren’t siblings after all (man, I was relieved at that bit of news) have led to the aimless currents of causality to draw Shin and Hiromi closer together. Sadly this is at the expense of poor little Noe, who’s left out of the bigger picture both by Shin and even her own brother; the latter of whom still has a cold and calculating demeanour that I find somewhat unsettling. Shin’s worried that Hiromi is leaving his house and romantic complications aside, he’s bound to miss someone he’s grown up with. As for Noe’s brother, his brotherly devotion has slipped of late because of his interest in Hiromi…or whatever it is he has planned for her. What is that guy up to, anyway?
It’s fair to call Noe misunderstood
It’s pure conjecture on my part here, but I suspect that the series as a whole isn’t about Hiromi and Noe as rivals for Shin’s heart; his contact with Noe could be the trigger she needs to genuinely be able to express herself as opposed to being a love interest. Considering her loss and inability to express it, Noe seems to have turned into one of those people who places their own feelings to one side and needs a strong emotional experience, even if it’s an upsetting one, to remind her that it’s okay to cry. It’s ironic that being rejected by Shin, as disappointing as it might be to Noe’s fans (a group I’m beginning to feel I belong to BTW), could actually have a positive effect on her emotional well-being in the long run. Maybe the true tears of the title stems from that…or perhaps not.
Blue skies bring tears but snowy skies bring angst
I’m enjoying the Raigomaru storybook subplot too, which reminds me a little of the Start of the World story that Nemu and Rakka wrote in Haibane Renmei. Is it just a sweet story, art imitating life from the point of view of its writer(s), or even a clue regarding the message regarding the show as a whole? It’s fun to keep guessing at that, and I also believe it’s more complicated than the straightforward Shin==Raigomaru; that’s a face-value conclusion, and true tears doesn’t ‘do’ face value conclusions as far as I can tell. What if it’s Noe who needs to break free from her grief and whatever other emotional issues she has, and fly too? If this is the case, I fear she may not be flying in the same sky as Shin…
Posted on March 13th, 2008 @ 4:48 am
I wouldn’t say that Aiko made, or even thought she made, a mistake. What are her choices? Don’t do anything and let nothing happen, or take the shot and give yourself a chance for a miracle.
Posted on March 13th, 2008 @ 5:02 am
Good post, as usual.
People behaving normally might be why I’m still watching this show (apart from the solid art and animation). When I watch the characters interact it almost never seems artificial. For instance, when Aiko cheerfully tells Shin that she’s past him now, he smiles, obviously relieved for the both of them. This actually took me a little by surprise, used as I am to lesser series where he would have taken it badly, and another round of angst and misunderstandings would begin.
Apart from Shin’s crazy bicycle run at the end of ep10. To me that came out of nowhere. Though the chase had me going, remembering the other bike accident. I’m not sure what they were up to there.
Posted on March 14th, 2008 @ 1:36 am
I’ve been emo-ing over Noe’s sad fate as of late, to the point of thinking whether it was even necessary for her to be involved in this mess, only for Shin to realize his true feelings. I’d like to think, however, that Noe greatly helped Shin find his wings, so that he can fly again. And perhaps, she also became an angel to Shin’s life, who will rid him of his true tears…
Posted on March 14th, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
@Bakaneko: Aiko is in a difficult position, but I still see the act of going out with one person to get closer to that person’s best friend is dishonest somehow. She was treating Nobuse as ’second best’ in that sense, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her too when it went wrong.
@Peter S: cheers. Ever thought of starting a blog of your own BTW? The lack of ‘artificial-ness’ is what makes the show outstanding for me, although the bike race was a little odd. It upped the tension though, which hopefully ought to stop any accusations of the show being dull.
@usagijen: the ‘true tears’ of the title are those of Shin? Wow, interesting idea! Looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t warm to Noe sooner either. It’s not going well for her at all now and I’m feeling so sorry for her.
Posted on August 1st, 2008 @ 7:37 am
[...] disastrously cute to pass up). However, and once again, moe being situational, is the moe of Noe dependent upon the people that interact with and see her? Perhaps, so is that to say there are several types or flavors of moe? The quasi-taboo sister [...]