[Triple_R]

Well, the thing is...

Spoiler for Major True Tears Spoilers:

Shinichiro had certain personal issues that were non-romantic in nature. You know, the bit about him wanting to create and write large picture-books. That was a pretty important focus throughout the anime.

Noe played an absolutely huge role in Shinichiro overcoming his personal issue here. It's kind of like a Key route gender-flipped, really. When it comes to helping one's romantic interest achieve an important dream, Noe is to Shinichiro what Tomoya is to Nagisa (1st season of Clannad).

Hiromi's role in Shinichiro successfully overcoming his artistic struggles was pretty minor by comparison, and even then it was pretty much indirect.

For this reason, Shinichiro/Noe seemed to me like a more natural romantic route for True Tears to go with than what Shinichiro/Hiromi did.


But in fairness, Hiromi did have "First Girl" status on her side (i.e. she was the first girl that the male lead showed any romantic interest in), so it wasn't shocking that Shinichiro/Hiromi was how it ended.