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Old 2010-02-23, 14:23   Link #82
DragoZERO
Spoilaphobic
 
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: USA
Age: 37
You answer so many of your own questions as you continue talking...

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Originally Posted by wingman32x View Post
Yeah, tell me about it. Even though these two are sort of unique to the genre, I found some faults in them, as well. About Shin, I think his reason for chasing Hiromi was a bit weak IMO. Yeah, it's a nice reason on paper, but it just didn't resonate with me too well. Idk "I want to wipe away her tears" doesn't seem like a terribly strong reason to me. I guess that I don't think his reason was big enough for him to chase after her as strongly as he did. I'm probably going to be in the minority concerning this, but something seemed off to me. I also think Shin was a bit too dramatic in some cases. An example of this would be when he chased that truck with his bike. Hiromi was still going to go to the same school as Shin, yet he's chasing after the truck like she's going away forever. Again, I understand his reason, but I think he reacted a bit too rash in that situation.
He may have said he wanted to wipe away her tears, but he also had feelings for her for quite some time. And teenagers overreact.

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Noe, even though I adored her character greatly, had some key flaws as well. First off, she played around with Shin too much IMO. By the time she really buckled down and got serious, it was already too late. Now, one can argue that Noe acted the way she did because she wasn't sure that she loved him at the time. While this is a possibility, I don't agree with it. Even before Noe came to terms with her feelings for Shin, she already felt Jelousy when she saw Shin and Hiromi together. So I think her feelings were there in some form. Even after she realized that she loved Shin, she didn't immediatly take action. This slight delay hurt her chances IMO. Now, I know this criticizm is a minor one, but I thought it was worth bringing up. It was a shame, too, because Noe did in fact love Shin a great deal. I almost cried when she saw Hiromi and Shin together, then immediatly ran to the school chicken coop, frantically digging through the snow trying to find the oath shin made with the rocks. Of course it wasn't there, and looking back on that scene I realized that it may have been a bit symbolic. It represented Noe's chances. They started off bold and promising, but as time went by and as she lost control of the situation, her chances faded away. By the time Noe realized that her chances are dwindling, it was far too late. She made one last desperate effort (represented by her digging through the snow), at the end of that last ditch effort, however, she realized that no potential was left. This is just something I came up with, so I might be way off.
You are very perceptive. You're right on all counts.

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Another one of Noe's key faults is that she wasn't too keen on recognizing the feelings of other people. This happened not only with Shin, but with Noe's brother as well when she failed to recognize his incestuous feelings. This skill would have benefitted Noe greatly. There was an, albeit short, period of time where Shin had deeper feelings for Noe. If Noe would have picked up on this and adjusted her advances accordingly, who knows what would have happened. Even though I wanted Noe to win, I do realize that she had some issues that ultimately prevented her from doing so.
She was timid. I wouldn't call that a key fault. It was one thing that attracted Shin to her - she was forward with the strange things (leaving seeds through the school) but timid about the normal things (recognizing feelings).

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I know that Hiromi had some rather deep issues, and I actually sympathize with all of them. I mean, losing one parent is bad enough, but when you lose both of them like she did (I think), it can be unbelievably traumatizing. I can't imagine the pain she was going through and it's incredible that she acted as good as she did. Also, "Smiling through the pain" isn't neccisarily a bad thing. I think that approach is rather admirable, actually. Despite the intense pain you feel, you put on a smile to prevent you from "dragging everybody down" so to speak. But I realize that people handle emotions differently, so I am in no way blaming Hiromi for that.

What I meant by "cold" is the way in which she treated Shin and even Noe in some cases. For example, Hiromi went in to could shoulder mode on more than one occasion because she was upset that Shin was giving Noe a lot of attention. I know this is par for the course in this type of series but It rubbed me the wrong way nonetheless. I also didn't like the way she tried to befriend Noe to earn brownie points with her brother. I know this is a rather common situation in real life, but I don't approve of it. I think it's rather insulting to the person they're doing it to. I've been in Noe's situation before and it makes me mad. So when I said "cold" I meant the above examples, not her overall attitude.
She had a rough life. Both her and Noe did. Which is one of the themes, "tears." But everything she did was realistic and had motive - and that goes for all characters here. That's one thing I loved about this, you can justify everything, nothing comes out of left field.

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I felt so bad for Hiromi when she basically got chewed up by Shin's mom. I downright DESPISE Shin's mom for acting the way she did. Her apology helped a little, but not much in my eyes. Her behavior was downright pathetic, childish, and uncalled for. To go so far as to tell Hiromi a massive lie like she did just because of petty insecurity is absolutely unforgivable IMO. I mean, what was she thinking? Hiromi was incredibly mistreated and it amazes me that she endured it for as long as she did without snapping. So I am incredibly proud of Hiromi in that regard.
She was a bitch, lol. She let out her anger towards her husband & Hiromi's mother on Hiromi herself. She couldn't hate on the mother, so she hated on the daughter. It was good that they reconciled though.

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About Hiromi telling Noe to back off, I was more surprised than anything. Most of the time, such a statement is made in a less direct and overall nicer fashion. So it sort of stunned me when it came out blunt like that. I actually support this method in general, as it's pretty rare to see something like this, but I wish it didn't come at Noe's expense. I didn't think she fully deserved it. I admit my bias in regards to this scene lol .
Plus the location & setting was awesome. They were dressed so pretty.

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Anyway, sorry for the long post guys, but I've been looking for a good anime forum to discuss this series in particular for a while. So I've been wanting to discuss this for some time lol.
You've come to the right place. Welcome.


Speaking of the festival earlier, I always wish Shin did that little chicken thing for Noe. She deserved that much.
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