true tears (old generic discussion thread)

[Seravy]

anyone know when the OP is coming out?

[Supah Em]

january 23, my friend

[Seravy]

2 days away, lovely <3

[Pellissier]

True Tears caught my attention since its very beginning; most remarkably with its atmosphere and its complex characters. I've read comparisons Honey & Clover or KyoAni productions, while I think that isn't totally incorrect, my idea is different. I've waited three episodes (fair enough) to judge but the feeling I have here is purely Miyazakian. I mean, the attention paid to the details, the effort to create believable, complex and fascinating characters, the accuracy put into chardes and animation, not to mention the dubbers, it's something I usually recognize in Studio Ghibli's works such as Whisper of the Heart, Kiki, Totoro.

Said this, it's been a while since a show didn't keep me interested like True Tears. Despite their wonderfulness, I find some recent favourites of mine like ef and Kimikiss to be somewhat inferior, but that's probably at each own's personal judgement.
The fact of it being 13 episodes long does have pros and cons. The pro is that the story is pretty direct and moves ahead a lot from episode to episode (another point in common with Ghibli movies). The cons might be the lack of time to properly explain everything, but so far I'm fully confident in this staff and in this director.

My thoughts on episode 3.

- I don't think the fact Shinichiro's mother said "she's not my child" implied something deeper than what we saw. It simply made a stronger impact of how Hiromi must feels uneasy living there. I don't see any further development.

- Aiko is clearly in love with Shinichiro but he doesn't get it and the moment I can't see him getting the clue for several reasons (namely: Nobuse, Hiromi, Noe). That speech about wanting to get closer to the person you like even by going closer to other persons, was cute and clever.

- For 5 seconds, my mind was confused by Hiromi's "confession". But I absolutely don't buy what she said. First, you don't refer to the person you love as "number 4"; "I love number 4", that's really uncool! - XD
Seriously, rewatching the scene in the gym it's pretty clear to see how things went. Hiromi's heart skipped a beat when she saw (so she thought) an "intimal" situation between Noe and Shinichiro. A second later, she happened to notice a wonderful play in the match where she was scouting, and her mind recorded that number 4.
Hiromi probably decided to go all the way through the suppression of her feelings for Shinichiro, and when her friend inquired her, she made up the first story that came to her mind. Also remember, the director was pretty smart here, because we didn't see Hiromi's reaction to the question "do you like Shinichiro". The camera went to the main character and eventually came back to Hiromi when they felt it was convenient for us. When Hiromi said "I like number 4" she was cold like a robot, you can't possibly be so icy when talking of someone you're actually interested in.
And if there were any doubts, her look when she realized the disaster she made since Shinichiro heard it all, does clear any clouds.
I really liked the last sequence of the episode, I even tried to make it into a sign, but it was really no use, it would have been awful if I'd have tried to compress quality. Still, it was a nice shot:



What I like is how they conveyed the feeling going "from light through darkness" - see her right and her left - which is precisely the situation Hiromi has gotten herself into. Pretty peculiar use of chiaroscuro, isn't it?

[Jer]

After watching episode 3, I can declare that I truly adore this series. I need more Aiko screentime and development.

[arkxkra]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

What I like is how they conveyed the feeling going "from light through darkness" - see her right and her left - which is precisely the situation Hiromi has gotten herself into. Pretty peculiar use of chiaroscuro, isn't it?

oh yeah. and also thx for the nice image.

[Supah Em]

@ pellisier

i can see you're a hiromi supporter


but seriously, in terms of background details true tears excels more than any anime that i watched, the background characters are not static are instead, moving at a similar pace with the main characters...

i, too, support hiromi for shinichiro. i feel that she needs the love more than noe and ai-chan do.

[Manji Midou]

^
I loved that expression at the end it's like she was saying.
Hiomi: Oh snap I just pwned myself big time...XD

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

I don't think the fact Shinichiro's mother said "she's not my child" implied something deeper than what we saw. It simply made a stronger impact of how Hiromi must feels uneasy living there. I don't see any further development.

Hmm, by the end of the series we might have her finally accecpting her, who knows? Now, can you imagine her reaction to Shin and Hiromi dating --- now that would completely blow the roof away.

[Supah Em]

^ good point

the onii-chan/nee-chan non-blood related relationship, it has been played before (more recently by jun`ichi and nemu from da capo) and i hope that the outcome of their relationship(hiromi-shinchan) would turn out good if ever they become a couple

on a side note... damn, why does this series have only 13 episodes? we're only at episode 3 but im already thinking to myself that 13 episodes wouldnt do justice to this interesting series.

@ pellissier

i'll be taking one of your avatars, thanks!

[Pellissier]

Unlike Kimikiss, this series does have some potential for avatars, since the animations are really good (it's the only depart lacking in Kimikiss, or who knows how many Eriko avatars I might have made so far). However, despite the potential, there's somewhat of a lack of fitting scenes (the best I could find for Hiromi was a static in episode 2, now I found an animated one in episode 3 but I'm still not satisfied.

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Anyone planning to make a few Aiko avatars? I'd love to change to one of her.

Just a few (of which 1 animated):



+1 Hiromi and 1 Noe



+ 1 freebie sign, just thought it looked funny. Name and or captions might be added if requested:

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Hmm, by the end of the series we might have her finally accecpting her, who knows? Now, can you imagine her reaction to Shin and Hiromi dating --- now that would completely blow the roof away.

She seems quite strict at the moment. However just to point out that by "I don't see any further developments" I was meaning that imho the scene was to be interpreted as it was looking (with no plot twists such as same father different mother etc.etc.).
Of course any other kind of development is possible at this stage.

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

Ep 1

Wow, what an outstanding first episode. I think the last time I've been this impressed by a first episode was over a year ago with Bokura ga Ita.

And yes, this is a late reply but I forgot to do it before. Sorrow-k literally stole the words from my mouth: no other anime impressed me with their episode 1 since the time of Bokura ga Ita (July 2006). I must say, episodes 2 and 3 only made that feeling stronger. Even the immense Honey & Clover had yet to fully bloom after such a short life.

[skaarji]

Hi!
I just watched episode 1 of true tears and it was quite good!
I downloaded the Ai-Doremi version and the BakaWolf-m.3.3.w version...
A lot of phrases are totally different, so which one is the best?
starting from the title ("I gave away my tears" or "My tears, I wanted to give them to you"?),
min 12.04 "that smile made me anxious" or the opposite "I loved her smile" ???
and so on..
Thanks for the help

[Sorrow-K]

This anime is special. I just can't get enough of it. I think it's going to be a series that I think I'll thoroughly enjoy marathoning after it's all over. It's been a long time since I've had this much difficultly watching a series from week to week, but I always feel so unsatisfied at the end of each episode. I always just want to see more.

Ep 3

The characters in this are just phenomenal. There's so much substance to them already and yet it's clear that at this stage, we're only scratching the surface.

Spoiler:

I was almost disappointed that they went down the predictable route of making Noe's mystery man her brother, since I would have seen it as a bit of wasted potential, but Hiromi's (audible to Shin'ichiro) revelation that she likes the very same person was a real and very welcome curve ball. We can question how genuine she is about her "crush", but I think the most important aspect of it is, like Shin'ichiro or not, she doesn't want to admit it. There's clearly something more to this, and I think it says a lot about how "broken", so to say, Hiromi is. I have this suspicion that she hasn't even mourned her father's death. There's a real lingering sadness about her that makes me think that she just hasn't come anywhere near coming to terms with her situation.

Ai is the big enigma in all of this. I think we've learnt in this episode that she's another character having difficultly dealing with her emotions. The good thing they've done with her is put her feelings for Shin'ichiro on the table right now. Yes, it's a bit of a cliche that all the major three female characters have some amount of romantic involvement in the male lead that the side characters (and the audience) can speculate about, but it's far better that it be revealed now than as a cheap plot twist that goes nowhere later on. But they do have to make something of her character so she isn't wasted in all of this. She feels a tad superfluous right now.

The show continues to pull all the right strings as far as subtlety and understated atmosphere is concerned. And there's so much subdued drama in this show, just out of the inconsistencies and subtle complexities of the characters. This has been almost my dream show so far. It's for shows like this that I watch anime.

[NoOneKnowS]

Finish watching all three EPs. And wow; great show. Kimikiss is sadly getting into my nerves Im happy to have a new good romance show to watch. Not to mention the characters are really deep and very hard to read. I too am a Hiromi supporter here. Don't know why though i just feel like it. Though Noe seems to be not that bad of a choice either. And this a good change to actually have "living" parents being part of the drama/story itself. Quite refreshing. If Hiromo and Sinichiro actually end up together I'm feel that Sinichi's mom would be like the "last boss" of the story of something.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by supahem

on a side note... damn, why does this series have only 13 episodes? we're only at episode 3 but im already thinking to myself that 13 episodes wouldnt do justice to this interesting series.

Three female leads, on male lead --- 13 episodes seems to be about enough. Going for 24/26 would be wonderful, i mean i'd love to watch these characters to there thing for that long, though i don't think the story could last that long. Just look how much we're into the story at the third episode mark.

Originally Posted by Pellissier

Just a few (of which 1 animated):

Thanks a lot. I'll be changing pretty soon.

[golthin]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Three female leads, on male lead --- 13 episodes seems to be about enough. Going for 24/26 would be wonderful, i mean i'd love to watch these characters to there thing for that long, though i don't think the story could last that long. Just look how much we're into the story at the third episode mark.


Thanks a lot. I'll be changing pretty soon.

considering that Kimikiss has 2 couples and a love triangle and they are going for 24 episodes to give each of the characters enough development, i think 13 episodes for 4 people i true tears is good is good enough (not counting Nobuse and Noe's brother)

[Itadakimasu!]

For the first two eps i found this anime a bit bland, in that it didnt break any new ground or anything. Stunning visuals though

But by episode 3 i think im starting to appreciate it more. I like the vulnerability the characters show. Maybe its no surprise that I'm not really a Noe fan, she just doesn't seem to fit pensive mood of the show. and i think I've gotten over the whole "im such a princess look at me" type of character.

I think I like Hiromi most of all, because she DOES lie and dissemble, for the simple reason that she's human. We don;t know why she lied about the memory she had, but its obvious that seeing Shinichiro carry Noe made Hiromi jealous. The trouble for her is... she's trying to repress this, and seeing S and N like that just reopened an old wound for her. So it's no wonder she says she likes number 4... its an attempt to make herself feel as if she can understand Shinichiro's actions by forcing herself to pretend to like the male equivalent of noe, her brother (i use equivalent loosely ! :P)

[Zanshun]

Hiromi just might have interest in #4 though, it might not be as random as everyone suggests and it could definitely complicate things. Otherwise alot of the focus of last episode and most of this episode is actually lost. Think about Aiko's advice, Shinichiro automatically thought that he was the one Hiromi liked because hes the only male close to Noe but now #4's relation to Noe is brought to light. They showed Hiromi's involvement in basketball last episode in order to draw the basketball connection, since she also helps out with the boy's basketball team its safe to assume that from previous basketall contests she knew of #4's name and therefore relation to Noe. Truth or plot device Shinichiro is gonna focus next episode that just as Aiko said maybe Hiromi was actually trying to be Noe's friend in order to get closer to #4. She mentioned that she sealed away her feelings and so she might legitimately be trying to move on.

Just wanted to point out that the #4 thing might not be quite as random and that there was some sort of connection and focus towards it beforehand. Having said all that I still want Shinichro x Hiromi because of the past connection and it would be more exciting to see Hiromi slowly "unseal" herself in regards to Shinichiro but I wouldn't be suprised if Shinichiro spent a few episodes dating Noe and Hiromi during that time spent some time with #4.

[Supah Em]

yep, it was implied that she tried to move on but she was reminded of the past because of the presence of shin chan in her supposed confession to the other girl(forgot her name, played basketball with hiromi)

it also seemed that the staff tried to confuse us by putting up two connections to noe, one being shinichiro and the other is her brother. But we focused more on the connection between noe and shinichiro and unintenionally shelving the possibility of noe's brother as the other connection



on a side note, even though this thread has far fewer posts than the other series in this section, i feel that it surpasses most of the ones that has a higher count ( if you calculate the 3rd episodes in the other threads ). really, some animes are just overhyped, not that im complaining though ^_^

[golthin]

Originally Posted by Zanshun

Hiromi just might have interest in #4 though, it might not be as random as everyone suggests and it could definitely complicate things. Otherwise alot of the focus of last episode and most of this episode is actually lost. Think about Aiko's advice, Shinichiro automatically thought that he was the one Hiromi liked because hes the only male close to Noe but now #4's relation to Noe is brought to light. They showed Hiromi's involvement in basketball last episode in order to draw the basketball connection, since she also helps out with the boy's basketball team its safe to assume that from previous basketall contests she knew of #4's name and therefore relation to Noe. Truth or plot device Shinichiro is gonna focus next episode that just as Aiko said maybe Hiromi was actually trying to be Noe's friend in order to get closer to #4. She mentioned that she sealed away her feelings and so she might legitimately be trying to move on.

Just wanted to point out that the #4 thing might not be quite as random and that there was some sort of connection and focus towards it beforehand. Having said all that I still want Shinichro x Hiromi because of the past connection and it would be more exciting to see Hiromi slowly "unseal" herself in regards to Shinichiro but I wouldn't be suprised if Shinichiro spent a few episodes dating Noe and Hiromi during that time spent some time with #4.

she knew the number #4 because she saw Neo call to him. She didn't even know the guys name, so the fact she was getting close to Noe was not because of her brother but because of Shin. Come on, we know she likes Shin, they had a past and she remembers it and she lied to him about it when he asked her if she remember it. Hiromi has already a habit of lying, so she lying to her friend to shut her up about shin is not out of character. He face when she saw that Shin was eavedroping what she said was priceless and guilty as charged.