[Ascaloth] True Tears, Episode 11 at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

[Ascaloth] True Tears, Episode 11

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Popularity: 8% [?] Published by Ascaloth March 19th, 2008 in Ascaloth, Anime

Despite Shinichiro’s melodramatic chase-down of and promise to Hiromi last episode, she goes ahead with the move to her student hostel anyway. Other than that, everything else seems to be smooth sailing for the relationship between them…or is it? It’s not quite so simple; there are still a few more loose ends to tie up before this series can end.

Well, real life strikes again. And with the semester more than halfway through at this point, my workload is only going to get heavier. In other words, I will no longer be explaining why I’m always so late for these True Tears articles recently, it’s pretty clear at this point why this is so.

In any case, True Tears, Episode 11.

Yeah, I didn’t know she was a meganekko, either. It still suits her though, although meganekko’s not exactly my thing. Come to think of it, no wonder I like Hiromi so much; beautiful long hair, a gentle disposition, and as this picture proves, apart from the megane, she also possesses some pretty nice curves. That’s everything in a girl that I like. Unfortunately, it also means that she stands a decent chance of suffering the same kind of fate as a certain female lead character in a certain Key adaptation which shares her traits of beautiful long hair, gentle disposition, and nice curves…..oh, no. Please, not this time.

When he believed that Hiromi was a sibling who was off-limits to him, Shinichiro contented himself with Noe. Yet, once he realized that’s not the case, he all but drops Noe like a hot potato to go back to Hiromi. Even then, now that there’s practically nothing in the way of his ~~consummating~~ furthering his relationship with Hiromi, he can’t stop thinking back to Noe. In other word, Shinichiro is one of those spineless, indecisive male leads that we all love to hate.

Score!

Yet, this kiss may turn out to not be enough in the larger picture in the end. As to why it possibly could be so, I’ll talk about that later…

While it’s nice that Nobuse and Aiko have decided to retain their friendship, and perhaps have another go at a relationship for real in the near future, it still makes me wonder; what is the point of Aiko being there in the first place?

The chicken story takes yet another twist. Although it’s pretty clear that Shinichiro’s picture book is a reflection of his state of mind, I’ve heard plenty of differing theories about what it specifically means. To be honest, I haven’t a clue what to thin, either.

To prove that he’s not yet out of the fight, Jun butts in on Hiromi’s basketball match, and blasts his own school’s women’s basketball team for "trippin’ up MY bitch".

I was blasting Shinichiro earlier for being just another spineless, indecisive male lead. His one saving grace? He knows that himself, too. Although whether he’ll eventually take action to correct that flaw of his is still up in the air, the fact that he does think about it is a start, at least.

The whole mess that Shinichiro created earlier own comes back to bite them; with Jun insistent on keeping a tenuous grip on Hiromi, and with Shinichiro still unable to shake off thoughts of Noe, what could have been smooth sailing from this point onwards is instead a slow poisoning of Shinichiro’s and Hiromi’s relationship. This is basically going to be the basis of the drama of the last couple of episodes; will Shinichiro and Hiromi overcome their doubts regarding each other, or are we heading for a breakup?

Jun tries to work his black magic on Hiromi again, but this time she solidly rebuffs him with a critical counter. Given how I never liked Jun’s manipulative ways, I can’t say I’m not happy about Hiromi’s counterstrike. However, Jun’s expression at the end of this scene is rather intriguing; what could it possibly mean?

The chicken story comes to a bad end. Initially, most people took for granted that Shinichiro was seeing Raigomaru as himself; recently though, I’ve heard more interesting ones that include Hiromi as Jibeta, Noe as Jibeta, Noe as Raigomaru, even Shinichiro as Jibeta…I honestly am quite confused. All of it is plausible, but there’s no certainty as to which one is the correct interpretation, if indeed there is one.

The relationship is poisoned even further when Shinichiro, continuing his damned "good boy" routine, thoughtlessly reacts immediately to Noe’s disappearance without realizing the jealousy it would cause in Hiromi. However, that’s a pretty common mistake all of us males make, so I’m not about to castigate Shinichiro for it. Neither would I castigate Hiromi for her reaction either; it’s pretty hard for anyone not to feel a little jealous, after all.

Meanwhile, seemingly still unable to cope with reality, Noe seems to be increasingly losing it. I never liked her onii-chan, and now I have a certain degree of doubt towards the imouto too. It’s one thing for her to be depressed to a great degree due to inexperience in love, but it’s another altogether for her to act up this way. At the risk of putting myself in the path of Crusader-kun’s stream of expletive fire, I’ll say that her behaviour is actually freaking me out at the moment. Girls who have a total mental meltdown when you break with them are a scary lot.

By the end, Noe confirms to herself that Hiromi was the one in Shinichiro’s heart all along, while she continues acting out by taking Jibeta to the beachside. She’s just freaking me out a bit more at this point; there’s no telling what she would do to herself next if unsupervised. Can Shinichiro, heck, can anyone deal with having it on their conscience if something happens to her? Nope, and that is why Shinichiro cannot help but seek to resolve things with her in the last few episodes of the series. I sure hope I will never have to deal with that in my time.

With this episode, the writers manage to keep up a sense of ambiguity regarding the Shinichiro-Hiromi-Noe triangle; despite the seeming confirmation, the story still looks like it retains the possibility of going either way at this point. Unfortunately though, I have no idea whether I can retain enough interest to see this through to the end; True Tears lost much of its momentum in the last couple of episodes, and the plot was meandering somewhat in this one. To be honest, I’m none too sure that I would care anymore by the time everything is fully resolved; unless they execute it wonderfully, a Hiromi ending could easily end up feeling poisoned, while a Noe ending could easily end up looking entirely incredulous. I certainly hope that things will wrap themselves up soon, and with two more episodes left, perhaps it will. Until then, we’ll see how it goes.

Ascaloth, out.

Popularity: 8% [?]

8 Responses to “[Ascaloth] True Tears, Episode 11”

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1 Kabitzin 94 comments Mar 19th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

It’s actually a preemptive breakdown, considering Shinichiro has yet to dump Noe. If Noe hadn’t gone completely nuts in an emo-awkward way maybe Shinichiro could have ended up with her, but I think she’s ruined her chances now. I mean, if Noe’s this upset that Shinichiro hugged Hiromi after a major motorcycle crash, you know she’s going to be a clingy and jealous GF.
2 SnooSnoo 173 comments Mar 19th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

It might end with a Nice Boat
3 bakaneko 1 comment Mar 19th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Better late than never. And thanks for a great post. Good luck with the midterm.
4 G-Man 53 comments Mar 21st, 2008 at 2:13 am

Sure Noe’s behavior is darn right frightening. But what’s wrong with having a fragile psyche? Really, what did Noe do wrong except over extend herself. Ascaloth don’t you think your being a tad harsh on her? Not everyone can quickly adjust to the cynical unfaithful nature of this world. Noe’s only crime is that she was too trusting, gullible, naive, and fantastical. But are all those things bad qualities? Do we really want to put a premium on individuals who become stoic to life’s upheavals? Though i do not agree with Noe’s reaction, I do understand it. She, as fas as should understood, unselfishly gave herself to Shin only to be met with ingratitude and contempt. This puts a whole new meaning on the world “dumped”…. FU shin..I mean it

I am G-man!!!
5 Darkman 1 comment Mar 21st, 2008 at 6:14 am

I think in the preview she mentions to someone what beautiful tears you have. What I think is that Shin finally understands the pain in Noe and cries out and she says them that they are beautiful. And jun saying can I kiss you, well I think that Hiromi also came out looking for Noe basically looking for Shin and ends up seeing them together or Shin showing more love towards or whatever that can change her to feel that way and later during the festival she ends up meeting Jun and he asks her if he could kiss her. Sheesh this is killing me a lot.
6 Dirian 3 comments Mar 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm

I dunno, I think the loss of momentum was more due to feeling like we were getting a clear ending 3 episodes early, and now they’ve let us know that, no they aren’t done telling a story yet.

As Kabitzin, you just don’t understand man. She’s not overreacting because she saw Shin hug Hiromi. That was only the incident that really let Noe where Shin’s true feelings are. It’s finding out that the man who said he loved her, who wrote it with rocks in the snow, was lying. If anything she has shown herself to be selfless and altruistic in her love by agreeing to let him go, yet even then, the pain is still there. I can’t say I agree with how she’s acting either, but I think we’re all jumping the gun thinking she’s losing it. Being melancholy and wanting to be alone aren’t unhealthy reactions when you go through something like this, and at least it isn’t(yet) expressing itself via boxcutter.
7 Vivi 1 comment Mar 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm

Just copying and pasting the comment I’ve left at scrumptious, since it fits pretty well here and I’m lazy to explain it all over again;)
Never commented on here before, but I love Noe, too. I think if the ending’s anything else aside from shin being with noe, than the show will prove to be so not worthy recomending it to anyone.

I don’t think Noe is crazy. And I think she’s never been as concious of reality as she’s now. She shut herself up because she is sad, she needs care and attention and she knows she has to wait for Shin to make up his mind, but waiting is painful. But she’s hlding out graciously. I don’t think she would ever kill herself, no, although the weather and place itself is really dangerous that one might slip and fall and die while lost in thoughts.

I’ve been there where Noe is. I know how she feels. I’ve shut myself, I’ve went out to seek confort on things and pets and places where I felt most confortable or connected to the person in question. Sometimes you need to run around aimlessly, you need to set the reality you know so well aside and try anything to let your sadness out and comfort yourself. that’s where I think Noe stands right now, she’s not being suicidal, just a bit emo.
Also, I think the little time Shin spent with her was enough to make his feelings towards her develope, but he hasn’t realized it yet. You see, he has known Hiromi since childhood, and they were still practically children when she came to live with him and his family. She seemed the fragile and hurt type that does make guys want to act as a knight in shining armour and protect them, and she might as well have been his first love, so of course it would be hard for him to realize his new feelings.

I believe Shin and Hiromi do care a lot about each other and are holding out to each other because of the feelings they did once had, but I feel love just isn’t there anymore, you see. Their relationship was never healthy to start with, though they did not realize it. And that’s where Noe and her brother come in: to make Shin and Noe understand their own feelings, to set them free from their disfunctional, childish, relationship.

Well, at least, that’s my theory. I’m a romantic, I know that. Sorry for writing so much.

1 True Tears 11 - Is There Noe Hope? (In Defense of Noe) | The Scrumptious Anime Blog Pingback on Mar 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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