[Ascaloth] True Tears, Episode 12 at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

[Ascaloth] True Tears, Episode 12

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Popularity: 8% [?] Published by Ascaloth March 26th, 2008 in Ascaloth, Anime

Finally finding Noe at the beachside, with Jibeta in her custody, Shinichiro watches her as she continues to mentally fall apart at the seams, shoving the poor clueless chicken up towards the sky to leave it flapping in the wind. Then philosophizing to herself, she finally comes to an epiphany, and realizes that she had misunderstood Jibeta after all. While her philosophizing is admittedly quite polished and impressive, I’m still having reservations about Noe’s mental state.

At this point, I can’t help but think that the best part of this series went ‘poof’ along with much of what made it so good back in Episode 9, and it had only been losing more and more of its better parts ever since. With Noe increasingly losing it, Shinichiro still in his flip-flopper attitude that now has no excuse, and Hiromi’s angst starting to get less understandable and more for merely the sake of it, the main characters have all but lost almost everything that made them so likable in the first place. It looks like mere melodrama now, instead of the genuinely good drama it started out as. Yet there’s no point dropping it at this stage, so let’s get it over and done with.

True Tears, Episode 12.

Shinichiro goes through yet another epiphany about his own mistakes, yet by this time, I’m losing faith that he’ll actually follow through on his realizations. Epiphany after epiphany, and yet he still hasn’t done anything properly. He got plenty of free passes in the past because of his genuinely untenable situation, but he’s fast losing favour with me now that he no longer has any excuses.

When I first saw Hiromi looking oh so beautiful in her kimono, the first thing that came to my mind was "yamato nadeshiko". She certainly has the look, doesn’t she?

There, even now he still can’t make up his mind. Now that he has no obstacles to being close with the girl he has always wanted, he still can’t stop thinking of Noe…he wasn’t exactly on my list of favourite characters to begin with, but now I’m starting to like him less and less as well.

One of the signs which, no doubt, is going to give Crusader-kun some well-deserved hope. Hiromi is starting to get angsty about losing Shinichiro back to Noe, but one has to wonder. If Shinichiro does go back to Noe, Hiromi will drop into a funk again; how is this series going to resolve her funk with only one episode left if that does happen?

Like the fact that you really have no business being in this story in the first place?

The Tears of the Yamato Nadeshiko. With that kimono complementing her already refined bearing, Hiromi was just giving off Yamato Nadeshiko vibes all episode, even when (or perhaps especially when) her eyes overflow from her insecurity. Argh….must resist….

She’s losing it…..

And Jun finally comes clean to Noe. I’m sure Jun had finally realized his selfishness at this point, and I’m willing to give him credit for that, but perhaps the timing just wasn’t right. Look at Noe, she’s just shocked as hell. Is it really a good idea to dump such a bombshell on an already shell-shocked girl?

And at the very end, with her finally knowing of the deal happening behind her back, Noe finally realizes the true feelings in the hearts of everyone involved in this mess. I may not approve of the way she’s handling all the blows to her heart, but I can certainly empathize with it. She doesn’t deserve this.

And yet, could we have been wrong all along? Now Shinichiro is figuring to himself that the reason why he could finally put pencil to paper was all due to Noe; she has become just as important to him as Hiromi is. While I can’t say that I could never have seen this coming, it just makes me more frustrated at Shinichiro. I mean, we get a look inside this guy’s head more often than most other male harem leads, and yet we still have no clue as to what he’s really thinking, if he’s actually thinking at all. This is either intentional baiting or merely poor execution on the part of the writers; I’ll give the writers a chance and hold back for now, instead of blasting it straight out as the latter.

The Yamato Nadeshiko Threatened. I have to say I quite like the art-like scenes that P.A. Works keep throwing out in this series; this one is but the best of them all. I could almost hang this on my wall as a poster.

Again, Hiromi is left to whisper that same line as Shinichiro walks away from her once again. If this is intentional baiting on the part of the writers, it is coming at the cost of making the characters more and more unlikable; Hiromi is becoming downright insecure, and Shinichiro is…..I don’t know, I just want to beat him up at this point. His indecisiveness and secrecy is just hurting everyone around him, and he doesn’t even seem to notice that.

I believe I can fly,
I believe I can touch the sky,

I think about it every night and day,
Spread my wings and fly away….

*thud*

And finally, Noe loses it so badly she decides to try and make good on R. Kelly’s classic…only for her to find out the hard way that it was just a song.

So, one more episode left to the conclusion of this series. I said before that I wouldn’t have minded if True Tears ended two weeks ago; my Hiromi fanboyism has something to do with it, I’m sure, but otherwise it could have been a good a conclusion to Hiromi’s story as any. Yet, there was still 3 more episodes to go with this…and look where they’ve taken it.

I’ve beaten this dead horse too many times now, but here’s one more go. Noe is just going off the bend here; even as a Hiromi fanboy, I’m not the type to dislike Noe just because she is my favourite girl’s love rival. Heck, she was lovable in her own way before Episode 9; ever since then though, she’s just going more and more loco. Sure, she’s acting out so badly because she’s inexperienced in the way of love, but for her to go to such extremes like she did at the end of this episode is just too much. In real life, any guy would be wary of a girl who acts out upon hearbreak the way Noe does.

And then there’s Hiromi. Even if she’s my favourite girl, even I can’t help but think she’s overstepping her rights just a little at this point. Granted, most of it is directly due to Shinichiro’s ham-fisted way of going about things, but surely she didn’t need to act out like that, herself. I once sympathized with her the most due to her genuinely difficult situation; now that she doesn’t have to deal with that anymore though, I can no longer empathize with her angst-ing as much as I used to.

But as bad as the female leads have become, their flaws do not compare to what Shinichiro is doing at this point. Making dubious backroom deals with Jun, leading Noe on, dumping her when it becomes apparent that Hiromi is available, and now that he has Hiromi almost in his grasp, he goes flip-flop between her and Noe yet again. He’s just hurting everyone around him at this point, and come to think of it, any girl he probably ends up with would probably only be hurt by the flip-flopping actions he’s bound to get up to in the future. Thus the strange dichotomy; I may be a Hiromi fanboy, but conversely I actually do NOT want her to end up with Shinichiro, for her own sake. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t wish such a fate on Noe either. That’s how mediocre Shinichiro has ended up as a male lead; like Hiromi, he got free passes for his behaviour due to the previous situation in the Nakagami household, although to a lesser extent, but now that he no longer has that as an excuse, his faults are being laid bare for all to see. And I don’t like it one bit.

Oh well, I’ve ranted enough. Whatever the outcome will be, we will know by next week. Ascaloth, out.

Popularity: 8% [?]

8 Responses to “[Ascaloth] True Tears, Episode 12”

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1 tik 67 comments Mar 26th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

“the main characters have all but lost almost everything that made them so likable in the first place”

Although I wouldn’t go to the extreme of saying that they have loss almost EVERYTHING that made them so likable, but on the contrary, I thought the fact that they are less likable at this last stage of the series makes the series, and especially the character interaction, more interesting actually.

“And yet, could we have been wrong all along? Now Shinichiro is figuring to himself that the reason why he could finally put pencil to paper was all due to Noe; she has become just as important to him as Hiromi is.”

The Hiromi fanboy inside me tells me that Shin-chan more of in debt to Noe, rather than liking Noe like Hiromi. He finally realised that Noe is the one who motivated him, who pushed him to fly and do whatever he liked (eg the picture book which his mom sort of forbidden). Thus, he needs to rush to her and sorts things out with her, so as not to hurt her further.

of course the above comment is biased, hahaha

“Sure, she’s acting out so badly because she’s inexperienced in the way of love, but for her to go to such extremes like she did at the end of this episode is just too much.”

1) I think she jumped because she was too shocked from the confession made by Jun, rather than her inexperience in love. Regardless of how many K-dramas out there, which try to portrait bro-sis love as normal as your everyday affair, it is not normal in Asian society. Noe was too shocked to handle it and thus chose the easy way out.

2) Before she jumped, while she was still enjoying the breeze at the coastline, she finally came to the realisation that she didn’t understand anyone around her, she didn’t understand the feeling of Shin-chan, Jun and even Hiromi. She kept forcing / motivating Shin-chan to fly, thinking that it is what he wanted to do. But is it so?

One thing which she overlooked — she might not have even understood her own self. She wanted Shin-chan to fly, but in actual fact she herself might be the one that wanted to fly, just that she didn’t realise it until that point at the coastline. Coupled with the recent shocking realisation of her brother’s interest, she may just wanted to end everything by taking the flight herself, thus jumping off from the tree with 2 hands spread out, just like how a chicken would “fly” from some height to the ground.
2 Setsukyie 34 comments Mar 26th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

Shinichiro is to blame for all that have happened..
But still, Noe is overdoing it..
I mean, what was she thinking, she thinks that she can fly..
Well, she has her own reasons to do so..
Hiromi and Jun have their own share of problems too..
Let’s see how True Tears will conclude next week..
3 rocklee 1 comment Mar 27th, 2008 at 12:00 am

Well analysed, I think.

Yes, the problem is all the main characters were rushed into abrupt changes in this one episode. Of course, it’s natural for main leads to experience some changes over the time, but it’s too much and too sudden. Just in an episode, all of these things happened:

Noe, who had been eccentric and immature, becomes serious and conscious to ALL other people’s feelings all of a sudden. Hiromi, who had mangaed to go through a lot of pressure, now looks vulnerable and insecure. What is more, there is our male lead, Shin. Oh! He had been painfully indecisive in the past, but now he exposes his indecisiveness and determination by turns, which looks like a symptom of mental disoder rather than a sign of growing-up. At this rate, a break down will be only viable conclusion for him.

Until recently, I have thought true tears could be quite a unique animation, which contributes to widen the horizon of animation. Well… however, writers dramatically failed to keep a proper pace in the final part, which ruined the credibility of the whole show. It’s tearfully disappointing to watch it turn into a mediocre show.
4 Tourbillon 5 comments Mar 27th, 2008 at 12:11 am

Ooof I read ‘yamato nadeshiko’ as ‘yandere nadeshiko’.

Not sure how I read it that way, but Hiromi sure is giving off some NICE BOAT vibes.
5 kokanaden 336 comments Mar 27th, 2008 at 2:53 am

Contrary to what most of you are saying, I think the series is good, precisely because of this episode.

Prior to this episode (and perhaps episode 11), the series was just run-of-the-mill, just with good animation, and a rather interesting story within a story. Other than that, nothing much to rave about.

The distinctive trait I look for in such “life” series is the ability for such stories to straddle the real-ideal line. Series so far which I have found rather awesome are KGNE, Nodame, and right at the top, Honey and Clover. I don’t know if this will end up to be a classic, but hey, at least now I’m interested to watch the concluding episode, and not finish the series for the sake of finishing the series.

It’ll be a nice and good ending, trust me.
6 G-Man 55 comments Mar 27th, 2008 at 3:46 am

HAHAHA It appears that Ascaloth is now an ally of the “FU Shin” club! Anywho, I don’t think that Hiromi’s behavior is really strange. And mind you that this is coming from a Noe-fan boy. Hiromi sure is insecure because she put herself out there for Shin and went for him when he clearly had a girlfriend. She took a chance and left herself completely vulnerable. Her angst at being rejected by someone she thought liked her, but who was just confused, combined with the idea that she could be losing the boy she had a thing for since she was 4 is a merited reason for some angst.

Now back to Noe… Noe is suppose to be a sage..kinda..sorta. And what’s a sage with no insight? A weirdo! Can you imagine how it feels to come to this realization? That all your evaluations of yourself and others is completely wrong! In addition to being dumped and finding out your big brother is having wet dreams about you. C’mon, all of this can take quite a toll on the young vulnerable psyche. Especially when the person is as naive and inexperienced as Noe. Please keep in mind that Noe has no one to confined in. She has no friends, her brother is a perv and the only guy she was close to, come to find out, is only close to her because of a back door deal. Here in America girls cut themselves for less, so jumping off of a tree into a snowy patch of grass is perhaps more sane then peeps give credit for.

I am G-man!!! And you better Recognize!!
7 asdf 3 comments Mar 29th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

I just want to beat him up at this point. His indecisiveness and secrecy is just hurting everyone around him, and he doesn’t even seem to notice that.

Ugh - so true… I’ve never like him before, but at that point, I really, really, really wanted to hurt him. He’s just plain stupid.
8 Crystal 1 comment Mar 30th, 2008 at 1:44 am

I found the torrent to the RAW version of the True Tears Episode 13…here is the link:

http://www.tokyotosho.com/details.php?id=126200

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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