Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Now that ‘True Tears’ has come to an end, I thought it would be a good thing to present my thoughts and analysis of the show. I haven’t actually reviewed an anime seriously before, so just for this post, allow me to take over the role of Crest.

The plot of True Tears is pretty simple. High school student, Shinichirou the protagonist’s childhood friend Hiromi requires a place to stay and the protagonist’s family took her in. For some unexplained reasons, the mother hates the girl. The mother spreads lies of the girl being the daughter of Shinichirou’s father due to some incorrigible affair of some sort. This devastated the girl and the boy since they liked each other. Shinichirou later went into a relationship with an eccentric girl Isurugi Noe, and the love triangle expanded to become a love pentagon when Isurugi Jun and Aiko joined in the fun.

I guess this sounds like ‘yet another romance harem anime’ to many. What is really special about this anime is what many others have not pointed out, or chose to ignore. It is this important aspect which comes in the form of a picture book that Shinichirou was drawing which relates the story of two chickens, Raigomaru and Jibeta, a romanticized version of the chickens in the “real-life” of the show. Sure, all of you knew the picture book was special, but how was it so?

Brief Summary of the Chicken Picture Book

Raigomaru is a rooster who had high hopes of himself. He always wanted to fly, and looked upon the other chickens in the pen with disdain. At the same time, he constantly looked forward to his day of flight, whereby he would spread his wings with great awe and courage, leaving all the other chickens behind.

The irony, however, is that he postpones his day of flight time after time, giving himself all sorts of excuses, but deep down inside, he had that inkling idea that he could never fly. He later resigned to his own fate and stayed content with his life in the coop with the other chickens. He took consolation in the fact that his good friend, Jibeta the chicken, was also happy with the food and mediocre life, while he still deceives himself that he would try flying someday.

One day, as he stood atop a cliff looking far out on the horizon, he noticed Jibeta standing on a cliff even higher than where he stood. Jibeta leapt forward and spreaded its wings, displaying a great scene of awe to Raigomaru, before plunging down to its death. It was a quick death, but what Raigomaru saw in that instant right before Jibeta’s death was his great display of magnificence which likened that of a successful takeoff. As the other chickens looked at the lifeless body of Jibeta and chattered away, Raigomaru finally realized that he was just as normal as any other chicken, a coward who didn’t dare to take flight.

A Splicing of the Chicken Picture Book

The concept of ‘taking flight’ in the picture book is a very simple idea actually. It is to possess the firm resolution to carry out what you have in mind for your own life.

It is the major part of your career path when you choose what you will be working as and who you will be working for. It is the essence of your love life when you decide whether you are going to try for that girl/guy you’ve been secretly admiring all this while, or remain silent and continue observing the person far away. In short, it is to take action. Actual action that does not involve drowning in mud and licking your wounds as you continue giving excuses for not trying to attain your highest capability. Harsh as this may sound, but there is neither right nor wrong in making such decisions. It is only the indecisive portion that proves to be the downside of our life as it results in a standstill. Ironically, it is this very indecisiveness that makes our life interesting. The choices, or even the wavering between paths, these are what makes up ‘life’, a bold statement from a person in his early twenties I would say.

There are two distinctive definitions of the Chicken Picture Book in the show which later merge as one.

In Shinichirou’s version, Raigomaru is the epitome of the average Joe who starts out with great expectations. He later realizes where his capabilities apparently are, and resigns to his fate. A highly used excuse given by him and many others whom we know in real life is that “at least there are many others like me (Raigomaru)”, and this is a powerful tool that hinders one from attempting higher grounds in life. However, this average Joe is not certain if he should stay as a mediocre chicken or still attempt to take flight, and his life comes to a standstill.

I do have to point out that neither of the choices, if made, are in the wrong. It is always a person’s freedom to choose which path he prefers: The elite or the mediocre. In fact, the definition of what makes up an elite and a person of mediocrity is also very nuanced and open for debating. Sometimes, it is wise for certain people to remain resigned to their acknowledgement of their capabilities, whereas a highly capable person who remains unmotivated under the cover of self-deceit will never discover his true potential. This works the other way round too.

Jibeta in Shinichirou’s version of the chicken picture book, however, has no definite role. He is the embodiment of the many mediocrities that the average Joe might become. You could think of him as the loser when Raigomaru thought highly of himself. He is the solace that Raigomaru sought when resigned to his fate. He could be the desperate friend who wanted to spur Raigomaru on by taking flight by example when the latter had become complacent. He is the dark horse in life who would pull off surprising acts and achieve glory. He is the epitome of a tried and failed person in life whom everyone fears of becoming. He is the example of the short life each of us possesses. In short, he is a representation of the possibilities of the average Joe, i.e. Raigomaru. The short flight of Jibeta had a great impact on Raigomaru. The flight showed him what he was not and could never be.

These various scenarios are all very different, but they all are part of a flow of the story. Everything seems different but everything is linked, because we are the many Raigomarus and Jibetas portrayed in the picture book. While my point that the picture book is the vessel for the many situations of the average Joe might sound contradictory when you take into consideration that every ‘average Joe’ is different, I will be addressing and elaborating on my ideas later in the review.

I would like to challenge the many speculations online of a particular character representation and theorize the picture book as a freeze frame representation of the many scenarios of life, or in the case of the anime, the episodes. The picture book does not serve as one’s drama-mongering tool to deduce who would pair up next, or how the story would eventually end. It is, in fact, outright ridiculous to perceive the book as a preview to the next episode. The picture book is the writers’ tool of a romanticizing their perception of what life is about, and to relate their ideas and thoughts through a medium by the name of Shinichirou. Therefore, there is no definite story of Raigomaru and Jibeta.

Raigomaru by Noe’s definition is a person who is unique, special and interesting, whereas Jibeta is a person who has resigned to his limited capabilities. Noe could not differentiate between an indecisive person and a Jibeta at the start of the series and had only one definition for the chickens.

Therefore in Noe’s terms,

1. Decision to be one of the many special and elite (Noe’s Raigomaru): Good
2. Decision to be one of the many mediocre (Noe’s Jibeta): Good
3. Don’t know if one should be mediocre or be elite and waver between decisions (Shit): Shit

To Noe, initially, points 2 and 3 were both categorized as shit, but her mindset changed later on. Read more about it in the character analysis. You do not have to worry if you fall under the shit category; reality ensures that most of us do.

Shinichirou’s Chicken Picture Book: Epilogue

Despite having ended the book, Shinichirou did a mental continuation of his book in episode 12. At this point, the story of the chickens does not advance any more, but rather, Shinichirou has willed himself to be the Raigomaru who had witnessed the awe of others. He has willed himself to be an inspired Raigomaru who will take flight and display his picture book. He has created yet another story of the chickens and has applied it upon himself.

Life as a Picture Book

It is inevitable that the appearance of the chicken picture book in the anime will lead viewers into speculating its significance in relation to the anime itself. However, the show strives to appeal for more attention in another aspect, as shown from the sparse usage of water-coloured frames in conjunction with the animation. You can easily spot these freeze frames in the episodes, as shown from my episodic picture links at the end of the article. I shall call these frames the pictures of the “Episodic Picture Book”.

The role of such an application of picturesque freeze frames could be inferred to be the underlying message in the show, that reality is a mere reflection of a picture book. Reality flows along like fluid animation, involving the flow of time, movements of persons and contents of conversations so on and so forth. If we were to pause time like that of clicking on the double bars of the video player, is it not like that of a still water-coloured picture in a picture book? The show pauses once in a while to demonstrate this, with the ongoing background character dialogue taking the role of the lines of narration in a picture book. The happenings within the frame do not change; the conversations of people can still be related through narration. Life is all but a picture book of many stills.

Now that we understand what the still frames are meant for, we then go on to question the motives of the writers for expressing such an idea. This can be easily explained by what I have stated earlier before in this review under the splicing of the chicken picture book:
“Everything seems different but everything is linked, because we are the many Raigomarus and Jibetas portrayed in the picture book.”

Just like the picture book featuring Raigomaru and Jibeta, this external ‘picture book’ portrayed relates the fact that even though all the characters are different, they are all but the same. There are the important scenes, the special scenarios and sad moments highlighted during the show that we felt specially affected by. However, even though we feel a sense of recognition and self-imagery, this specialness is all but a mediocrity, a mediocrity so easily expressed in the form of a picture book.

To put it simply, the unique and special events we experience in our daily lives are just an ongoing repetition of what many others are going through. It’s like walking into a bookstore of life choices and purchasing the same picture book, and thus being varyingly different but similarly linked up. This idea is actually inspired by the ‘Kodomo no Jikan’ manga, oh god of all things, when the male protagonist mentions the mediocrity of the unique and special; and the ‘True Tears’ show writers have taken much pains and effort to emphasize such a concept.

The portrayal of the anime as a picture book could also be inferred as a romanticizing of the lives of the characters within the show. The lives of the many people we witness is like that of a picture book. We are all readers of the picture books of others. Just as how the anime characters read the ‘extraordinary’ lives of the chickens taking flight, while we, the viewers, are being presented with a picture book animation of characters reading a picture book of chickens. Everyone is a character being read by another, and everyone is taking upon a third person view.

I would like to liken this concept to an older post I made when I first started out writing for RIUVA. In my seemingly joking post regarding Moetronics, I mentioned the application of Thevenin’s theorem’s black box theory on the anime culture. I quote myself,

“It basically states that whatever happens behind an electrical appliance is unimportant if we were to only focus on the output it generates.”

The picture book concept brought forward in the show is exactly what my pseudo black box theory is about. We have in our hands black boxes that we read the output from, just like how we read the picture books of life belonging to many others. We are reading a picture book every time we view an anime, watch a show, or witness the lives of others. Building on this concept, it could be said that we people, are living in a world of superlative expressionism. Our surrounding occurrences can be stripped down to mere freeze frames and simple dialogue without us losing any meaning in the ‘stories’ we read. However, reality forbids doing so, nor are we willing to indulge in such a motionless world. It’s as if our reality and our many readers appreciate our efforts in illustrating an animated picture book of our perceived unique lives.

If we were to relate this to the previous paragraphs stating that all that are special are all but the same, then why do we people carry on in crafting our mediocrity with added special motion effects? Why do people carry on living, if I were to put it bluntly? I shall try to answer this question as much as I can with my own ideas.

It has been said that during moments before a person’s imminent death, he sees his life flash before his eyes. Some have said to have seen their childhood memories, some of the times when they were down with luck, some of their good friends, or some of their newborn children at home. Within that short amount of time, do you think that a person will be able to process the excessive motions of the people in those flash frames? While I have never witnessed my life flashing before my eyes, and I certainly hope that I don’t have to do so in a very, very long time, I would think that, those frames are the many pages of one’s picture book that he/she had took pains to paint since young to bring to the afterlife. I hereby do state that this is by no means an attempt at preaching, and would like to point out that what one perceives as an afterlife is open for discussion. It could refer to the short moments before death, or it could even refer to the accumulated memories left behind in the minds of readers of one’s book of life. Fair enough, some may even interpret it with religious connotations.

With each of our lives bestowed upon us, we are given the privilege of painting a picture book we would like to take to our graves with us. We are the circuit designers of our own black box. As the older generations like to say, “Life’s short, do what you want in life and never regret it. Even if you have failed, at least you have tried.” These are the actual regrets of those who can no longer paint beautiful pictures with their already withered brushes. They are the would-be successful Raigomarus of Shinichirou’s version of the chicken picture book, and have feared Jibeta’s short and quick death, but also witnessed the magnificence of Jibeta’s might and courage as he tried to make a difference. There is no right or wrong, it’s ultimately up to oneself to decide on what picture book to bring along with him.

True Tears

So what are the ‘True Tears’ mentioned in the show?

Back in the early episodes, Noe rejected Shinichirou’s tears when he felt like crying. Noe mentioned that she gave away her tears after her grandmother passed away. She begged for forgiveness from her grandmother and said it was “one final time” when she cried after she realized Shinichirou loved Hiromi instead of her. These are all hints given by the writers for the viewers to figure out for themselves.

Everything might seem a little fuzzy, but if you have been reading my analysis up till this far, you would realize that ‘True Tears’ undoubtedly refers to the tears befallen by those who truly appreciates another’s picture book. Noe wanted the tears of the person who adored her not only as a girl, but as a whole human being. She wanted the tears of an appreciative reader of her life’s picture book.

Why do I think so? Let me elaborate on the clues given.

When Shinichirou offered Noe his tears for the first time, who did he cry for? Himself, his own perceived picture book of Hiromi.

When Noe “gave her tears away”, what kind of tears did she give away? Tears of self-pity after reading her own picture book.

When Noe cried for the first time ever since her grandmother passed away, she apologized. Why? Because she cried for her own picture book again.

If one were to cry for one’s own sake, then the tears would not be ‘tears’ of appreciation, but rather, tears in the content of his own picture book. In short, Noe hated people who dwelled about in their own misery and loathed all those who spend their lives licking their wounds. She hated people who merely concentrated on painting their own picture books of others and do not make an effort to read the actual picture books being painted by the people in question. She preferred Raigomaru to Jibeta because in her imagination, Raigomaru is the chicken who is set to fly and impress all other chickens. Raigomaru is THE chicken who would go to great lengths to paint his great picture book for all to be amazed.

When Noe’s grandmother mentioned that she would only be able to take away the tears of someone special to her, it is because a reader of her life’s picture book can truly appreciate its contents only if she opened up to him. One will truly open up to another only when this other person is either a really close friend, or a person he/she truly loves. It is a bi-nodal circular linked list concept.

So why did Noe comment that Hiromi’s tears were beautiful in episode 12? Hiromi teared not just for her own picture book, but also for Shinichirou’s picture book. The best of tears can only be obtained from a person who truly understands the picture book of another. To Noe at that point of time, Hiromi is a person who understands Shinichirou’s book and Hiromi’s book is what Shinichirou really wants to read. A dejected Noe perceives that to be the ideal sense of appreciation of a picture book, thus the judgement of Hiromi’s tears.

As such, the ‘tears’ are just a metaphor, as one would expect. It is the symbolism of awe, respect, sympathy, and the many various aspects of feelings one may incur in the witnesses of his life. A picture book will never be interesting if one does not “take flight”, and an interesting picture book is what Noe wants to read. This is further proven when Noe became really excited the moment she was aware that she could actually hold the picture book of the chicken story in her hands through the help of Shinichirou. It was like us able to hug our favourite anime girl through the help of a dakimakura.

We could, therefore, deduce that Noe is a girl who believed strongly that she could paint her own beautiful picture book while maintaining the role of an appreciative reader of the books of others. This could explain her eccentric behavior and solitude. She tries hard to allow her “readers” to enjoy seeing her life, while she tries hard to look at the lives of others. I will be further analyzing Noe’s character later on.

The title of the show is a core factor of its ideas. The show is not here to humour, nor is it here to monger moe to fapping nerds. It is a beautiful picture book painted by the animation production crew; a book that is here to awe and earn your tears.

It does not require excessive effect filters or redundant pseudo-expressionism like ef. Sometimes, simplicity itself presents the best form of artistic expression.

Two Main Characters

If you were to place attention on only the character vessels that are used by the story writers to convey their message, you would notice that there are actually merely two main characters in the show. The other characters are in the show only as support examples to the concepts put forward by these two main characters.

Shinichirou, the Enlightened, the Painter of Life

Once you’ve understood what I’ve been writing so far, you will find Shinichirou to be an absolutely fascinating character.

He started out with an aim, an aim to wipe the tears away from the girl in his imagination. It has been revealed in episode 1 that the girl referred to Hiromi. He was, then, a bum who didn’t know what to do in life, or didn’t know how to meet his aim. In an effort to better understand Hiromi, he painted the “Hiromi Picture Book”.

僕の中の君は、いつも泣いていて
Within me, you were always crying

君の涙、僕は拭いたいと思う
I feel like I want to wipe away your tears

でも、拭った頬の柔らかな感覚を
But, the tender feeling of your cheeks as I wiped them

僕は知らなくて。。。
I don’t seem to understand it…

However, such a one-sided perception eventually leads him into a dilemma whereby he is unable to decide how to paint the story, as he is unable to understand “the tenderness of her cheek”. What Shinichirou really wanted was to be part of Hiromi’s picture book and not just paint his own version of it.

Therefore in episode 4,

君は、僕の知っている君じゃない
You, are not the person I know

僕の知らない世界でも
Even in a world which I do not understand

君は、何の枷もなく、花のように笑っていた
You, not bounded by any shackles, had smiled like a beautiful flower

Shinichirou realizes that Hiromi is not the girl he had perceived her to be. The last line indicates his opinion that Hiromi’s character should not be restricted by his own imagination. Since Shinichirou realized that painting his own version of Hiromi’s Picture Book will not get him anywhere near to understanding her, the book was scrapped from this episode onwards. This shortly ended the “Hiromi Picture Book”.

Although he met Isurugi Noe and went into a relationship with her, Noe’s role in the show is not to be his romantic partner. Her existence in the show was to act as the philosopher and saint for Shinichirou. Shinichirou never understood what she was talking about only up till the very end of the series. He was slowly guided throughout the series to become a wise man and to gain enlightenment on what the tears meant. He even figured out the significance of the picture books in the show, thus breaking the fourth wall in a way. He started to communicate not just with the anime characters, but with the writers and viewers. You get to see him grow and gain maturity, and anime shows that feature significant development in a character’s mentality are always interesting to watch.

Nearing the ending episodes, you could tell that he sort of figured out the reason of his existence as he said “全部ちゃんとするから” (I will do everything right). These words weren’t meant as self-encouragement, nor was it for Hiromi to hear. It is a way to tell the audience that he will be striving to present the viewers with a beautiful show thereafter. From that point onward, he has gained the status of a Painter of Life. He realized his role as the main character. He realized his major role in the picture books of all the characters in the show, and has vowed to paint all of them as best as he could. He was The One, and he knew it.

「じべたと自分を重ね合わせたのは俺だ」「じべたの凄さに気づかなかったのは俺だ」「全ての事に向き合うの、避けてきたのは俺だ」「じべたは飛ばない事を選択した」「俺は何一つ自分で選んじゃいない」「踊りだって、絵本だって、のえだって、ひろみだって。。。」「踊りたくなかったのは、上手く踊れなかったからじゃありません！父親と比べられたくなかったからです！」「絵本が描けないのは、気分が乗らないからじゃありません！自分の限界を知るのが怖かったからです！」
“The person who thought of himself as Jibeta was me!” “The person who did not realize the greatness of Jibeta was me!” “The person who took on everything and then ran away from it all was me!” “Jibeta chose not to fly.” “None of the choices that I’ve made were of my own resolution” “Be it dancing, the picture book, Noe, Hiromi…” “When I did not want to dance, it wasn’t because I couldn’t dance well. It was because I didn’t want to be compared with my father!” “When I couldn’t draw the picture book, it wasn’t because I didn’t feel like it! It was because I knew of my limits and was afraid of it!”

Those short bursts of angst from Shinichirou were exceptionally powerful in episode 12. I was going “YES!” “YES!” after each line he exclaimed. Notice how he only addressed the dancing and picture book parts and went into silence. From then on, Shinichirou realizes that he has been manipulated by the plot to assume his role as The Painter. He has fully Awakened, thereafter he had to clean up the mess among the unaddressed.

His role as The Painter of Life was actually hinted by the writers when they assigned him the in-story role of a creator of picture books, and you can’t help but marvel at the effort put into the intricacies by the writers.

You can actually follow his mental development very closely using a hidden tool provided by the producers as a guide. Just as an example, scroll to 11:36 of episode 2. Such animated sequences are not part of any picture books that I have mentioned, but are checks on the progress of Shinichirou’s development. Whatever he thinks to himself during those sequences are basically what he thinks are the definitions to Noe’s concept. Keep those closely in check. I am not going to elaborate on those scenes as their meanings are quite obvious on their own.

 

Noe, the Philosopher, the Guide, the Deluded Parasite

Noe, is awesome. I do not say this because I am fond of her anime character (which is generic and stinks), but because of the role she plays in the show. There are two identities to Noe, the first being the medium for the writers’ ideas, and the second being a mere normal anime girl who has fallen into a triangle love relationship.

While Noe is merely a vessel for the storywriters to bring forth their ideas that we have discussed thus far, she is no doubt the character to have suggested such a concept in the anime. She is the philosopher of the discussed concept and she is the guidance that the characters required, be it directly or indirectly. Through her concepts, we can easily evaluate the characters of each episode and identify them clearly as what role of the chicken picture book they are playing. As such, without Noe, there is no ‘True Tears’ anime. Without Hiromi, everything is still happy and jolly. However, in the anime, Noe is only clearly aware of what ‘tears’ meant but not the concept of a ‘picture book’. The picture book concept is her way of life by instinct.

When she first asked Shinichirou about what the ‘tears’ meant in episode 2, she was not seeking a correct answer. She was verifying if Shinichirou would be interesting enough for her to tag along and observe. Apparently, she perceives Shinichirou’s highly scientific answer to be a pass.

真一郎の頭の上に，アブラムシ
There’s a parasite on the top of Shinichirou’s head
真一郎の背中の裏にも、アブラムシ
There’s a parasite on Shinichirou’s back

Remember this asinine song made up by Noe? What significance does it hold?

The fansubs translated Aburamushi to being a cockroach. While such a direct translation isn’t exactly wrong, cockroach isn’t exactly the best word to use either. If you check the dictionary, Aburamushi could actually refer to someone who tags along with another wherever he goes, basically like a parasite.

Judging from the meaning of Aburamushi, it is clear that Noe had decided to stick to Shinichirou and read his picture book. She realized that Shinichirou could be the Raigomaru of her imagination and that he would paint a beautiful picture book of his life for her to read. In essence, she has subscribed to his RSS feed.

In episode 4, Noe attempted to cleanse Shinichirou of his “dirty tears”. At this point, Noe takes on the role of a painting reader. She was enjoying the life picture book of Shinichirou and was unhappy with how it was turning out. She saw her Raigomaru turning into a Jibeta and decided to clean up the mess for her own satisfaction. In short, she wanted a piece of special Shinichirou, just that she hadn’t realized it yet. Do take note that Noe at this point of time has only one confined definition of “taking flight”, that is to be Raigomaru.

So, just what kind of a girl was Noe?

In episode 7, she sees an unhappy Shinichirou and offers to help:

「混乱するのは、逆に、一人だからよなあ。暗闇でも、一緒に歩いてくれる誰かがいれば、きっと心強いわ」
“You are, in fact, confused only because you’re alone. If someone were to walk along with you through the darkness, you’d surely feel more reassurance.”

Was this honestly an advice for Shinichirou? I would believe that it worked both ways. What appeared to be her advice for Shinichirou, actually reflected on what she truly felt inside. One can only give good and honest advice to another only when he/she has experienced it and come to that conclusion. We observe a Noe who requires constant assurance that she is the Raigomaru that she wants to be, and we see how she demands to be that assurance for Shinichirou whom she demands to be Raigomaru. In a way, you could say that she was being very selfish and self-centered. Therefore, when Shinichirou says that she wouldn’t understand, she felt her principles being challenged and her needs being robbed from her. Unsurprisingly, she confronts Hiromi thereafter. It was later revealed that Noe’s attraction to Shinichirou’s life had evolved into a romantic affection. Thus began the asinine love triangle in the story.

When Shinichirou and Noe did start to date, Noe started to embrace Jibeta. She could have found herself in Jibeta, as a person who has found a Raigomaru to depend on. No matter the reason, she had likened herself to the personality of Jibeta, be it subconscious or not. There was no need to paint an interesting and special picture book on her own anymore, since she had found Shinichirou to fill in the blanks for her. A Chicken Picture Book would be an interesting book to read even if the Jibeta in it slacks around, as long as there is an interesting Raigomaru to support the plot. Rather than call this situation a standstill, I would like to think of it as more of spiritual dependence.

Noe, when first asked by Shinichirou, is convinced that she is a great painter of her own life’s picture book. Other than that, she has also assigned herself to being a ‘parasite’ of others, particularly Shinichirou. She tries her best to accomplish both roles, but is later met with contradictions and self-deceit. That happened shortly after she got too attached to Shinichirou. She thought that she could read everyone’s book and still paint a fine picture with Shinichirou. She thought of herself as a highly appreciative reader of Shinichirou’s life, and of all the picture books out there.

Noe later realized that what Shinichirou wanted to paint in his book was not her but Hiromi, and what Hiromi wanted in her book is Shinichirou. She saw a level of appreciation between two painters that has far exceeded hers for Shinichirou. Being a girl who wants to be firm in what she thinks is right, she decided to let the picture books develop the way she thought they should. This is shown when she told Shinichirou that the place that he should “take flight” is not “over here”. She believed that Shinichirou would paint a better picture if he took flight in the story of his and Hiromi’s life. She was met with a mental struggle between her faith in her way of life and what she really wanted in life, which is a relationship with Shinichirou.

However, she did not want to believe that this paradox she was experiencing meant that her logic was wrong and she wanted to believe that she was still on the right track. She desperately wanted to cling onto her dying faith but her emotions and her love for Shinichirou is pulling her away from it.

Let’s try linking this up with the story of Raigomaru and Jibeta. Noe selected Shinichirou probably because even though she expressed a strong will on the outside, there are times when she would start to question her ability to “take flight”. She required a guide and a person to depend on. In order to prevent herself from ever becoming a Jibeta, she required Shinichirou to be her Raigomaru. So with this in mind, when she lost her Raigomaru aka Shinichirou she had become the Jibeta of her imagination. Note the usage of italics because there are two different sets of Raigomaru and Jibeta being discussed here.

She had started to wallow in misery and had begun licking her wounds. This is the start of her self-loathing. Notice how she ended up in the same coop as Jibeta in the episodes following her supposed break-up with Shinichirou. She was using the excuse tool I mentioned in the Chicken Picture Book splicing section and viewed Jibeta as a comrade. Therefore at the end of episode 11, she took Jibeta along with her to the place where the tetra pods were and wanted to force Jibeta to fly. She thought that if she could force Jibeta to “take flight”, the Jibeta that is her will be able to continue on with her life and paint her picture book.

Jibeta struggled.

It struggled as it was being forced out of its comfort zone.

A struggling Jibeta struck her that she had one-sidedly perceived Jibeta as a bird which did not dare to “take flight”. However, Jibeta has long decided on being his mediocre self and had stood tall through this decision. Remember what I mentioned about mediocrity before? It is fine if you decide on being mediocre, and it is fine if you prefer being one of the many elites. What is unforgiving is the indecisiveness in life which leads to a standstill in the progression of one’s picture book. Jibeta has chosen the former, at least metaphorically. Therefore Jibeta is not her Jibeta, they are different beings, and this made Noe realize that she had committed what Shinichirou had done in episode 4 which was condemned by her, that is to carve your own perceived picture book of others.

Here’s what Noe herself had to say:

「あなたは、飛ばない事を選んだの。胸を張って、真っ直ぐ前を向いて、それは。。。飛ぶ事と同じ」
“You chose not to fly. For this decision, you have stood tall, and have firmly faced the front before you. That is, exactly the same as having taken flight.”

We were witnessing Noe’s realization that there is a more general definition to “taking flight”. It wasn’t merely just to be elite and special; it could also mean being obediently mediocre. In essence, it is to have the firm decision of what you have in mind for your life, just as I have previously analyzed in my splicing of the chicken picture book. Refer back to the last portion of my splicing for the following sentence. Noe has finally differentiated between number 2 and number 3, therefore realizing that she, after being over dependent on Shinichirou and later losing him, had become number 3, shit.

Things went for the worse as her view of herself as an appreciative reader was further challenged when her brother confessed his love for her and mentioned that the impossible love between them is making him tired of living with her. Only then did she realize that she had not been paying attention to the other picture books around her. In her pursuit of painting her own book, she had neglected the picture books of painters who wanted her to read their books, thus causing them to halt to a standstill. Her high regard of herself was smashed and disintegrated. She started to suffer from a mental breakdown because she couldn’t meet up to her high expectations of herself. Her views of the way how life should work were being heavily challenged by the contradictions she was met with and that was becoming increasingly unacceptable for her.
When all her self-justifications were brutally torn apart, she started to believe that she had been living in a fantasy world of her own all this while. The many paradoxes and contradictions have had her believe that her existence had been a delusion from the very beginning. Thus, she climbed up the tall tree at the end of Episode 12 to prove her ability to fly without Shinichirou. Her initial agenda was to be a person who “takes flight”, and to be an appreciative reader of others. As her last stand, she has combined both of her aims into one after witnessing how Shinichirou danced in episode 12. She has decided to “take flight” as an observer of life.

「空からの眺めはどうだった？」
“I wonder how the view from the sky had been like.”
「空から見下ろしたら、私にも見えるようになる」
“If I were to look down from the skies above, even I would be able to observe everything”

Many call it a suicide attempt.

I disagree.

I view it as her last resort to justify her existence.

If I were to state that Noe is the writers’ medium of conveying their message, then Shinichirou would clearly be the medium for the viewers to receive the message. Am I sounding a little far-fetched? Watch the entire series again and you will understand what I mean. Or not.

The Character Sidekicks

Isurugi Jun, the Ironic

Isurugi Jun is gifted with the skill of ‘book reading’. He is able to figure out what every character is thinking with the slightest observations, and he used his gift to his advantage. Ironically, by working everything to his “advantage”, he was causing himself to be indecisive in his actions and resulting in a standstill of the development of his own book. You could call him a plot progression tool to be used by the writers as a negative example to prove their point.

Yuasa Hiromi, the Slacker

Hiromi was the antique vase in the show. She never did anything.

In episode 7, Noe labelled Hiromi as not being able to “take flight”. Why? Noe was actually correct at this point of time. Not only did Hiromi drown in her own misery like Noe’s initial version of Jibeta, she was dragging along all the chickens around her. In a sense, the two girls are rather similar. They were self-centred and wanted a person to take the shit with them. In the case of Hiromi, she laid the shit on Shinichirou, the person whom Noe believed could attain the Raigomaru status. However, I would like to point out that Hiromi is neither Jibeta nor Raigomaru. She is just being an indecisive person who wanted everyone else to be the same as her. Shinichirou embracing her picture book just saved her all the trouble she might have had to go through, that is if she was to do anything in the first place.

The reason why she was able to talk to Jun naturally was probably because the both of them were at a standstill in their books. They are both the complacent Raigomarus depicted in Shinichirou’s version of the Chicken Picture Book.

So when she told Jun off in episode 11, it was her first time to attempt “flight”. I do not believe that this has anything to do with “taking flight” though, since she merely waited for everyone else to clear the path for her.

Aiko and Miyokichi, the Others

Aiko and Miyokichi, they were more like further examples throughout the show to emphasize that even though you are looking at a single picture book, there are many others out there that you seldom notice. Refer to my “freeze frames for all scenarios of life” statement in some section above for what I mean. I would not say that they are redundant, but after they have more or less fulfilled their duty, they were, unsurprisingly, wiped off the main plot.

By the way, will someone explain just how did Aiko get a shop named after her in the first place? As far as I can see, she is the only worker there. We do know that she is one year older than Shinichirou, so does that mean that she had dropped out of school since a long time ago? Or did she open up a store right after she graduated from high school? Maybe her parents named their shop after her and left her with all the shit. There’s some weird stuff going on here.

Episode 13: Good End

君の涙を、僕は拭いたいと思う
I feel like I want to wipe away your tears

今の僕には、それができる
It is now possible for me to do it

This pretty much sums up Shinichirou’s “Hiromi Picture Book” in episode 13.

I am in no way supportive of Hiromi getting her way without doing anything. However, the message that the writers have been trying to put across is to be firm in your decisions and take action. If they started with Shinichirou’s main aim of understanding Hiromi, then it is only natural that they demonstrate the fruits of labour gained by one who have finally understood the concept. If Shinichirou had ended up with Noe, it would have been a bad end.

What about the last-minute reluctance during the parting with Noe? Shinichirou was reluctant at that point not because of love, but because of gratitude and regret. He knew he truly loved Hiromi, but it was Noe who had guided him through his ordeals and inspired him to conclude with a firm resolution. Yet, he was unable to provide Noe with what she wanted: his love and ‘tears’.

Final Thoughts
Life is but a freeze frame.
人生如定格

Life is but a romanticized picture book of mediocrity.
如神化的平凡绘册

We have in our hands the paintbrush of our lives.
众皆手执水彩笔

There be a Reflectia or not
殊论重叠反映

Paint it wisely, paint it nicely.
绘之绮丽慧之艺

Display your pictures, earn your True Tears.
飒展艳图知音泪

Following the romanticism presented in the anime, I couldn’t help but conclude bilingually.

The anime is not without its flaws though. Given such a simple concept and idea, they could have chosen to… Nah, it couldn’t have been more obvious. Maybe they were trying to appeal to slower audiences who required repeated haunting of their concepts. Sadly, they didn’t actually succeed.

I hope you readers will go back and watch True Tears once again, this time keeping my analysis in mind. Relate the ideas and elaborate more on your own. You might just experience a refreshing new outlook of the show. I had the fortune of watching the episodes RAW on Veoh, saving me the cringing from fansubs.

Some have told me that this anime came from a game by the same author. However, the story seems to be entirely different. Seeing how this La’cryma dude can spin up such a wonderful piece of visual literature, I think I might just purchase the BroccoliXCircus game. The director for this anime is the same director for ZENKI, am I ever so surprised.
Disclaimer: I’m not saying that whatever I have stated in the review is correct, but I do believe that I am. You could take my word for it, orI could just be simulating.

Pictures from the episodes:
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13

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