Love Live! Review, Season 1 First Half

Somewhere, Captain Ginyu cries a tear of joy...

My apologies for the lateness. But better late than never, right? That's certainly one of the ideas that Love Live!: School Idol Project tends to promote, given the context behind the screenshot above. In this blog entry and series of Love Live! reviews, I intend to delve deeper into this particular anime series, in order to explore many of the ideas it puts forward, both explicitly and implicitly. To help with this endeavor, I will be breaking up my Love Live! reviews into four parts - two parts for each season. 

This part is "Season 1, First Half" and it will cover the first 6 episodes of Love Live! Season 1. I used a similar "break up" review approach with Angel Beats!, Sola, and True Tears in the past. So hopefully this will work with LL! as well. But there will be one key difference...

K-On!! Review Part 2 of 2

 

First off, apologies to long-time readers for not getting to this sooner. I know that I scrounge up regular readers about as well as Afternoon Tea Time scrounges up new members for the Light Music Club, but still, Ritsu would not have left you hanging for almost two months, and I should not have either. 

That out of the way, I'm going to pick up this series review where I left off at the end of Part 1. Just to remind everyone, Part 1 of my series review dealt with the first 13 episodes of K-On!!, while Part 2 will deal with the second half of the anime. And also to further refresh memories, Part 1 of my review dauntlessly delved deeply into the inner conflict and workings of this anime's leading group: Azusa, Mio, Mugi, Ritsu, and Yui

There I spoke at length of the ideological conflicts pitting the lighthearted procrastinators Ritsu and Yui against the relatively stern and serious Azusa and Mio, with Mugi caught inbetween. I perhaps exaggerated the severity of that conflict, as the second half of this anime quickly resolves it, and is mostly free of it.

K-On!! Review Part 1 of 2

Yui against the World...

I recently decided to start watching K-On!!, the artist formally known as K-On! In anime, you see, exclamation marks are always in style, and this particular anime show even uses them in place of Roman numerals. A friend joked to me that a hypothetical fifteenth season of K-On! would be called K-On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, to which I quipped that only one man could ever pronounce that name correctly...

"K-On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ga-rei Zero Review

Before I begin this review, two key heads-up:

1. This review will be highly spoilerrific. I don't think that I can do justice while delving into the key strengths of this anime, without spoiling a lot of it.

2. I came into this show in large part due to its moe appeal. In other words, I didn't come into it mainly for the action, which I think will give this blog a very different (if not contrary) flavor when compared to some of the other Ga-rei Zero blog reviews that I've read. This anime was recommended to me on Anime Suki by 0utf0xZer0 when I asked for suggestions for a "moe character designs with dramatic storyline" anime. After watching the Higurashi animes, the Nanoha animes, Clannad, and Mai HiME, I've come to feel that moe actually blends very well with serious sophisticated suspenseful drama, as I think that the two compliment one another nicely while providing crisp contrasts between look and feel that can give the final work an added 'oomph!'. However, notice that Clannad is on the list there, so fighting action scenes were not a prerequisite for what I was looking for here, but they certainly can help. And it helps a lot for why I enjoyed Ga-rei Zero a lot.

Amagami SS Review: Haruka Morishima Arc

Deciding to watch this anime may have been the most whimsical decision of my life.

I went on Anime Suki, and saw, to my amazement, that only five series, with their own subforums, were listed under "Current Series". That's the fewest I've ever seen there, which is perhaps a concerning sign for the anime industry as a whole. Four were obvious: The Shounen Big Three, and K-On! Just about every anime fan knows those. However, the other anime there with its own subforum I didn't even recognize at all, which piqued my interest.

That fifth was "Amagami SS". So, I decided to run that anime title through a Google image search. I decided that if its promotional artwork or screenshots looked good, I'd check out at least an episode of it. The image at the top of this blog entry is the very first one that I noticed. And yes, it certainly looked good to me. ;)

Kanon 2006 Review

What Dreams May Come...

Back in 2006, I was not active in the online anime fandom. I was already an anime fan, but I was watching few animes apart from those that were recommended to me by my cousin who had been an anime fan before me. These animes tended to be of an action-packed (i.e. fighting) sort, and not of the romantic tearjerker variety. These animes also spread across several years, if not decades. They were not strictly from 2000 or after.

So it's only been within the last twelve months or so that these slice of life, school life, and harem mixtures have entered into my anime watching world, starting with Clannad. When reading this review, please keep that in mind. I saw Clannad (and Angel Beats! and True Tears and Sola) before I saw Kanon 2006. This means that, for me, Kanon 2006 is inevitably measured against some excellent romantic animes, a couple other prominent Jun Maeda and Key works, and animes of elaborately, exquisitely, excellent production values. Nice visuals are nice, and good audio is good, but I'm not going to spend too much time on them here. Because, I have to admit, I've grown accustomed to high production values in the top romantic comedies of anime.

With all of this in mind, I am not "wowed" by Kanon 2006 as much as many of the people who watched it more or less "live" were. I may very well have been wowed by it if I had watched it back in 2006, but unfortunately I only watched it recently. This is somewhat unfair to Kanon 2006 perhaps, but on the other hand, it could speak to how well (or poorly) it has aged.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora Review

Thanks to acejem and 0utf0xZer0 of Anime Suki for recommending this generously gentle gem of an anime to me. It feels and flows like a heartwarming real life story contained in Reader's Digest, and not just because of its shortness. Six episodes were enough to tell the simple yet multifaceted story which is Hantsuki (the title I'll use from here on in to refer to Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, simply as an associated shorthand).

The story of this anime is simple in that its plot could be comprehensively summed up in two or three paragraphs, if that. The cast is small, with there being about ten key characters, and of those ten, the primary focus is almost always on the two people at the center of a romance fit for a beautifully blossoming ballad. After all, the romance of Yūichi Ezaki, and Rika Akiba, does indeed beautifully blossom through the course of this anime.

While the cast is small, and the focus is almost always on but two characters, there is an emotional and philosophical depth to this anime that goes well beyond a surface level understanding of it. The story is multifaceted in that it asks the viewer to reflect upon both the human condition, and human nature, and how best to respond to the former while staying true to the latter. And in asking the viewer to reflect upon them, it puts forward a variety of characters that all grapple with that question themselves. Little is known about most of these characters, but the way that they address these human issues is nicely interwoven with the overall thematic drive and plot development of this anime.

Questions are posed that asks the viewer to consider fate against human free will, and the prioritizing of one's personal success against the prioritizing of the happiness of your dearest loved one. These conflicts run through out this anime, usually below the surface, but sometimes expressed explicitly.

But all of this depth could very well be lost if not for the charmingly captivating courtship that serves to plunge the viewer into it. I liked the Ezaki and Akiba romance a fair bit, as it never felt contrived or forced. Akiba has some of the traits of the tsundere, but it is the classic tsundere. In other words, Akiba truly does soften over the course of the anime, and this is due to how Ezaki responds positively to her moments of anger with him. So as Akiba develops at a character level, so does her romance with Ezaki, with the two developments having a sort of synergy between them as they are both the cause and the effect of each other. This is what I've always liked about the classic tsundere.

Ezaki is a fairly standard anime male lead, but it works well here, as it contributes to the overall sense of realism which is prevalent through out the anime.


My mother is a nurse herself, and I can say from what I've learned through her, that this anime is a rather accurate reflection of how real life hospitals operate, and how medical staff will sometimes try to set up one patient with another in order to bring greater contentment to both given the often boring and restrictive confines of a hospital.

With that being said, having a hospital be the primary setting for a novel and anime setting is an uncommon choice. Hospitals appear fairly frequently in anime, but almost always as a secondary location, and usually for only a secondary character or two. It's a nice change of pace to see a hospital be the primary setting for a romance narrative.


While this anime admirably adheres to realism, these two characters are just enough out of the ordinary to be quite amusing:

In the first half of this anime, Akiko Tanizaki and Gorō Natsume are excellent sources of comedy for the anime. Akiko for her hilariously harsh treatment of Ezaki, and Goro for his... hilariously harsh treatment of Ezaki. ;) However, while both cause a lot of grief for Ezaki, they both eventually try to convey good life lessons to him.

Akiko tends to steal most of the scenes that she's in, as her presence never fails to leave a punchy impression, sometimes literally. This is especially true in the very first episode, where Akiko provides most of the sheer entertainment value, and amusement, there.

Goro starts off by simply being, well, a complete dick. That's not a term I use a lot, as I think that it's really overused on the net. People too often associate dickish behavior with selfish, harshly punitive, or unthoughtful behavior, when 'being a dick' is very different from those three in that its intent is different. The person 'being a dick' is getting amusement from intentionally sadistic behavior. And that's precisely what Goro does when he sets up Ezaki to get punished yet again by Akiba for Ezaki's reading of pornography.

Goro's dickish behavior causes some comically clever conflict between him and Akiko, and the scenes of them feuding with one another are some of the highlights of the anime.

Later on, though, these two characters take on more somber and serious moods, and aid a great deal in helping to convey the true philosophical and thematic depths of this anime.

These two characters certainly add a lot to Hantsuki, as it would be nowhere near as good without them.


Two other character that adds some welcomed spice to this anime are...


Maybe its the pro wrestling fan in me, but I really enjoyed how this anime made use of the two "Zebra Masks". The timing of the appearances of these magnificent masked marvels could not be better, and it always felt both funny and cool when they showed up. I always made wide open smiles when a Zebra Mask or two showed up in this anime. And the fact that the two Zebra Masks played such a pivotal role in ensuring that Ezaki managed to consummate his romance with Akiba was simply great, I felt.

I will say that this anime could sometimes feel just a bit too slow paced or subdued, and just as that was going on, sure enough, a Zebra Mask would show up to save the day! :D


One episode that sticks out in my mind a lot is the one where they all went to school. Here's a good collage of pics from that:

That episode had a lot going on, what with Zebra Mask fighting a new "villain", getting to see Akiba in a school girl uniform, getting to see Ezekai fantasize about her a bit, and simply getting to see all the teenagers get together. This episode also had a good cliffhanger ending.

However, this anime was not wanting for cliffhanger endings, especially when you consider how short it was. The ending to episode five, for example, had a considerable cliffhanger feel. It worked well with the pleasant plot twist that episode six had.


The OP for this anime is very well done for a honest and straightforward romance. But many of the clips in that OP left me thinking that the anime would probably end with Akiba dying tragically. Combine that with what Natsume said to Ezekai at the end of episode five, and I went into episode six fully expecting to hear about how the surgical procedure had been a failure. I expected a really melancholic and sad tearjerker of an ending.

Instead, the ending was much happier than that, which was a very pleasant surprise for me. The anime gets full marks for setting that happy plot twist up.

Another twist to Episode 6 is how it introduces Akiba's mother as the final obstacle that Ezekai has to overcome in order to enter into a lasting romance with Akiba. That twist was very unexpected by me as well, yet it makes perfect sense retroactively. It's a good example of a good plot twist. It also negates one of the aspects of this anime that I didn't like.

I didn't like how Ezekai constantly tried to run off from the hospital. In some cases, this was to help Akiba, but in other cases, it just seemed really foolish, selfish, and/or silly of him to me. It became really bad in the episode where Ezekai actually drives off with Akiko's female friend. While the scene between her and Ezekai was indeed pretty hot and well-developed, part of me wanted to simply slug the guy for taking these reckless irresponsible actions, particularly given his romance with Akiba. This was one case where I felt Akiko's abuse of Ezekai was perfectly justified. I did feel a bit sorry for Akiko's female friend though. That last punch must have really stung her, both physically and psychologically. ^_^;;

So, with all of that being said, I felt that there was some karmic justice at play when Ezekai's reckless activity had resulted in Akiba's mother not thinking that much of him, and wanting him to stay away from her daughter. It also set the stage for Ezekai's zeal and passion, helped along by the heroic Zebra Masks, to take drastic measures to seal the deal between him and Akiba.


All in all, this was an anime that I enjoyed a lot. There were a few little things I could nitpick, but most of them aren't really worth mentioning. On the whole, this was a splendidly done anime for such few episodes.

And its ending was one of the most satisfying anime endings that I've watched in some time. The scene that the following picture is taken from was a flawless scene, imo:



9/10 for a sweetly short satisfying romantic comedy.

Sola Review: Part 2

The Beauty of Fan and Promotional Art:
It Need Not Reflect the Actual Plot Whatsoever.

Watching Angel Beats!, True Tears, and Sola over the past few weeks has taught me a lot about anime.

Its taught me about how even short anime series' can do, and often do, a complete and dramatic 180 in overall mood, feel, thematic drive, and plot direction. Indeed, the first half of each of these three anime series bears little resemblance to its second half, aside from the presence of the same characters themselves. And given how drastically many of those characters change (think of Yurippe in the final episode of Angel Beats!, or Yurito in this anime), even this presence of the same characters in name and appearance can provide little sense of continuity or permanence.

How fitting then that Matsuri and Yurito sacrifice a kind of permanence - permanence in the form of immortality - in order to end their lives.

However, that is the only way that their decision seems fitting to me.


I know that many of us anime fans like to think of ourselves as very open and broadminded people. A certain degree of broadmindedness is required to appreciate the heritage, nuances, and inherent differences of a foreign culture, after all. In this case, the foreign culture is the culture of Japan, and it is that culture which gave rise to anime, and hence it is that culture which influences anime as profoundly as Matsuri influenced Yurito in Sola.

But be that what it may, I have to be honest here. The choices made by Matsuri and Yurito in this anime seem insane, if not unbelievable, to me. They go beyond the reaches of how broadly my mind is willing to spread.

The actions and thinking of Matsuri and Yurito in Sola are truly befuddling to me. It is hard to make sense of. Perhaps something is lost in cultural translation, but nonetheless, I am left finding the plot of Sola almost impossible to swallow. This is not because of its metaphysical or Yaka elements. Indeed, that is easy for me to accept compared to what I can only view as severe character derailment.


Consider that near the beginning of Sola we see Matsuri actively struggle for her life against the aggressive Takeshi. Matsuri later tries to avoid being killed by Aono as well.

These are not, of course, the actions of a suicidal person.

Quite the contrary, they're the actions of a person who wishes to survive, and who desires to keep living.

What, over the course of Sola, would lead Matsuri to want to throw away her life? Just what changed along the way? If it was a sense that her love for Yurito would forever go unrequited, then the anime failed to convey that. Aside from that, I see no plausible answer that makes sense to me.

For by all accounts, Matsuri appears content, if not cheerful. She often smiles, and is rarely portrayed as melancholic. Her honest yet subtly flirtatious nature is nothing if not life affirming. There are sources of sadness in her life (primarily her inability to go outside on a clear sunny day), but by all outwards appearances, she copes with it rather well. So why the sudden desire to end her life?

The answer "She wanted to help Aono" can be offered up, but this rings hollow to me. Aono, by her own words, just wanted to keep living a peaceful life alongside her recreation of Yurito. If Matsuri's goal in taking her own life was chiefly to help Aono, then she was taking a rather huge gamble, as her efforts could have backfired, and nastily. The "last time" Yurito died, Aono soon after committed suicide.

Try as I might, I find Matsuri's sudden desire to end her life to be exceptionally difficult to accept. It is such a drastic 180 from Matsuri's earlier attempts to avoid death.


In the case of Yurito Version 2.0... I can understand him undergoing an existential crisis of sorts. It can't be easy to find out that you are both a living puppet, and a clone.

Nonetheless, Yurito Version 2.0 thinks, and therefore he is. Whatever the precise nature of his being may be, he still is his own self. He still is a sentient being. He still has some degree of independence, as his thoughts often run contrary to what Aono would like them to be.

Beyond that, he has people who intensely love and care for him.

Such as one of the best best friends I've ever seen in anime


This girl is simply phenomenal. If Yurito Morimiya was Ichigo Kurosaki, then Mana would be Chad and Orihime rolled into one. I'm 110% sure that she'd literally take a bullet for Yurito. Then she'd proceed to take a sword slash in place of Yurito. Then she'd proceed to race off to get help for Yurito while bleeding half to death, and she'd make sure that she had reached that help before collapsing. If certain members of the Montreal Canadiens had Mana's heart, dedication, and character, I'd be cheering a Habs Stanley Cup win right about now. You go to war with people like Mana Ishizuki leading or cheering on the cause.

And Yurito is utterly blind to how he has such an incredible friend in Mana. A real friend too, as I think her friendship feelings for Yurito ran even deeper than romance. This is reflected in how she helped Yurito reunite with Matsuri, when Mana suspected that this would mean Yurito and Matsuri becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Mana didn't care. She just wanted to help out her friend Yurito, no matter what. Again, what an incredible friend.

One of the great tragedies of Sola is that Yurito is beloved by many people, and yet he seems to not care about that at all. He is truly, sincerely, beloved. At some basic level, who cares if he's a clone and a puppet? The people who love him don't care, so why should he?

In a way, I'm actually glad that Mana's memory of Yurito is wiped clean. She doesn't deserve to live a life of anguish and regret over Yurito deciding to get himself killed. She deserves better than that, and thankfully, she did get better than that. Still a bit of a shame that all of her herculean efforts for Yurito's sake came to naught, though.


Just to be clear, I get what Sola is aiming for. The idea is that Aono needs to move on with her life, and not be so obsessed over Yurito (either version). But that doesn't make Matsuri and Yurito's decisions to kill themselves any easier to agree with, and I don't agree with it. Both seemed to be leading fairly happy lives, and in Yurito's case he had a passion in his life that really added a great deal of serenity into his life. It just makes such little if any sense for them to throw it all away. This really does seem like character derailment to me, I have to be frank.


Thankfully, Mana's voice of sanity is added to by at least three others:

These three characters just want to lead full, happy lives while maintaining close friendships.

Takeshi, you're the ultimate hero of this work. You stayed by your close childhood friend, even as you age and she remains a perpetual youth trapped in the darkness. You did almost everything to free her of the Yaka curse. Only she herself refusing the gift caused you to cease your pursuit of freeing her from that curse. I'd love to watch a Sola spin-off focusing on "Dandy Goatee" man, Mayuko, and Mr. Goatee's new waitress girlfriend. ;)

Mayuko, you protected Matsuri from Takeshi even when him slaying her would have freed you from the Yaka curse. Your protection of her was selfless, and caring, without being suicidal.

Koyori, you just wanted everyone to stay together and keep being friends. As such, you are a good girl.


Simply put, I do not think there was any compelling enough reason for Matsuri and Yurito to take their lives as they did. Yes, Sola ultimately ended up happily for Aono, Mana, and Koyori, but who's to say that things wouldn't have been even happier with those three along with Matsuri and Yurito there? Besides, the ending of Sola is a case of writer's fiat, really. It could have very easily been a tragic end for Aono, and a much more lonely one for Koyori and Mana.


Now, my criticisms of the plot resolutions and character derailment aside...

The action scenes of this anime were marvelous. Aono, Matsuri, and Takeshi all looked very impressive and evenly matched in combat. The action felt dramatic, and meaningful, with important outcomes riding on how they were resolved.

Episode 9 in particular was magnificent for the combats therein. I'll probably end up watching that one again, and soon.

The final confrontation between Aono and Matsuri had some excellent scenes in it. I very much liked the portion of the battle that took place in an abandoned movie theater. When the film footage started rolling unexpectedly, only to show scenes of a shimmering sky setting, that was a very nice touch. That was a master stroke, I have to admit. I loved how it stopped Matsuri in her tracks, and broke all the tension in the combat. There were moments of inspired brilliance in the anime.

Unfortunately, the anime also has several holes and weaknesses to it.


For what it's worth to 0utf0xZer0, this ending didn't sadden me as much as True Tears' ending did. Nobody was hurt in the conclusion of Sola who didn't bring that hurt upon themselves. Memory wipes tend to be very intellectually unsatisfying to me, but they're not as emotionally jarring as seeing Noe go through what she did in True Tears. And in this case, if not for the mind wipe, Mana would probably have been as hurt as much as Noe was.

But I do feel that the tale of Sola is a hard one to swallow at a basic believability level, and hence, like the picture that I opened up this blog with, I will dwell more on the characters as how I think they should have turned out than how they actually did in this anime.


7/10 for a memorable ride, but no more than that due to how the plot ultimately unfolded.

Sola Review: Part 1

0utf0xZer0 was right. I have already begun to soften on True Tears a bit. So much so that I very recently asked 0utf0xZer0 if he could recommend any other anime to me that was very similar to True Tears. And, amongst a few other titles, he pointed me into the direction of Sola.

One way in which Sola compares favorably to True Tears for me, is that I strongly doubt it will leave me loathing the eventual resolution of a love triangle. I like both of these two characters about equally well:


And it is these two characters that seem to have the greatest likelihood of winning over our airheaded male lead Yorito Morimiya. And I don't say "airheaded" in an entirely derogatory sense here, but largely as a reflection on how Yorito's "head" is constantly focused on the "air" above him. In other words, he is thoroughly enamored with the sky itself, and loves taking pictures of different sky settings.

To completely grasp how deep Yorito's obsession with the sky runs, it is useful to ask "What is Yorito focusing mostly on in this scene?":


Most guys would take notice of the cute girl staring down at him with the puzzled look on her face. But for Yorito, there's nothing as pleasing to the eye as that curvaceous cumulus cloud up there, and the sun peaking out over its cleavage. ;)

And Yorito's love of the sky on days without rain is a constant point of reference in this anime, at least after six episodes in. And, as with my last two series reviews, this one is also done in two parts: Part 1 after six episodes, and Part 2 after the full series. So when reading this review, please keep in mind that it is only for the first six episodes, and that I have yet to see the entire series. Again, I kindly request any comments left in reply to this blog entry to refrain from spoiling me on post-Episode Six developments in the anime. ^_^;;


So, what do I think of Sola so far?

Sola starts up a bit slowly, as many animes of the slice of life or school life variety tend to do. But in Sola's case, this slow start at least adds to the overall sense of mystery and intrigue that gradually grows through out the anime. The slow start also serves well to introduce us to the seven central characters of this anime, and to flesh out four of them: Yorito Morimiya, Matsuri Shihou, Mana Ishizuki, and Koyori Ishizuki.

As of episode six, the other three central characters of Aono Morimiya, Takeshi Tsujidou, and Mayuko Kamikawa are still somewhat shrouded in mystery. Episode six makes some startling revelations pertaining to Aono, and her connection to Matsuri. As such, it is also episode six that managed to perk my interest back up in the overall plot line of Sola.


Sola's plot, in the early going, proceeds at an almost meandering pace, it has to be said. The anime expects patience on the part of its viewer. Thankfully, the characters are intriguing enough that I do not find it particularly difficult to summon forth that necessary patience. It certainly helps that you get a couple of cool combative confrontations between Matsuri and Takeshi early on in the anime.


As far as I can tell, Takeshi is a modern day Simon Belmont, and Matsuri is a "woe of the night", which apparently is meant to indicate that she is not a human, but rather is a little bit like the western conception of a vampire. Matsuri has yet to bare her fangs or feed on human blood, but she sure does love that tomato juice which Yurito thinks tastes horrible. Makes me wonder if she's drinking tomato juice as a less harmful substitute to drinking human blood?

In any event, Matsuri is similar to the traditional vampire in that she is immortal, and in that sunlight burns her. Matsuri also has a strange power that enables her to inflict a sort of rapid necrosis on any object or living thing.

If Matsuri's character is inspired by vampire lore, I like how her creator Naoki Hisoya opted to pick and choose specific vampiric elements to incorporate into her, and not just the beneficial elements like a certain famous novel and movie chose to do with its vampires. ;)

For this makes Matsuri an interesting twist on the classic vampire character model, while still maintaining the tragic and hence compelling elements of that model. Matsuri longs to see the daylight sky and its sun, yet is tragically prevented from doing so due to her inherent nature. This unrealized longing serves as a very effective and believable catalyst for the relationship between Matsuri and our sky-loving friend Yurito.

Matsuri longs to see the daylight sky, while Yurito is utterly enthralled by it and loves taking pictures of it. The two are clearly a match made in Heaven... or, at the very least, a match made in the sky. ;)


Aside from Matsuri's character being inspired by vampire lore, I think I can see some definite anime inspirations for her. Consider the following:



Scared now, good reader? ;)


In all seriousness, though, it does appear that Matsuri and Aono may have been inspired slightly by Ryoko Asakura and Yuki Nagato, respectively. Matsuri is very similar to what Ryoko would be like if Ryoko's fraudulent superficial personality was her real one. And just as Ryoko and Yuki appear to be like normal teenage girls but are actually extraordinary beings, the same holds true for Matsuri and Aono.

Aono's character design, and her ever calm and monotonously soft-spoken nature, reflects that of Yuki Nagato quite a bit as well.

But The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is not the only anime that appears to serve as a source of inspiration for Sola. Mayuko Kamikawa is practically a homage to Rozen Maiden, while I see slight traces of Maho Shojo Lyrical Nanoha in this anime as well. Yurito's personality reminds me a bit of Yuuno Scrya, while Mana's character design and personality reminds me a bit of Hayate Yagami.

I like Mana's take-charge personality, and how she has clearly taken a bit of a liking to Yurito but doesn't want to fully admit it. Mana is a well-meaning and responsible soul, but perhaps a bit too bossy and intrusive. Altogether, though, I like her a fair bit.

Mana's younger sister Koyori is a substantially humorous and moe character, much in the vein of Fuko-chan from Clannad. As a Marvel and DC comics fan, I used to associate speaking in the third person with megalomaniacal villainy.

Dr. Doom: Doom likes bitter wine!

But thanks to the world of anime, I'm now starting to view speaking in the third person in a very different and rather moe light. Perhaps Victor could peacefully bring his feud with Richards to a close if only he could come to grips with his Koyori side.

Admit it, Doom! You actually like moe!

Koyori's ever apologetic and third person self helps to provide some nice humor in this anime.

This anime in general takes itself fairly seriously, but its humor bits are nonetheless of great quality. They almost always manage to get a loud chuckle or laugh from me. For example, the whole discussion over what Yurito was doing with Matsuri on the futon was truly hilarious for me. Anime tends to do such comedy a lot, but for some reason, it really hit the funny bone with me this time. Perhaps its because the dialogue in this anime often feels very natural, and rarely forced, and this includes comedic moments as well.

What also resonates with me is the sky focus of this anime. Yurito is not a particularly impressive male lead, but I easily relate to him. I very much like brilliantly bright blue skies as well. I also like gazing up at the clouds on sunny days as well. I also tend to dislike long stretches of rain due to how it prevents me from seeing those blue skies and those sunny days. The weather has always affected my moods. There is something about clear blue skies with a few clouds on a sunny day that just feels very life affirming to me. And so Yurito's focus on that, and Matsuri's desire for that, makes it very easy for me to get into this anime. And it's part of what kept me watching through the somewhat slow paced episodes 3 through 5.


One final specific point I'll make concerning this anime is that I like its use of settings in general. The large abandoned church setting really adds to the occasional gothic feel to this anime. It also made for a great place for the first onscreen combat between Matsuri and Takeshi.

The hospital and school settings are both familiar ones for anime as well, and it can help the viewer feel greater sympathy for a sick character if that character is forced to stay in a hospital. As for the school setting, I felt it was nicely utilized in Yurito and Matsuri's late evening, after hours, trek through the school.


All in all, Sola is a solid slice of life anime. A good watch. My one critique is that it can seem a bit meandering at times in the early going, but I have hope that it'll pick up considerably in its second half.

8/10 overall.

True Tears Review: Part 2

True Tears indeed...

This may very well be the ultimately saddest anime that I've ever watched. At least for me.

Just watching the anime scene that the above picture is taken from almost moved me to tears. And I very rarely cry when watching anime, and virtually never for purely melancholic and sad moments. When an anime moves me to tears, it's virtually always because of something very touching in a pleasantly profoundly poignant way that elicits tears of joy from me. It's because of a moment of happy familial reunion, or the penultimate moment of romantic realization, or something along those lines.

But the final episode of True Tears was very nearly an exception to that.

I'll get into why, shortly.


First, though, I should provide the readers of Part 1 of my review with an important heads up. My take on True Tears has changed tremendously over the course of watching the past seven episodes. I'm not going to say that I now hate the anime, but I do hate some of the directions that it took. So be forewarned: This review is going to be a fair bit more critical than my Part 1 review was. However, there will also be some further praise for the anime as well.


Watching through the last few episodes of True Tears might have been the most horrifically hellacious heart-wrenching viewing experience of my life. And this is because I became very emotionally invested in the character of Noe Isurugi and the Noe/Shinichiro romance.

There's never been an anime romance that so instantly clicked with me like Noe/Shinichiro did.

I was sold on it almost immediately. It was so splendidly serenely sweet, and unusually uplifting. For a time, Noe and Shinichiro truly did fly, just as Noe had always dreamed of both her and Shinichiro doing.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are other anime romances that I very much like. Tomoya and Nagisa in Clannad was a romance that I eventually came to love. But it took a lot of time and development for me to like that romance. For awhile, I felt that Tomoya perhaps had made the wrong choice in opting for Nagisa over the other options available to him. However, by the end of Clannad: After Story, I was completely sold on the romance and eventual marriage of Tomoya and Nagisa. Tomoya made the right choice.

Shana and Sakai Yuji from Shakugan no Shana is another anime romance that I like. It comes across as cute, funny, heartfelt, and powerful. Nonetheless, I would not have been terribly upset if Sakai Yuji had opted for Kazumi Yoshida instead.

But I couldn't help but to feel upset here, with how the romances were resolved in True Tears...


Noe/Shinichiro is truly the first anime romance that I became completely and strongly supportive of. Until now, I could not relate to just how ferociously fiery fans' flaming passions could rise when it came to shipping wars. Now, I kind of can relate.

I don't actively dislike Hiromi, but nor did she appeal to me as persuasively as Noe did. As I said in Part 1 of my review for this anime, Noe is the charm factor of this anime. And her brother is the cool factor of this anime.

And man, did the anime ever do a number on both... :-(

Jun and Noe Isurugi go from the showstealers of this anime to being simply brutalized by the plot. I've never seen an anime do such an incredibly impressive inspired job in building up two great characters, only to tear them down through one setback after another after another.

Jun could easily and honestly write the stereotypical country music song, for cryin' out loud.

"I lost my bike,
I was suspended from school,
I missed the festival,
and my sister broke her ~llleeeeeegg~!" - Jun Isurugi, singing in Nashville, Tennessee.

If Shinichiro thinks he has a future in writing picture books, just wait until he sees the success of new music sensation Crooner Jun! ;)

As for Noe...


She had her heart broken. She was firmly grounded after initially taking flight. Now the poor girl is even on crutches, after being driven to new heights of insane behavior by how emotionally distraught she was. After all, the boyfriend that she dearly loved turned his back on her. And all it took for him to do it was finding out that Hiromi was not his half-sister.


Speaking of specific plot points, a few in this anime struck me as more than a bit strange.

If there's any possibility whatsoever of Hiromi being Shinichiro's half-sister, why not just get a DNA test done? Indeed, one wonders why Shinichiro's mother doesn't insist on it. She clearly suspected her husband of cheating on her with Hiromi's mom, and I don't see how such a suspicion can be completely resolved short of hard evidence. Even otherwise good men are not entirely honest about such affairs.

Secondly, just what were Jun and Hiromi trying to do? Where was Jun trying to take Hiromi? Hiromi asked him to take her somewhere where it doesn't snow. To the best of my knowledge, no such place exists in Japan during the middle of Winter. Was Jun planning to drive his motorcycle across the Pacific and down to Australia?

Even so, why the suspension? School's suspend students in Japan for vehicular accidents that take place outside of school, and involve no property damage or lost of life beyond what the students themselves endured? That's news to me, if true. Seems rather draconian and harsh, if true.

There's some plot developments in this anime that are a bit hard to swallow. That being said, I will give the anime credit for progressing at a fairly steady pace from Episode 7 on. Episode 7 is where the plot of the anime really shifts into high gear. And, for awhile, I mostly loved the plot. But when Jun went off the road and crashed into the snow, it seemed like he took the mood of this anime with him.


The second half of True Tears felt a lot heavier, emotionally speaking, than the first half. This pretty much killed the friendship dynamic between Miyokichi and Shinichiro. Miyokichi and Shinichiro both became so caught up in emotionally distressing romantic issues that the two of them lacked their earlier breezy rapport. Their friendship carried on, in fairness to both, but it no longer felt easy going or entirely natural. It felt more like a matter of obligation given the sheer length of time that they had been friends.

That being said, there was one romantic conclusion in True Tears that I was happy with...


I was happy to see Miyokichi reunited with Aiko.

The way their relationship played out felt very natural and believable to me. It made sense, and I'm glad that once Aiko accepted the lost of her first love, she was able to accept being the girlfriend of her second one.

I also like both characters in this pairing, and I very much liked Miyokichi's approach to romance. He's a true gentleman that is very honest, upfront, committed, and lovingly caring towards the girl that he adores. Unlike a certain best friend of his...

But this romantic resolution was small consolation for me, given my great disappointment in how the principle love triangle sorted itself out.

Shinichiro/Hiromi isn't necessarily a bad romance. And it's very well developed. The anime is like a master seamstress in how it manages to weave so many different plots and subplots together in a way that easily makes sense at a surface level. I may find some of the character actions questionable, but I know what's going on, and why it's going on, and the plot never even comes close to losing me. Continuity is well-maintained, and the anime handles the progression of time within its narrative very shrewdly.

Also, the ending of True Tears Episode 10 made it abundantly clear that Shinichiro/Hiromi had become the new favorite to be the ultimate central romance of this anime. After all, it had the classically dramatic and romantically suspenseful scene of Shinichiro chasing after Hiromi on his bike, only for him to crash Jun-style, hence getting Hiromi to pull her ride over and race after him. The anime then goes almost into cheesy territory by having Hiromi trip up and fall on Shinichiro. The anime couldn't have made it any more obvious that it was switching from Shinichiro/Noe to Shinichiro/Hiromi.

But then, Episode 12 teases the audience with the possibility of Shinichiro switching once more, this time from Hiromi to Noe. I will admit that the drama of the romantic conflict is played out with all the expert precision of an experienced conductor for a Grand Symphony Orchestra. This anime does an exceptional job of playing on the emotions of its viewers. I have little doubt that if I preferred Shinichiro/Hiromi to Shinichiro/Noe that I would have loved this anime to pieces, and perhaps even considered it a masterpiece.

But... I don't. I have a strong preference for Shinichiro/Noe. And it's not because Hiromi is a bad character, or because I think Shinichiro/Hiromi is a fundamentally awful romantic pairing. It's that Shinichiro/Noe is Just. That. Good.

I was instantly hooked by it.

This anime holds the honor of creating the best romance I've ever seen in anime, and one of the best in all of fiction.

It also holds the very dubious distinction, though, of destroying that same romance.


So, how do I rate this anime? That is hard to answer. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, for me to rate this anime fairly, given how the key romantic resolution left an extremely bitter taste in my mouth, and a churning in my heart and mind.

The anime used symbolism very well. It managed to get more out of the chicken friends of Noe, and their influence on Shinichiro's artistic work and internal reasoning, than what I had ever expected. It's great how the anime all made it work. But it feels so horribly undermined by how the character who made it all work, Noe, is the one left out in the cold.

Shinichiro is right about Noe. Noe taught him how to dance. Noe taught him how to fly. Noe encouraged him in all of his endeavors, and was such a stupendously supportive girlfriend. Noe really had an incredibly positive influence on his life. That was a big part of why I loved the Shinichiro/Noe romance so much.

But in the end, Shinichiro chose Hiromi anyway.


How, Shinichiro? How?!

How could you turn down such a girlfriend? How could you turn down this?



No wonder Jun was not able to bring himself to forgive Shinichiro...


I'm still glad that I watched True Tears. When it came to gaining emotional investment, it's in a very elite class for me. Its plot is largely solid, and its core cast is developed very well. It is a sharp contrast to Angel Beats! in that True Tears never tries to do too much in too little time, and keeps its core cast down to a manageable number of about 10. Watching both animes within the same week or two really served to emphasize these strengths of True Tears for me. It has the kind of plot, and the sort of cast, and the type of narrative, that really works in a 13 episode format.

However, its ending still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. What this anime does to the Isurugis is almost intolerably cruel. In fairness, an argument can be made that Jun endured cruel and unusual karmic justice, but that it was karmic justice nonetheless. Jun forcing Hiromi into a fraudulent romance with him was wrong of him. So was his attempts to keep her there indefinitely. He paid for his mistakes here, and he paid severely.

Nonetheless, Noe is a completely innocent victim of the machinations of other characters, including her own well-intentioned but ultimately mistake-prone brother. It's truly heartbreaking to see what Noe is put through in the 2nd half of this anime...

In time, I will probably look back on True Tears fondly. But for now, I am left very dissatisfied with its ending.

7/10 overall. Maybe I'll adjust it up to 8 at some point in the future...


To end this review on a pleasant note, here's a couple nice True Tears pictures that I hope my readers will enjoy looking at. :)

Angel Beats! Final Thoughts, Final Review

My friend Archon Wing, of Anime Suki fame, was a bit bedeviled by the ending of Angel Beats! As such, I hope to do like Otonashi, and be a spiritual healer that can help Archon Wing come to peace with Angel Beats. In so doing, it may be necessary to exorcise some demons. And hence here is my final writeup on Angel Beats.

Well, the conclusion to Angel Beats! more or less confirmed my thinking on what was the true core narrative of this anime. It does, however, undermine that narrative slightly by Otonashi basically having second thoughts at the last moment. Perhaps Otonashi is brought down to Earth (figuratively, of course ;) ) by having his personal desire to spend an eternity of love and fellowship alongside Kanade start to override his previously impeccable sense of self-sacrificial helping of others.

I can forgive Otonashi his moment of selfishness, as the poor guy has gone through a lot, and was always very caring towards others throughout the anime. And Kanade is very beautiful, powerful, and kind.

Plus... something just struck me, good reader. Something just came to me.

Perhaps there is a hidden meaning in Otonashi's temporary panic at the thought of losing Kanade.

Maybe Otonashi actually did have his own personal issue to deal with after all. Maybe his issue was learning to accept a life without romantic love, just as Yurippe had to move on by accepting what happened to her beloved siblings.

The healer himself had his own wounds to heal, and so he belonged in the world of Angel Beats! after all. He did not just accidentally show up there due to amnesia.

Well... I'm putting that idea out there. Make of it what you will. I could be wrong, but who knows. As I wrote on Anime Suki, Angel Beats! leaves a lot to personal interpretation and fan speculation.

This is not necessarily a negative. It means that you'll get out of this anime whatever you invest into it. And it means that you can craft your understanding of this anime to perhaps compliment your own personal views on philosophical and/or spiritual matters.

The core narrative is that of the healer and peacemaker Otonashi coming to this world and helping the SSS Brigade and Tenshi. That is the heart of this story. But the body you fashion around it is up to each individual viewer.

And with that in mind, Maeda does expect a lot of his viewers here.


The anime does a blatant bait-and-switch, as its stated and marketed premise only has relevance for the first few episode, and later becomes the story of Otonashi helping out his friends in a fashion similar to how Tomoya helped out his. As with any bait-and-switch, not everybody will like the switch. Personally, though, I did like this one, and I think it makes some sense.

But there's only so much you can get away with in presenting a fictional story, I believe. And I think that Maeda may have forgot that.

With this in mind, Angel Beats! reminds me of Code Geass, in that both were complex amalgamations of a vast variety of different elements that appeal to different types of anime fans.



Code Geass had military conflict that would resonate well with Gundam fans. It also had mechas that would appeal to mecha anime fans in general. Code Geass had a theatrical "just as planned!" main protagonist that would appeal to fans of that character type, such as Death Note fans. Hence, Code Geass incorporated into itself familiar elements of established popular animes. Code Geass also had definitive school life and moe elements. It had comedic moments that are distinctively anime in nature. It had a slight harem-esque feel to it. It had loads of fighting action in general. Code Geass did cast a very wide net, and it was commercially successful because of it. And, I would argue, its first season was also very tight, and a great watch. It managed to put it all together in a captivating and coherent way, and it was a great anime because of it.

However, Code Geass R2 went a bit off the rails, I would argue. I think that there may come a point when an anime crosses a line of sorts. When an anime incorporates too many different elements into itself, and like a juggler adding on extra balls to his juggling act, it just can't manage to balance all those different elements together in order to make a strikingly sensible seamless final work.

Code Geass R2 started to tire its own juggler out by going with the episode ending cliffhanger plot twist, each and every week, in the early going. This was loads of fun, but it also strained the suspension of disbelief of many viewers almost to the limit. And then, about halfway through Code Geass R2, the anime gets increasingly philosophical and metaphysical. All sorts of weird trippy stuff is going on. And that, I think, is when suspension of disbelief was broken for many Code Geass R2 viewers. Amping up the metaphysical aspects of the show in a very post-modernist way essentially meant that Code Geass R2 had to juggle yet another ball, and that was one ball too many. It was just trying to do too many things at once. It just had too much going on all at once. And hence the balls were dropped. Many would argue that the finale of Code Geass R2 managed to pick the balls back up and give a stupendous final juggling act, but that's a discussion for another day. Today I focus mainly on Angel Beats! And I delve back into Code Geass R2 because I think that Angel Beats! is similar in that it perhaps was trying to juggle too many balls at once.


Engaging action scenes takes time and effort and focus to sell the viewer on them.

Character development takes time and effort and focus to sell the viewer on it.

Romance requires time and effort and focus to sell the viewer on it.

Comedy requires time and effort and focus in order to set up the jokes (or humorous situations) and deliver the punchlines (or slapstick situational humor).

Moe requires time and effort and focus in that it requires presenting the moe characters behaving and dressed in a certain way.

And steeping one's fictional world in its own special sort of metaphysical or supernatural reality requires time and effort and focus in order to ensure that the viewer gets a good idea of how this reality operates in this fictional world. Some sort of set rules need to be established, or at least implied, and they need to be conveyed in a clear and accessible way. Bleach is a good example of an anime world steeped in several supernatural elements and realms, but it presents those elements and realms carefully, and in a gradual piecemeal fashion that makes it easy for the audience to slowly adapt and adjust to how everything works in Bleach.


Now, the viewer's focus can only be divided so many ways. And the story's focus can only be divided so many ways as well. So you can have some of the above listed elements (engaging action scenes, character development, romance, comedy, moe, metaphysical and philosophical elements), but if you have all of those elements, you run the risk of overwhelming the viewer, and making it difficult for him or her to make sense of it all.

And, well, Angel Beats! has all of the elements that I listed. Much like Code Geass R2, it probably has one element too many, and hence for some viewers, the metaphorical balls are dropped.

When you factor in how Angel Beats! incorporates all of these elements into a 13 episode time-frame, it's no wonder that many viewers are, like Archon Wing, left scratching their heads. There's just too much going on within too short a time frame. The anime jumps haphazardly from one element to the next to the next, and it all begins to blur for many viewers.

It also doesn't help that Angel Beats! has a fairly large cast, and didn't even try to keep juggling its full cast in its final episode...

Don't worry Girl De Mo, TK, and Yui; I won't forget you dudes and dudettes. Especially not you, TK, as your surprisingly good English for a subbed anime was always cool and groovy to me!

So, to make sense of the incredibly multifaceted work of Angel Beats!, the viewer needs to keep in mind two things:

1. The real core story is that of the spiritual healer Otonashi bringing peace in the midst of conflict, and bringing spiritual healing to his new found friends.

2. You need to use your imagination to fill in the gaps. For example, I find that it's helpful to imagine that some romances were building up "behind the scenes".


The core story of Angel Beats! is a good one, and there's a lot of fun to be had in watching this anime. This anime also occasionally reaches the same sort of heartfelt touching moments that previous Maeda works achieved.

But perhaps is just tries to do too much in too little a time frame. Like Code Geass R2, it just crossed the line.


That's not to say that either Angel Beats! or Code Geass R2 are bad animes. Both have definitive strong points, and for fans that care more about characters than plot, their weaknesses may be virtual non-issues.

But if an anime is aiming for a strong plot that is accessible to a lot of viewers, it needs to have a clearer and more limited focus than the highly ambitious Angel Beats! and Code Geass R2 animes.


All of this being said, Angel Beats! will almost certainly be a rousing commercial success. And that will likely mean it will have some influence on future anime works, just as previous prominent anime works influenced it.

I think what some animation companies may take from Angel Beats! is that there's a real audience out there for a show that combines action, moe, high production values, and certain character designs and types.

Simply put, I don't think that Yurippe will be the last character to be designed with Haruhi Suzumiya in mind. I think that a future anime that features a HaruClone as an action hero in a less multifaceted production could sell very well, and be as excellent and tight as Code Geass' first season was. Perhaps this time the HaruClone could be leading a rebellion against something like, say, Britannia. ;) And the story could stay focused on, and revolve around, that conflict, and not get too caught up in other elements that could distract the viewer from this core story.

I hope to see an anime like this one day, and I may even write some original fiction in this vein, if anybody is interested in reading that, of course.


But, long story short, Angel Beats! was a fun and interesting ride while it lasted. The ending felt a bit abrupt, and while it was very nice in parts it also wasn't a particularly satisfying conclusion. Nonetheless, I'm glad I watched this anime, and I'll give it 8/10 overall.

An ambitious work that just tried to do too much in too little time. But a work that was quite imaginative, and often very fun to watch.

And I now bid adieu to Angel Beats!, as it disappears and hopefully will lead to Haruhi Suzumiya being reincarnated in yet another anime some day. ;)

True Tears Reveiw: Part 1

I recently started watching True Tears. The reason why I started watching it is because the character designs and promotional artwork looked catchy, as well as mildly magical to me, after I looked into the anime a bit further. That, and a couple people over at Anime Suki brought it up to me in a positive light, and then there's the fact that I was invited to Anime Suki's True Tears fan group ages ago. ^_^;;

Anyway, let me begin by saying that I am very happy that I chose to watch this anime. While keeping in mind the often argued for distinction between slice of life anime and school life anime, this anime nonetheless feels like what good slice of life anime should be to me. In other words, it feels eminently realistic, and it has a very good pace thus far, but it has a sparkling swirling stream of indelible inspirational ingenuity to it. While the anime feels plausibly real, in the sense that you could imagine all of these characters (and the way that they interact with each other) existing in the real world, it still manages to add some tasty sugar and spice to the overall presentation in order to make the anime seem a bit more interesting than just any old real world story.

Perhaps the key reason for this is the following character:


Noe Isurugi is every bit as charming, disarming, and whimsical as the above picture would rightly lead you to believe. Her artistically bubbly, brightly cascading, personality, provides True Tears with copious amounts of playful cheerfulness which in turn adds a great deal to how relaxing and pleasing this anime is to watch.

Noe is the sort of character type that the western world used to do exceptionally well.

For the picture of her above raises images of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and even Robin Hood into my mind. The charismatic
nature-dweller, with a spirit of adventure, caught up in wondrous exploits. A tale full of eccentricity and lots of sweet sincere laughs, and simple straightforward swashbuckling style.

True Tears is yet another excellent exhibit in my case against political correctness in modern entertainment. Noe Isurugi is yet another pleasantly entertaining anime character that very likely would not pass muster with the modern PC police of western industrialized nations. After all, it's difficult to imagine a character like Noe being on the cast of a modern North American made and produced TV show, isn't it? She's too quirky and, as Shinichiro says, weird for that. But Noe is very much weird in a good way, as much as Shinichiro would like to deny it.

And just how adorable is the following?


I loved this particular scene, of Noe waving enthusiastically, with all the glee of a child on Christmas Day morning, at her dear new friend Shinichiro, located two or three stories above in his classroom. I particularly like how Noe is an absent-minded individualist. She's not actively trying to be inappropriate, and yet often she is. She just goes where her 'true heart' tells her to, and is utterly unconcerned with what could be called appropriate social behavior for where she lives. By 'utterly unconcerned', I'm not saying that she's actively bucking the norms of her society, but rather that she pays them no heed in any sense. She doesn't go out of her way to be a noticeable rebel, but nor does she avoid making a scene. I very much like characters like that. They are true and honest individuals, as they conform neither in a traditional sense, but nor do they conform to trying to be a "cool rebel". There is no pretentiousness to Noe at all.

And in a work where pretension abounds, that stands out a great deal.


One thing that I'm gaining a greater appreciation for as I watch more and more slice of life, and/or school life, anime, is the existence of a myriad of social taboos within modern Japan. Noe plays with these taboos nicely. Her giving chicken feed to Shinichiro, first in carefully placed pink paper wrapping and then later as a dotted line of droppings, results in a hilariously flustered Shinichiro, and the absurdity of Noe's activity here is played up well to give it a great punchline delivery. Noe's eccentric nature contrasts nicely with Shinichiro's strict adherence to social norms and values to result in a lot of quick laughs and quirky comedy.

Shinichiro's whole approach to life appears to reflect a prevailing sense of appropriate protocol for virtually every facet of life. Politeness, and minding one's manners, is valued a great deal. There are some things that you just don't say, or that you just don't do. These multifaceted social taboos appear to be alive and well in Japan.

This has its positives, in that coarseness and rudeness is lessened as a result, but it also erects many walls to building strong relationships. One gets the sense, at least from many animes, that the ways of romance is an intricate and intuitive game in Japan. It is almost like playing chess.

Given what I have read about Japan, these animes are accurately reflecting Japan in this regard at least.

This intricate and intuitive, heavily rule-based, game of romance, can result in extremely extraordinary exasperation on the part of shippers perpetually facepalming at their desired couple so often coming so close to hitting it off, only to have it dashed by some nuance of the social norms and mores of Japan. I certainly understand this frustration. However, this anime makes this game of romance a bit more enjoyable than usual, in my opinion.

In a very real sense, much of the first six episodes of True Tears is about watching Shinichiro try to realize his romantic desires while acting in strict accordance with the social norms and values of his Japanese heritage. It can be intriguing to watch how Shinichiro tries to achieve his goals within the confines of those social norms and values. Its akin to watching a pro sport where certain intricate rules require players to play a certain way in order to win. Ironically, limitations often results in increased creativity, as I often see much creativity in how some hockey players try to enter the offensive zone while abiding by the offsides rules, and I also see much creativity in how Shinichiro tries to move the plot to set himself up with Hiromi.

After six episodes, at least, it's plain to see that Hiromi is the girl that Shinichiro is most interested in. And watching him metaphorically bob and weave in order to move himself away from Noe, and towards Hiromi, is intriguing.

Adding an extra twist of complexity to this romantic conflict are the characters of Miyokichi Nobuse and Aiko Ando. As far as Miyokichi is concerned, they are boyfriend and girlfriend. And, in fairness to him, Miyokichi did ask her out in a very gentlemanly fashion, and Aiko did clearly accept, so one certainly can't fault Miyokichi for feeling that the two of them are basically "an item". However, Aiko drops many obvious hints of her preferring Shinichiro to Miyokichi. I am interested in seeing how this added wrinkle to the romantic conflict of True Tears will resolve itself in the last seven episodes of the anime.

However, I don't want to delve too deeply into the romantic conflict of True Tears in this Part 1 Review. Here I want to focus on initial impressions of the anime, based on my viewing of the first six episodes. In Part 2 of my review, I will deal more thoroughly with the plot of the anime, and with my thoughts on the romantic conflicts in it, and whether or not I liked how it was ultimately played out. I would ask any responders to this blog to please not spoil me there. ;)


My initial impressions of this anime are powerfully profoundly positive. I've already dealt with how I very much like Noe, but I also like all of the three main female characters


In an era when animes of even a slightly harem-esque nature tend to have female casts loaded with characters in the archetypes of tsundere, yamato nadeshiko, and shy bookwormish glasses-wearing girl, it is refreshing to see such a slightly harem-esque anime have no girls that fit neatly into either archetype. I'll grant you that Hiromi has some Yamato Nadeshiko qualities, but that is balanced somewhat by her being a great basketball player. Aiko can be a bit short-tempered, but she's nowhere near temperamental enough to be a tsundere, in my view. And Noe is in no way shy.

All three female characters are drawn to be visually appealing, albeit in slightly different ways. And while all three have personalities that fall within a believable range for a teenage girl, their personalities compliment and contrast one another nicely. On a character design basis, I like the added attention to detail that the anime shows with different clothes for each character, including well-drawn scarfs and detailed designs on boots and tops. The overall animation and artistic style of the anime is superb, in my opinion, and this really comes out with Noe, Hiromi, and Aiko.


However, what of the male cast?


I really like the easygoing friendship dynamic between Miyokichi and Shinichiro. It feels like Taniguchi and Kyon, but with 50% less snark and 50% more sincerity. You get a sense that these two guys genuinely like hanging out together, and they have a little bit of that comedian/straight man chemistry going on when they're together onscreen. That chemistry is not overplayed, though, and hence its kept amusing but realistic.

Watching two buddies go to a quaint little restaurant to relax into their seats and drink down colas with a straw is the very picture of relaxation too. When you factor in how the restaurant appears to be ran by one of the two guys' girlfriend, the whole scene starts to feel like something out of Cheers, but only refined to be appropriate for Japanese teenagers. It feels cool and warm, at the same time. That would be paradoxical if I was using those two terms in a literal sense, but I'm using them figuratively, of course.

And as far as figurative coolness is concerned, this guy has it in flying colors...


The Isurugis are certainly the showstealers of this anime. Jun Isurugi seems to have it all going on. He rides a slick motorcycle, he's an excellent basketball player, and he always comes across as cool, calm, and confident. His fashion sense is great without being flamboyant to a tacky degree. There never seems to be so much as a hair out of place on the guy. He's short and direct, but doesn't come across as shallow or superficial.

While Noe brings the charm factor to this anime, her loving older brother definitely brings the cool factor to this anime. I very much like the relationship between Noe and Jun as well. It's obvious that the two have a close sibling bond, with Noe looking up to her big bro and wanting the best for him, while Jun cares deeply for his little sister and gladly tolerates her eccentricities, albeit sometimes with some mild ribbing.


All in all, True Tears has been a joy to watch so far. I'm truly loving it. In Part 2 of this review, I'll have more to say about the plot and romantic conflict of the show. I'll write that part after I finish watching all of True Tears. I will say now that I think that the OP and the ED are both great. Really nice catchy beats in both cases, with alluring and/or amusing visuals.

So far, I'd give True Tears a rock solid 9/10. And I almost never give out 10/10s.


This concludes Part 1 of my review on True Tears. I'd love to know what my fellow fans of this anime think of that review. :)