Series Review: True Tears

It should be clear by now that I'm pretty much a nerd. Thus I hope it is not too much of a stretch for me to reveal that I am also a very avid fan of anime. Yes, I enjoy the typical over the top fanfare that most anime bring to the table, but I was caught off guard when a friend recommended the series True Tears to me.

True Tears does something that very few anime tend to do; it follows someone's normal, everyday life and the encounters that they must face. The main character, Shin'ichiro, is caught in a very uncomfortable situation involving a girl his family took in, the somewhat-loner hyper girl at his school, and his best friend's girlfriend. Normally this is the type of situation that an anime would take and turn into a comedy fest, but True Tears decided to take this situation very seriously, and show the reprecussions one choice can have on everyone around you. It's something that I am not at all used to when watching any sort of animation, but I have become completely hooked on this series.

Shin'ichiro has one trait about him that really catches my attention; he tends to show his emotions and thoughts through a series of small comic books that he draws. Such distinctly human, realistic things show up every now and then during the series, really reminding me that despite its artistic beauty, this show is really down to earth. Each episode tends to end with a cliffhanger, which eggs on the viewer more and more and pulls them deeper into the story. The characters all have very real human flaws, flaws that don't rear their heads very often in this sort of medium. It is surprisingly relieving to see an anime take on such a subject, one that very few dare to take on; young love and friendship. Yes, I love my out-of-this-world comedy and action that most anime offer, yet so far I must say that True Tears has been the first anime to catch me emotionally off guard in a long, long time, and I tend to HATE stuff that gets overly emotional.

Overall score out of 10: 9.0. The reality of a very limited viewing audience is what keeps this score from going any higher. Sure, the chances of this type of situation as presented in the show are at best slim, but they are not at all beyond the realm of realism. Keep in mind, the series is not yet over, so this is a score for what has happened so far; if the ending is not to my tastes, i'll be sure to rant about it.