Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 13
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jan 4, 2008 to Mar 29, 2008
Duration:
24 min. per episode Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.791 (scored by 35415 users)
Ranked: #7472
Popularity: #222
Members: 60,180
Favorites: 575 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
comedy drama romance school |
SynopsisShinichiro is a student living in what would be a dream come true for most high school boys, but for him is mostly a frustration. A well liked girl in school named Hiromi has lived in his house for a year along with his family. Her father was a close friend of the family, and when he died they immediately took her in. She is popular and well liked, always smiles, is talented in sports- but Shinichiro knows there must be tears inside her. Having an artistic tendency, he makes watercolours of her and thinks about wishing to ease her tears. Yet he cannot bring up the nerve to talk to her even in his own home. She, too, is quiet and withdrawn in their house, quite unlike at school. Shinichiro is also distracted by teasing from his friend Nobuse for watching Hiromi from afar, a curse of bad luck from a strange girl named Noe, and being forced to perform Muhiga dancing. By helping Noe he hopes to ease his own problems, yet he seems to have difficulty helping himself.
(Source: ANN) |
Related AnimeSpin-off: True Tears Specials
Sequel: True Tears Epilogue
Other: True Tears: Raigomaru to Jibeta no Monogatari
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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Salo-Heika
236 of 289 people found this review helpful
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13 of 13 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
“Because I gave my tears away.”
That was the line that first introduced me to True Tears. Now I would like to use this same line to introduce you all to this realistic romance series. The True Tears legacy began with very disappointing visual novel sales that ranked it as 41 among the 50 newly released visual novels at the time. Shortly after the visual novel came a live action film of True Tears that resembles closely to the game. So now you must thinking the anime is naturally just another adaptation to the visual novel as well right? Wrong!
The anime version of True Tears shares nothing in common with the visual novel or the film (beside the name). It has its own independent plot, its own independent setting, and its own independent set of characters. Thus why use the name True Tears and give credit to the original visual novel creator when there is virtually nothing in common is beyond my understanding. However, what I do understand is that True Tears is an attempt by Lantis to produce a similar anime type to Air/Kanon/Clannad by Kyoto Animation. The purpose of this review is not to compare and criticize True Tears with the above anime, but I personally feel True Tears is worthy of such comparison if there is one.
Many viewers may find the story of True Tears resembling Kanon or Clannad in lots of ways, such as the usual touching scenes that make us cry a river. However due to the nature of the story, instead of dealing with half a dozen heroines we only have three. Thus allowing more time to better develop their characters. One may be tempted to call True Tears a harem anime due to all the females “ganging” up on our protagonist, but I see this as an essential part to developing a love-triangle (and NO, there’s nothing ecchi in the anime). The anime takes a rather different approach to the regular love story and one can say it truly brings out the realism to this matter through the careful use of wordings. However it should be noted that, like most other story with a certain degree of depth, True Tears incorporates a great deal of metaphoric comparison. While it is not difficult to understand what those metaphors imply, some viewers may be discouraged by them.
The relationships between all the characters are expertly developed. In addition to the multi layer relations that are common in most romance genre, we also see a great deal of interactions between the younger and older generation of characters and how they affect one another. The protagonist’s parents certainly played a more central role compare with most animation from this genre. However, what I like best is the perfect illustration of a young boy’s heart when confronted with two (or three) possible lovers. I, for one, instantly saw a reflection of myself from Shinichirou (not that I am two-timing or anything, but I find his actions highly logical for a boy his age). I think I would most likely be as confused (if not more confused) than he is if I were in his situation especially after all those shocking events.
Animation-wise it certainly lives up to fans expectations. This is especially true for the key scenes of the show. As evident from the title of the anime, tears do truly seem different in here. Tears in True Tears are very beautiful, the glittering salty water look exceptionally real when running down the cheeks of various characters. In addition to tears, the fluidity of the character movements, the detailed shadows on the face of the characters as they speak, the camera angles used to illustrate certain key aspects such as the 3D walking scene etc.; everything adds up little by little and before you know it you will find yourself having a hard time reverting back to watching lower quality animations. I still have a difficult time trying to find a show with superior animation quality compare to True Tears.
Like the awesome animation production, True Tears’ music is also not to belittled with. The music was effectively used both in terms of BGM and OP/ED as they all served their purposes well. BGM creates the mood just needed to make some scenes touching enough to make people go teary-eyed. The OP is by eufonius whom Clannad fans should be familiar with. I personally find True Tears’ OP much better than Clannad’s though. Unlike most anime, True Tears’ seiyu did not interest me much (nor did they play any role in my decision to watching it). The biggest name out of the main casts is probably Kaori Nazuka (Nunnally in Code Geass, Eureka in Eureka Seven, Lynette in Strike Witches). With that note, I would like to truly thank the Lantis production crew for bringing us (the anime fans) a wonderful romance series that will forever have a place in my anime romance list. read more
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slpless
58 of 82 people found this review helpful
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13 of 13 episodes seen
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
True Tears was an anime adaptation of visual novel of the same name. Although, I’m hesitant in calling it an adaptation as True Tears the anime has nothing in common with the game. The story, characters, setting, and even the themes employed are different from the game version, with the exception of the name. I was initially excited a few years ago when I heard about it, but when I heard how poorly the game was received I had extremely low expectations. Thankfully, the anime was also extremely different in terms of quality.
The story itself is extremely typical of the romance genre. However, it is told in an extremely realistic and down-to-earth manner. Just reading the summary of True Tears gives one this impression. In addition, so are the characters, you won’t find any goddess, aliens, espers, or time travelers (and no, I’m not making a Haruhi reference) here, instead our cast is filled with normal people. I sometimes forget that I’m watching an anime as they rarely use animation conventions, such as speed lines, exaggerated expressions, etc. So one may wonder, “why should I watch this, the summary and even you are saying that it isn’t a very unique story?” Well, it is true, I won’t deny that, but what makes True Tears are the incredibly deep and complex character as well as the extremely subtlety in which the story is told.
First, True Tears is told in an extremely consistent manner with near perfect pacing. After a few episodes, once the introductions are done, the story builds upon itself and has a satisfying conclusion. However, True Tears has an interesting story structure. For True Tears the climax and the falling action, or the ride down, didn’t happen all in the last 2 episodes. Instead the climax of the various story threads happened around episodes 6-8 thus, giving them plenty of time to resolve everything. However, not all of the story threads exhibited a very smooth falling action in particular, the main one and thus True Tears suffered a bit near the end. Nevertheless during episodes 9-13, all of those threads were resolved, with the major ones being resolved during the last episode. Although this can be seen as a negative as it doesn’t keep the excitement up till the end. For many single kour anime series the climax happens in the 2nd to last episode (2-3 before the end for 2 kour series). Once again this makes thing exciting up to the end but it puts too much stress on the last episode to resolve everything. Because of the way the story was told, True Tears didn’t end with a bang, instead it ends with on a whimper. It is possible for True Tears to end on an extremely dramatic note, but it wouldn’t be true to itself. That is a very down to earth, subtle anime.
As for the characters, True Tears is more of an ensemble than a harem, as there are 6 major characters (3 male, 3 female) with a focus on Shinichiro, Hiromi, and Noe. Also, despite there being 6 major character and 13 episodes they all had sufficient character development and depth. In addition, all the characters are flawed and very much human. These are characters I can identify with and understand. However, because of this it makes some characters not as likeable. In a way, the characters are painfully too human. In addition, the character that really surprised me was Miyokichi, the seemingly token male friend. Characters like this are primarily used as comedic side characters, for example Sunohara in Clannad. Miyokichi is nothing like this, he received quite a bit of depth and complexity reserved only for main characters in most other series.
Another big surprise was the quality of the animation. PA works was a completely unknown studio and produced something on the level of KyoAni. In some ways surpass them on certain aspects. For example, in the basketball scene in Clannad (by KyoAni) uses many speed lines, a perfectly normal anime convention to convey high speed/movement, not just KyoAni, most studios do this. In True Tears the players actually move and the use of the camera is something akin to what I like to call, Itano circus for basketball. Not only that the world in True tears is very much alive, as there are people, animals, etc that are constantly moving in the background. Sure they use CG for the people walking in the background but it is done in a way where its hardly noticeable. Also, the attention to detail that PA works put into True Tears is beyond ridiculous. For example, the snow, the way it is spread is extremely realistic as well as being realistically dirty. However, the most definitive scene for me was the dance near the end of the series. Not only are all the dancers different they are just slightly and realistic out of sync. As for the art, it was actually pretty unique, most of the time there is a slight softness in the backgrounds. Not on the same level as Honey and Clover but enough to give it a slight picture book feel. Another distinct point in the art was the use of dramatized shots that look exactly like Shinichiro’s art book. This is something that kind of bothers me, as it stood out too much. It is possible that it is relates to the picture book Shinichiro is writing, either way I wasn’t too fond of it. Is PA Works another KyoAni? Maybe, we’ll have to see if they can keep up the quality.
Sound and Voice work was quite exceptional and kept with the overall subtlety of the series. Music is held back and is rarely in-your-face. The OP Reflictia by Eufonius has officially made me a fan of her work. As for the ending, nothing special, the chibi characters walking across the screen was…interesting. It feels a bit out of place considering the overall tone of the series. The voice actors did an amazing job and in particular I was quite impressed with Hiromi’s VA. Her VA did an amazing job conveying the sadness and restrain of Hiromi.
I only have one real complaint for True Tears. As I mentioned above the falling action for the main story thread wasn’t very smooth. This is because I believe the writers got trapped into a classic romance convention. That is holding off who the main character picks until the very end and this is perfectly understandable as they want to keep the viewer excited till the end. This is not necessary be a bad thing but it damages Shinichiro’s character by making him indecisive and thus hurting the ones around him. That’s why I wasn’t as happy with the one or two episodes before the final episode. However, its not like we didn’t know what he was thinking and there were clues point in one direction, its just that they kept it a bit too ambiguous. This resulted in mixed interpretation and frustration when one’s predictions failed.
If I had to describe True Tears, I would say “subtle.” Just about everything about this anime is subtle, from the way the characters talk to their actions. This anime will have you constantly thinking between the lines to really understand what is going on. Once again this is both a strength and weakness as some viewers may simply miss important clues. In addition, they employ several interesting themes and metaphors, for example, Shinichiro’s picture book, flying, and ‘true tears.’ I could easily write pages analyzing these themes but, since this is a review on the anime I won’t. So if you are the type to watch anime for relaxation purposes or with your brain turned off, then cross True Tears off your “to watch or interested list”, this anime is not for you. Ok, let me rephrase that, the beauty of True Tears comes from it’s subtly and depth, something that cannot be appreciated by watching on a superficial level.
Finally, let me say that this review is at least twice as long as I planned. I guess it only shows how much I enjoyed this series as I couldn’t stop typing. read more
Recommendations
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Both styles of art are brilliant!
They're both harem animes with some comedy in each (more comedy in Clannad).
Definitely two of my favorite animes so far.
The art style of both animes are the same
and both are also Harem
on top of that
both seem to be very promising
~Bondocter~
Both are pretty focused on Romance, Drama and School. Clannad has supernatural elements while True Tears doesn't.
Both have a lot of girls are one guy as the focus to the story.
Might even go as far as saying "True Tears" could be a "If Clannad had no supernatural theme to it, it would be..."
Both male protagonists are delinquents, or at least labelled as one and end up attempting to help girls with their problems, both with interesting results.
Both are PG-13
its is very similar i think its better though check it out
Same OP singer ... harem (kind of) ... sad story ... cry a river, anyone?
both are harem/romance stories and they have a very similar feel. Art style and sound are also quite similar.
Drama/Romance very good ... I advise
Both great love stories with fantastic plot and music
Both series are very interesting and deep dramas. If you like drama, romance and slice of life, you'll like both of them. I prefer True Tears, but if you enjoyed Clannad, I recommend you True tears, and viceversa.
Clannad have some funny moments and other are really emotional and deep. True Tears is a drama that makes you think but without moments so emotional as True Tears and without comedy.
Both of them are harem but harem is very well-done, they are absolutely different from the typical harem.
And both of them have female characters that you'll definitely fall in love with!
Both are great and touching stories about a high school couple, challenges between them, and some funny moments.
Welcome to Lantis' edition of Clannad. Its a heartfelt story with a few twists but doesnt really compare to the tenderness of Clannad. Good artwork. Great character development. I recommend both
-Both protagonists are given a choice in terms of love :3
-Good development with the characters
-Art style and Music is amazing
-Drama that happens is intense
-Lots of Tear-jerking moments T_T
-Both Harem
-Not to mention the question of whom the protagonist will chose keeps you watching!
also about a boy who finds himself in a mystery with several girls
Both are about a male not knowing what to do and where to go with their lives. Later, a lonely girl (or strange and lonely in noes case) draws the male in, and he is inspired to help her, and they both end up helping each other and loving each other in one way or another. Both are also love triangles. Sunohara (clannad) is just a comic relief though, whereas Nobuse (True Tears) is actually somewhat important in the story and more important in the end of the story and epilogue. Clannad has more humor, while True Tears has more Drama. The OP for both are done by Eufonius. Both also have a great ED.
Interesting characters with a unique/emotional story. Romance/ School life/ Drama. They both have lovely music, animation and style. And both like talking about hopes and dreams.
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Ef and True Tears are a perfect match to the point that they could almost be mistaken for the same franchise. Both are Highschool romance anime that avoid many of clichés of the genre to focus on love triangles, keeping the emotional development of the characters as their primary goal. In visual terms they present very solid animation values with gorgeous background art that shines mostly in the sky scenes. Fanservice free, these are titles that handle their potentially jaded subject matter with maturity and in a serious, thoughtful and highly emotional way. Fans of one are encouraged to check out the other.
Both have beautiful art and very similar stories, I think. They remind me of each other.
Interesting characters with a unique/emotional story. Romance/ School life/ Drama. They both have lovely music, animation and style. And both like talking about hopes and dreams.
Two short (12episodes) romances, with sort of dramatic stories, along with beautiful opening songs. Quality is here ^^.
Multiple romances going on. While the visuals in "ef" are more appealing, True Tears has it's own shares of artistic moments.
There's also somewhat of a mystery that going on behind the scenes
Both deal with romances and have really well done animation. I've liked both of these series and I think fans of one would like the other.
There is a big similarity between ef-A Tale Of Memories and True Tears, They are both came in flavor of Romance, Their stories seems to cross at some points, The characters in both series are interesting from the same point of view, So if you liked ef-A Tale Of Memories, Then you are in the mood for True Tears.
They are very similar. Both are very dramatic, and they have very little (or none) comedy scenes. Characters, story and art are also similar. Anyway, I prefer ef (end is better :3)
Almost similiar character profiles but in a different setting. Ef - a tale of memories is the smarter and more mature series though but True Tears has its moments. Both shouldn't be missed
you can feel the same situation here , Romance between girl and boy, and how they become obsessed about how they feel about it ,
i liked both series =D i recommend it
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Opening Theme"Reflectia (リフレクティア)" by eufonius (eps 1-12)
Ending Theme#1: "Sekai no Namida (セカイノナミダ)" by Aira Yuki (eps 1-12)
#2: "Reflectia (リフレクティア)" by eufonius (ep 13)
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Related ClubsAnime That Start with "T" Are the Best, Bishoujo ga suki desu~!, N.D.A.A. (No Dark Anime Allowed), True Tears, No More School Days References!, P.A Works, Artistic Matter, Romansu Anime/Manga Fanatics, Beautiful Romance, love triangle FACE OFF!! XD, Yocchin Rabu, Harem Club, eufonius fan club, All Ecchi Romance Hentai, Yukiyo Club♥, Animetr, Imouto Fanclub, Spread Ha/Ro, Anime Land, Incest ClubAsutoraea no Oka(yuri rp), Romantic Anime Lovers!, Club zero, Role Players Unite!, Ando Aiko Fanclub, ~ Childhood Friends Love Stories ~, the best damn anime/game club ever, Anime and Manga Romance Club, dramas with romance genre lovers <3, ~ WATER BOTTLE CLUB ~, Sad Anime's Fan Club, The Emotional/Sad/tragic Anime Collection worth watching club!, ·•●}Ж{﹏Sweetest Scene﹏}Ж{●•·, Romance Anime/Manga Fanatics, Yuasa Hiromi Fanclub, High School Anime Lovers, School Uniform Party Club!!, Anime art that r0cks!!, True Anime, Arizona Visual Novel Club, Dark Legends fan club!, Second String/Supporting Males, P.A. Works Fan Club, MangAnime Temple, Romance Lovers, Feelings Club, harem V.S reverse harem, The fangzhao club, School Anime Club, Unrequited Love Club , Harem Endings, The BADASSED Club, Serious stories (anime/manga), Sis con Club, Visual Novels Galore!, Anime Yokai, PA Works, Romance+, Moetaku, Anime America Club, Isurugi Noe Fanclub, Spiido Fansubs, Anime Addicted, Takagaki Ayahi fanclub, Watch Anime Together Club Headquarters see all
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