Story-wise the anime dealt with issues in romance and those issues spanning from those who admire from afar to when you are engaged in a relationship and your personal feelings for your partner begin to waver whether it would be from curiosity, trying something new, or the romance simply dying out with no fault to either side, hence the title True Tears where the relationships depicted are filled with genuine attachment and whether or not it works out causes one to shed tears of true emotion (Always wondered why they called it True Tears so I took a crack at it). On my first watch, I failed to grasp all this and see it in a new light. Many qualities of a relationship are expressed in this anime and as such can act as a double-edged sword seeing as how it quickly moves back and forth between conflicts almost like a game of hop scotch and it is difficult to grasp the situation unless you pay attention to the current scene and not on what will happen next.
In terms of Art, True Tears having been made in 2008 by Studio P.A Works (Which was one of their first works) was vibrant and a bit saturated in color from time to time so it made for a pleasant experience even for those used to the most recent anime released nowadays. Although, there are some scenes that are CG for no apparent reason (ex. Numerous Students walking to school, in some cases the Main Character included), can make people think otherwise fortunately, the CG does not affect key scenes in the anime.
Background music... Background music... I learned on my re-watch that the show does not have much background music. The anime is relatively quiet with the exception of the voice actors, but in my opinion emphasizes the mood the show creates through its abstract dialogue (I use abstract since what I received from the dialogue can differ from the next viewer) causing me to really focus on what the characters are trying to speak of. The music is not entirely absent, but there are some scenes that lacked a soundtrack.
Most of the characters (excluding one who was mostly used as a catalyst for the development of the Main Character) undergo a slight development in the course of the story. Now this is not a character arc type of story where it focuses on individual characters at a time, but each character receives an even/adequate amount screen time every episode and see them change gradually through facial expressions, body language, or times of melancholy.
I enjoyed this show a lot more the second time around seeing as I feel more accomplished after having grasped the show in its entirety and offered a nice break in between currently airing shows.
Overall, True Tears receives an 8/10 from me and should be watched by any romance fans out there reading this.
