I began watching this serie with that prejudiced thought in mind, but since I am a die-hard fan of Romance and Harem in general, of course I could not afford to let such show pass under my radar, which also served as my ahoge. At first, everything is what you can find in a typical Harem show:
_The male lead is already in love with his childhood friend, Hiromi. I admit that the thick-headed protagonists are more overused these days, but this kind of lead and childhood friends falling in love is not something innovative either.
_As usual, the main love interest is decided at the beginning of the show and of course, she was perfect in every aspects, like her predecessors Harem female leads. BUT, things will drastically change from here on, you can say that those things are just the facade that cover the true intriguing nature of the plot, so stay tuned!
But other than those elements commonly found, True Tears also offers a variety of changes such as:
_The lead, Shinichiro, is NOT the usual good-for-nothing kind of lead. In fact, he has a passion and he was good at it as an artist. A major change that was made is that the story mostly was told in his first person point of view that is rare to come across in this kind of show.
_Another interesting fact was that his love life is somehow reflected through his work as it changes over the course of the story until he finds the meaning of the "true tears" that he was looking for.
_His sidekick friend is also different compared to other leads' friends in the aspect that he had a girlfriend, and a really cute one too, so not the kind of unpopular, comic relief character that was used in Clannad or To-Love-Ru. And somehow his love life will also be part of the story too.
_One of the rare Harem shows where fanservice is toned down to the point of nonexistant; hence allowed the plot to progress wonderfully.
............
That was to show True Tears is not your everyday Harem-Romance shows. I like the fact that Shinichiro was a decisive and reliable guy who knows what he is doing and has the guts to take action if needed to. His love potentials also have distinctive personalities that were realistic ( no spoilers about their "realistic" personalities for the sake of your enjoyment) as well as their non-exaggerated physical appearance that, in my honest opinion, were more pleasant to look at than other series that focused on the size of the heroines' chest rather than the plot itself.
Another charming point of this show is its storytelling that is centered about various kind of tears coming from the heroines that gradually answered the puzzle about tears at the beginning of the show. Major dramatic plot twists that come one after another will also ensure that the viewers won't get bored throughout the story and cream out of joy at the end for an unexpected coupling surrounded in a very original and mesmerizing background.
The stunningly high quality graphics ( the best of its season in my honest opinion) as well as the lovely opening and ending songs also contributed to the creation of one of the best Harem-Romance ever created. True Tears was a wonderful experience and it was so fast that before you even realize it, you are already longing for more and missing it while shedding either your Happy Tears or Sad Tears, depending on your favorite girl.
