Shin makes a stupid choice.

Impressions:

…

Well, this show now sucks for me. Damnit, I knew this would happen. I was saying throughout most of the entire series that he would end up with Hiromi. Damn the last episode for giving me some hope for Noe. Still, I said that if he ends up with Hiromi, I’d pretty much hate the show and I really do now, but a little more on that later under Final Thoughts.

Trying to put the overall conclusion aside for a moment, this was a pretty good episode. Even though Shin doesn’t end up with Noe the actual episode itself was pretty good. I thought they at least did a good job explaining how things got to this point. It wasn’t just something that at the end he arbitrarily picks someone…kind of. So I’m trying hard to say this but the individual episode, actual conclusion aside, was fairly good.

Final Thoughts:

There wasn’t much to say in the above section, as I try and keep it to things related to the last episode and this section for the series in general. I said I’d hate the show if this happened, and I almost do. This really doesn’t happen that often where I dislike something based on the outcome like this. Most of the time if there are multiple girls its obvious who he’ll end up with. Even if I like one character more I don’t necessarily think the show would be better if he ended up with her. However this really is one case that I just cannot bring myself to like this conclusion, and I hate the conclusion this much there is no way I can like the series as a whole.

This show was certainly an interesting ride. It was one of the shows I got more involved in of this season and I do have to really applaud it for keeping me guessing as to who he’d end up with. However as hard as I try I cannot bring myself to like this series based on this ending. I’ll admit; when I saw this coming I tried to get myself to like this ending. There were several times I kind of forced myself into saying “Oh, the Hiromi arc isn’t looking so bad” and the final episode actually did an amazing job of making me hate her arc less, but there is still absolutely no contest in that I would have preferred Noe. I dislike Hiromi so much compared to Noe; Noe is a much better character. Not only that but she offers way more to the main character in terms of inspiration and being there for him. I’m trying to really not look at this as a fanboy like perspective, but as I said there are plenty of times when I like a character a lot who doesn’t end with the guy, but I don’t think the show would be better off for it. However this is one case where the show really would be better, and the only way it would be good in any way, if he had chosen different.

Overall, this series was pretty good. In fact it was a great series; however for me personally this show is not that high on my favorites list because of its outcome. Although I see the show for being good somewhat regardless, Noe should have won and since this show for me was heavily based on the outcome, and it didn’t turn out how I think it should have, it isn’t that great in that sense so I cannot bring myself to really like this show.

Shin participates in the Mugiha Dance festival, and tries to do things properly involving the different parts of his life.

Impressions:

Wow, this episode was magnificent. I can’t believe I’m actually saying this but watching this episode gave me actual legitimate hope that Noe might be who he ends up with. I’ve said pretty much all along that I WANT Noe to win. If Noe ends up with Shin I’ll be ecstatic and this show will be one of my top five probably, but if Hiromi ends up with him then it will drastically fall. However partially due to pessimism and partially because it seemed to point to Hiromi winning, I always thought she’d win. However I’m almost inclined to say that I now have more belief in Noe winning then Hiromi. I was so certain of the outcome but this episode really changed some things.

Pointing towards a Hiromi ending though, we had Hiromi’s little breakdown when talking to Noe. The way she cried saying how she’s always loved him and she believes he loves her was interesting, as it shows she would be kind of not well off if Shin didn’t end up with her. Plus reinforced by the fact Hiromi was the one Shin liked originally, she’s got that going for her. We also have the fact Noe doesn’t know yet that Shin only went out with him because his brother wanted him to, and that may hurt Noe’s chances and help Hiromi. Or, if her brother told her during the scene with him and Noe, it would do the same thing.

However pointing towards a Noe ending, this episode added A LOT. The fact that Noe showed up the dance seemed to kind of shock Hiromi and it seemed as if she noticed his eyes going towards her or something. Plus, Shin’s little inner monologue about being able to draw because she believed in him seemed to point to her as well. Then, we have Hiromi being so pushy. Girls that are pushy like her don’t have a great success rate, claiming to be his girlfriend like that and telling Noe to back off kind of hurts her chances, and helps Noe. Also, Shin left Hiromi going after Noe at the end of this episode. Now, if they don’t kill her, Shin rushing to her side after seeing her fall would also likely help her chances. Now….if for some reason she does die like I actually thought they might due to the connection to Jibeta, this show is going to b so far down my rankings of anime that you won’t see it until the names Yoake, Soul Link, School Days, and Yumeria pop up.

Shin tries to find Noe to talk to her after her cryptic message to him and starts getting closer to Hiromi.

Impressions:

Wow, this was a pretty big episode. It’s pretty much undeniably confirmed that Shin will end up with Hiromi. I mean, I can’t imagine any train of thought that rationally explains how he could end with her. This is coming from a huge fan and supporter of a Shin x Noe ending, I just don’t see it happening. However this episode reinforced a little bit what I aid in a previous post that the Hiromi ending may not be as bad as I thought. Partially when I said I would absolutely hate this show if he ended up with anyone other then Noe was kind of just being a rabid Noe fanboy at the time. Now some of this may be coming from the part of me that kind of wants to be on the winning side but I don’t think that a Hiromi ending would ruin this show. I’m still going to be a Noe supporter all the way, I would rather he ended up with her, but I’m not going to lead me to delusions of it actually coming true. Still, from the way they’ve presented it in the last couple of episodes Hiromi’s ending wont’ be as bad as I thought.

Really everything is pointing to it right now, a Hiromi ending. Noe has pretty much said that she knows Hiromi is the one Shin loved. She’s kind of gone a bit nuts it seems from realizing it. Plus Hiromi kissed him; she initiated it which means she like shim obviously. Plus she’s broken off ties with Noe’s brother pretty much and kind of told him to confront the fact that he likes his sister. So I think it’s pretty much set in stone. Ai has already had a conclusion where she’s given up on Shin and may even get back together with the other guy but starting over again under the state of mind she’s given up on Shin. It’s Noe who I’m curious about. I don’t’ quite see this show actually promoting or implying an incest kind of conclusion to her and her brother’s situation. She obviously doesn’t feel that way about him so I’m sure they will just make her be back to normal in the end, but hopefully still friends with Shin and be her usual happy and unique self, after she cries of course.

There is one way I would disown ever having anything to do with this show though, if Noe died. I know it seems kind of odd to think that that may happen but there was just something about the situation that didn’t sit right with me. She seemed kind of a bit nuts at the time, holding onto Jibeta and going to the beach/pier like that. Plus the book ending Shin wrote really freaked me out. Jibeta dies? They’ve been using the book for a metaphor, if Noe is Jibeta then that doesn’t bode well for her. It’s a long shot, but just something that was worrying me, I don’t’ think it will happen but if it does I’ll loathe the series.

Hiromi tells Shin of her intention to move out of the house while Noe tries to figure out what to do knowing Shin is getting further and further from her.

Impressions:

This episode really did absolutely nothing but point towards a Hiromi x Shin ending. Part of my reason for believing that would happen was my pessimism and wanting Noe to win but now that they’ve shown all of this that’s not even an issue. Even if I wasn’t pessimistic the show seems to be blatantly obviously heading towards a Hiromi ending. Not only was there the HUGE scene near the end about him racing towards her and then her crying as she ran to him they revealed that she did indeed remember their childhood experiences and just brought up their past together again that combined with Noe saying things like she pretty much knows Shin doesn’t love her. Saying things like its getting buried deeper and deeper, the love that Shin made for me. Although partially talking about the message, also being a metaphor for real life.

I do have to admit that I was perhaps a little over hasty when I said that I would “hate” the show if he ended up with Hiromi. Of course I would much prefer for him to end with Noe but even so I did find the scene with him going after Hiromi interesting. I disliked it because of how it pointed towards him ending up with Hiromi but the scene itself was pretty good. So this may partially be me wanting to like shows saying that it would be alright for him to end with her or just not being so one sided. I still would MUCH prefer Noe to win and I would like the show a hell of a lot more if she did, I won’t HATE it if she doesn’t.

I am happy they gave Ai a bi of closure. Although they didn’t really spend too much time on her and they didn’t dedicate a whole episode to her I think for the part she played she had a pretty good ending. The show really did seem to focus on Hiromi and Noe so giving her any focus at all was a bit more then the show could have gotten by with. At least they didn’t leave her with no focus at all.

Shin goes after Hiromi when he sees her riding off with Noe’s brother.

Impressions:

GOD DAMNI! This episode did absolutely nothing but make the case for Shin and Hiromi ending up together stronger. It advanced that a LOT and I’ve expressed before but I know I won’t be able to stop expressing how I will effectively HATE this show if it ends up that way. If he ends up with Noe I will love the show but all throughout watching this episode I just kept screaming in my head. More and more things just hurt the chances of this showing being great for me.

It seems pretty much confirmed now that Hiromi ISN’T Shin’s sister. At least it seems confirmed in Hiromi’s mind and I think she told that to Shin, though I’m not sure. Either way that alone kind of lifts a pretty big roadblock off of them getting together. The only tiny glimmer of hope I can see in this though is that Shin’s mom doesn’t seem as much of a bitch now so perhaps it won’t be that horrible for her if she weren’t to get picked, having a non blood related family. However, that’s just my desperate grasp at straws, I’m still convinced Hiromi will win, which sucks.

What I’m finding really interesting though is the continual use of metaphors in this show. They haven’t really touched on the whole tear metaphor lately. They kind of established that earlier in the show but they haven’t kept it as a main focus so it’s kind of died in importance for now. However the focus on the metaphor using Raigomaru, Jibeta, and flying seems pretty prominent and it’s really intriguing. It seems obvious that Shin is Raigomaru and the way I interpreted it from Shin reading the book he’s written so far is that Hiromi is Jibeta. Noe said Jibeta can’t fly and Noe kind of yelled at a confused Hiromi a while back that she couldn’t fly either. In the book Raigomaru gave up flying to be with Jibeta because he saw how sad it was she was alone like that. That doesn’t fair well for my hopes for the show. There was another metaphor with flying that also doesn’t faire well. Noe seems to know Shin loves Hiromi. It was so sad seeing her talk with him near the water. She said how he could fly, but not here. Perhaps meaning he will be able to fly but not with her. HOWEVER, this may be me reading too far into things and trying desperately for some hope but if you put those two metaphors together it doesn’t exactly point towards Hiromi. If he Shin give sup flying it would be to be with Hiromi, but Noe said he could fly but somewhere else….however she was sad about it. I don’t’ know, perhaps I’m reading too far into these metaphors as it don’t make crystal clear sense either way, but they are defiantly one of the things I’m trying to pay attention to the most.

Shin starts to go out with Noe while Hiromi struggles with what to do as she spends more time with Noe’s brother.

Impressions:

I have to say this first, as I’ve kind of said it in the EotW post but this show has gotten to the point where if Noe wins I will absolutely love and worship this show. The best I can rank my favorite shows are in tiers of top 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 as I’m too indecisive to give them definite rankings. If Shin ends up with Noe this show would easily make it into my top 5 but if he ends up with Hiromi this show will pretty much immediately fall into top 50 at most, if even that. It’s that big of a deal I think. Noe is just too innocent and cute to experience her first love and then be dumped like that and I really will dislike the show if something like that happens.

That being said, this episode really reinforced that. Although I kind of said last post I was unsure of how it was going to end I’ve pretty much realized and am now absolutely certain it will end a certain way….which isn’t the way I want it to end. He’s going to end up with Hiromi, this episode pointed to so many reasons. The fact that he’s already going out with Noe doesn’t help things AT ALL. God, almost any anime where the guy goes out with the girl before the very end means he doesn’t end up with that girl unless it’s a pure shoujo and this isn’t. Plus the fact they have a childhood past together and Hiromi dreamt of the whole “Don’t leave me behind” thing and if Shin doesn’t wind up with her that’s exactly what will happen. Plus the whole situation with Shin’s mother and Hiromi saying she ahs no where to belong doesn’t help. Shows in this situation tend to have the girl win that has the most to loose, as they don’t want that horrible situation to come true. Hiromi is much worse off if she doesn’t end up with him because of the whole not belonging anywhere thing. And it doesn’t help that Noe can’t cry and if Shin dumps her she probably would, and a big focus of this show is tears. Damnit, like I said if this goes the way I’m absolutely certain it will I will end up severely disliking this show.

The preview did even more to support my pessimism for this show; I’m really 100 percent certain of how this will end now. Just the line of Noe saying “You’re having a hard time flying” points to her realizing that something is effectively holding Shin back, which would be his feelings for Hiromi. That and the fact that Hiromi seems to stay away for a while and Shin has a problem with it points to her needing some kind of closure, ad they wouldn’t end it with her feeling this way…DAMNIT.

Shin reflects upon his feelings for Noe now that he is supposed to ask her out per his agreement with Noe’s brother.

Impressions:

Wow…this episode was pretty big. Even without the big shocking revelations that the previous episode had this still managed to keep me captivated. Just focusing on Noe and Hiromi for a bit I still am amazed at the complexity of the situation. I really don’t see one of the girls having a clear and obvious win when in most cases there is. I feel pretty confident in saying that I want Noe to end up with Shin however I’m nowhere near confident enough to say that’s what’s actually going to happen, in fact if I had to pick I would lean more towards thinking it will go the path of Hiromi even though I want it to go to Noe.

I think in cases like this it really comes down to which girl has the most to loose from not ending up with the lead. Which story is most sad if they don’t win. As in, if it’s worse for them to not end up with the guy, they will. For Noe, she is an extremely innocent girl. This is her first love and it’s not like a normal one sided love. Shin has confessed to her, albeit his real feelings or not he did. For Shin not to end up with her would be horrible for her as it would crush this for her, her first love, her first time feeling nay emotion this way and being lied to. However for Hiromi, she’s kind of alone. Even though she has friends she has no family where she really belongs considering how she may be “illegitimate” or however you want to phrase it and despite feelings either way they have the roadblock of being siblings. Right now I can see arguments for cases where he would end up with either.

The reason why he would end up with Hiromi would be that as far as Noe goes, if she doesn’t end up with Shin she’ll probably cry. You know, with tears. The title of the anime kind of says that tears are metaphorically or actually important. If shin breaks up with her she may “regain” her tears. However as far as going with Noe there is the whole incest thing, however it’s not confirmed if that’s the case and it wouldn’t be the first show to kind of ignore that. In fact it almost gives it more of a change as something that big standing in the way would be a roadblock. However, as my explanation kind of said I think it will go with Hiromi even though I want it to go with Noe just because the sibling relationship isn’t confirmed, hell the mother could have said that to be horribly mean to Hiromi even if not true but even if it was true its not too out of the realm of possibility for them to end up together anyways.

I was certainly surprised by the bit with Ai at the end. I didn’t’ think she would go as far as do something like that, at most I thought she would confess but to actually kiss him is pretty big. Still, the really sad thing is she has absolutely no chance as far as I can see. Whether or not I want her to end up with Shin or not (She would be my second choice) she really doesn’t have too much of a chance. Hiromi and Noe have the dilemma pretty well covered, offering up enough drama with just the two of them. I really think Ai’s corner of the story will be solved separately and not too happy of an ending for her. Too bad really, I jut hope they really give her a good end and not just glaze over it.

Noe’s brother asks Hiromi out on a date, as per Shin’s request and informs Hiromi that Shin and Noe are going to be going out.

Impressions:

Wow…this was a pretty damn big episode. There was drama going on all throughout with pretty much every character, that tied with the freaking huge revelation that Hiromi is probably Shin’s sister is immense. I pretty much suspected the reason Hiromi’s mother disliked her is because her mother had an affair with her husband but I still didn’t really think they would end up being siblings. It just seemed like too big of a thing to happen. I mean, it’s a pretty damn serious topic to have blood related people have romance and few anime have done it. Now, although they say that there’s a “chance” that they are related I’m having trouble believing they would give us this huge possibility that will cause all sorts of interesting and complex situations only to reveal in the end they weren’t actually related. It seems to be that the more realistic and better thing for the show is if they do in fact stick with their attempted claim that they are related. Now, what’s going to happen as a result form this I don’t know. It’s obvious Hiromi likes Shin and the other way around but the sibling thing is something hard to get past, at least something not easily looked over especially for a show that is this well done.

It doesn’t really feel like they are giving Ai much development. They gave her a rather big cliffhanger form last episode with her little burst that showed she cared for Shin but they kind of dismissed that, only later going on to have her kind of tell Shin’s friend she doesn’t like him, she likes Shin. However even despite the set up from last episode the focus still stayed on Hiromi and Noe. It definitely looks as if she’s going to be pushed off to the side. Noe and Hiromi’s stories defiantly see to be more intertwined. It seems like they’ll conclude Ai and then conclude Hiromi and Noe at the same time. It’s a bit of a shame but I pretty much guessed that Ai had no chance of “winning.”

Shin tries to figure out what to do about Noe’s brother’s proposal of him asking Noe out.

Impressions:

This episode was pretty good. Like all of the episodes it had a lot of great things about it, however it kind of felt like they didn’t have as much as they could have. I was expecting a bit more from this episode then they had. Most of the episodes so far have been pretty much setting up the situation, and while interesting, not too incredibly mind blowing. Still, that doesn’t mean its bad, I just hope for the pace to pick up a bit soon.

I was really rather confuse at the conversation Shin had with Hiromi in her room. First of all they played it twice and I was pretty confused at that, I checked to make sure I didn’t accidentally hit a button on my computer or something and go back. Although the second time had the thoughts of Hiromi. Still, I was also just confused about her reaction. I know she wouldn’t really be thrilled, especially if its true that she did just make that up but it still seemed like a kind of weird reaction even if it was her being mad at Shin just accepting the fact she was going to be with someone else.

I’m really interested now in the next episode, just from the cliffhanger at the end with Ai. She’s definitely gotten the least about of development between the three girls and she kind of had a little burst there at the end. She obviously likes Shin and I do think she’s more or less technically going out with the other guy even though it’s not what she really wants. For her to stop him from opening the door though was pretty big, finally actually doing something. I just hope they actually take this opportunity they set up and have some good development next episode, because stand alone it isn’t too terribly much and easy to shrug off.

Hiromi explains to Shin her feelings for Noe’s brother and Shin tries to put up a fake front showing he’s fine with everything, causing him to hurt inside.

Impressions: 

I’m really impressed with this series so far. It’s got so many things going for it and it really is one of the best romance series I’ve seen in a long time. So many things are going on, so many characters with different feelings and motivation. I found this episode to show that Noe’s brother may have more going for him then just being her brother. The way he was putting on her helmet struck me as a bit odd and him pushing someone to go out with her, I don’t know but I think we’ll see a bit more from him. It will be interesting to see what develops from this request, as Noe isn’t exactly the most….normal person there is. Plus Shin’s pretty much said to himself and to Noe that he likes Hiromi. There are so many things going on, it really makes each episode extremely interesting to watch and this was no exception.

One of the really interesting points this show has going for it is this continual metaphor for tears. They haven’t completely established it as a metaphor, since Noe is so weird she may actually be talking about collecting physical tears, but it doesn’t seem likely. All this talk about giving your tears to someone close to you, which kind of means only “True Tears” come from some emotion caused by someone close. Then receiving someone else’s tears so you can cry, it’s really cryptic and it’s not clear what the metaphor really means because it’s continually being referred to like its real. It’s not really something they are going to spell out either. Right now it’s a bit too early in the series to see how it will affect things, but I think the metaphor for giving away tears and so forth is pretty interesting.

I said this last post but this episode made me even more curious. I want to know what the hell is up with Shin’s mom and Hiromi and Hiromi’s mother. They’ve shown from episode one pretty much that Shin’s mom doesn’t really like Hiromi for some reason. Then in this episode they had that comment about Hiromi’s eyes being like her mothers, Shin’s mom saying this rather hatefully. Then, yet another piece to the puzzle they show in the preview what is likely to be a picture of Hiromi’s parents and Shin’s parents, as they said something about them knowing each other, yet Hiromi’s mother’s face was cut out. Obviously something happened in the past between the two mothers and it’s caused for the hate to go towards Hiromi again. I mean, in the preview Shin’s mom said how she didn’t want Hiromi walking together with Shin outside, she really hates Hiromi and there has to