This fifth installment of the ’12 moments’ series is about True Tears, which was the best show of last winter amid some rather lackluster selections. True Tears was not always the most realistic or the most well-plotted of series, but it did have good animation and took its characters seriously enough to make them more interesting than not.
One of the best parts of the show’s conclusion was the last song Shinichiro sings as he bids Noe farewell. The breakup between the two was one of the strongest parts of the entire series, because it managed to strike a good balance between the recognition that Noe had changed his life for the better and the knowledge that he really loves someone else. The show was notable for its animal analogies–roaches, chickens, among others–and at first glance they should have been too hokey to work. That they did to an extent is a testament to the relative strength of the characters.
