From Shirukii:
Ai-chan didn’t ask him to go out with her on the spot, she simply asked him to look at her, not as a childhood friend, not as a sister figure, but as a girl, one that he may come to like one day. Yet Shin shuts her down, tells her that he could never think of her that way, and vows to forget the instance which took all of Ai’s courage to build up to. Not that I can really blame the guy, hell if I know what I’d do in that situation, but still… that was pretty bad of him.
I know what I would do.
Ai: Just look at me… I beg you!
Kabitzin: I… I’m blind! My, er, soul has just been rocked. Sorryokbye.
Fortunately, I know from experience that while Ai is saying “Look at me as a girl you could come to like,” what she really means is, “Let’s get married, start a family, and move in with my parents right now.” Sure it starts as looking, but soon you’re getting jiggy in the storeroom with your ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend. These things form a slippery slope!!!
It’s interesting how in so many shows the sister or childhood friend qualities can be very moe attributes that are used to lure the target in. But in Ai’s case, these attributes hinder her. This is because she never should have agreed to go out with Miyokichi. She should have said, “Sorry, but there is someone else I like.”
Also, I think Shinichiro handled it about as well as he could have. It sucks so bad to be put on the spot like that and then have to reject someone. Then there’s always that awkward aftermath when groups of friends have to choose sides like in a civil war. When Ai was crying and begging, my danger sense was instantly going into overdrive thinking “Oh damn, this is some emotional baggage I so do not need right now,” so I probably wouldn’t be a very good (or popular) character in a harem or romance series.
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This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
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Which reminds me, anyone still watching water, has the guy’s sudden recovery from blindness after episode 1 ever come into question? There was zero transition there, if I were him I’d be all “HOLY CRAP THE COLORS, I CAN SEE. HEY! AREN’T YOU THAT GIRL WHO FELL ASS FIRST INTO MY FACE YESTERDAY?!”
Hey guys, yea… I was just kidding about being blind the other day. Sorry about grabbing your ass.
It’s interesting that the childhood friend status has become a harem handicap when years back it was considered an unassailable lead.
Well perhaps Hiromi was a better childhood friend? It is not as common for there to be multiple childhood friends; maybe Hiromi was able to secure a verbal agreement (that Shinichiro forgot about).
Just as “maybe being related” is a great excuse to turn someone down, “being blind” is a great excuse for getting frisky.
That sounds hot, though pretty unrealistic. Might be why the statement also reminds me of School Days.
It’s interesting to see how bias for certain characters make us desire that they become, an “indecisive fool” whose feelings waver between people. In the case of Shin’s rejection of Ai, most people, including me (especially non-Ai-fans) deemed it as something admirable, because it quickly ended what would’ve been a more tragic and painful drama later on.
Ai fans however, will find a way to justify what she has done in the past, think that she’s the one who’s more deserving of Shin’s love despite all that, and would thus want him to… look at her.
Usagijen, that is a really interesting point. I don’t see how someone can deserve love, since it is the object of affection’s love to give. What really sucks for Ai fans is that Ai is begging just to get in the game. She’s not even a real contestant, and I can’t see her getting much more screentime.
Ai, at best, is like the Ralph Nader of True Tears.
I agree with almost everything you said but I disagree with you on Aiko being superfluous and it’s sad that almost everyone hate Ai so much ,Ai’s was written harshly by the writers but still ,I don’t see why everyone count her out
The rejection was so painful though ,but it was needed for Ai to move on as well ..but poor girl though ,she got demoralized because of it …
I don’t think that she was a main character though.She was pretty much a deep side character to me though less than Hiromi and Noe and I agree she was not developed as much as them and you know why -because Ai was used as a symbolic placement in this show though many ppl failed to understand her purpose ,her less screen time play was also intentional ,Ai had so many internal conflicts/guilt’s as well .she was the most realistic person in that show because if you focus on her very small side story ,you would noticed that she made the most mistakes and she was not just there to make this show a harem show and increase the fan base like what ppl gave her credit for.Ai was there to lose and face harsh reality and pay the price for her sins ..lol ,I don’t see why ppl count her out ,the end is Hiromi ,Noe is the girl with the tears she lost and Ai was the one with the ill-fate. Her theme was ‘moving on from you first love because it’s unhealthy ‘
It’s true that Hiromi and Noe were deep character’s with tragic background stories but Ai’s love for Shin was very destructive(full of self-loathing) and based on her fantasies .True Tears is not a harem show and it was never like that .The reason why most of you count her out is cuz she never stood a chance which made her easily neglected by the fans of this show but the whole losing was necessary for her story ,for her to move on and find true love and I think that that the writers did an amazing job on portraying her as a character .She was just a side character after all and for them to give her more development maybe asking a bit too much in my opinion simply because of how the story was written .In other words Ai was used to give this show a sense of realism and without her ,we wouldn’t have a realistically portrayed female in this Show .
The whole story is about Shin’s heart wavering between Noe and Hiromi and Ai was simply not part of it but the writer’s used the destiny card with her ..We could see this as her struggle to be like Hiromi and Noe in terms of complexity and character which itself is something deep ,I’ve read an interview with the writer and he said that he wrote Ai as this dark girl who wanted to try it more and so she became stronger and stronger(more selfish) because she wanted to fit in with the other girls but she was also fighting many obstacles and conflicts with her feelings like what her voice actress said .I’m not saying that the other characters are not realistic but Ai’s situation was something you could defiantly see in the real world because she never stood a chance .I myself didn’t think she was deep at first like you but after I re-watched this then I knew these facts. There’s actually so much to her than just a third harem girl with no purpose and that ’s why I believe the writing for true tears was superb for both main characters and side characters..but then again this is just my opinion based on what I saw and they are so many ppl like yourself who thinks she was pointless which is a pity really ..
Ai was ambiguous/dark character because she was not deeply delve into like Hiromi or Noe and instead left for the fans to analyze..She got shafted a ton in this anime in terms of character screen time and fate but it was intentional by the writer –he wanted to screw Ai’s character and destroy her chances-so he can focus on the two main girls instead which is if you ask me a harsh way to present and treat a character ..I think it was the easiest way to make their third heroine special –she was more of a symbolic heroine rather than a normal/hermetic candidate..10/10 for the writer’s.. I find it strange that I can write this much on Ai even though she wasn’t giving much screen time play but it proves that she is a deep character in her own way ..
I’m glad true tears ended the way it did though ..