True Tears Episode 4

My Thoughts:
My first thought, and one that pops up rather routinely throughout this episode is how clueless can Shinichirō be? I can understand his emo'ing over Hiromi, especially after what he overheard in episode 3, but he should have a lick of sense and apply what Aiko told him to her actions. Despite his utter blindness to any girl outside of Hiromi, he's acting a lot like a true teenage guy here. Who hasn't overheard a girl say they don't like them? Who hasn't been utterly oblivious about a girl taking interest in them (my wife would like me to take this time for me to point out that I was a tad... oblivious to her interest in me when we first met).

My next thought is wondering just what crawled up the mom's bum and died. And why exactly is a comment about Hiromi having her mom's eyes so... bad. Was there something between either Hiromi's mom and Shin's dad or maybe the mom and Hiromi's dad? I can only hope that that's one of the things that are touched upon as we clear up Hiromi's story arc.

There are two characters that I feel kind of bad here for though. The first is Nobuse Miyokichi, who appears to truly like Aiko, and she's not quite all that into him--or at least it appears that way. We'll see what happens as we play out her full arc though. Then there is Noe, who could be considered the only true innocent in the story so far. Sure, she's odd, and eclectic-but who doesn't like a girl that's slightly off? My wife wouldn't be nearly as cute if she didn't have all those idiosyncrasies that I adore so much.

But I digress, Noe is carefree and innocent in a way that the other two girls just can't comprehend. It's almost like she doesn't even realize that she's falling for the main character. Unfortunately, I can see this leading to bad mojo for her.

Frankly, I'm liking the relationships here. They're true to life, and bring memories of those miserable teenage romances of yesteryear. I just wish that the tortured artist was as popular in my high school days as Shin appears to be here.

Episode Summary:
Because these things tend to be required for episodic blogging, but also tend to be what folks like least, I'm breaking the usual mold, and just shoving them to the bottom. Anyways, this episode starts up a few minutes after the last one ends, with Hiromi and Shinichirō walking home, with Hiromi talking about Number 4. Afterwards we get Shinichirō acting all emo, and being stumbled upon by Aiko. Who of course drags him shopping. When Shin suggests that she also invite her boyfriend (who is Shin's best friend) she blows off the suggestion. Post-shopping trip, we have Shin making an idiot of himself in front of Hiromi, and then some more nastiness from Shin's mom. Finally, Noe makes an appearance in this episode, where she then tries to drown Shin. More emo-angst from Shin, and he calls Noe 'goofy looking,' and ends up being cheered up by this. Shin goes home, and has a Hallmark moment with his dad, followed the next morning by a comedy routine between Hiromi & Shin (which makes Shin even happier). Switch over to Noe & her brother shopping, and the girl just keeps up a narrative about her time with Shin. The episode ends with the brother appearing at Shin's house, and telling him to date Noe.