True Tears, Neverending drama and fanboy hype: Why Bandai is passing up an epic chance to introduce animé to the masses
February 26, 2008 at 8:00 am 7 comments
True Tears is epic. True Tears has DEEP DRAMA. True Tears is BETTER THAN CLANNAD (That last bit a complete lie. CLANNAD, as a game, is way better than True Tears.). Geez people, give the fanboying a rest already. You’re triggering my cynic sense.
Reading pro-True Tears polemic is like me reading a variety of anti-religion propaganda. Not all of it is good reading, and some of it is downright condescending. On the other hand, reading anti-True Tears polemic is like seeing 4chan SaiGar shitstorms. Will you stop being so shallow already, you naysayers.
My opinion? True Tears seems to be a masterfully-executed show, with writing worthy of Chinese/Korean drama scriptwriters. It’s all good, yeah, but I’ve seen it before.
I’m sorry to rain on your parade, True Tears fanboys, but I’ve seen this kind of stuff before. On TV. Before I knew about animé. I was watching Chinese dramas and local dramas which had the same amount of quality you close-minded fanboys laud True Tears for. Heck, if I could list a recent example of the same kind of drama, I’d be listing Heroes. And for those of you who rail at me for daring to list some “shitty American TV show”, I’ll list K-dramas. One Liter of Tears, Winter Sonata, blah blah blah. (LOL When will it ever end lololol)
In fact, I’m more impressed with the scriptwriter’s ability to write something people fanboy over, because honestly, the original material is utter shit. Otaku do not like True Tears the game, so it’s not just a complete surprise, but complete and utter shock, that they are fanboying the animated series to such a level.
But the funny thing is this: I see an opportunity to market this show (at least in Asia) to an altogether different group of people. If True Tears is a drama on par with the likes of Winter Sonata, why not market it to the same people who watch Winter Sonata et al? I bet the number of people who watch Korean, Taiwanese, or Chinese drama far exceed the number of people willing to pay for True Tears DVDs. Some may call me crazy, but I see a golden opportunity to rake in NICE BOATloads of cash by making a few wise marketing moves. There’s no harm in trying such a stunt, or at least conducting focus group testing for this show, at the very least.
So there you have it. What I think of True Tears. I’m more impressed with the fact PA Works took a license that sucked and made it into something that worked rather that the OH SO DEEP drama, or the whole “IT’S IN THE SUBTEXT” shitstorm it generated.
…And as for “subtext”, it’s visual storytelling. Where the fuck is this “subtext”? Facial expressions, body language, intonation, character interaction and other visual, aural and sociological cues, this isn’t “subtext”, it’s the art of visual storytelling. (And on a personal note, I think the term itself is pretty pretentious)
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1.
serial | February 26, 2008 at 9:46 am
I like True Tears. It’s got good storytelling. I have never seen Korean and Chinese dramas before, so I find it interesting.
The funny thing is that you could almost say that despite sharing the same name, True Tears (The Anime) has next-to-nothing to do with True Tears (The Game), from all the information I’ve found. In fact, sometimes it almost feels like the game doesn’t exist at all, except to be mentioned in a passing. It’s kinda funny, really.
I think PA Works’ decision to butcher it up and Frankenstein it into something better is something that must be applauded.
It’s a shame that Bandai is going to charge so much for an Anime series. I think this could work well in the US as well, except for its substantially high price point. The negative backlash has been just plain horrid.
2.
Phil | February 26, 2008 at 9:46 am
“In fact, I’m more impressed with the scriptwriter’s ability to write something people fanboy over, because honestly, the original material is utter shit. Otaku do not like True Tears the game, so it’s not just a complete surprise, but complete and utter shock, that they are fanboying the animated series to such a level.”
Well, given that the game and the anime are completely different, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.
Game OP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrncD3uMeU
The True Tears anime is pretty much an ‘original’ (as much as anything can be original now-a-days) story. It’s completely meaningless to bring the game into the equation.
That said, I enjoy it a lot (more than the Clannad anime, actually), but I don’t fanboy it. I do fanboy Noe because she is just too cute.
3.
The Animanachronism | February 26, 2008 at 9:50 am
I am not watching True Tears because I am a shallow naysayer. Who thinks ‘subtext’ is a useful word.
4.
vale | February 26, 2008 at 10:40 am
I like true tears! I’m not an expert but I think it is wonderfully done. I can’t really say much because I haven’t seen any of the things you mentioned above but one thing I can say is that this “subtext” you are talking about is indeed the “art of the visual story telling” (as you said) but the difference here is that true tears actually uses the advantages of the visual story telling and gives you a lot of information through the eye. this is something you don’t see often on shows even if it is something you would expect a visual show to have… I think this gives some reality to the show and makes the characters look more human and less like something animated.
well…that’s my opinion. I’m not sure if I spoke myself clearly but I tried =), english is not my first language.
5.
pagan poor | February 26, 2008 at 11:28 am
Haha, you’re making it seem like people get a life saving epiphany out of watching true tears. Noone outside of the anime sphere gives a crap about the show. It’s a great show for what it is. An anime. Why you’re comparing it to things outside the anime medium is odd to me. I don’t think anyone else is. Hell, I like Heroes…
6.
Tyrenol | February 27, 2008 at 8:59 am
A long time ago I used to believe that there’s such a thing as “art of the visual story telling.” But by then, when I found out that the creators of anime are all otaku, my heart became super-jaded.
As much as I’d like to watch True Tears, I’m reminded of how nearly ever show focuses on hot chicks and create luckless losers out of guys.
I’m reminded via School Days that Japan would rather make a male lead a jerk and kill him; rather than have him participate in solving the problem he caused. Plus, via H2O~FITS, they’d be happier if he had a girl’s voice.
Then there’s Gundam 00 where it’s suddenly fun to pilot invincible mecha and destroy normal people’s lives “for the sake of ending all armed conflict.” (Actually, because you’re bored.)
And finally, I came to the conclusion that Japan doesn’t really care about the rest of the world except for their own Asian world because BVUSA had licenced True Tears quickly in order to make a large amount of cashflow.
Hell. If I wanted to see something artful and deep; I bought the boxset of Trinity Blood. My current favorite is Glass Fleet. I’m even beginning to warm up to the drama the otaku didn’t wanna see in Xebec’s Negima.
7.
abao | February 27, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I find dorama animes 24398375264812 times better than those Korean rl doramas.