These are blogging reactions which I was going to admire, debate and mock upon the completion of true tears. Since I'm obviously not going to start now, might as well dump the list. This goes on top of what I posted previously.

Jeff Lawson, first impression:

[T]he CG work in True Tears is damn near perfect. It gives so much life to the background art. And it melds with the traditional animation so effectively that I no longer notice it’s CG once I get over my initial, “hey, this looks kinda different,” sensation.

Same author, final words:

But why all the good vibes? Nishimura Junji’s excellent direction is notable, to start. His work on Simoun has garnered him a lot of attention as of late, and I think that helped to drive interest in True Tears for a lot of people, myself included. [...]

An anime director is not an island unto himself, however. True Tears also benefited from some surprisingly smart writing, especially given its standard premise. For all of the show’s dramatic cliffhangers, there was no shortage of subtlety and misdirection in both story development and character dialogue.

He's pretty specific, isn't he?

Hashi-hime, early impression:

true tears -- After two episodes, this is the cream of the crop, for me. Beautifully directed, with interesting characters, and silences full of meaning. The animation is almost KyoAni-level. Takagaki Ayahi is outstanding as the electric Noe, and Nazuka Kaori equally outstanding as gentle, complex Hiromi. Nishimura Junji, the director of Simoun, and Okada Mari, one of its writers, have taken the original game and completely re-imagined it. EDIT 4Feb.: On track to be a masterpiece.

All right, I get the picture.

Owen, midway:

To rub salt into the wound, it’s not like true tears has been dragging its feet to show what it can do, either. A quick fact check: ef had three storylines and 12 episodes in which to work its magic — it started getting good halfway. kimikiss has three storylines, albeit ones that converge a lot more than ef, and it’s been allocated 25 episodes, 16 of which have already aired — this, too, didn’t really warm up until after the midway mark. true tears has 13 episodes and a slimmer, more trimmed down cast than kimikiss, even if it has three storylines, albeit after a fashion, yet vastly outperforms these two in terms of effectiveness by hitting the ground running — simple math’s all that’s needed to come to the conclusion that true tears got the high ground by means of numbers.

Also, there is way more at the link.

Evirus is a man of high standards:

But I’ve seen these male leads before, and I don’t need to see them again. It’s like they’re in the wrong show. Male leads with no redeeming values are a given in simple harem comedies—even outright despicable ones are tolerated under the proper conditions. But True Tears seems to have more going for it, so I have greater expectations for it. As such, I can’t abide worthless characters.

Stripey, finale:

True tears has to be the anti-thesis of School days. Where the hearts of the SD cast were darkened and eventually overcome by evil, TT is a heartening tale of souls battling for love and finally triumphant against cruel circumstances (read - siscon). It’s a beautiful coming of age tale where every major character attain a meaningful milestone in their emotional maturity.

Not bad.

Hung, final episode (a little spoilery at link):

This was a complicated episode with a lot going on, but I really enjoyed it. I felt enough loose ends were tied up in a way that gave the whole series a consistent theme about growing by working through tough situations. Hiromi especially exemplified this ideal, and she faced haters at every turn. However, Hiromi was able to face her feelings and do the right thing time and time again. By the end, her consistent efforts netted her Shinichiro and also the ability to do a full split.

Same, review:

Of course with that said, the plot of True Tears is not that tight. The source of Shinichiro’s mother’s hatred towards Hiromi is never adequately explained [...]. The production values were superb, and the artwork captured the mood of the story perfectly. Even Hiromi’s basketball scenes were fluidly animated and incredibly accurate. I also loved the music throughout the series, and the OP and ED were exceptional.

Can I find one blogger who is not impressed by true tears? I'm about to settle for a bigoted hater of Chinese production.

Concrete Badger, wrap-up:

true tears belongs to a different type of storytelling: being a slice of life/realistic fiction piece, it’s not so much the destination as the journey itself that ought to provide the food for thought. [...] After getting to know them all and getting over my personal reservations concerning their motivations, who paired up with who is a decidedly secondary issue when I sat down and thought about what the series as a whole was trying to say. I think it’s a more rewarding experience to ask myself “how did this experience shape their lives and they way they think?” rather than get all upset when Shin decides to turn Noe down and turn his attention to Hiromi instead.

Some of the best scenes were those in which thoughts and feelings were conveyed when the characters weren’t even saying anything: things like camera angles and the looks in their eyes told us all we needed to know. Comparisons with ef -a tale of memories are quite justified here in that it’s treading familiar thematic ground but does so in its own individual way.

Sounds good to me.

There was more miscellaneous bloggage, but too spoilery or too confusing to excerpt.