Can humans really communicate with chickens?

Nakagami Shinichirou is a young boy who wishes to become a picture story author. While he is drawing images that focus on the theme of tears, he is soon irritated because his sketches aren’t smooth enough. To calm himself down, he goes downstairs where he meets a girl called Yuasa Hiromi, sitting at a computer and typing away. She is his crush, and the two share a decent conversation before he goes to have dinner. He returns to his room later and regrets not saying more to Hiromi back then. Next he writes about gathering someone’s tears to create a beautiful necklace. Suddenly, in his imagination he sees a figure standing beside a huge tree and immediately he starts drawing it.

Tomorrow comes and Shinichirou is spying on Hiromi during gym lessons. He is distracted when his friend Nobuse teases him about his crush on her. Once the class ends and the students all change back into their usual uniform, Shinichirou overhears a girl singing. He is curious about the melodic voice and is intrigued by it, so he decides to go seek the source. He finds the person singing. She is a cute girl with short hair, standing on top of a large tree in the school courtyard. He is amazed at the beautiful sight and the effects the sunlight has on the girl. The girl singing notices him staring up at her, and she warns him that he has to ask her permission if he wants to look at her. Angered by her attitude, Shinichirou leaves, but just as he turns around, the girl jumps on top of him.

The girl explains that the reason for being on top of the tree was because she was collecting berries to feed the school’s two hungry chickens. She says that their dreams are to someday fly, but one of the chickens doesn’t bother, just like Shinichirou. Shinichirou meddles with her temper when he accuses her of having a head filled with nothing but air. The girl is mad and as she is about to go away, she curses him with unhappiness. In class, Shinichirou finds out from Nobuse that the girl’s name is Isurugi Noe.

On the way home, Shinichirou stops by at the family brewery. He and his father don’t converse much since his father is too preoccupied with his job. Throughout the moments of nothing to do, Shinichirou remembers the time when Hiromi came by to live with them, since her father, who had been his father’s friend, had passed away. Ever since elementary school, he had always been put into the same class with her. She used to be very happy and cheerful, but now Shinichirou wonders if that smile of hers still exists, or if it will ever come back. His thoughts are disturbed when he sees Hiromi in front of him. She bluntly greets him and goes inside. Instantly, he is reminded of the curse Noe’s cast on him.

Night arrives and Shinichirou goes to his friend Andou Aiko’s home in order to practice cultural dancing. Then he heads to the imawagayaki store and groups all his anger and frustration into one sigh. Aiko is worried and she warns him that sighing will surely put him on the road to misfortune. However, the minute Nobuse comes along to pay a visit to Aiko, Shinichirou decides to leave. When he gets home, he realizes that he is carrying a horrible stench, thus he goes to take a bath. Unintentionally, he walks into Hiromi undressing. Shinichirou runs out in fear that she will scream, call him a pervert, and hit him. He is disappointed, however, when all she that she does is apologize. With his mind tempered by the different sort of way Hiromi behaved in the situation, Shinichirou produces a chicken out of a tissue box.

In the morning the following day, the family, excluding the mother, is eating breakfast at the table. Suddenly, Shinichirou is disturbed when his mother marches into the room with a letter from a Tokyo publisher in her hand. She questions him about what he has been up to lately, but he snatches the letter and stalks off without giving a reply. Although his mother continues to protest about the idea of him becoming a picture story author, his father says that Shinichirou is just Shinichirou.

Shinichirou reads the letter which is a notice of rejection. Once more this reminds him of Noe’s curse on him. In order to rid the unhappiness, he finds her up the tree again and presents her with a gift of the tissue-box chicken he had made the previous day. Noe accepts the gift and truly adores it, and she says that at last Shinichirou can fly. Then the two go to see the chickens, but the front of the cage has been destroyed. Inside, the chicken that can’t be bothered flying is still alive, but the other chicken is nowhere to be seen. Instead, in its place there is a pool of blood. Noe senses that the chicken must’ve flown away just in time before the tankuki attack hit it. Shinichirou feels that she is on the verge of crying, but is astonished to see that not even a single tear treks down her face. The pair walk together for a little while longer pass the waterfront. In the silence, Shinichirou awes at how strong she is. Noe disagrees and confesses that deep inside she is really upset and that her stomach is drowning in an ocean of tears, but long ago she had given up on crying.

Thoughts: I must admit, I’m not really fond of anime like this, but the first episode of this anime was very nice. The beginning was dull and moved at a slow pace, but the animation overall was excellent. For some reason, I really like Noe and her personality because she is weird, and I love weird characters. I don’t find much in Hiromi, though, since she’s in depression mode. Aiko is cool too and it’s obvious that Nobuse likes her. I think that’s why Shinichirou decided to leave so quickly since he knows. But then again, I think Aiko likes Shinichirou. Well, something is defeinitely going to happen between those three. I think I will watch the next episode and see how it goes, but I will surely blog it.