Tari Tari

[TypicalIdiotFan]

You think they're bad?  I'm trying to figure out Spaniards wearing sarappes and sombreros.  Unless they're supposed to be Mexicans, which would make them the lightest skinned Mexicans in the universe.

Well, I don't know if they're actually Spaniards or not, but one of them was definitely playing a dulzaina, though the other two were playing bongos and what looks like a zither that I don't recognize.  So what do I know.

[SQA]

I think the two older guys (the ones not chasing Wakana) were supposed to be native Japanese.  I think.  I'm not really sure, but they weren't attempting to talk with an accent.

[AC]

5:

So that's what happened to Wakana. No wonder she's subtly adverse to music. Good episode.

[Fumoffu!!]

5:

Wow, I didn't realize Wakana's feelings about her dead mother were so bitter, I was expecting the nice mother who got on with her daughter who sadly died and left a big scar, not how they had an awkward relationship with Wakana being cold towards her mother. I also think it was a good episode, it showed things well, though I do want to know why Wakana was so cold towards her mother, and why she was so abrasive around her. I feel like she's causing herself pain to prove a point, in fact watching Wakana is quite unpleasant at times because of how despondent she is.

[Major Tom]

Bitter is not the word I would use.  She has a lot of regret over her relationship with her mother, especially in that her last words to her mum were to scold her but she doesn't appear to be angry about anything.  From what I can gather her mum had an attitude much like Sawa's, very carefree and looking to find the fun in things.  Whereas Wakana seemed to have a very serious attitude to music in middle school, much like the vice principal.  Fun wasn't the point.

I'm guessing that getting rid of the piano will be a turning point next episode.  From the looks of it Wakana has been dealing with this by trying to hide from what she's feeling, and in some ways deny it ever happened.  With the piano gone I think one of 2 things will happen; either it finally sinks in that her mum is gone, or she decides that getting rid of the piano was a big mistake (as in getting rid of part of her mum).

[Fumoffu!!]

6:

I thought that the episode was good, particularly the part regarding Wakana. Her mother's actions were flawed and I felt she made things unnecessarily hard for herself and Wakana however past that I think the emotions were displayed very well. It really put Tari Tari up in my books.

[Delphinox]

6:

Wakana's dad is so clutch.

The incidental advice Konatsu and Sawa gave Wakana slipped in pretty comfortably, and even in the case of the latter managed to sneak in a potential conflict prospect with Sawa's dad. And as for the whole sequence where Wakana gradually came around, I don't think I could have asked for much better; the show didn't overstate the drama or go too far out of line when Wakana finally broke down, and the resolution to it all felt natural. In fact, I'm almost upset that it's had to peak at such a time in the show since Wakana's backstory has been what's holding up the show for me so far. Now that it's been pretty much dealt with, what's next? I presume that it'll be Sawa's turn up to bat going by how the show has sort of broken off into character arcs, but I'm kind of left grasping at what to look forward to now.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

6:

I think the one aspect I like the most about Tari Tari is the intermingled relationship webs.  Wakana just seems to know everybody, and has a variety of interactions depending.  She might be the only dynamic character we've got here.  Sawa can be somewhat dynamic, but mostly comes off as headstrong and spoiled.  The others are a mixed bag of "why are you here?".

[AC]

6:

I like Wakana. Not just because of her background story, but also because she's a troll. The bread-in-the-microwave is hilarious.

To be honest, Tari Tari didn't really impress me because it's emotionally unappealing. Like the title suggests, it just looks like a group of kids doing various things without any particular sense of purpose. It felt like there wasn't a story to tell. But Wakana's background is a step towards the right direction; among all the other characters in the show, she is by far the only character I can relate to. Still can't relate to the other four, to be honest; they'd better have a story to tell as well.

[Delphinox]

7:

And Sawa’s fast catching on to why prospective and active jockeys often find themselves facing eating disorders. I thought hearing from the people at the Derby about how tough they have it was bad enough on its own, but seeing Sawa basically starving herself trying to make the cut makes it look a lot tougher.

I was somewhat afraid at what direction Tari Tari was going to take after Wakana resolved her own issues, and this episode didn't do much in the way of putting those discomforts to rest. Whereas Wakana's backstory was reasonably well-integrated into the story and felt like it fit in comfortably as one of the running plots, Sawa's conflict seems a bit too cut-and-paste. Aside from a snippet in the previous ep with her dad being another one of this show's sticks in the mud, the transition into her sub-plot comes off as clunky with her forced diet and daddy issues, the former of which was something I would have liked to see be established a little more beforehand since it seemed like something she would have already been enduring. Not to mention all of it seemed to culminate pretty quickly at the end with her fall. The show was going to have a tough act to follow following the resolution of Wakana's struggles, but I'm still finding it hard to latch onto something regardless.

[AC]

7:

So that's Sawa's story, eh. Meh, Wakana's story is a lot more interesting. That, and also the whole "getting a stable government job" story is just too clichéd even if it's a legit comtemporary issue.

And Atsuhiro, you dunce: you really believe that a school is keeping a rhino? And a white one at that?

[Delphinox]

8:

Man, that was a hell of a quick turnaround by Sawa's dad. Just when Sawa seems resigned to the notion of moving on from her dream of being a jockey, suddenly Dad decides that he's going to do a 180 on his hard-nosed stance against Sawa going to a horse riding academy. Mom says that he can't help but worry about her? I figured if that would give reinforcement to why he's so against her pursuing a jockey career, not cause his entire position to crumble; if the idea trying to be communicated here is that Sawa's dad was moved by her going to such extreme lengths to try to pursue her dream, I certainly didn't get that idea while watching, and I still don't buy it now. It's just too sudden of a change.

[AC]

8:

Meh, a "feel good" ending that otherwise was arrived to a tad too fast. A typical dad that was being realistic albeit harsh, but then turns into a supportive one and justified as being one who isn't good at expressing himself. Yeah right, aren't all dads like that.

[Delphinox]

9:

Well, Wien's finally registering a pulse as a character, so hopefully this is a sign that the issue Reckoner outlined in his segment in the Mid-Season Impressions article about the show not developing its male characters is finally being addressed. And it's good to see that Wakana isn't going to be completely cast aside in the midst of things, especially since her interactions with others seem much more perceptive than those of the others in the choir club (looking right at you, Konatsu). Although I wasn't really engaged in the whole deal with Konatsu trying to raise money for the club's musical play, at least the job that Sawa's mom offered them took down a few birds with one stone, getting Wakana and Wien back into the thick of things while keeping Konatsu occupied.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

10:

If this is supposed to be Wien's arc, well then there's not enough happening here for me to care about the boy at all.  On the contrary, he still seems about as uninteresting as he was before.  Oh sure, he has a child friend back home who also likes superhero sentai shows, and apparently this is the only connection Wien feels he has to the kid, but what the hell is this supposed to say about Wien going forward?  I don't really understand what these two episodes were supposed to do for him other than reveal that he's an overly optimistic psychopath.