Tari Tari Review!

Tari Tari Review

Okay! So I finished this one a few nights ago, and I found it to be very relatable to my life in high school. It was endearing and sweet, and reminded me of my choir class (even though we had waaaay more people than just five, and it wasn’t a school club, but an actual class). So let’s take a look at the Summer 2012 slice-of-the-life anime series, Tari Tari!

Since this is slice-of-the-life, it’s not gonna be a problem if I present you with SPOILERS.

Animation/Art: 9/10

First of all, wow. I mean, this series looks gorgeous. From the stunning backdrops of the countryside to the lively setting of the urban locations, the backgrounds look lush and creative. Have you ever seen dramatic lighting in an anime series, using artificial, computer-generated light? Well, if it isn’t new, then this series uses it phenomenally. I never thought light could factor into a slice-of-the-life series, but man, it’s amazing.

Dat lighting and dat art dat works wit it.

The opening song showcases the highlights of the series’ animation (because most of what you see in this opening is pretty much in the same style of animation as the series itself), and you can see how freaking fluid everything is. One thing that did bug me, though, was the ending animation, which seemed to be overly animated—maybe even rotoscoped—and every character had a Stepford Smile on his or her face, resulting in an ultimate Uncanny Valley effect on me…

Despite that, the characters were likably designed, and for once, it wasn’t weird-looking when the characters sang (because their mouth movements matched the sounds their voices made).

Watching this series was a pleasure because the visuals were spectacular. Personally, I want to become good at lighting design, and this anime made my ambitious little heart drool in envy, yet gush in admiration.

Characters: 9/10

The beauty of this series is that the perspective fluctuates between all five members of the Choir Club and Sometimes Badminton Club (that is pretty much their actual name) enough to reveal enough about all of them. What I like most about it, though is that it subtly hints about how Wakana (the quiet, kinda green-haired girl) is slightly more major than the other characters. Overall, the characters are all wonderful in their own respects.

Wakana Sakai – Quiet, reserved, and oh-so awesome of a character.

Wakana Sakai – As I said, Wakana is the quiet, kinda green-haired girl. Her mother died from some disease that was and never is mentioned a few years prior to the beginning of the series. Wakana’s mom was a very musically inclined woman, and Wakana herself has inherited this talent. However, her mother was a very liberated and creative woman, and Wakana herself is having trouble finding this musical epiphany. Also, after her mother died, she decided to not have anything to do with music ever again.

She is, however, nearly forced to “join” the Choir Club that not Shigeru Miyamoto, but Konatsu Miyamoto, starts, and becomes the accompanist in the beginning. As the series continues, Wakana begins to connect with music again, and finally comes to terms with her beloved mother’s death. Her character development during Tari Tari is one of my favourite parts of the series, and I think she had the perfect amount of screen time for her storyline. Not too much or too little.

She sings in a high, high soprano voice, too. I think.

Konatsu Miyamoto – What’s a high school, slice-of-the-life anime series without its genki-girl club president?

Konatsu Miyamoto – At first, I thought she was going to be the main, MAIN character, but she ended up being more minor than Wakana. You see, the main plotline of the series begins when she starts her own Choir Club in retaliation to the actual choir class instructor being so strict and unfun.

She’s a fun character herself, but she does come off as rude and annoying at times. Thankfully, it is seemingly downplayed by her cheerfulness and her caring demeanor, as well as the lesser amount of focus she gets in the series than I expected—if she were to get more focus, I think I wouldn’t like her as much as I found I did—so I found Konatsu to be a pretty enjoyable character. Plus, she’s the melodic soprano (my terminology sucks, but oh, well), so you’ve gotta root for her. Right?

Also, did anyone else think of Shigeru Miyamoto the very moment you heard her name? Or am I just too much of a Nintendo nerd…? XD

Sawa Okita – Subtle, yet sophisticated; sweet, yet teasing—I’m sure there are loads of girls who wish they could be as cool as her.

Sawa Okita – This girl is the resident “cool kid” of the Choir Club and Sometimes Badminton Club.

As you can see by the hat, she’s stylish.

Sawa is also an aspiring horse-jockey, a skilled archer, and is a talented alto. She may seem like your ordinary bishoujo, super-talented chicky-girl, but she also has some serious depth.

She is extremely passionate about horseback riding, and she has raised and cared for her horse ever since she got it. There is a whole arc about how her height and weight keeps her from being accepted at a school for her desired career. She is somebody who cares immensely about her friends, especially Konatsu, as they have been friends for a long time, and seeing someone as cool and compassionate as her have her dreams shattered hits the viewer’s emotions hard, as well. You feel for this girl, because you’re rooting for her to do well.

She ends up moving to America at the end of the series to pursue her horse jockey dreams, and a very sweet, yet ambiguous scene is shared between her and the badminton guy, Taichi Tanaka.

Taichi Tanaka – Kyon-ish characters always make me smile. Plus, he’s a bass, like me.

Taichi Tanaka – Whoever thought badminton enthusiasts could be so endearing? His involvement in the series is rather minimal, unfortunately, but there were a lot of things I liked about this guy.

First of all, he reminded me a bit of Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime series, with a sort of sarcastic demeanor. Secondly, his characteristics were conventional in a way that the mere combination of them all made him unconventional. In other words, he’s like a real person.

Of course, this poor guy is kind of flat throughout the series, and I wish they could have given him a day in the limelight (other than his badminton episode, which didn’t really do his character justice).

He was pretty awesome in my book, though, because you see these subtle hints throughout the series that he develops a crush on Sawa, which seems pretty relatable to real life in how crushes begin. By the end, he confesses to Sawa as she leaves for America, but no dialogue is heard. You can tell he is confessing to her, but whatever she says is left to the viewers’ interpretation, so, although it is frustrating, I really like it. Did she say that she didn’t feel the same way, but that she really cares for him as a friend? Did she reciprocate the feelings, but turned him down because she was leaving with a somber smile?

I don’t think I’ll ever know, but the subtlety of this relationship made it all the more powerful in the end, and I liked it a lot.

Atsuhiro “Wien” Maeda – The Fez of the group—likeable in his own right for being the eccentric foreigner.

Atsuhiro “Wien” Maeda – If you don’t understand the “Wien” nickname, just know that he lived in Austria for a long time, and moved back to Japan (“Wien” is the German name of the capitol of Austria, and is considered the “City of Music.” A fitting name for our German-speaking Japanese friend).

Now this kid is awesome. He loves the Kinda Power Rangers, is hilariously taken advantage of for not being aware of Japanese figures of speech and terms, and is a real-life hero. Look me in the eye and tell me that isn’t awesome. Anyway, he is the tenor of the group, and he is very endearing because of his woobie status. At one point, the girls screw with his idea of this Japanese festival thing called the White Rhino Festival, or whatever, and he believes that, from what they’ve told him, that every year, a white rhino is released from the basement. He’s pretty dense.

The coolest part about Wien, though, is the strange friendship he and Taichi share. It reminded me so much of me and my guy friends in choir because we were all weird, but determined to get better at our craft, and all the time during this series, you’ll find Wien and Taichi trying the strangest things to better their vocalization. It’s entertainment gold, these hi-jinx. Hyerp-die-derp!

If this isn’t friendship... Actually, I don't really know what this is. BUT IT'S CHOCK-FULL O' FRIENDSHIP

The group itself seems to be a motley crew (HA HA IT’S FUNNY ‘CAUSE IT’S A BAND’S NAME, TOO), but their relationship as a club develops through the series, and the bond they form by the end is one to be fondly remembered in their futures. This wonderful assortment of characters sold the show to me because of the nostalgia I have for my own choir group.

Music: 7/10

I’ll admit that I am not a huge fan of vocal music in anime in general, but the recurring song they sing is pretty darn catchy, and also very pretty when you hear all of the choral parts. Other than that, the background music was very nice, but not very memorable, and the opening and ending theme songs were also catchy, but again, I skipped them whenever I could because I find opening and ending songs to be tedious (unless I absolutely love the song, like Welcome to the NHK’s “Puzzle” opening).

This picture is irrelevant, but I can’t help it when I mention one of my favourites.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t really care too much for the music in this series, which is a shame. It might be because I have a different taste in music altogether, though. Sure, they used their voices in a classical style, but something about their singing still felt artificial. The music was good, but it wasn’t amazing.

Don’t give me that look. At least you get to be with your horses.

Story/Execution: 8/10

Being a slice-of-the-life anime series about high school, the show is very episodic. The arcs span over several episodes each, and nearly every character gets a proper and organic moment of introduction.

The core story is simple: Konatsu is shunned by the choral instructor at her academy and is disgruntled because she “just wants to have fun and sing,” so she starts a club and recruits anyone she can find. Being a fan of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, I found this element to be a nice nod to the use of the trope in general, being that Konatsu is a very excitable and odd girl. (The guy:girl ratio is even the same as in Haruhi—Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki are girls, while Kyon and Koizumi are guys, and in Tari Tari, you’ve got three girls and two guys.)

You know this is awesome.

Anyway, you basically watch how the people Konatsu brings together form a tight friendship and you also see the hardships each of them endure, as individuals and a union. Konatsu has some issues with the vice principal, who is the choral instructor, and that is addressed. Taichi has trouble starting a badminton club of his own and Konatsu wants him to join because she heard him sing, so they battle over who gets the signatures required to start their own respetive legitimate club, and Konatsu wins, but is kind enough to start the club as the “Choir Club and Sometimes Badminton Club,” or something along those lines.

Sawa is introduced as this cool character, but then is given more depth through her arc about the horse jockey school rejecting her, and how she tries to get through it.

Wien is introduced as the fish-out-of-water naïve foreigner, and turns out to have made a good friend back in Austria through his Power Rangers show thing, and aspires to be a hero or role model for kids in any way he can.

And, of course, Wakana comes off as the shy girl who has trouble talking to others, but is revealed to have had a very tough past few years, and we’ve only caught her in the middle of her hardship. Dealing with her mother’s death was a very significant part of the overall story, and you can see how much pain she goes through after realizing how bitterly she acted to her mother in her final days. The vice principal also plays a very big role as her mother’s old high school friend, having written the series’ most important song with her back then. Both come to terms with Wakana’s mother’s death, and end up developing as strong and engaging characters.

Overall: 9/10

YEAH EVERYBODY WE DID A GOOD JOBBBBBBBB

This series has so much heart and so much that connected to my own life that I had to love it. It had wonderful characters and a great “last hurrah” story to go with it. The animation and catchy songs only emphasized how good this series was, even if a lot of the music was forgettable. I like to think of the music as being replaced with the songs I sang as a senior in choir during high school, though, so it all works out for me.

Although those days are over, I know I’ll be able to look back on them fondly, and Tari Tari reminded me of that. Thanks for reading, and look forward for more film and anime reviews to come!

Krennthief