Tari Tari Episode 9,10&11 Thoughts

I couldn’t resist.

In my 2nd year of University now, so I don’t nearly have as much time anymore… as you can obviously see (F**K YEAH, TRIPLE POSTS!). Raise your hands if you watched Power Rangers as a kid! How about now? To the latter of people, you have my utmost respect. As expected, Wien gets the spotlight, not only for Tari Tari, but as the Red Ranger! Also, the person he’s sending letters to turns out to be a close friend named Jan. Unfortunately, his letter weren’t delivered since Jan moved away at some point.

Now we see why he has such an obsession over the Ganba Rangers, as they symbolize the person he wants to be to Jan: a hero that inspires hopes & dreams. Childish, yes, as it’s the kind of childhood fantasy many of us thought about at some point. But as childish as it seems, Wien can’t just brush it off as some delusional thing – he loves the idealistic nature of heroes, and this is where his character finds depth. He clearly knows that the world isn’t all sunshine & rainbows, yet he still strives to be hero nonetheless because he understands why it’s important to have a hero to look up to. He may seem like a goofball at first, but he’s possibly the most mature member of the choir yet. It’s infinitely so much better than what we could’ve expected.

I honestly can’t think of a better way to conclude Wien’s arc than episode 10. Like any Red Ranger would, Wien takes the charge with unbridled awesomeness towards protecting the peace of the Shopping District, although the others were a bit reluctant. Leave it to Konatsu and her sudden burst of energy to get everyone else joining in on the fun. It was pretty fun to watch, especially with that nostalgia factor if you’re a Power Rangers fan. Of course, word gets out and they were told to stop, but Wakana & her little friends stick it to the vice-principal, as well as fully embracing their roles with similar enthusiasm to Wien. Heroes stick together no matter what, right?

She speaks the truth.

Speaking of Wakana, she finally approaches the vice-principal for advice, after struggling a bit with completing her mother’s song. I’ll admit, I’m sort of surprised by her response, which sums up my feelings towards art and my ideal life in general:

“It’s because you’re not enjoying it. You can’t write a sing when you’re focusing on having to write. That’s just work. Songs are things that emerge naturally from within your heart, right?”

I love that quote, and it also brings out a surprising amount of character development from Naoko-sensei; she absolutely loves music, to the point of acting harshly to make sure students reach their full potential. More importantly, it shows just how much of her life has been impacted by the passing of Wakana’s mother, Mahiru. I’m honestly impressed she could hold back her tears when Mahiru said, “I’m glad I got to see you before the end.” If I heard those exact words from my best friend, I’d probably wouldn’t.

RISE.

Returning to Wien, he truly does demand things to be awesome! I knew the man on the bike seemed suspicious, but I didn’t think he’d steal our lovely Konatsu/Yellow Curry Ranger’s precious treasure! Wien charges onward to the rescue and gets beaten as a result; but true to his words, “A hero never loses. Why? Because we’re the ones… who spin the world on its axis!” he rises as his comrades march in, and justice is served! Corny, yes, but when is friendship isn’t? That’s why it’s so important; there are things we can only do with the help of others, whether it’s singing or singing someone to submission, and Tari Tari does this theme true justice.

The end is approaching as we move towards the final arc, where we get to see the culmination of everything that has happened so far – all of the character developments, and all the results of the previous events, to see just what this series is made of now that each character has overcome their respected traumas, and now that we’ve become so emotionally attached to them. The Choir Club prepares themselves for the White Festival coming up, where we get to see Wakana happily finish her song, a glimpse of Konatsu’s laughable story script, Wien’s superb modelling skills in action, Sawa dancing (for all you Sawa fans out there), and Taichi stalking Sawa as well as his drawing skills shot down by both the Choir and the Art Club. Yup, he’s officially the butt monkey of the group.

Unfortunately, the festival gets cancelled, and the entire school is going to be replaced due to lack of funding & enrollment. I don’t like the idea one bit, but they do mention Japan’s declining birthrate – I guess if there’s any time to blame the NEETs & hikikomoris, it would be now… oh, who am I kidding? NEETs are awesome! *Ahem* Anyway, I did not expect that. I thought there would be some situation that’ll force the Choir Club to disband, but nothing this serious. Things were finally looking up, and now they have to deal with something so much worse because it’s beyond their control.

FIGHT DA POWA.

I guess like the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end,” but for Wakana, it’s not going end without a fight. And it’s going to be an emotional one, with the group gathering together to sing Wakana & her mother’s “Radiant Melody” in their brash attempt against the cancellation of the White Festival. And the preview hints that the Student Council isn’t going to take this sitting down either. They’ll create their own Festival and hopefully – through some random plot-device – save the school, however stupid & unrealistic it sounds. Because that’s how much this anime managed to make me care.

Thanks for reading! ^_^