Tari Tari – Singing, Horse Riding and a Big Yellow Dolphin

Tari Tari was an enjoyable series taking a different approach to most high school anime by focussing on a group of students who are about toe graduate, rather than those who have just started. It did immediately draw comparisons with Hanasaku Iroha largely due to P.A. Works being at the helm of both series, along with the similar character design. However, in many respects Tari Tari is the inferior show, lacking in character and story progression at times, and often jumping between sections with out any real flow. However, it is by no means a bad series, with fascinating characters and a setting that demonstrates the importance of following your dreams or wishes.

Dreams and Expectations in Tari Tari

High school is a highly romanticised place within Japanese popular culture and in particular manga and anime, with the number of series set in high school innumerable. It is a space that sits between childhood and the world of adults, with students entering as innocent children but leaving as adults ready to join society. Much like the western in America, high school is a timeless space in Japanese popular culture, and regardless of the time the activities and attitudes within high school remain the same. In many high school anime the characters are first or second years, those who are just starting their high school life and the narrative appears to suggest that they have an eternity to live out their high school dreams. Certain anime portray high school as an innocent time where teenagers of both sexes learn about sex, sexuality and other elements of the adult world, all the while maintain an almost child-like view of what goes on in society. There are of course exceptions, with series such as Great Teacher Onizuka demonstrating that schools differ depending on where they are, although in this case the school is an extreme and at times, comic example.

Tari Tari First Impressions

Tari Tari is a new series that is as much about the joys of friendship and how music can create links and bonds where you thought it impossible as it is about the feelings of loss. While many other similar series often focus on the first or second years of high school where everyone is striving to improve in club activities as well as making lasting friendship, Tari Tari is set during the final months of this particular group of high schoolers third year. It takes place in and around Enoshima, a city that should be known to anyone who watched Tsuritama, although there are probably less aliens this time around. While Tari Tari appears to focus on a girl named Sakai Wakana, it is a series about a group of five high schoolers who are brought together by chance and form a new music ensemble during their final summer of high school.