Another show about girls going to school.

Everyone else has been comparing this to Hanasaku Iroha. There are many similarities. In particular, PA Works’ art style is identical. A few of the characters seem to be strongly influenced by Hanasaku Iroha, especially Minchi 2.0, as shown above. The new main character has many similarities with Ohana as well: her hair is the same color, she wears her emotions on her sleeve, she’s earnest and straightforward, and more…

However, I do think Tari Tari has the potential to distinguish itself. My hope is that they will play off what Hanasaku Iroha did well and improve upon it. The aspects they’ve taken from Hanasaku Iroha seem to indicate this: the detailed artwork, the drama with Minchi, and Ohana’s charisma were some of that show’s strongest points. Lets hope they don’t replay Minchi’s repeated temper tantrums.

As for the differences, the new main character adds to Ohana’s charisma with her own forcefulness and decisiveness, which instantly endeared her to me. I particularly liked the scene where the teacher told her that music is not a game. I had similar experiences in high school, so I can sympathize. Some people just need to lighten up. 95% of music students are not going to become professional musicians, nor do they want to. Music is a game to them, something they do for fun. And people like this teacher make it a miserable and stressful experience.

But our lead character gives this teacher a piece of her mind! I was in a position similar to this in high school as well. I was enrolled in the IB program at my school (a program for the brightest most pretentious students), and the IB counselor called me to her office because I had a scheduling conflict. The special IB course on philosophy intellectual masturbation conflicted with my other classes, and she told me I had to either drop Spanish, physics, or band. I told her I would think about, but I lied. I had already decided.

The next morning, I stormed into her office. “I quit!” I told her. It was so satisfying, and in retrospect, one of the best decisions of my life. You can’t do everything, so why waste time doing things you don’t want to? All the other people in the program were only doing it so they could get into a better college and make more money. (SPOILER: they didn’t get into a better college, they… probably made more money, but that is only because I have higher priorities).

Anyway, back on topic… Shown above is what a true friend would do! Bring a bow, arrow and armor to have a “talk” with the teacher! It’s touches like these that make this different from your usual high school setting. We also have a pregnant teacher (when’s the last time that happened?!) and a transfer student from a foreign country who doesn’t have impeccable Japanese manners. Color me intrigued.

I’ll probably blog Tari Tari, but I’m reluctant to commit myself due to the parallels with Hanasaku Iroha. That show also had an excellent first episode, but things went downhill quickly. We’ll see how this goes.