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Old 06-22-2013, 08:32 PM   #5201
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I tried watching Tari Tari a while back because of the famous .gif of main girl-kun as a child dancing. But the episodes bored me to death and there was one major contention I had - while the main girl was supposedly good at choir but never given a chance, with the first episode ending on her singing really well, I thought she was rather bad actually!. I don't remember it specifically, but I heard a lot more AutoTune and overlay in that vocal sample I think. It's been a while, but this feeling of revulsion is still pretty clear.

If your experience continues to be positive, I might give it a try again. I just hope it's not comedy in the vein of Minami-ke. There is a scene toward the end, however, that I've seen which did strike me as hilarious.

Sentai spoiler:

Spoiler: show
The choir stops a criminal by singing him into submission.
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Old 06-22-2013, 08:43 PM   #5202
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Not sure you should bother picking it back up just because I say I'm enjoying it if you're saying you got as far as or farther than I did and yet you hated it.

Also, I thought Konatsu sung really well. And no, I didn't feel like it was AutoTuned or anything. (I mean, I'm not saying it wasn't, but if it was, it wasn't any more so than any of the other VAs' vocals in anime nowadays, the truly gifted top 5% notwithstanding.) The one whose singing I was unimpressed with was the one boy's (the one who is in the badminton club) when he was asked to sing by their homeroom teacher in an early scene in Episode 01. I thought his singing was kinda average / below average for a human being and was well below average for a supposed vocalist. But Konatsu? No, Konatsu sang beautifully. Don't know what you heard.

What's with the backhanded insult of Minami-ke? I can't even believe you're trying to compare the two series, given your apparent exposure to both, when they're nothing at all alike other than both sharing the property that we call "goodness". Minami-ke is a slice of life comedy (the slice of life comedy!) whereas Tari Tari is like a lengthy animated motion picture or like a novel turned anime. It's very mature and while it has lots of little comedic moments they're by no means the focus. (Like I said, MODESTY!) The show is first and foremost a drama. I said it in my first post: Tari Tari bears the most similarity with P.A.Works' earlier Hanasaku Iroha. So if you've seen Hanasaku Iroha, then you know what to expect here. They're not 100% identical or anything ... but the two are more similar to each other than either is to any other anime I can think of. And neither is any more like Minami-ke than they are like Pretty Cure.
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Old 06-22-2013, 09:03 PM   #5203
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I only got through Episode 1, which is hardly an acceptable sample size for some shows, but the inaugural episode was like slogging through mud for me. And it ended with a predictable conclusion, and one that sharply bit into my ears.

I didn't mean to come across as insulting Minami-ke, I only mean that that type of show has a kind of humour and appeal that's completely inaccessible to me. Gintama is similar; while I've historically liked gag shows like it, something about Gintama proper denies me entry into enthusiasm. Keroro Gunsou is yet another example.

All three shows are coincidentally ones you've went deep into, but they're popular enough outside of UPN for me to have investigated independently, to no avail. Maybe one day I'll get them. But that is a distant day indeed.
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Old 06-22-2013, 09:14 PM   #5204
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Yeah. 50+ with Minami-ke, 100+ with Gintama (between three "series"), and 100+ with Keroro Gunsou, it's true.

Like I said, if you really hated Episode 01, then this probably isn't the show for you. As you saw in my first post, I got two-thirds of the way through Episode 01 and already wanted to post about it saying how much I was enjoying it at a level of about 8/10. That's worlds apart from your experience with the series, so I don't doubt that Episode 02 for you would do little to change your position. Of course, by all means check out the second episode if you like and have the time to spare. I just wouldn't suggest it if you have other things you'd rather be spending your time on. At least for now, anyway. I'll be sure to report if something amazing happens down the road to transform Tari Tari from Talon-must-see-TV to everyone-must-see-TV.
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Old 06-24-2013, 08:58 AM   #5205
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Tari Tari: I'm through Episode 06 now. Thoughts.

This series continues to be really good. Great, even. It's not great in the epic "OMG!" Fate/Zero or Kaiji way. It's a very modest, unassuming story. What makes it great is how well executed it is. It's very human. It's never overbearing, it never tries too hard to win the crowd over. It knows the story it wants to tell and it strives to tell it perfectly. And I'd say that in a great many ways it has.

When I reached the end of Episode 06, I felt like I had reached the end of "the first book" in those old-fashioned novels which had "two books" contained within them. Like Herbert's Dune. Or like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels. I felt like I had very, very clearly reached the end of one story ... and that I had reached the intermission or the turning point of another. Both feelings, simultaneously. Given that the end of Episode 06 is in fact the middle of the thirteen-episode series, I can't help but to feel that this is living proof of the artistic mastery of this piece.

One of the series' story arcs centers around Sakai Wakana, a girl who lost her mother at the young age of about 14. This experience, of a child losing a parent, is one which is woven into the very fabric of the human condition. It's a concept which has been with me for as long as I can remember. While I've known many people over the years to have lost one or both parents, my own mother lost her mother when she was about Wakana's age. Watching Wakana for me is thus like watching the story of my own mother's alter ego. The two aren't exactly the same, of course, and I don't know that my mother was as rude towards her mother as Wakana was towards hers, but I do know that not only do they share age, gender, gender of lost parent, and role assumed in the household in common but that they both never got a chance to say good-bye. So as I watched Wakana's story unfold, I kept thinking to myself, "If I were to ever show this series to my mother, I am pretty darn sure she would cry. And I am positive she would feel like she could personally relate to the imaginary character on the other side of the television glass."

Another of the story's arcs centers around Miyamoto Konatsu, an energetic young girl who loves to sing but has been stripped of her chances to sing in the school choir by a strict choral instructor following a performance-ruining blunder she made the previous year. Konatsu is half the reason I watch this show. I love this girl. If she were real, ten years older, and in my life, this is the sort of girl I would dream about dating. I love her enthusiasm for life. I love her pureheartedness. I just love her. She's great. For most of the series' earlier episodes, I would say that Konatsu is the central protagonist. In more recent episodes, the show has started to gravitate away from Konatsu towards Wakana, but I think it's fair to say that Konatsu is still the second most important character if not the most important character in the series.

The animation is wonderful. While I can't help but to feel that it's a slight step below what we saw in Hanasaku Iroha, for the most part the productions are about on par. And that's saying quite a lot given what a visual wonder Hanasaku Iroha was.

The music is fine but doesn't stand out much save for its three most iconic pieces: its OP, "Dreamer", its ED, "Shiokaze no Harmony", and "Kokoro no Senritsu", the last of these being a song which holds a very special in this series. (Example: the ending of Episode 06.) There are different versions of each of these songs, both in series as well as on CDs and YouTube and such. Some of them are duets. Others are quintets. In some versions, the boys provide only the supporting tenor vocals while in other versions they occasionally get to sing all by themselves for a bit while the girls are quiet. So it's not really easy for me to link you to any one of these songs (save the OP) and be like, "This is the version to listen to." Anyway, as I was saying to start with, the series' music doesn't really stand out except for these three songs. But the intrinsic beauty of "Kokoro no Senritsu" coupled with the extrinsic raw emotional power it evokes (thanks to the plot) makes it so that I can't really say that Tari Tari's music is only so-so. Most of it is ... but the one or two songs that aren't more than make up for the rest.

For now, Tari Tari firmly retains its score of "8/10 - Very Good". If the second half is as artistically masterful as the first half was, a "9/10 - Great" is not out of the question. It's hard to put into words how great the show is since it doesn't evoke the same sort of kneejerk "WOW! This is amazing! "s that series like Fate/Zero or Suzumiya Haruhi might. Perhaps the easiest way for me to put it is ... Tari Tari strikes me as a production which could have easily originally been written as a novel during the 19th or early 20th centuries. It feels like the sort of story you would have been assigned to read in high school ... except this time, it's actually good.
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Old 06-24-2013, 10:09 AM   #5206
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Tari Tari: More thoughts. This time it's the spoiler thoughts. (Safe to click if you're through Episode 06.)

Spoiler: show
One thing I love about Tari Tari is how smartly written it is. Everything neatly comes together, sometimes in ways you wouldn't expect. One example of this is the Spanish band, the Condor Queens. In Episode 01, when Konatsu first hears "Kokoro no Senritsu", she comments that the piece reminds her of the Condor Queens. At the time, in Episode 01, this is just a bit of a throwaway comment. The Condor Queens are nothing more to you at that time than a fictional band whose name was probably brought up just for that one line of dialogue. Then, in Episode 02's opening scene, we're shown a flashback of Konatsu when she was about 4 years old, dancing with her grandfather to Spanish-sounding music. We think nothing of it other than "This is a scene showing us Konatsu's early love of music" and we move on. In Episode 03, Wakana runs into a strange Italian or Spanish man while she's biking near the beach. The man comments in his native tongue, unintelligible to Wakana, that the girl reminds him so much of "her." Again, we don't know what's going, but we're smart enough to realize that he's probably talking about Wakana's mother and that he's probably an acquaintance of hers. It's not until Episode 04 that we discover:
  • Wakana's mystery man is a member of the Condor Queens
  • the Condor Queens' one-hit wonder was penned by Wakana's mother
Everything comes together in a spectacular way that is not so incredible as to be unbelievable yet is sufficiently incredible so as to be amazing. This is great writing. Suddenly we notice that poster in Konatsu's bedroom ... is a poster of the Condor Queens. Suddenly it dawns on us that Konatsu's early love of music, born from her time spent with her grandfather dancing to such songs as the Condor Queens', can be attributed to Wakana's own mother. This example with the Condor Queens is only one example of Tari Tari's smart writing. What makes me love the series is that we have so many examples like this.

Voice acting was something I didn't comment on above, and here feels like a good place to do it. Let's start with the spoiler of the lot, which is that Wakana's mother is voiced by none other than ... Irisviel von Einzbern's Oohara Sayaka. The moment we got to hear Wakana's mother, I was like, "That voice sounds strangely familiaaaar .... wait, is that ... Iri? " haha ^^; Her voice suits the role well. Next up is Konatsu's voice actress, a Miss Seto Asami. This appears to be the first anime I've watched that she's acted in, which surprises me because I feel like her voice sounds familiar. In any event, I quite like it. Taichi's voice actor sounded somewhat familiar to me but I couldn't place him. Wikipedia reveals that he's voice acting as none other than this season's PhotoKano's Maeda Kazuya. Wien's voice actor also sounded familiar to me, but it appears that, like Konatsu's, this is the first show I've watched with him in it. Skipping over the others, let's talk about Wakana, whose voice acting is the only one of the lot that I don't like. It's a shame to me that such an otherwise stellar project is somewhat marred (imo) by its main character having such a strange and off-putting voice. When I first heard it, I was actually instantly reminded of Hibino Hikaru from Hime-chan's Ribbon. (The girl here with the brown hair. Doesn't it sound just like her!? ) I looked up Wakana's voice actress half-certain I'd find Hibino's waiting for me and was floored to discover that not only wasn't it her, not only is Wakana's voice actress a young talent, but that Wakana's voice actress also voiced Shirley in Fate/Zero (who I thought sounded fine, although I do hear the similarities between her and Wakana now that I know). That doesn't change the fact though that I'm not a fan of Wakana's voice.

One of the best parts of the first six episodes for me, infuriating and heartwrenching though it was, was when they had Wakana give away her mother's piano and all of her old music, even going so far as to give away the whale-goldfish-dolphin keychain ornament. That's because this felt like the sort of regretful thing a girl who is hurting and torn up inside over the death of her mother would do. I was glad that Wakana's father basically psyched her and that he hadn't given away the piano after all, but I was more glad that he didn't reveal this to her until after she'd regretted her decision and had some time to stew in her self-loathing misery for a bit. Not because that's a nice thing ^^;;;;; , as of course it isn't, but because it allowed for Wakana's personal growth. Had her father simply revealed to her immediately that "Surprise! I still have the piano!", she wouldn't have realized what she had lost. Only in losing the piano did Wakana realize what she had done. Sorry that I can't put my thoughts down for this paragraph better. I'm pretty frustrated at myself right now for that, tbh. Suffice to say, I hated seeing her do it but I loved the writers for daring to have her do something so infuriatingly frustrating to us viewers. Because it felt real. It felt like the sort of stupid, regreful action a girl in Wakana's position might have done.

While I do quite love Tari Tari so far and I stand by what I've said about its current level of excellence, I am a tad disappointed that the character development seems to be so lop-sided in favor of the girls. It feels something like this:
  • Heavy development: Wakana, Konatsu
  • Moderate development: Saya
  • Less than moderate development: Taichi
  • Barely any development: Wien
Saya's gotten enough development, I feel, for a side character and for a story where we're only six episodes in. Taichi, on the other hand, I feel hasn't gotten enough development or screentime. And Wien, oh my word, Wien even more so. The boy is sorely aching for some development beyond his language barrier and his misunderstandings about Japanese culture.

The series' humor continues to be amazing. It's very, very real. The writers know they're funny and thank you thank you thank you THEY'RE MODEST ABOUT IT. They're not insecure. They're not smug or arrogant. They're quite confident in their ability to tell jokes and are quite comfortable doing so and then moving right along with the plot. Some great examples of the jokes I've seen since I last posted about them:
  • the part where the Condor Queens ask Konatsu, "Do you want us to give you our spot back?", which in any other anime would be the cliche moment where Konatsu then says "Yes" and they then say "Okay then. You go get 'em, tiger " or something, only for Konatsu to indeed solemnly answer "Yes" and the Condor Queens to then tell her "Well you can't have it! XP It's ours!" hahahaha
  • the part where Sakai heads home even after Konatsu has tried to get her to stay with offers of a strawberry cake, and then Konatsu turns to Saya and asks, "Do you think she doesn't like strawberries? " Saya answers back, "I don't think that's it ^^; ..." to which Konatsu asks, "Do you think she doesn't like me!? " And then Saya teases "Thaaaaaaat might be closer to the truth." hahaha
  • the time when Taichi invites Wien over to his place and sends him upstairs while he locks up his bike ... and Wien lets himself into Taichi's bedroom only to discover a half-naked woman in there. Surprise!
I wish more series were as good with their humor as Tari Tari is.

The vice principal continues to be a huge bitch. As speculated previously, it's since been confirmed 100% that she and Wakana's mother were best friends as kids, that they were students together here at Wakana's school, and that they were both in the school choir. What hasn't been confirmed yet is to what extent she's a cold-hearted bitch because she misses her old friend and to what extent she's a cold-hearted bitch because (as I presume) she failed to make it big in music the way Wakana's mother did.

I mentioned in the post above that I felt like with the end of Episode 06 I had reached the end of one story but the halfway point of another. I can explain that more explicitly here. I feel like the first half of the story was basically the story of how the club formed. It wasn't until the end of Episode 06 that Wakana rediscovered her love of music and happily joined the others. The post-credits snippet of the five of them all happily shout-singing together at the beach signifies this. It's like it's stating for us, "... and thus the Tari Tari group was formed." The second half of our overarching story, thus, is going to be about what the club does now that they are a club of five. This is going to be the arc where our questions about the vice principal are all answered. This is going to be the arc where the group faces crisis after crisis now that they are a group, whereas before they were facing crisis after crisis as they were coming together as a group.

The first half of the story has hinted at a possible romance between Saya and Taichi; the sneak peek for Episode 07 seems to suggest that the first of the crises the group may face will be how Saya and Taichi resolve their feelings for one another. The first half of the story obviously had the group avoiding any direct confrontations with the school's choir (Episode 02's joint showing at the one recital notwithstanding). I imagine that we'll see the vice principal trying to get the club shut down even more aggressively in this second arc. Saya's father may sternly order her to quit wasting time on not just horses but on the singing club too and to prepare herself for inheriting the family temple. Wien's parents may move back to Austria and want him to come with them. Who knows, who knows. A lot of things could happen. We'll just have to wait and see.

One final thing I'll mention is that I suspect I would not have enjoyed this series as much as I am now had I watched it as it aired weekly on television. While I feel like the show's pacing is perfect and very artistic and refined here where I get to watch however many episodes I want whenever I want, I suspect I'd have been pretty frustrated by the show's pacing had I been tuning in weekly to 20-minute episodes. There's no way to know for certain, but I'm just throwing that out there for anyone who's reading this who might have watched Tari Tari as it aired and didn't think it was all that great.
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Old 06-24-2013, 06:02 PM   #5207
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So besides Danganronpa and Rozen Maiden, what good looking ventures does summer offer?

Think I'm gonna give Devil Survivor 2: The Animation a try even though I never played the game

Last edited by deoxys; 06-24-2013 at 06:08 PM.
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Old 06-24-2013, 06:16 PM   #5208
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deoxys View Post
So besides Danganronpa and Rozen Maiden, what good looking ventures does summer offer?
Post.

Also, trailer for Silver Spoon. It's raw, but you can appreciate the basic gist from it if I tell you all you need to know: a guy enrolls in an ag school up in Hokkaido.
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Old 06-24-2013, 06:43 PM   #5209
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Thanks, will have a thorough look through. Was starting to worry because summer anime looked like it was going to be potentially worse than spring's offerings, but maybe not. Lots of sequels to things I've never seen it looks like...

Decided to check out Devil Survivor because I was bored and I like to watch things while I eat... and it was... okay, I guess. The premise is interesting enough, but it feels like mature Digimon meets the pre-apocalypse (?), which is something I wasn't really expecting and it kind of threw me off. I guess if I'd played a SMT or Devil Survivor game before I wouldn't have been thrown for a loop, but I certainly wasn't expecting that. Might watch more when I'm bored, I don't know. Kaisap seems to be the only one around who likes it ^_^;
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Old 06-25-2013, 08:40 AM   #5210
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Tari Tari: So ... the OST sure was a lot larger than I thought it'd be. ^^; Sixty-two tracks between two CDs. I'm sure a lot of it is the same song performed different ways, but still. I hadn't even noticed most of the non-lyrical songs until getting the soundtrack. Now as I listen to them, I'm like "Oh yeah! I hear that one all the time!" I guess they just do their job of setting the mood so well that you hardly even notice them.

Yesterday I made specific reference to three of the series' lyrical songs. A fourth one which I forgot about was the very first song I listened to upon getting the soundtrack: the Condor Queens' "Amigo, Amigo". How can you start that song up and not a) want to finish the rest? and b) love it? I hear that song and I can see Lil' Konatsu dancing with her grandpa. And there are some other lyrical songs too, but they're mostly pretty darn short. :\ "Hao'uli" from Episode 04, for one. The kids' high school anthem inflected with Latin influences by the Condor Queens, for another.

I watched Episode 07 yesterday.

Spoiler: show
And then I snuck a peek at the first split second of Episode 08 and was like "Yeah, I'm not ready to watch this just yet. :o Gotta wait until I am!" Because wow. Pretty crazy that Saya's injury was that bad. I mean, when she fell, the thought "I hope she doesn't snap her neck!" certainly passed through my mind ... but I quickly dismissed it! Because characters in these sorts of stories don't have broken necks happen to them! IIRC we see Saya back on her feet in the sneak peek for Episode 08, so I'm not expecting her neck to actually be broken, but ... the fact that they felt the need to put her in an MRI is pretty nuts-indicative of how severe they feared her injury might be. Guess I'll find out soon enough!

I felt bad for Wien that the girls took advantage of his gullibility by telling him the story of the white rhino but then never set him straight. ^^;

One of the best scenes in the episode was definitely when Saya's dieting came up and Taichi tried to be kind by saying that she looked perfectly fine and he didn't understand why girls are always trying to diet ... only for his attempt at kindness to hugely backfire as Konatsu and Wakana just went to town on him!

While I can see how a series like Tari Tari might not be for everyone -- too slow for some, too plain for others -- I still feel that this one unfairly flew under the radar of most anime viewers. I know I didn't watch it when it aired because 1) I had just finished watching Hanasaku Iroha and didn't want to dive into what might have been a similar program so soon, 2) from the sample pictures I saw it looked like it was a series intended for the lolicon demographic, and 3) the series' premise as explained on those anime posters didn't grab me. In hindsight, I'm glad that I made that decision simply because a) I do think #1 would've been a factor and b) I think a one-episode-per-week viewing schedule would've hurt the series in my eyes. Nonetheless, I can't help but to wonder how many people made a decision the same decision not to watch Tari Tari as I did for similar reasons.
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Old 06-25-2013, 09:15 AM   #5211
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I watched Tari Tari when it aired. It's good you enjoyed it alot more than I did. I mean, I admit it had, to me, the best scene for an anime in 2012, but I wasn't that crazy about it. Though I umm....I forgot exactly what bothered me besides it being rushed in places. I think Kokoro Connect, a similar looking series, might have really soured my experience with this.

Also, according to Tari Tari, foreigners can always catch up to people riding bikes on foot!
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Old 06-25-2013, 02:51 PM   #5212
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Tari Tari: I might have watched Episodes 08 thru 11.

Episode 08:

Spoiler: show
Okay, so despite the early scare of an MRI scene, Sawa is okay. Good.

Not too much else to say about this episode other than ...

The kids get to see Wien's house for the first time.

The scene with Sawa's father trying to negotiate her admission to the equestrian academy was nice. Though lol at his headstrong nature. "DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH!? I'M A MONK! I'LL CURSE YOU!"

The vice principal continues to be a bitch. And Mini Bitch -- the main rep of the choral group -- is starting to get on my nerves. You women need to quit being so bitchy and take a page out of Konatsu's book!

lol @ Wien going for the emergency alarm in the gymnasium. lol @ Wakana phoning the central office and asking for the vice principal.

Episode 09:

Spoiler: show
I was surprised and disappointed that we didn't get to see the kids' audition. For a series that cares so much about music and the kids all singing together, you'd think they'd have included this.

Is the red Ganba Ranger voiced by Keroro Gunsou's 556?

That was pretty sad that Wien's letters never made it through. I wonder what happened.

Konatsu as the Yellow Ranger = <3

Episode 10:

Spoiler: show
About friggin' time that we get some Mahiru & Nao flashback scenes. The second half of the hospital flashback, wherein Mahiru tells Nao "I'm glad I got to see you one last time" and then Nao's like "Huh? :o" and then Mahiru says "It looks like I'm not going to make it ^_^;" stood out.

Getting to see the kids as Power Rangers is something I've been anticipating since bbb linked the scene with the thief ages ago. Unfortunately for me, I think that having seen that scene before kind of dulled its impact here, but oh well. ^_^; Can't be helped. At the time I watched bbb's link, I didn't even think I'd ever watch Tari Tari. And his link was probably even partly to thank for me checking it out in the end. But yeah, while I didn't enjoy the scene super duper much, I did still think it was funny when Wein gets beaten up but he just gets right back up and starts singing the Ganba Rangers theme song ... and then he's joined by Taichi ... and then he's joined by the three girls ... and the thief is like, "What the hell is wrong with you people!? O_o;" hahahaha

The end of the episode was kind of sad (as in sorrowful sad) with Wein still writing to Jan but placing the letters in his desk drawer from now on. I was kind of hoping that he'd get back in touch with Jan somehow and then forward him the letters.

Episode 11:

Spoiler: show
So it's finally revealed what the heck is going on with the principal and the superintendent and whatnot. (Well, it was hinted at at the very tail end of Episode 10.) They're planning to do some reconstruction on the school which will, amongst other things, force the cancellation of the school festival this year. TBH, I sympathize with the quintet and the other students who were so looking forward to the festival, but like ... reconstruction of schools is part of life. I'm not really sure why this is being portrayed as something which is evil / immoral and being done by an evil / immoral superintendent. Maybe it'll become clearer in the final two episodes?

Tari Tari's humor is great as ever. Loved the bit with Tanaka and drawing. The entire arc of the joke (from him telling the club members about it to him presenting his drawing to them to him going to the art club for assistance) was great.

Episode 11 seems to have introduced some rather late romantic feelings from Taichi towards Saya. TBH, we haven't really seen her doing much flirting with or crushing on Taichi since I last brought it up. Ever so slightly some, maybe, but not much. But out of the blue, we did get this scene of Taichi spying on Saya as she practiced the choreography for the performance and he was wowed by her beauty. Guess we'll just have to see if they pursue that any further or not in the final two episodes.

Not really sure why the school's reconstruction has to start so urgently. With the festival only being one to two weeks away at the start of the episode, you'd think the superintendent would be okay with not starting the project until afterwards. This is about the evillest he gets this episode, but as I mentioned up top, I'm still not seeing why the reconstruction overall is a bad thing.

I was surprised and sad to see that the quintet had gone their separate ways after the principal revealed the school's plans for reconstruction. I mean, he didn't say anything about after-school clubs being cancelled, did he? Maybe he did and I've forgotten already. I just remember him saying that classes would be held in another building (even though we see that the kids are still, for the time being, in this building) and that the festival would have to be cancelled this year. Oh, and that they wouldn't be admitting any new students next year. (Again, not really sure why. When Caltech did reconstruction on 50% of its dormitories in the 2004-2005 school year, they didn't close admissions. They admitted new students the same as always and just had them live in trailers for the year.) All the same, I was glad to see that the kids reunited by chane at the end of the episode and that Wakana wants them to throw their own festival. Good plan.

Not really sure where to place this spoiler so I'll place it here: I'm not really sure how I feel about Wakana's song that she is writing with her mother being something she was coerced by Konatsu into submitting for the club's play. I don't think Konatsu was originally told what the nature of the piece was -- if she had been, I don't think she'd have asked Wakana to rush something so important for their (if I may) rather insignificant club. That stated, it's sort of like Wakana said: if Konatsu hadn't pushed for her to do it now, she would've likely put it in her drawer and put off finishing the song for years because LOL PARALYZING PERFECTIONISM. (Don't I know it. -_-; ) And I also like the symbolic link between Mahiru & Nao's song written all those years ago for the choir club and Wakana & Mahiru's song written now, years later but once again for the choir club.

Just two more episodes to go. Tari Tari's retaining its score of 8/10 so far, although the last few episodes (despite me blasting through them) were sort of a slowdown from previous episodes. Here's hoping the series has a great finish.
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Old 06-27-2013, 02:37 AM   #5213
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Watched more Devil Survivor 2. I think I'll stick with it for now. It's not great, but it's not bad. Piqued my interest enough to pick up the game at GameStop today, so there's that.

Episode 2 only further cemented the "interesting premise" bit, although some of the latter half of the episode was slightly corny and there are a lot of cliches and... heh, tropes... it's definitely an okay show to enjoy when you're bored. And you don't need to have seen or played the games, despite the fact that it is a sequel to another game it is also a standalone story, evidently. So, if you were a little interested, I'd recommend the first episode, but again, I'm only two episodes in so this thing could get stupid fast.
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Old 06-27-2013, 01:37 PM   #5214
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Watched more Devil Survivor 2. I think I'll stick with it for now. It's not great, but it's not bad. Piqued my interest enough to pick up the game at GameStop today, so there's that.

Episode 2 only further cemented the "interesting premise" bit, although some of the latter half of the episode was slightly corny and there are a lot of cliches and... heh, tropes... it's definitely an okay show to enjoy when you're bored. And you don't need to have seen or played the games, despite the fact that it is a sequel to another game it is also a standalone story, evidently. So, if you were a little interested, I'd recommend the first episode, but again, I'm only two episodes in so this thing could get stupid fast.
The storyline is very, very different from the one in the game. I've recently 100% completed Devil Survivor 2 myself and I'm anxiously waiting for the finale of the anime just to see what they've cooked up with everything they've already done to the plot so far.
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Old 06-27-2013, 02:36 PM   #5215
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Shinryaku! Ika Musume (manga)
I read all of the available chapters to this. The first 50 chapters were all pretty heartwarming stories of Ika warming up to human society. After that, the manga became more of a comedy, and up until like chapter 150, it was pretty hilarious. After that, it got kind of stale, and I was wishing for some actual development from Ika. Even after it got stale, I still enjoyed reading it, since it still had some gems here and there, but my excitement from the first 100 chapters kind of died down. Also after the first development chapters, they introduced a character, and hinted she might be like Ika, but even after 200 chapters, she never appeared again, which is a big letdown. They also dropped a bunch of hints, but after that, the manga just became a SoL comedy, not even addressing Ika's conversation with her again. Overall, Ika was a cute and funny ride. I'll keep an eye out for any new chapters. The Ika Musume manga gets a 8 from me.

I guess next is that manga Doppel showed me.
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Old 06-29-2013, 01:53 AM   #5216
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Valvrave has really got me to appreciate Gargantia. One of the biggest complaints I have about Gargantia is it skips essential details to smooth out development - characters reach opinions with only the most haphazard of logic steps.

Valvrave is even worse, but does it with plot. Case in point

Episode 1: Saki is introduced
Episode 1-4: Saki is mentioned to be a school idol
Episode 5: Saki is revealed to be a good singer, but she "gave it up".
Episode 6: Saki is revealed to be a J-Pop super-star

Literally, she upgrades from "side character" to main character in the course of two episodes. TWO. And half-way through the story! Moreover, her past is completely unknown until a heaving plot-dump at the start of episode 6.

I'm going to start a topic about Valvrave, but I don't want people to watch it. It's funny, but I'm sure there's other bad anime humour shows out there.
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Old 06-29-2013, 01:32 PM   #5217
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PhotoKano: Just watched Episode 13 (the series finale). It was fine.

Spoiler: show
I was disappointed that they chickened out and went with the stereotypical "WE'RE NOT ACTUALLY BLOOD RELATED!" angle, but at least it wasn't the super cliche of the boy being adopted and the girl being the natural-born daughter of both parents. Remarriages where Parent A provides one of the children and Parent B provides the other are reaaaaaaaaaaally common in eromanga, but they're surprisingly rare in my experience outside of that domain. Still, it doesn't change the fact that I'm disappointed in the game writers for chickening out.

I expected much better development with the bell. Unfortunately we didn't get that. We already knew from the prologue (Episodes 01-04) that Kazuya had given Kanon the bell a long time ago and that she cherished it. All this episode really added for us is that he gave it to her at the beach while they were building a sand castle together and first met. That was sort of it. Maybe I missed it, but they didn't make it clear where the bell came from. Did Kazuya just find it in the sand? (It sort of seemed that way!) Did Kanon cherish it just because it was the first thing she ever got from Kazuya?

Further complicating the picture with the bell was the whole subplot about whether Kanon remembered her early childhood or not. Kazuya and her father believed that she didn't, but Kanon actually did. The problem I have with this writing is ... Kazuya knew about the bell adornment on Kanon's cell phone. (And their father should have too. Has he never seen his daughter's cell phone before?) He had to have known thus that Kanon cherished that bell. And the very fact that she cherished it should have informed Kazuya that Kanon still remembered the events from the beach all those years ago.

Anyway, those gripes aside, it was just another typical episode of PhotoKano. Nothing terribly special but nothing really awful either.

Final assessment of PhotoKano is that it's 5/10 - "Average". Not bad, but very, very much an average anime. I didn't dislike it but I can't deny that it wasn't largely 6 hours of my life wasted. ^^; Oh well though. At least I can say that I've seen PhotoKano now. That's got to count for something ... right? ^^; ....................... orz
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Old 06-29-2013, 02:00 PM   #5218
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Rabuyan
I read all of the available chapters to this. Oh holy fuck is this awesome. It's basically cupid trying to find love for the creepy teacher in Azumanga Daioh. It's such a shame more of this isn't translated. The humor is fucked up and twisted, which is right down my alley. I'd give this a 9. There weren't many times I didn't laugh really hard.

Next I guess I'll read Pyu to Fuku Jaguar. I've read 4 good comedy manga in a row, will this be a good 5th?! There's also a new VN translated called "If My Heart Had Wings". That might be good, so I'll download that and play when I get the chance.
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Old 06-30-2013, 05:52 PM   #5219
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Shows have ended!

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san
This show was okay. It's cute and the character are interesting takes on mythical creatures. Sadly most of it is just overly hyperactive and bad humor. I still somewhat enjoyed myself when watching this. I guess this gets a 6 overall. If a second season aired, I would probably watch. Afterall, I still like the characters from this.

Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko
This finished too. This show can be surprisingly good at times. The characters all had some interesting background stories. I've also been kind of a sucker for characters who are odd. How the main guy tied into their stories was nice too. Actually I liked some of the things he did in the last episode. Some of the details are kind of sloppy and rushed. For the most part though, I enjoyed this show. It's funny considering I jumped into this show to see how much I would hate it. Overall, I guess I'd give this a 7.5. So with this, I guess we finally get a good show from JC since Toradora? Did I forget to mention how insanely cute this is? It's enough moe to give you diabetes or kill a diabetic!

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W
OH THANK FUCKING GOD THIS IS OVER! I watched this because I like the characters from Nyaruko, but I still expected it to be bad. Every episode is loaded with annoying forced ass references and jokes. The show is okay when it gets serious, which is a really bad thing to say about a comedy. This gets a 4 from me. Haah. What a horrible thing to do to good characters.

Pyu to Fuku Jaguar
I dropped this 3 chapters into it. The jokes are just so god damn lame. Such a shame, considering how the guy who did this also did one of my all-time favorite comedies. You win some you lose some I guess?

Also I won't be touching that VN I talked about in my last post afterall. Apparently the translators 4Kids'ed it. They took out the H scenes, which in itself is fine. Unfortunately it seems they butchered the story, took out any sexual jokes, and they edited out any kissing CGs or scenes. What's stupid is their explanation for doing so is that they "wanted to appeal to a broader audience". So to appeal to maybe a few children, they push away the actual VN fans for this. Great decision!
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Old 07-03-2013, 10:40 AM   #5220
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Ladies ... I found for you ... a reverse harem.

Quote:
Hinata Ema is the only daughter of a famous adventurer, Hinata Rintarou. One day, Ema learns that Rintarou is going to remarry with a successful apparel maker named Asahina Miwa. Since she doesn't want to disturb them, Ema decides to move out and live with her 11 new brothers in a mansion called Sunrise Residence. As they live under the same roof, romance is starting to grow between Ema and the Asahina brothers.
What the hell sort of father allows his teenage daughter to move into a separate building with eleven teenage males who aren't blood-related? -.-;
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Old 07-03-2013, 11:23 AM   #5221
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Oh man, Free aired. Once the subs are out I lay claim to all topic rights!
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Old 07-03-2013, 11:25 AM   #5222
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Oh man, Free aired. Once the subs are out I lay claim to all topic rights!
She's all yours.
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Old 07-03-2013, 11:33 AM   #5223
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That's the spirit, Talon! Referring to the anime as a she because it's filled with nothing but sweaty shirtless males!
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Old 07-03-2013, 08:31 PM   #5224
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dopple why
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Old 07-03-2013, 10:27 PM   #5225
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Tari Tari: I just watched Episode 12. 8/10 series continues to be 8/10.

Spoiler: show
The bulk of the episode was great, showing how the kids inadvertently ended up converting many of the school's other clubs' members into Choir Club members. The art student with the crush on Sawa is painting the backdrops, the entire Sewing Club is having fun making the costumes ... it's pretty neat.

Sadly, the episode's scene with the superintendent coupled with the sneak peek for the final episode seem to suggest that he's finally earned his title of Chief Asshole: he's placed the students under a strict curfew (with no one allowed at school after 5pm or on Sundays) and locked the Tari Tari kids out of their club room, thus fucking them out of their props, costumes, and maybe even their tape recorder. Wth. So the kids have to perform in the rain in front of the front gate. Not cool, man. What is wrong with you, dude?

I liked how good ol' Wien broke up the argument over the destroyed props by breaking into song.

Konatsu for seriously my waifu. Just add on ten years please and it's a deal. She is just such an attractive, attractive person. And I'm mostly talking about the inside.

Loved how Taichi kept the girlfriend pose of Sawa's for himself and snuck a more conservative picture for the art student with the crush on Sawa. I do wish Tari Tari had developed Taichi x Sawa more though. Oh well. ^^;

Vice Principal finally confirms what I've been saying since Episode 01: that when she told Konatsu "you are not loved by music", she was speaking from personal experience, having never made it in the world of music herself, hence why she's "just some high school teacher" and not a famous professional musician as Mahiru was. Not saying this for any bragging rights. It was pretty obvious so I don't think I really get much of any. Just saying that here's where it's finally confirmed that the VP originally aspired to be more than a high school music teacher but she failed to make it.

Just one episode to go!
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