TARI TARI - Episode 1

Miyamoto Konatsu: My favourite character of the series after one episode.

I have a feeling TARI TARI will be one of my favourite shows this season. I absolutely loved every bit of the episode. The characters, the initial drama, the atmosphere—everything came together to make for such a relaxing and entertaining episode. As a introductory episode, it definitely made a good impression and I now have a rough idea of what the rest of the story is going to be like. The character designs are really nice, while the characters themselves have also got me interested. Right now, I think Miyamoto is probably my favourite character because of her energy and cheerful personality.

The other characters, although not much was said about them, will most likely get some development later on. I'm most interested in Wien (is that really his name?) and Sakai right now as the two have pasts which differ from a regular student's. For the transfer student, the whole "I haven't been lived in Japan in over twelve years" has piqued my interest. I'm curious in seeing how his life was back in Austria and if the Japanese managed to butcher yet another foreign country and their traditions like they usually do. As for Sakai, she displays the typical "traumatic past" characteristic in which the character displays a cold attitude towards people who bring up something they used to love. It's always interesting to see what caused these traumatic events to happen and how the character overcomes them so I'll be looking forward to that, too. Rounding up the crew is Sawa the archer/horseback rider and Tanaka the badminton player—two individuals that bring more variety to the group with their hobbies.

With the group of five now set, the goal for the series might just be for Miyamoto to first convince everyone else to help her form the new choir club before leading them to perform at the joint recital. Drama is bound to arise along the way, which is what will make everything more entertaining to watch. Hopefully, each episode will provide good dialogue and enough content for me to blog about. Overall, TARI TARI is definitely off to a good start.

And now for song analysis time!
OP: What a way to start off the Spring 2012 season! I have a feeling this song will be one of my favourites in the weeks to come. It's upbeat enough to fit the high-paced lifestyle of most high school students while having a nice melody to compliment the music-centered theme of the series.
ED: Having the VAs for a series sing the ED adds a nice element to the song, but is only a good decision if they can sing well. Fortunately, I felt the seiyū did a nice job as I also really liked this song. It further emphasized the link between the characters (well, only two characters right now) and music. I find it hard to choose between this and the OP.

Oh, and I noticed "Reflectia" (True Tears OP) was being sung by the choir. Hearing it instilled a sense of nostalgia in me since I really enjoyed watching True Tears.