Recap: Wakana is so overwhelmed by her grief she falls ill and misses school. With the support of the people that care about her though, she is ready to fulfill her mother’s final wish.

Jel’s Thoughts: Tari Tari finally got to me as this week’s episode melted my cold, cynical heart. The conclusion to Wakana’s mother’s story was certainly tragic, but at no point was it depressing or melodramatic. I mentioned last week how I was afraid this would devolve into some teary-eyed screaming match with a couple of face slaps for good measure, and fortunately none of that happened. While clearly upset and hurt, Wakana never swung to any extreme, crying at times and smiling at others, slowly finding her way through her grief. Instead of a slap in the face, Konatsu and the others simply showed that they cared, no grand speeches or gestures necessary.

If I may invoke the Hanasaku Iroha comparisons again, I really liked how the characters in that show generally acted like normal human beings, despite the occasional bout of hammy relationship drama. I know Tari Tari has different writers and what not, but I can’t help but think it’s excelling in that same area, if not surpassing it. This episode was the first time they smashed my expectations in that regard, and I’m hoping they do it again. My next guess would be someone falls in love with someone else as that’s what usually happens when you throw a couple of attractive teenagers in a room together. So we’ll see if they can handle that just as well as they’ve handled these past two episodes.

[Shed a MANLY TEAR for Tari Tari on Crunchyroll.]