Recap: The Club starts to take their role as the WestShopRangers a little too seriously. Meanwhile, Wakana seeks songwriting advice from the Vice Principal, who co-wrote a song with her mother.

Jel’s Thoughts: Like I said last week, this show is so much better when it stays focused on Wakana and leaves the rest of the cast as the fun extra stuff. The WestShopRangers scenes were fun and refreshing, and it was nice to see Wien’s backstory didn’t end up being particularly melodramatic (Sawa) or soul crushing (Wakana).

Despite my boredom with the show in general, the flashback scenes still haven’t lost their emotional impact for me. As much as I don’t want to care about the Vice Prinicipal, her memories of Wakana’s Mother still packed a punch. Little hints as to where “tari tari” actually comes from and finding out why she has been so opposed to a choir club were enough payoff for tolerating her screen time.

Balanced episodes like this one are a little frustrating because it shows that Tari Tari can really be a good show when it’s firing on all cylinders. I suppose it’s too late to expect much more out of the series, but I hope they can stay around this level of quality. Looking forward, I’m guessing they’re saving the big White Festival for the finale, so we’ll what kind of hurdles the Club will have to leap over next.