Taruto continues to explore her world and the strange way it operates but we also get a bit more on the other world this time around.
What They Say:
Taruto is a little cat who has just moved to a new city with her master’s family. Taruto spends her days making friends and exploring her new hometown. She also has a knack for getting herself into trouble. And it turns out that Taruto just might be a legendary magical princess. Almost none of Taruto’s friends believe that she can use magic or that she’s a princess, but Taruto is determined to prove it to them. But Taruto’s magic is so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen when she uses it.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Taruto with its third batch of episodes finally starts to give in more to what we think is its overall story as an episode is devoted to the other world but for the most part it continues to be about Taruto discovering the magic in our own world, or what’s as close to our world as can be when we’re dealing with one filled with catboys and catgirls. The perceptions of reality between the two still don’t meet but once you understand the dynamic the show becomes much easier to settle into.
The opening episode for example plays out something that’s already fairly consistent in the series in that it has Iori doing something and being unsure how to continue with it so Taruto tries to find a way to help him. This time around, it’s got to do with food (big surprise) as he’s trying to get a new blend of shaved ice just right but needs to find someplace that serves it. Taruto finds out about a place called Shiozu Beach which is just beyond the jagged mountain at the edge of the city but requires going through an abandoned ginza to get through. The ginza has been abandoned for some time because it’s supposedly haunted. When you go inside, something either spooks the person or they get led around in such a maze that they end up right back at the outside. But with Taruto and her nature, she’s able to break through and discover the secret on the other side due to her magical nature if not her general obliviousness to a lot of things. There aren’t any real surprises here but it is a nice and simple episode that pushes that magic is all around us if we’re able to look.
Another world expanding episode is the last one where a Iriomote wildcat ends up in Oshikana and his arrival causes all sorts of problems. Luckily, he ends up running into Taruto fairly early on and she’s able to get some help from her friends in caring for him. Through him, we learn of the more wild side of the creatures where they live on an island far to the west. Seeing this particular wildcat as a youth is interesting especially since it brings in a master and cat from Ameringo (which leads to a number of amusing puns that even my pre-school level vocabulary could grasp) and how this particular wildcat became close to them. They ended up having to leave when their research was done so he’s been trying to get to Ameringo ever since, which is a massive job when these guys are the size they are. The wildcat, Nougat, is a cute character in his youth and amusing as an old man but he provides something of a larger view of the world and of the cats in general which is a real plus.
The most interesting episode here is the center one which has an interesting occurrence in that Taruto and Gallette get separated from the group when on a hike on Mount Ararei. They end up going through a strange mist which somehow transports them to the world of myth and legend only to find that it’s real. Taruto is completely oblivious to what’s going on but Gallette, ever cool in his suit and shades, realizes how much danger they may be in since Taruto really does have the possibility of being the one of legend. This becomes even more apparent when various catpeople start showing up and wanting to eliminate them right on the spot. We don’t get a huge amount of new material on this place but the proof of its existence is a huge step forward here and it was simply a lot of fun to watch with Gallette playing the straight man to Taruto’s innocence. He’s arguably been my favorite character in this show so far so getting him to have such a big presence was really welcome.
In Summary:
Taruto continues to be a charming show that outside of a few questionable moments early on has been something that’s been fun to share with my kids due to its nature. This batch of episodes plays much like previous ones though it’s less focused on some of the humans this time around but it provides a number of interesting new things to flesh out the way this world operates. If there’s any real downside to the show it’s that it simply goes by far too fast with each episode. Taruto really strikes me as one of those shows that should have been done as a full season set since otherwise it’s likely to be lost in the sea of releases unless someone is a catgirl fanatic and attuned to all such things. An innocent show like this really needs to be seen more and pushed more to the younger crowd to get them hooked early on.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Tubi
