10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 8.5 (OVA)

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 8.5 (OVA)



Maon gets sick right before the class trip to Okinawa, and Norie is sad her sketchbook wasn't filled with memories. Fuu suggests they make their own trip to Onomichi.

Heh.

It's too bad that pure slice of life shows like Tamayura need to have their own sub-genre called "healing anime." Since last summer, when the broadcast episodes aired, there has been no actual slice of life anime running a full half hour, except Non Non Biyori. Shows coming close to pure "slife" have featured fox gods, agricultural schools, and strange people in boarding houses. Tamayura's hook, if it can be said to have one, is that the cute girls doing cute things in their daily lives also visit many of the sleepy coastal villages near Takehara. Watching Fuu and her friends again definitely gave me that sense of calm and "healing" that I've been missing.

How great is it to have a friend in Norie who cries for your empty sketchbook? Sentiment has a negative connotation these days, but that's the word I think of when all of Maon's friends quickly decide to make their own school trip to replace the one Maon missed in Okinawa.

Momoneko yawning and blessing their trip? Auspicious!

Maon's mom stopping doting papa from tagging along was hilarious.

Sketchbook was filled, views were seen, food was eaten, and memories were made together. Successful trip all the way around. Maon even replied with a whistle or two. I can't wait for the four movies coming out next year showing the girls' last year of high school. Sentimental healing anime with no negative connotations. Fuu was "more aggressive" this year. I wonder what she'll be next year.

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 12 [END]

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 12 [END]

The Sawataris celebrate the late father's birthday. Mrs. Sawatari takes a motorcycle ride with Fuu. Kanae graduates. Another year is over for the Tamayura girls.

Many events in this episode remind Fuu of the passage time. Her family celebrates her dad's birthday. Her camera's shutter breaks, making her wonder if she'll have to let her dad's camera go eventually too. Kanae comes over during the doll festival and lets her friends know that she got into the college of her choice.

While organizing her pictures, since she can't take new ones while the camera is under repair, Fuu's mom invites her on a motorcycle trip to a very special place, where Mr. Sawatari proposed to her. She couldn't go back there until she was ready, showing that it wasn't just Fuu having a hard time with her father's death. Mother and daughter share a nice moment together.

And then it's Kanae's graduation day. She definitely shows that she's taken the "more aggressive" goal to heart as she loudly proclaims her gratitude to Fuu for inviting her into the photography club, garnering applause. And then a couple of montages close out the show, with Fuu reminiscing over the last year, and how she saw some sides of her dad from his old friends, and the graduation ceremony and parties afterward. Momoneko, of course made an appearance at the front gate.

Tamayura's 2nd season gave us more of the same as the first season, but instead of having to introduce all the characters and their quirks, we could just visit with them every week and see what they were up to. That's a true representation of the slice-of-life genre in anime. The bittersweet ones let us know that time progresses, the characters grow up, and we won't always see them around. ~More Aggressive~ gave us that hint of what their third season might be like, with the introduction of a graduating senior in Kanae. With the core characters becoming seniors next year and graduating high school, I expect the emotions to be ramped up. Maybe Momoneko will let Fuu finally take a picture of him. I'm looking forward to it!

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 11

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 11

End of the year celebrations. Happy New Year! First Sunrise! Goodbye to Kanae from the Photography Club.

Most schools in Japan don't let seniors participate in club activities during their last quarter of school, since they have to be studying for final exams and getting into college. So, this final week of the year in putting on a display at the local community center, and New Year's Eve is a big deal for Kanae, who won't be able to join Fuu in any photography club activities next year.

They all go out with a bang, with Fuu and Kanae displaying their photographs chronologically, Norie making cute little cupcakes, Kaoru putting on a crafts class in how to make wreaths, and Maon narrating a children's play she wrote. Last year, since it was their first show, Momoneko was the first guest, before other neighbors started dropping by. This year, almost the whole town showed up when the doors opened. Momoneko closed it down.

Then the girls had their New Year's Eve festivities, going to temple, and reminiscing over the memories they made that year. Kaoru's older sister then dragged them to the beach for the first sunrise of the year. They were cold, so they shouted embarrassing things to warm themselves up. "Momoneko is actually pink, he is!" cried Fuu. Yes he is, Fuu, yes he is.

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 10

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 10

The girls visit Maon's home village to see a concert. Kanae takes pictures of the girls when they talk about discovering their passion. Kanae's and Fuu's photos are displayed at pro photog Riho's art show.

When the girls are trying to choose the photos they'll be displaying for the upcoming art show, they do just about the cutest/funniest thing I've ever seen: taking pictures of people they know, holding it to their foreheads, and impersonating their voices as they play out a little skit. Even Maon, the quiet one, gets into the act when she receives a text with some good news, she takes a photo of Momoneko and mimics his happy, satisfied meows. Dawww.

Kanae is graduating soon, and is trying to decide what to do next, but she doesn't think she has a plan. When she wants to go on another photography tour to "do as much as she can," with the other girls, Maon provides the opportune setting with wanting to see a concert on her home island, Oosakishimo Island, where they can stay at Maon's family inn. While there, she sees the other girls having a path which fits in with their passions, whether it's Norie and cooking, Kaoru and crafting scents, or Fuu and photography.

In talking with Maon's parents, she learns of a little metaphor concerning the island which is also called "waiting for the tide." It was here that many vessels moored while waiting for tide to recede and bring the engine-less boats out to sea. Kanae asks, "What if that tide never comes?" But Maon's father assures her that it will come. And there's not just one tide either, but many throughout one's life. Oh, slife-show, you stick your poignant-nostalgic feeling right in there, don't you?

At the art show, Kanae made sure to include a picture of the bay at "Shiomachi Island" (waiting-for-the-tide island), and maybe that favorable tide will be coming sooner than she thinks.

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 9

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 9

It's time for the bamboo lantern festival, and an old high school friend of Fuu's father comes to visit. He was the serious one in the photography club, but he still misses his old friend, and sees that Fuu takes after him in many ways.

Natsume, old friend of Fuu's father and the photography studio owner, comes by to finally visit Takehara after 20 years. He was the serious one, always telling Sawatari not to put the subject of the photo always in the middle. He notices Fuu takes pictures the same way. Kanae gets annoyed enough to say that the composition in Fuu's pictures isn't important, it's the feelings they evoke. Well, what does Natsume know anyway, since he stopped taking pictures before he graduated to concentrate on college and career.

Chiho, the okonomiyaki restaurant chef shows off her skills and impresses Natsume with how the sauce tastes the same as he remembered, adding her generation's special flavor as well.

Fuu and Kanae run into pro photographer Riho unsuccessfully trying to catch Momoneko with her camera, and she adds to Fuu's and Kanae's conversation with Natsume that a photographer should follow her passion. Natsume concedes as much, talking with Fuu later, that his friend Sawatari's photos were all filled with love of his family. Aww. There was a heart in there after all.

And now, bonus gifs of Momoneko:

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 8

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 8

This week it's Chihiro's turn to visit Takehara, and fulfill a promise to watch fireworks.

For a slice-of-life show that is also a cute-girls-do-cute-things show, Tamayura knows how to intersperse the sentimental dialog with reaction shots. Plus, having a big, pink, fluffy cat doesn't hurt. Oh, plot? Chihiro comes to visit, and wants to keep her promise to Fuu to watch fireworks from an abandoned "secret" base Fuu's father mentioned. Fuu wants to learn how to photograph fireworks, and gets advice from her professional photographer friend Riho. They decide that Sayomi's faraway overlook must be the secret base, and share a moment.

And here's a bonus pic of a yawning cat:

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 7

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 7

Fuu's friends from Takehara join her in a trip to visit her old town of Shioiri, and cute girls do cute things near a beach, at a summer festival, and Momoneko stows away too.

It's always nice when your new friends in a new town get along with your old friends from back home. Fuu finally meets her best friend Chihiro's new friend and classmate Tomo. They've talked on the phone, even the other girls have, but it's their first face to face chat, and when Tomo gets curious, the questions don't stop. At the summer festival, Fuu reminisces about her late father taking pictures of her winning the sparkler contest, and it makes her smile instead of being sad. This reassures Chihiro, who has been worried about how her father's death has been affecting Fuu. Then it's time to enjoy the firework show, and even Momoneko makes some new friends.

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 6

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 6

Travel Research Trip! Lets Go! Na no de...

A slice of life show with a cute-girls-doing-cute-things feeling, Tamayura's second season hits the spot. Tamayura, incidentally, are the little floating spots of light that show up in pictures as dust motes reflect sunlight. You need some very lazy, relaxed atmospheric conditions for that to happen, which is a perfect metaphor for this show.

This week, Fuu Sawatari gets a visit from her dead father's younger, still-hyper colleague from the travel agency where he worked. Now that Fuu is old enough, and it's summer vacation, she wants to take Fuu on the travel research trip she and the elder Sawatari had planned, but never followed properly, because Fuu's father "let the wind take him wherever it may." Along the way, through Mihara and Onomichi, Fuu gets to see a side of her father she never knew, since he passed away before she could. She even gets to meet a couple who started a Bed & Breakfast at the urging of the elder Sawatari, and appreciates a larger idea of family.

Ahh. Another week, another half hour long postcard of Japan's seaside villages. With cats, na no de.