Tamayura
Tamayura is an OVA directed by Junichi Sato (known for his work on other Slice of Life series, such as Aria and Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth) and was originally released across two Blu-Ray and DVD volumes in later 2010. In October 2011, the first season of the TV series, titled Tamayura ~hitotose~, began airing.
The story is focused around a young girl named Fu Sawatari, who moves to Takehara, Hiroshima to begin her first year of high school. Her deceased father grew up in Takehara, and this is her first time back in the town in five years. Fu enjoys photography and is often engrossed with taking pictures with her father's old Rollei 35S film camera. Despite being a shy girl, Fu tries her best to make friends and is spurred on by Kaoru Hanawa, a girl with a self-proclaimed scent fetish. She quickly befriends two other girls, Maon Sakurada, who whistles all the time, and Norie Okazaki, who loves baking.
Fu begins capturing the moments she spends with her friends on camera, and learns of the "tamayura" phenomenon, which manifests as little specks of light that appear in photos whenever the people depicted within are happy.
Tropes used in Tamayura include:
- Adult Child: Sayomi is far more excitable and easy-going than Kaoru; her love for adventure exasperates the latter.
- Anime First: A manga adaptation was released in October 2010 and depicts the events in the OVA.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Despite being cute, Kou nonetheless has a few irritating moments.
- Artificial Riverbank
- Big Sister Mentor: Riho toward Fu.
- Biker Babe: Fu's mother was part of a biker group when she was younger.
- Bland-Name Product: Coco Cola.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Komachi takes much amusement in driving Norie up the wall.
- Car On The Coast Road: The girls travel up a coastal road in one of the episodes, but Sayomi's driving techniques mean that none of her passengers are paying attention to the scenery.
- Character Tics: Maon has a habit of whistling to express her thoughts.
- Cheerful Child: Kou is generally happy and encouraged Fu to rekindle her interests in photography.
- Childhood Friends
- Fu and Kaoru
- Kaoru and Norie
- Fu and Chihiro.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Komachi exhibits clinginess towards Kou.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Fu appears to disregard her own safety when trying to take pictures.
- Color Failure
- Kaoru, Maon, and Norie upon learning they had another two hours to walk uphill.
- Following one of Dougou-sensei's blotched attempts at a pun, the entirety of Fu and Kaoru's class loses colour.
- Coming of Age Story: The story is centred around Fu and her friends learning of their aspirations for the future, and in Fu's case, coming to terms with her own interests and her father's memories.
- Cool Big Sis
- Sayomi acts as such towards Kaoru
- Despite being unrelated, Riho acts as a mentor of sorts to Fu
- Cool Old Lady: Fu's grandmother.
- Cute Kitten: Momoneko-sama, the fluffy pink ...cat...ball...thing.
- Cuteness Proximity: Norie is hit hard whenever Kou is around, and Fu experiences a milder version in Momoneko-sama's presence.
- A Day in the Limelight: One episode shows us a day in the life of Momoneko-sama.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: All of the girls actively try to set out and accomplish their aspirations: this is especially notable in Maon and Kaoru.
- Disappeared Dad: Fu's deceased father provides a driving point behind the story.
- Dojikko: Fu's tendencies give rise to her nickname, Potte, an onomatopoetic sound for something falling.
- Drives Like Crazy: Sayomi's driving tendencies leave her passengers in hysterics.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: When Norie first sees a picture of Kou, she asks who the pretty girl is; and expresses strong surprise when she finds out he's Fu's brother. While this is mostly forgotten later, the other character's responses elicit this response.
- Similarly, Komachi also thought Kou was a girl.
- Riho's reply letter to Fu in episode one referred to Kou as Fu's sister.
- Expy: Fuu's grandmother is Grandma from Aria. They even share the same seiyuu.
- The Faceless: Fu's father appears as such in her photographs of him.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Maon has, amongst other things, wished to be a manga artist, puppeteer and a magician.
- Food Porn: The food depicted in the series looks gorgeous, ranging from okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake) to the various baked goods that Fu's grandmother and Norie make.
- Four-Girl Ensemble - Fu, Kaoru, and Norie respectively are the first three types, while Maon does not fit well with the archetypes. Of note are the associations of each girl with a sense: Fu is sight, Kaoru is smell, Norie is taste and Maon is hearing. Chihiro, with her handicraft skills and love of plushies, represents the fifth sense, touch.
- Genki Girl: Norie displays this tendency around cute things, especially Kou.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Chihiro has an extensive collection of her own handmade plushies, and even gives some to Fu as a farewell gift.
- Hime Cut: Maon and Komachi exhibit this hairstyle.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episode names are always pronounced by Fu, and end in her characteristic na no de.
- Iyashikei: Tamayura is a peaceful, relaxing anime that depicts the subtle elements of the girls' everyday lives.
- Japanese Honorifics: Norie uses -tan for everyone. Much to Kaoru's displeasure.
- Joshikousei: High school girls are depicted with sailor uniforms.
- Meaningful Name: Kaoru's name is written in hiragana (かおる); when written in kanji (馨), it means "fragrance".
- Memento MacGuffin: The camera Fu uses was once her father's; in addition, Fu also possesses a photograph of him.
- Miniature Senior Citizen: Fu's grandmother is noticeably shorter than the rest of the characters.
- Mood Whiplash: The series generally depicts the cheerful, light-hearted adventures the girls experience, but also explores the Fu's grief over her father's passing.
- No Social Skills: Fu's inherent shyness when meeting new people reduces her speech to an incoherent stream of words.
- Pungeon Master: Dougou-sensei loves making terrible puns based on local landmarks, to the dismay of his class.
- The Quiet One: Maon only speaks on occasion and prefers whistling over speaking.
- Real Place Background: The series is set in Takehara, a city located in the Hiroshima prefecture.
- Rubber Hose Limbs: When she becomes excited or apprehensive, Fu exhibits this.
- Running Gag: Fu constantly experiences a lack of success in trying to take a picture of Momoneko-sama.
- Scenery Porn: The scenery in Takehara is spectacular, yet simple and clean. There are several viewpoints that offer a sweeping panorama of the ocean or the town below.
- Sensei-chan: Dougou-sensei is a a male variant and is on casual terms with the girls.
- Schoolgirl Series: While this is a show depicting the lives of girls in high school, it places less emphasis on their school lives.
- Shop Keeper
- Fu's mother and grandmother run a restaurant called the "Tamayura Café".
- Maon's parents run a ryokan called "Nodoka Inn".
- Shotacon: Norie's admiration of Kou borders on this at times, to the point that she frequently competes with Komachi (who is Kou's age) for his affection.
- Lolicon: Norie fell in "love" with Kou while thinking he was a girl.
- Shrines and Temples: The girls often hang out at some of the more well-known temples in Takehara, most notably Saihō-ji.
- Slice of Life
- Spiritual Successor: Tamayura can be seen as a successor to Kamichu!, and also was influenced by Sketchbook. Coupled with the fact that Big Sister Mentor Riho is voiced by the actress who also played the apprentice Akari in Aria (from the same director), this drives home the point that Tamayura is a passing of the torch from that series.
- Super-Deformed: Characters revert into their chibi forms whenever they become really excited.
- Sweet Dreams Fuel: As an Iyashikei series, the events viewers observe are heartwarming and cheerful.
- Sweet Tooth: All of the girls love sweets.
- Tagalong Kid: Kou and Komachi occasionally join the main cast in their adventures
- Theme Tune Cameo: In a flashback in episode 4 of Hitotose, a young Maon attends a concert where the opening song from the OVA is played.
- Two Shorts: Episodes 6 and 9 of Hitotose have this format.
- Verbal Tic: Fu tends to append na no de to every sentence.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Chihiro and Riho dress in this manner on occasion.