Story: wholesomely relaxed, good pacing, episodic and simple, but thoughtful and without filler (8/10).
The introduction is moving. It reveals the heroine's grief when she finds her father's old Rollei camera. The anime's beautiful and charming subtlety lies in its ability to convey deep emotions while still gently communicating life experiences. We accompany the protagonist, Fuu Sawatari, on her journey to come to terms with her individual repressed memories and feelings, as well as the daily difficulties and challenges of her everyday life. We follow her decision to share her father's passion for photography and the peaceful, charming hometown where she finds new friends. The small town of "Takehara" is real, by the way, and is located in Hiroshima Prefecture, right on the Seto Inland Sea.
Characters: Lovable, but not fully realised potential (7/10).
All lovingly described, but not always with the depth that could have been possible. A nice contrast to other representatives of this genre like Hidamari Sketch, where all characters share the same interests, each member of Tamayura Hitotose's small clique has a different interest and personality.
Sawatari Fuu:
Her good heart and kindness will quickly grow on you. At first, she seems a little reserved, but she soon begins to grow and develop. Her slightly clumsy and quirky nature makes her character even sweeter and more lovable.
Hanawa Kaoru:
Always keeping an eye out for the odd misfortune, she is like a big sister to Fuu. She sometimes laughs heartily at Fuu's clumsiness, as is usual in such a relationship.
Sakurada Maon:
In nature, she is very similar to Fuu in shyness, but with a lot of heart. Maon has the charming and witty uniqueness of whistling her answers instead of speaking.
Okazaki-Norie:
Funny, spontaneous and impulsive, Norie is the energetic counterpart. Her character is often misunderstood by critics, as her lively nature is a complete contrast to the other characters. It should be noted that something would be missing without her, and not just the ability to articulate Maon's whistle language.
The supporting characters also have coherent personalities and authentic attitudes. As a result, the cast as a whole is able to create a believable overall picture of the individual personalities through interaction.
Visuals: Beautiful, charming, unfortunately with a bit of unused potential (7/10).
The character design is a little overdone, but still beautiful and adorable for this type of anime, and therefore fits well overall. Tamayura bears the signature of Satô Junichi, so the parallel to the anime Aria comes as no surprise. The moods of the individual episodes are conveyed well. The surrounding landscape has something picturesque about it, in the truest sense of the word. The animation is nice to look at, but you get the impression, probably due to the tight budget, that more potential could have been exploited in this aspect. I don't think this is a major flaw, because despite the low budget, a lot of details have been put into the pictures. For example, Fuu's camera, which has the smallest of details, or the landscape, in which irregularities such as differences in colour, cracks in the brickwork or other slight signs of age can be seen. Overall, the animation and drawing style, even when CG elements have been used, result in a realistic overall picture, and the series can convince atmospherically.
Sound: nice and harmonious, beautiful OP, the dialogues are a little bit clichéd (7/10).
The BGM by Nobuyuki Nakajim underlines the atmosphere of the anime very well and gives it a very appealing musical framework.
The OP "Okaeri Nasai" by Maaya Sakamoto is incredibly beautiful and fits the anime very well in its gentle way. The visual design of the OP underlines this impression with pictures of the quiet little town, the inclusion of pictures that look like they were taken by a camera is a nice touch.
Several ending themes were used, the titles are:
The end credits of episodes 1, 3 to 6 and 8 to 10 feature the song "Kami-sama no Itazura" by Megumi Nakajima. Her voice is high-pitched, but has a warm and clear sound, making it a very nice and gentle end to the episodes.
"Natsudori", also by Nakajima-san, graces the end credits of episode 2 and was used only for this episode. A beautiful and fitting arrangement for this episode.
"Hoshizora" has a very sensitive and beautiful melody and with Nakajima-san's voice it is very nice to hear at the end of episode 7.
"Ashita no Hidamari" is the title of episode 11 and is sung by the Seiyū: Taketatsu-, Asumi-, Iguchi- and Gibu-san.
"A Happy New Year" is sung again by Sakamoto Maaya. The song is performed in the closing sequence of episode 12, but very quietly, so that Sakamoto-san's beautiful voice doesn't really come to the fore. Still, a very beautiful song.
The choice of voice actors for the anime was very good, unfortunately the dialogues are a bit clichéd from time to time. Nevertheless, I liked the voices and the way they were spoken. Especially the voice of Hanawa Kaoru, spoken by Asumi Kana. For the supporting characters, I really liked Kotobuki Minako as the voice for Miyoshi Chihiro as well as the voice of Nakata Jouji as Maestro. Last but not least, Iguchi Yuka's voice for Norie is a great achievement, as she does such a good job with this lively, fiery character.
A gentle, charming story about how friendship and passion for photography helps overcome sadness, accept situations and rediscover the beauty of everyday life. Accompanied by beautiful imagery, lovable characters and the feeling of almost being there, the series hits just the right note if you are looking for a healing anime. The anime "Tamayura" (OVA), "Tamayura futatsu (more aggressive)" as well as the anime "Aria" or "Natsume Yuujinchou" may be of interest to you as well.
Thank you for reading and have fun watching!
