Title: Tamayura More Aggressive
Genre: Slice of Life
Rating: 9.0/10
Summary: Second season of Tamayura
Review: It isn’t a secret that I am a huge fan of Tamayura. Since the first OVA came out, I’ve been hooked to the series. I’ve given both the OVA and first season very high reviews, but never expected such a great outcome for the second season. It isn’t anything that will keep you on the edge of your seat or even give you life long lessons; it’s just sweet. I’m always worried that second season will ruin the magic of a series because the jokes will get old or the characters will become stale. I’m happy to report my findings that Tamayura more aggressive is the best of the releases and has me hoping for more.
Generally for a second season I don’t touch on the art because it’s pretty clear that it will be roughly the same as the first. However, I wanted to point something out in the second season that played a large factor for why I enjoyed this series so much. The gang ended up exploring a lot more areas which in turn brought a variety of sceneries and new visuals. Because the series was centered around the idea of taking pictures to capture memories a lot of great stills were taken. With the addition of a new member in the gang who also enjoyed taking pictures comes different perspectives of the same place.
Tamayura made sure to emphasize the fact that two pictures of the same thing aren’t the same picture. The person holding the camera places a vital role in the mood of the picture. While I enjoyed the simple artwork, it was the story that truly touched my heart.
Tamayura was an anime that took me by surprise as someone who doesn’t enjoy photography and actually hates taking or being in pictures. I’m a strong believer that a series needs to have relatable topics to its audience for it to be successful. This was when I realized that the anime managed to achieve a great feat, bringing in an audience who on the surface don’t appear to have a connect and then making one.To this day I don’t know what it was that made me feel for Fu, but I ended up enjoying watching her go about her every day life. Even the struggles that she goes through of creating a photography club, a simple task that took all of one girl’s courage, was entertaining. Be that as it may I would not describe this series as “entertaining” or “enjoyable”. Instead it can be described with one word: touching. The original OVA was about Fu’s struggle with accepting her father’s death. In the
Tamayura ~hitotose~ it was about her opening up to her friends and slowly settling down in her new life. Finally, in
Tamayura ~more aggressive~ we not only see her accepting her father’s passing, but also wanting to discover the kind of person he was. I don’t think there was a single episode where my heart didn’t well up inside. I can even say that I shed tears of joy rather than sadness watching this fictional character begin to understand how special her father was. Of course this anime wasn’t a drama and there were plenty of comedic moments with the new addition to their gang: Kanae.
She played a supportive role that helped Fu realize what taking pictures meant to her, and for that I applaud the creators. None of the messages were thrown in your face, or dumbed down for an audience to understand. I was a bit wary at first because Kanae seemed more like a competitor to Fu than a friend. The series does a good job easing her into the gang and creating a strong bond between an underclassman and her senpai. Though sometimes I wondered if it was Fu who played the senpai role. Another thing that made Kanae a great character was her role of following in the footsteps of becoming “more aggressive”. It showed that Fu was not only trying to teach herself to become more outgoing, but also encourage others to do the same. It was clear that everyone was influenced by her new attitude toward life of taking things head-on; whether it be starting a photography club, or finding more lost clues about her father. Personally I couldn’t have asked for a better continuation for one of my favorite slice of life anime.
Final statements: I don’t know if I’ve stressed this enough but I strongly encourage everyone to pick up this series. It has jumped its way up from a high priority watch to a
must see. It is difficult to put into words the feelings I had while watching the series, but that’s the reason it was so special. All of the characters had their own stories and development while still centering around Fu. Hopefully I’ll be able to see more of this crazy bunch of friends in their final year of high school.
