is a two-volume Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series by

Yuyuko Takemiya is a Japanese writer of light novels, novels and manga. Biography Takemiya debuted in September 2004 with her light novel series '' Watashitachi no Tamura-kun (Our Tamura-kun)'' which first appeared in the autumn 2004 issue of ''Dengeki hp Sp ...

, with illustrations by Yasu. The first volume was released on June 10, 2005 and the second followed on September 10, 2005, both published by MediaWorks under their

Dengeki Bunko is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It was established in June 1993 with the publication of '' Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania'' volume one, and is a light novel imprint a ...

imprint. A

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation by Sachi Kurafuji was serialized in ''

Dengeki Comic Gao! , also known as ''Dengeki Gao!'' was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine that primarily contained manga and information about series featuring bishōjo characters. It was published from December 1992 to February 2008 by MediaWorks (publisher), Medi ...

'' between May 2006 and February 2008. A

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

was also produced based on the series, and a two-disc compilation of the drama was released on April 30, 2007.

Plot

''Watashitachi no Tamura-kuns main story revolves around the title character Yukisada Tamura, who is in his third year of junior-high school when the story begins. Yukisada becomes captivated by a strange and beautiful girl named Komaki Matsuzawa, who says that she was born on another planet and that she is trying to go back. Eventually, Yukisada confesses his feelings for Komaki to her, but before matters can progress, Komaki's grandmother dies and she has to move away. They keep in contact for a while by writing letters, but Komaki stops writing around the time high school entrance exams roll around and they lose contact. On entering high school Yukisada becomes concerned about one of his female classmates named Hiroka Sōma. Hiroka was bullied in junior-high, and stayed home from school to avoid her tormenters. This led to her becoming isolated and helpless. Yukisada chooses not to ignore her, unlike most of his other classmates, and instead starts encouraging her and helps her to build her self-esteem. Before long, Hiroka falls for Yukisada, and confesses her love to him. During this time, Yukisada's best friend, Takakura, has kept in contact with Komaki and has mentioned Hiroka in their communications. Then, one day, Yukisada receives a letter from Komaki asking about Hiroka. This puts Yukisada on the horns of a dilemma where he has to choose between his old love, Komaki, and his new love, Hiroka. The two-chapter

side story In fiction, a subplot is a secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting cha ...

titled concerns Yukisada Tamura's good friend, Shinichi Takaura and his younger half-sister, Io Tamai. Io detests anything related to matters of love or affection and is very anti-social. Seeing this, Shinichi attempts to rehabilitate his half-sister in the matter of love.

Characters

; : :Yukisada is the protagonist of the story. Yukisada lives in a five-person household with his two parents, and an older and younger brother. Basically, he is a frivolous person who easily gets carried away. His favorite meals are eel and home-made

jiaozi ''Jiaozi'' (; ; pinyin: jiǎozi) are Chinese dumplings commonly eaten in China and other parts of East Asia. ''Jiaozi'' are folded to resemble Chinese sycee and have great cultural significance attached to them within China. ''Jiaozi'' ar ...

. At one point, he loved learning about bugs, but has since moved on to the manners and customs during the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

in Japan. He finds inspiration from

Hōjō Tokimune of the Hōjō clan was the eighth ''shikken'' (officially regent of the shōgun, but ''de facto'' ruler of Japan) of the Kamakura shogunate (reigned 1268–84), known for leading the Japanese forces against the invasion of the Mongols and fo ...

, though his dream is to be someone as great as

Emperor Jimmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and '' Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture" She meets Yukisada in her third year of junior-high and little by little opens her heart to him. However, during summer vacation, her grandmother dies and she has to move to live with a distant relative, far away. In school, she always gets top grades, and runs the 200 meter dash on the school track team. Her favorite food is

curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

. ; : :Hiroka is Yukisada's classmate during their first year of high school. While considered to be very beautiful, she acts cold towards others so most people leave her alone; she is given the nickname "

Tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

Queen" due to her standoffish personality. During her junior-high school life, she was bullied constantly and even stayed home from school for a year because of it. It turns out that Yukisada's older brother, Nao, tutored her for her high school exams. Some of her classmates from her junior-high still attempt to tease her, though Yukisada does his best to encourage her and help rebuild her self-esteem. Due to this, Hiroka becomes quite attached to Yukisada and one day confesses her love to him; eventually, she shares her first kiss with Yukisada. Hiroka is also very good at cooking. ; : :Hachiya is the school nurse at Yukisada's high school. She encourages Hiroka and advises Hiroka and Yukisada about various things. Her nickname in school is . ; : :Shinichi is a good friend of Yukisada's and they have known each other since junior-high school at least, when Shinichi was the class representative of their class. One way or another, he is constantly worrying about his younger half-sister, Io. ; :Io is Shinichi's half-sister born from Shinichi's father and his mistress. Her mother enjoys trifling with the Takaura family's assets, which makes Io disdain her. Since her familial life is rather complicated, she has gone through different interests from reading books, to researching

black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 145 ...

, and even running a website dedicated to

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

. She is extremely disgusted by anything pertaining to love or attraction. She has a pet

Shiba Inu The is a breed of hunting dog from Japan. A small-to-medium breed, it is the smallest of the six original and distinct spitz breeds of dog native to Japan. Its name literally translates to "firewood dog". A small, alert, and agile dog that c ...

named Potato. ; :Reiko is Io's mother. Since she is Shinichi's father's mistress, she lives in their house. She constantly fights with members of the Takaura family and her daughter but has a surprisingly good relationship with Shinichi as she sees him as a good role model for Io. ; : :Nao is Yukisada's three-years-older brother. He has a sharp mind and spends much of his time at university. He also helps tutor Hiroka with her school work. In short, he is a very dependable older brother. He also constantly concerns himself with matters of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

. ; :Takayuki is Yukisada's three-years-younger brother. He enjoys playing sports and is popular with girls. During his sixth year of elementary school, he devotes much of his time to playing soccer. ; :Ritsuka is Komaki's classmate during their first year of high school. Like Komaki, she also has someone she likes and misses due to physical distance between them. She is the main character from the short side story "Himitsu Melancholy". ; :Yōko is the class representative of Yukisada's class during their first year of high school. She also appears in the short side story "Ohige Girls".

Media

Light novels

''Watashitachi no Tamura-kun'' began as two-volume series of

s written by

and drawn by Yasu. The novels are published by MediaWorks under their ''

'' publishing label. The first novel was released on June 10, 2005, and the second followed on September 10, 2005. The series comprises three main chapters and two extra

chapters; the first volume contains the first two main chapters and the first side story chapter, while the second volume contains the third main chapter and the second side story chapter. The first main chapter was serialized in the autumn 2004 edition of ''Dengeki hp Special'', a special edition version MediaWorks' now-defunct light novel magazine '' Dengeki hp''. The second main chapter was serialized in ''Dengeki hp'' between the 34th and 35th volumes. There were also a series of stories not collected into volumes. The first was a short story called "Watashitashi no Chō! Tamura-kun" which appeared in the November 2005 issue of the light novel anthology magazine ''Dengeki hPa''. Another called "Himitsu Melancholy" appeared in the ''Watashitashi no Tamura-kun First Fan Book'' which came bundled with the July 2006 issue of ''

''. The last was an additional story added to the

drama CD Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

named "Ohige Girls".

Manga

adaptation illustrated by Sachi Kurafuji was serialized in the Japanese shōnen

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

'' between May 27, 2006 and February 27, 2008, published by MediaWorks. The chapters were collected into four ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes published under MediaWorks'

Dengeki Comics is a manga publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) and is aimed at a male audience. Aside from the main Dengeki Comics label, there is the related Dengeki Comics EX label, which ...

imprint between December 16, 2006 and June 27, 2008.

Radio drama

based on the main story from the light novels aired on MediaWorks' radio program ''

Dengeki Taishō is a Japanese radio program broadcast by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Radio Osaka, and Tokai Radio Broadcasting which first aired in October 1994, and is produced by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). The program airs late at night on the ...

'' between December 23, 2006 and January 13, 2007 containing four episodes. The radio drama aired on three Japanese

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Nippon Cultural Broadcasting is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network (NRN) (the other station is ) and is a member of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History The ...

Radio Osaka is an AM radio station of National Radio Network (NRN) in Osaka, Japan, and it is known as "Radio Osaka (ラジオ大阪 ''Rajio Ōsaka'')". It is also a company of Sankei Shimbun Group in Fujisankei Communications Group. Radio Osaka starte ...

, and

Tokai Radio Broadcasting Tokai Radio Broadcasting. Company Limited (東海ラジオ放送株式会社) is a Japanese radio broadcasting company serving the areas of Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, and Mie Prefecture, owned by the Chunichi Shimbun Group. Network * NR ...

. The drama was later released as a two-disc

set on April 30, 2007; the drama is approximately ninety-five minutes in length. The CD package also contained an original short story written by the author of the novels named "Ohige Girls", two cell phone straps and

charms Charm may refer to: Social science * Charisma, a person or thing's pronounced ability to attract others * Superficial charm, flattery, telling people what they want to hear Science and technology * Charm quark, a type of elementary particle * Cha ...

each, and a computer desktop wallpaper accessible via the second CD.

References

External links

Dengeki Bunko's official website
{{Yuyuko Takemiya 2005 Japanese novels 2006 manga Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Comic Gao! Dengeki Comics Kadokawa Dwango franchises Light novels Romantic comedy anime and manga Shōnen manga