is a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series written and directed by

Junichi Sato is a Japanese anime director, best known for working on '' shōjo''-based anime and in the magical girl genre. He was formerly associated with TYO Animations (formerly Hal Film Maker). Born in Ama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, his first major ...

. The initial four-episode

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA ...

(OVA) series was produced by

Hal Film Maker was a Japanese animation studio founded in August 1993 by former Toei Animation staff. Hal Film Maker's parent company, TYO Inc., merged its two anime studio subsidiaries—Yumeta Company , known as from 2009 to 2017, is a Japanese animatio ...

and released over two

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

and DVD volumes in November and December 2010. A 12-episode

television series produced by TYO Animations, titled ''Tamayura: Hitotose'', aired in Japan between October and December 2011. A second TV anime season, ''Tamayura: More Aggressive'', aired between July and September 2013. A four-part animated film series, ''Tamayura: Sotsugyō Shashin'', was released between April 4, 2015 and April 6, 2016. Two

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 ...

adaptations illustrated by Momo have been published by Mag Garden.

Plot

''Tamayura'' centers around a young girl named Fū Sawatari who moves to

Takehara, Hiroshima is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on November 3, 1958. As of 2016, the city has an estimated population of 26,035 and a population density of 220 persons per km2. The total area is 118.30&nb ...

to begin her first year of high school. Her late father grew up in Takehara and this is her first time back in the town in five years. Fū enjoys photography and is often engrossed with taking pictures with her father's old

Rollei 35 S __NOTOC__ The Rollei 35 S is a compact 35 mm film cameraSee "Rollei 35 S with 35 mm film" photo, top right designed by Heinz Waaske and made by the German camera maker Rollei, in their Singapore factory. It uses a Zeiss ...

film camera. A shy girl, Fū tries her best to make friends early on, spurred on by her childhood friend Kaoru Hanawa. She quickly becomes friends with two other girls, Maon Sakurada and Norie Okazaki. After a year has passed, Fū forms a photography club and meets fellow photographer Kanae Mitani.

Characters

Main characters

; : :A high school girl with a love of photography. She uses a

Rollei 35S __NOTOC__ The Rollei 35 S is a compact 35 mm film cameraSee "Rollei 35 S with 35 mm film" photo, top right designed by Heinz Waaske and made by the German camera maker Rollei, in their Singapore factory. It uses a Zeiss ...

camera passed on to her by her late father and is particularly interested in finding pictures containing specks of lights which she refers to as 'Tamayura'. She is a little clumsy and often trips and falls while trying to find the perfect shot. She has a habit of adding 'na no de' to her sentences. She especially likes to try to photograph Momoneko, a cat in the neighborhood. Her friends call her after the noise she makes when she nervously walks. ; : :Fū's childhood friend who used to play with her back when Fū first lived in Takehara. Her reddish-brown hair is styled in a ponytail. She has a self-proclaimed 'smell fetish', taking interest in all sorts of smells, and her hobby is making various blends of

pot pourri Potpourri ( ) is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl. The word "potpourri" comes into English from the French ...

. She has not decided on that for a career though. ; : :A somewhat quiet girl who prefers to just whistle in her conversations. ; : :An excitable girl with light brown hair and

twin tail A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...

s. She is infatuated with Fū's little brother, Kou. She enjoys making various sweets and cakes, and thinks about becoming a patissiere. ; : :Introduced in ''Tamayura: More Aggressive''. A local girl who is Fū's senior in high school, who joins her photography club. Like Fū, she also enjoys photography and uses a

Pentax Q The Pentax Q is a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera introduced by Pentax on June 23, 2011. Characteristics Introduced as "The world's smallest interchangeable lens system camera…" The Pentax Q system is composed of four bodies (Q, Q10, Q-7 ...

camera.

Family members

; : :Fū's little brother, who is sometimes mistaken for a girl. He is the one who rekindled Fū's love of photography following their father's death. ; : :Fū and Kou's mother who decided to move to Takehara after Fū expressed a desire to return there. She works in her mother's café, often trying out new recipes. ; : :Fū and Kou's grandmother who runs a café where Fū and her family live. ; :Fū's father, who died before the start of the story. ; : :Kaoru's older sister and the one who gave Fū her nickname. Her hobby is exploring small, undiscovered places and she often takes Fū and her friends on lengthy trips.

Supporting characters

; : :A professional photographer who took an interest in Fū after she sent her some of her photos. She gave Fū a train ticket with no destination, which is a symbol of the direction one wants to take in life. ; : :Fū's middle school friend during her time in Shioiri, who nicknames her "Fū-nyon". She often makes various stuffed animals and often cries easily. She made the cat shaped camera case that Fū keeps her father's camera in. ; : :The owner of a photo shop who is skilled with cameras and often flirts with female customers. ; : :The owner of the Hoboro

okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients (mixed, or as toppings) cooked on a '' teppan'' (flat griddle). Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include ''okonomiyaki' ...

store, who is affectionately known as Hoboro-san. She is quite passionate about making okonomiyaki. ; : :Fū's homeroom teacher who is quite passionate and often makes puns based on place names. He has a crush on Chimo and eventually marries her. ; : :Kou's classmate who has a crush on him, sporting a rivalry against Norie for Kou's affections. ; : :A new teacher at Fū's school who becomes the advisor of her photography club. She is also quite excitable and often tries to get Fū and Kanae to enter various contests. ; : :Chihiro's friend and classmate, who helps her design characters based on her ideas. She speaks in a

kansai dialect The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, is the common name and it is called in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as , and were particularly referred to as ...

and gets over-excited when something piques her interest. ; : :A strange, pink, fluffy cat that Fū is always trying to take pictures of, but can never get a good shot. ; : :A freshman who joins the Photography Club in ''Sotsugyou Shashin''. She is rather aggressive and is sometimes invasive with her photography. ; : :Takumi's friend who also joins the Photography Club. She is rather shy.

Media

Manga

adaptation titled ''Tamayura'', illustrated by Momo, was serialized in Mag Garden's online ''Eden'' magazine between October 8, 2010 and March 11, 2011. A single ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volume was released on May 14, 2011. A second manga adaptation titled ''Tamayura: Hitotose'', again illustrated by Momo, was serialized in ''Eden'' between October 5, 2011 and January 20, 2013. Three volumes were released between February 14, 2012 and February 14, 2013.

Anime

''Tamayura'' was first produced as a four-episode

(OVA) series produced by

and directed by

. The episodes were released over two

(BD) and DVD volumes on November 26 and December 23, 2010. Each episode is about 15 minutes long and is combined in a single video in two parts: the first two episodes in volume one, and the latter two episodes in volume two. The episodes had previously aired on AT-X between September 6 and December 6, 2010. A 12-episode

television series based on the OVAs titled aired in Japan between October 3 and December 19, 2011. The TV series is produced by TYO Animations and directed by Junichi Sato. The TV series is being released on seven BD/DVD compilation volumes between December 21, 2011 and June 27, 2012. A 13th episode for ''Tamayura: Hitotose'', which takes place between episodes five and six, was released on the final BD/DVD volume.

Nozomi Entertainment Right Stuf Inc. (formerly known as The Right Stuf International Inc.) is an American video publisher and distributor of video programming that specializes in Asian entertainment (anime and live action films). The company since 2022 is owned by ...

released both the OVA series and ''Hitotose'' in North America on October 6, 2015 via distributor Right Stuf Inc. A 12-episode second season, titled , aired on AT-X between July 3 and September 18, 2013. An OVA episode was released on June 14, 2014.
A four-part animated film series, titled , covers the final year of the story. The first of these films was released in Japanese theaters on April 4, 2015, with the second film released on August 29, 2015, the third film released on November 28, 2015, and the fourth and final film released on April 2, 2016.

Music

;Opening themes * by

Maaya Sakamoto Maaya may refer to: * Maaya (given name) Maaya (written: 真綾 or 真礼) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese singer-songwriter, actress and voice actress *, Japanese actress and voice actress *, ...

(OVA) * by Toshiyuki Mori (Hitotose) * by Maaya Sakamoto (More Aggressive) ;Ending themes * by

Megumi Nakajima is a Japanese voice actress and singer, who is affiliated with Stay Luck. Her involvement in the entertainment industry began in 2003 when she participated in an audition held by the talent agency Stardust Promotion, becoming affiliated with the ...

(OVA, eps 1-3) * by Megumi Nakajima (OVA, ep 4) * by Megumi Nakajima (Hitotose, eps 1, 3-6, 8-10) * by Megumi Nakajima (Hitotose, ep 2) * by Megumi Nakajima (Hitotose, ep 7) * by

Ayana Taketatsu is a Japanese voice actress and singer.Doi, Hitoshi"Taketatsu Ayana" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011. Biography She attended Nihon Narration Engi Kenkyujo, a voice actor training school before becoming affili ...

Kana Asumi is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and a former member of the girl group Lisp. Career She worked for Voice & Heart until 2007 and has worked for 81 Produce since 2008. She won the Best Lead Actress Award in the 7th Seiyu Awards. Pers ...

, Yuko Gibu and Yuka Iguchi (Hitotose, ep 11) *"A Happy New Year" by Maaya Sakamoto (Hitotose, ep 12) * by Natsumi Kiyoura (Hitotose, ep 5.5) * by Megumi Nakajima (More Aggressive, ep 1-10) * by Megumi Nakajima (More Aggressive, ep 11) * by Haruka Chisuga (More Aggressive, ep 12) ;Insert songs * by Megumi Nakajima (OVA, ep 2-3) * by

Marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

(Hitotose, ep 4) * by Ayana Taketatsu (Hitotose, ep 5) * by Yuko Gibu and Yuka Iguchi (Hitotose, ep 6) * by Megumi Nakajima (Hitotose, ep 9) * by

Yukari Fukui is a Japanese actress, voice actress and gravure idol known by the nickname in Japan. Filmography Anime *'' 7 of Seven'' as Nanarin *'' Dragonaut -The Resonance-'' as Saki Kurata *''Gundam Reconguista in G'' as Raraiya Monday *'' Highsch ...

(Hitotose, ep 9-10) * by Kana Asumi (Hitotose, ep 10) * by Marble (More Aggressive, ep 7) * by Toshiyuki Mori (More Aggressive, ep 8) * by Megumi Nakajima (More Aggressive, ep 9) * by Marble (More Aggressive, ep 10)

References

External links

Official website
* {{Yumeta Company 2010 anime OVAs 2010 manga 2011 anime television series debuts 2011 manga 2012 anime OVAs 2015 anime films Anime with original screenplays Animated films based on animated series Animated films based on manga Hal Film Maker Iyashikei anime and manga Mag Garden manga Manga adapted into films Shōnen manga Yumeta Company