[First Impressions] Tamayura

HAI ppl

Yawn, so sleepy now. Next up this season is Tamayura, a slice of life directed by Satou Junichi, director of Aria and Umi Monogatari, so if you wanted a nice peaceful series, this will not disappoint…

First off, the whole entire episode just radiates peacefulness. Everything form the opening, to the characters interactions, to the jokes, to the ending exemplify a serene atmosphere. If you want an anime to make you burst out laughing or keep you drawn to the screen at all times, avoid Tamayura for your own personal benefit(unless you want to fall asleep).

Tamayura takes place at Seto Inland Sea and shows the daily life of Fu Sawatari, a girl who lost her father 5 yrs ago.  When Fu’s father died, he left behind his camera as a memento, so to spread the gentle thoughts Fu had while with her father, Fu continues to do photography to touch the hearts of others.

As you can guess from the synopsis, Tamayura is a light and cheery story about the healing of hearts. There are no signs of tension or drama. You will only see the everyday interactions of Fu Sawatari, probably not everyone’s cup of tea. For example, watching people overreact at loading film into a camera was definitely not a form of entertainment to me, but I am sure this light humor does appeal to others.

To compliment the serene environment, the animation for this series has moe characters in an idealized simple city. Like many other series that use moe appeal, Tamayura has plenty of close-ups and hand drawn facial poses(the eyes and mouths look like they were drawn in instead of trying to be  realistic). To further add to the moe appeal, the animators have a few chibi characters appear on the screen. Besides the moe characters, the series focuses a lot on photography, so the backgrounds for the series are usually empty devoid of objects that would characterize a busy environment. Instead, there are numerous detailed shots of buildings, places, and other forms of architecture in soft and balanced lighting.  Since photography is not just about architecture but also small details, Tamayura’s animation also depicts the details in plants, clothing, accessories, and even food. The overall effect of each aspect of the show does a decent job in painting a tranquil island environment.

To further enhance the show’s purpose, the music for this series also perpetuates the never-ending calmness of the rest of the show. Even during the loudest parts of the song, the op is quite soft. The ed is slightly louder in the instrument department but the singer is so quiet. As for the rest of the episode you hear some calming violins broken by a few higher pitch whistles when the show is trying to be humorous, but even at the most humorous parts in the show, the music just seems so calm.

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Technical Rating: 3/5 (Rating that rates a show/episode based on how it does in animation, story, music, etc.)

Personal Rating: 1/5 (Rating that reflects on my what was my personal enjoyment of the show/episode)

There is nothing really wrong with the series, but there is also nothing that really attracts me to this series either. I would only recommend for you to watch this if you want to watch something peaceful. Otherwise, this show will put you to sleep.

Forgot to say this. If you need a cure to insomnia, this series will probably work wonders.

Note: I had to watch the 15 minute episode in 2 separate sessions to keep myself awake.