Tamayura ~hitotose~ – Episode 1 – How Everything Started…

Back in 2010 when the 4 episode Tamayura OVAs aired, the story felt somewhat incomplete from the lack of development of the other characters. Despite being short, the heartwarming feeling through its lighthearted story and gorgeous setting made the story really enjoyable.

With the first episode of Tamayura ~hitotose~, it retains the same aspects of the OVAs and expands on how Fuu got inspired to become a photographer and ultimately deciding to move back to the town of her childhood.

Following the short scene where Fuu takes pictures of her new friends, it was interesting to see how her plans instantaneously changed after middle school. Originally, she planned to attend the same high school her best friend, Chihiro planned to attend. From my first observation of Chihiro, she cries fairly a lot and uses plushies to cheer up. Despite her quirks, she is a very nice friend to her when Fuu decides to move and remains supportive of it. The mementos that she gives to her, especially the camera case she made gave an uplifting feeling. Hopefully, she will still remember her and perhaps come for a visit someday.

As shown previously, Ko finds the family album that their father kept, which motivates Fuu to continue her father’s dream of becoming the best photographer. While they show some of the pictures from the album on-screen, it brought a sense of nostalgia. This holds true with any family photos as it displays the happy memories that are frozen in time.  When her mother went through the stuff her husband left to find the camera for Fuu, this feeling became more apparent with the camera itself. It brings a remembrance of her father, something that other cameras cannot replicate.

Overall, I felt that this episode revealed a lot about Fuu’s love for her hobby that wasn’t explained before. Although it was saddening to say goodbye to her best friend, at least she finally reunites with her childhood friend, Kaoru that she haven’t seen in years. I also liked how she got a response back from Norie and given that ticket to nowhere after sending in one of her photos. Either way, I’m excited on how the expanded story of Tamayura will play out.

Word of warning: Do not post any spoilers from the first Tamayura series in the comments since there are many people who are watching this for the first time. If you must, please enclose them in the [spoiler] tags.