IMHO. 'Tamayura' ~ OVA, 2 TV series and specials, totally made of kindness

When I first watched 'Tamayura hitotose', it was just a short series for relaxed entertainment. What I didn't expect is that by the end it would turn out into such a wonderful coming of age story with the characters so deep and the story so full.

Speaking coolly, I can say 'Tamayura' is a great source for learners of the Japanese language and culture. It brings out many important aspects of the Japanese society such as taking bath together with friends and family members, even if they happen to be of the opposite sex:

gratitude and respect towards parents and relatives:

proper attitude to serving the clients:

and the importance of supporting and inheriting the family business:

But the main idea of 'Tamayura' is that this world is entirely made of kindness. To an unprepared person it will seem saccharine sweet. Especially if today in the morning you had to make your way into the bus with your elbows lest you fail to secure a seat in the bus. Especially when a couple of days ago another suicide bomber killed a dozen of people in some country.

The idea of total kindness and happiness appears the very moment 'Tamayura' starts and does not leave the screen even for a second. Happiness is everywhere, in the head:

in drawings:

 in photos and memories:

 in sweets:

 in fairytales:

Next time you worry about entering a new collective, try to whistle.
Okay, just a bit more happiness

 aaaaand

However, after watching lazily the first episodes about peaceful everyday life of several teenage girls eating desserts and having fun, I gradually noticed myself taking one by one paper tissues to wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks. By the last episode of the specials, I realised how grave the issues in the story had become, and how realistic the way the girls were dealing with them was. If some stories may be called 'bittersweet', this one I would call sweet-bitter, in the order of appearance.

graphics

If the first episodes may be simpler in terms of shapes and details of different things including faces, the last specials change very much adding even more lustre to everything. However the backgrounds were gorgeous from the very beginning. That wonderful ability to create beauty in everyday life and notice beauty in ordinary things is probably something I respect the most in Japanese.

music

If there must be a fly in the ointment, it will be music in 'Tamayura'. While the background melodies were good and always fitting the situations, the OPEDs were extremely weak expressing nothing in particular, being just average tender songs performed by average singers. The best songs in all 'Tamayura' parts were 'Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara' and 'Sotsugyou shashin', both performed by Sakamoto Maaya with her soft voice, but both being songs of the legendary Matsutoya Yumi. Which proves her legendary-ness once again.

voice acting

Since seiyuus with soft voices will never cease to exist in Japan, there will never be a problem to find proper seiyuus for cute teenagers in Japan. However, I can probably say I am completely satisfied with the performance of the 'Tamayura' crew.

conclusion

As for me, I would never agree that living on memories is enough. Memories will not bring you a cup of hot tea when you catch a cold, will not fill your stomach when you're hungry and will not hug you when you feel blue. However, there's no argument to the fact that just being near each other is not enough. The saddest thing is that not everyone of us is blessed to live in the world similar to that of Fuu - a world full of kindness and of people who would welcome her back whenever she wants to return.

p. s.

and a tint of humour just enough for the story not to become too serious. A funny PE teacher:

 mom's old friends from a biker club:

 and his majesty the Pink Cat

One Off ~ one off...

while watching I had several ideas how to start my post. I could start it like this...

plot and characters

variant #1

if you want to ask me what are the main points of this anime. here they are! 1. Sato-sama as the director, 2. young student as the main heroine, and 3. mopeds - the three key elements of 'One Off' which only combined together produce a wonderful effect like this

variant #2

this OVA goes slightly overboard with ads, does it not?

however, I do not particularly care!

variant #3

this is a very short piece, and thus it cannot discover an America for us in an hour. however it manages to reaffirm one important idea

variant #4

being a typical TYO creation with an obvious school-everyday-slice-of-life air, 'One Off' can only describe a few relationship, but this does not mean those relationship were not worthy of attention

graphics

variant #5

extremely beautiful small town in the mountains. this anime stroke me with its beauty from the very beginning

and I just could not tear myself from admiring the views again and again, mesmerised

seiyuus

music

variant #6

since I am lazy, and there is nothing special to describe, I would name these two aspects as 'good'. however, this 'good' is not 'satisfactory', 'tis closer to 'really good, with a special atmosphere'. it could not be otherwise, huh? a company of 4 cute girls, including KitaEri, plus Kobayashi Yuu with her very special timbre. OPEDs are so in style that I recognised at once the special mood of Round Table and Nino's cute vocals. naisu waaku! ~ or so Cynthia would say

conclusion

fans of Tamayura would probably enjoy it the most. I enjoyed it, too, but on the other hand, I cannot exaggerate One Off's impression on me. 'twas nice. that's all

my humble opinion on 'Pretear' ~ both anime and manga

Should I not admit that ‘tis completely childish and plain? Oh, should I not face the truth?

Still, I do not care a single bit. Yes, it might be an unsuitable thing to watch when you are 20 years old, and ‘tis not as if I never watched such things, so I cannot even explain myself by trying to prove I was only going to ‘broaden m horizons’. I know many seiyuus as well as the director and the studio, so it would not go that easy if I said I was going to risk and try something new

Fascinating!

So simple and still so deep, so unsophisticated, and still so touching…

Yes, completely unsuitable for an adult! And I am not one, by the way ^_~

I was watching the series as if I were still a 10 years old girl. You know, the director was the same one who created BSSM and Aria. The tricks and plot developments were the same as in the 90s mahout-shoujos. The characters, the clothing, the lines and intonations, everything was for little girls who still believe in miracles, but everything was so sincere and so serious…

The music

was splendid as well. I missed so much, those cute melodies for everyday life, those funny ones for comedy episodes, those heroic ones for henshin and battles, those sad ones for tragic moments… I am in love with the OST, completely

The seiyuus

as well. Some of them were the ones I already knew very well, some were the new for me, but all of them had completely standard voices for a shoujo, but that ‘standardness’ was not boring, ‘twas what I would call ‘classics’. Yep, no surprises, but great quality instead. For example, Hayate’s seiyuu was Toriumi-san, who voiced Lantis, and Himeno’s voice sounded quite close to that of Hikaru, especially in the ending song. I believe ‘tis not a coincidence ^.^

the manga

was one of the most strange things I have ever read. Chapters 1-16 were marvellous and I enjoyed them every second I was reading, as the plot was quite different, and a lot of new developments were present, and in general the story seemed more… profound?

Then comes the 17^th chapter and brings a complete mess into the stable pace of the manga. Though we have serious matters which were not present in the anime, we simply have no time to enjoy or to feel sad about them. Neither the death of one of the knights, nor the personal feelings of the main characters, including both Himeno’s family and Takako, and Sasame as well, nothing had the effect of the sharp pain as if a knife was stabbed into your heart, which was in the anime. The romantic scenes from the anime were absent as well, and though we had some substitutes in the beginning and in the middle which were very promising, the finishing chapters of manga lacked them greatly. Suddenly we have a huge disaster, but only 2 pages to understand it. We have romance problems, but only a few lines to guess about that. We have a complicated family relationship, but only several times ‘tis mentioned. Suddenly we face death, despair, tears, rescuing and resurrection, but…  o____O only in two chapters???

Remember that manga was the original piece, and everything we have in the anime is ‘added’, and anime is the ‘improved’ version of the manga. Therefore, I should admit I was quite happy to see the messy ending being changed into a normal shoujo finale, with morals, with love winning over hate, with everyone safe and sound and happy and friendly and loving and caring, and what is the most important – every adjective I used right now is completely explainable and realistic, under the circumstances provided in the anime. The manga chapters 17-19 were unfortunately devoid of that kind of basis… which was a huge disappointment

Well, we can assume the authors were in a hurry or something prevented them from following the normal idea to the very end… at least, I hope so

Still, the graphics

was not as if we could complain about it. The lines and the colouring were very professional, the style looking somewhat of a CLAMPish, but different and recognizable, at the same time

unfortunately, HAL faced some obvious problems with graphics at the period, so the anime graphics was a complete opposite, just a failure. I wonder how HAL managed to find or train its artists in such a short period of time before they created Aria, because Aria was perfect…

conclusion

like a balm to the soul, tired of pop and longing for classics. I am sad about the fact I have already finished it...

p. s.
I was wondering for a long time whether Kei was voiced by a female seiyuu or not... well, some changes in the way characters look are good to make anime different from manga and thus, interesting... but this change o___O