[12 days] Day 11: Tamayura ~hitotose~ is ARIA’s successor

A year ago, I wrote about the Tamayura OVA, wishing for a longer series. Our wishes were granted with Tamayura ~hitotose~, with most of the staff and even most of the voice actors from ARIA working on the new Fall 2011 anime. Tamayura joins the prestigious ranks of my ARIA and Sketchbook ~full colors~ as top tier iyashikei anime.

Hitotose picks up where the OVA left off, following the daily lives of the girls and it delivers a heartwarming experience with every episode. While Tamayura’s OVA was about finding the location of the picture that Fu Sawatari’s father took, the theme of Tamayura ~hitotose~ however, is “finding yourself.” Explored through the course of the series, each girl finds the path in life that they want to pursue. Near the end of the series the girls plan to hold an “ourselves expo” where they showcase each their own talents.

I think my favorite character is Maon. At first glance she’s a very shy girl who doesn’t speak much. In some scenes her communication is entirely done through whistling. In episode 6, we see that as a young girl, she discovered her talent of whistling. We also see that she’s interested in storytelling, but isn’t so confident in her abilities. By episode 11, now in the present, Maon decides that for her ourselves expo, she wants to recite a story that she wrote and gets the courage to do it in front of her friends, her family, and the guests of the inn that her parents run. This overcoming of her shyness was something that I admired about her.

Also we cannot forget the most adorable moment in the entire series.

2011 was a great year to be a fan of anime. We had the thrill rides of Madoka and Steins;Gate. Nichijou was the non-stop barrage of laughs. But because of the way it brought the same relaxing atmosphere and a story largely driven by character interactions, I am ready to declare that Tamayura ~hitotose~ is my favorite anime of the year.