Tamayura: More Aggressive – 12 (Fin)

Potte’s camera shutter breaks, so she has to surrender it to Maestro for repairs. She’s unable to take pictures of the Doll festival or with Kanae, who got into college and is back to taking pictures. The next day while Kaoru, Norie and Maon are off doing their own thing, Potte stays at home sorting her photos until her mom suggests they take a ride on her motorcycle. She takes Potte to Okunoshima and the spot where her dad proposed to her mom. There, her mom gives her a tearful thanks for being her daughter, and Potte thanks her in return. When they return home, the others are waiting for her. At Mitani’s commencement, Potte thanks her for joining the club and calling her president. Potte picks up her fixed camera, ready to take pictures during the Spring Break.

It’s something of a marvel that Potte’s old camera never had any problems before, but it’s an interesting move to shake things up by taking her camera away for most of the final episode. Her mom was never a photog, and when she sees that Potte’s just holed up in the house, she gets her out into the air to experience something without a camera for once; to see things with her naked eyes instead of through a viewfinder. In the last couple years, she’s seen her daughter grow an incredible amount and aggressively walk forward on her own two feet. She feels that both she and her daughter were ready to go to that spot where it all began: where her husband proposed, and led to the creation of the loving family that still endures and thrives even after his untimely passing.

Like last week as Kanae’s story was wrapped up and she gathered the courage to keep walking towards her future, this final episode was full of heartrending moments, and its characters aren’t afraid to tear up from the kindness of each others’ words towards one another. Throughout its run, this was a show that was full of love and its daily role in life. The love came in many forms, from Potte and Kanae’s love of photography, to the friends’ love of one another, to Norie and Komachi’s love of Kou, to Potte’s love of her father. The more she learned about the person he was and the live he lived, the more inspired she got to live up to his example. But as she’s a product of both dad and mom, Potte won’t necessarily live every great moment of her life to come through a viewfinder. Sometimes the camera breaks…and it’s okay.

Rating: 8 (Great)