Synopsis: The sweet, charming, slice-of-life happiness continues in Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ episode 2. Potte officially submits the paperwork to start the Photography Club, but will she be able to handle the duties of a club president? Also, the winner in the “high school” division of a magazine photo contest has a picture of Potte from the festival the previous year? Does that mean that there is another high school photographer in Takahara? Maybe she goes to another school and is in the photography club there? Potte would like to find out.
Impressions and Episode highlights: The new season of Tamayura is just as much fun as the previous entries in the franchise. Keeping with tradition, the OP and ED are excellent tunes with heartfelt lyrics and brimming with emotion. The ED in particular, which features what appear to be Potte’s memories of her father cheering her up by taking pictures of a “Dippy Bird”, is a masterpiece of emotional music video making. The single tear that Potte sheds is massively effective, especially when combined with the lovely smile at the end.
Inside the OP and ED, it is all still top quality slice-of-life storytelling, with beautiful art, wonderful writing, a touch of effective humor here and there, and a strong emotional center that leaves the viewer with a happy, but slightly melancholy wistfulness that just makes you feel like the world is an OK place to be. That is the true strength of Tamayura. It makes you feel nostalgic and optimistic, happy and thoughtful, and sad but hopeful, sometimes all at the same time. In what I hope continues to be a weekly feature, there was another phone call with Chihiro this week, this time with Potte talking with her best friend from the mainland on the phone and getting encouragement to forge ahead with her photography club, despite her fear of taking the responsibility of “club president” upon herself.
The major developments in the story this week are Potte submitting her application to form a photography club and having it accepted and the discovery of another high school aged photographer in their school. Komachi, Kou’s elementary school friend, shows the girls a magazine article about a 
photography contest. What she really wants to show them is the photo of Kou that she entered and got honorable mention for, but she starts with the bigger surprise: a picture of Potte that is the winner in the high school division, taken by a high school girl named Kanai Mitani. It was taken at the festival featured in Tamayura: Hitotose and is really a great photo. It even has Tamayura in it! Potte wonders if she goes to another high school in the area? If so, is she in a photography club? It is clear that Potte feels a little intimidated by it.
The real highlight this week was a section with the camera store owner reminiscing about when he and Potte’s father were in high school together and the friend of theirs who was into entering photography contests and was the person that really got Potte’s father interested in photography. He tells them that 
her father never wanted to enter his pictures in competitions and he only took pictures of normal, everyday things, but his pictures always made people feel good. The shop owner tells them that he liked the photography of both of his high school friends, just like he likes Fu’s photos now.
Once her club is approved, Potte meets her club advisor, Shimokamiyama-sensei, a new teacher who appears to be almost as much of an airhead as Potte. She shows her the club room and Potte asks her if there is another high school in Takahara that has a photography club. When she asks why, Potte shows her the magazine article and photo. Sensei recognizes the girls name, she is a third year student at their high school! Now Potte is even more worried. What if she is offended that Potte, who is a less accomplished photographer, started up a photography club?
Then Potte has to do the unthinkable – attend a student council meeting for club presidents! After an embarrassing display of typical Potte flustered-ness, she settles into her new role as club president. The other girls are all trying to figure out how they can support Potte without encroaching on her desire to make the photography club work on her own, but they decide that just hanging out in the photography club’s room should be fine.
The episode ends with a girl coming in to ask about the club: Kanai Mitani, the photo contest winner. (And one of the best character designs in the show. Soooooo cute!)
Slideshow of screenshots from Episode 2:
