Let me get the glaze out of the way here. I think this is a great installment in a great franchise. I believe that thoughtfully watching Tamayura makes you a better person in a way most media never could… And I believe it has changed the way I look at the passage of time and the beauty of human relationships. This is an all time great anime. Kay its out of my system. In this film, we primarily follow Norie and Kao through their struggles with choosing a career path and the film sets up a clever dichotomy with how the two deal with the situationdeepening their characterization. At first I wasn't very amused by the somewhat contrived and melodramatic reaction Norie had to her brothers comments about how she should no longer be a chef. It just seemed like it would so clearly resolve soon, and it did. I didn't especially enjoy it at first, but I will say it highlighted a subtle emotional immaturity within Norie we haven’t quite seen before. Being the most upfront with her emotions, she tends to identify and solve problems very quickly. Norie naturally possesses an underlying sense of confidence many of the other girls don't have, but it leads to her being headstrong to (a bit of) a fault. She picks a direction and sticks with it, because she's not the type of person to let doubt creep into her mind. That's why she makes the inappropriate comments she does, the constant jokes that aren't always that funny, and the aggressive decisions to call out her friends for their hangups. She's a good natured person who genuinely wants to help others and make them happy in the moment. We just saw here how fragile that personality can be, and the importance of supporting people like this when they choose altruism. It emphasizes the role of a thoughtful support system and helping catch these especially ambitious and proactive people if they do fall down, without demanding that they sacrifice too much self assuredness. It takes all kinds of personality types to make up a truly worthwhile community, and I enjoy how Tamayura emphasizes this through its solutions to each problem.

Norie has passion for cooking because she loves to put smiles on peoples faces. Baking is a way for her to directly inject her sacarin optimism into everyone around her. She is a room brightener in the truest sense of the word who cares deeply about others. Kao is also a radically empathetic and naturally altruistic person who enjoys making other people smile, but her journey in this movie is so distinct. She's much more of a perfectionist, and likes to coordinate longer term projects which allow for her to more precisely control every variable. She seems to blend into the background a lot, but is almost always ruminating on some plan to make the girls happy and create memories. In that sense, she's much like her sister, albeit less impulsive and trusting. She is the type of person who's gonna struggle much more than Norie in terms of deciding her career path, needing to deeply think it through. The inspiration she ultimately finds comes from seeing a wedding organizer in action though. It’s a moment that comes out of nowhere and beautifully ties back into one of the main themes of this series: the serendipity of life and how we all ought to pursue it. The more times you go out interact the world the more chances there are to fall in love with something… and as we can see by the surprise marriage in this movie….. Love is blind. Ostensibly deaf and stupid too. It takes much longer than for the other girls, but she has faith in the process, and finds her passion all the same.

One thing I realized from this installment is that all four of our main girls here are artists. Fuu expresses her appreciation for life through photographs, Maon uses storytelling for her expression, Norie uses pastries, and Kao uses… people. I see Kao as a “people artist” because her main skill is organizing social events the allow for people to make unforgettable memories. Her goal in life is to help other people have their big moments and see them grow. She cares about people being happy in the short term but overall has a more guiding, almost parental and detached sense of altruism. This is unlike Norie who forms communion and shared experience through her cooking. Kao merely seeks to amplify the personal moments of those around her and thats where they differ. Norie seems to have a hard time understanding Kao despite being so emotionally intelligent and it is because Kao is so willing to blend into the background. They are both crucial to the group dynamic in their own way though, with Norie frequently roping Kao in to banter so she never feels like an outsider.

I also briefly wanna contrast Kao’s perfectionism and penchant for overthinking with Fuu’s. Fuu low key has separation anxiety and a fear of letting moments slip away. She is frequently in her own head before making a big decision, because she oftentimes lets the shear amount of possibilities to consider overwhelm her. (Hence the importance of her “destinationless” ticket). Kao on the other hand, thrives in her own space. Sure she has her struggles deciding what she wants to do, but overall her ability to be alone with herself might be her greatest strength. She’s so good at being rational and detaching herself from her own perspective, which is why it’s so important she has a friend like Norie to constantly make sure she feels included in the group.

Overall, this movie is a great installment in a great series which served to further flesh out and develop Fuu’s friends. I’m excited to see what the future has in store for Maon and the others!