Tamayura: Hitose & Tari Tari

Number of Episodes: 12+OVA (Tamayura: Hitose) & 13 (Tari Tari)

What Wikipedia says: "Tamayura centers around a young girl named Fu Sawatari who moves to Takehara, Hiroshima to begin her first year of high school. Her late father grew up in Takehara and this is her first time back in the town in five years. Fu enjoys photography and is often engrossed with taking pictures with her father's old Rollei 35S film camera. A shy girl, Fu tries her best to make friends early on, spurred on by her childhood friend Kaoru Hanawa. She quickly becomes friends with two other girls, Maon Sakurada and Norie Okazaki."

"(Tari Tari) centers around five Japanese high school students who are too young to be called adults, but who no longer think of themselves as children. Wakana Sakai once took music lessons, but she withdrew from music after losing her mother. Konatsu Miyamoto is a positive-thinking girl who loves singing and spends time after school at the vocal music club. Sawa Okita is a spirited archery club member who dreams of becoming a horse rider. Taichi Tanaka is a chronically late badminton team member who lives with his college student sister. "Wien" just transferred into Wakana's class after 12 years abroad in Austria. Music brings Wakana, Konatsu, Sawa and the others together into an ensemble during their last summer in high school."

tTPO says:  These series share a bunch of similarities in that they are both school-based coming-of-age slice of life stories, have characters still coming to terms (in part) with dead parents, and that still manage to get a bit of a plot arc in there. The main difference is the younger age of the Tamayura cast (first year high school) compared with the Tari Tari cast (last year high school) and this is reflected in some of the challenges the characters face, and how they deal with them.  

Good qualities shared by both include generally unannoying characters (any annoyances tend to improve by later episodes) and good pacing. As each character arc came and went I did find myself caring which is important, because without that, a slice of life series can quickly become just tedious (much like Big Brother, though less embarassing). 

Another quality shared by both is the visuals. PA Works (producers of possibly the prettiest anime series ever Hanusaka Iroha) **almost** outdid themselves (was the budget just that little bit less?) with Tari Tari - the detail, lighting, reflections and textures are just gorgeous. Tamayura's animation is not quite as good but makes up for it with the photographic bent of the series leading to a bunch of brilliant images. 

Having said all of that, I now read other blogs have suggested Tari Tari feels like Hanusake Iroha crossed with Tamayura, and I don't think this is too far off the mark. +1 to that idea. If you like one, I think you will like both. 
 
How About the Music?: Tamayura had so many EDs I'm just going to ignore them. The OP though ("Okaerinasai" by Maaya Sakamoto) is just friggin' perfect with just the right amount of girliness, pretty melody and nostalgia. 

Tari Tari's OP ("Dreamer" by AiRI) on the other hand is VERY similar in feel to, yes you guessed it, Hanusake Iroha's. Different singer though but it seems pretty clear they were after the same thing. And while I make it sound bad it is not so much - the sing itself is a nice uptempo bit of melodic J-pop. The ED ("Shiokaze no Harmony" by Shirahamazaka High School Chorus Club) is more like some of the insert music, which while very appropriate to the series is a bit 'Broadway' for my tastes.

So how does it end? (Spoiler Free): Both of these series have their own (rather similar) conclusion but it worked well for each of them given the style of the series and the focus on personal growth. I have just read Tamayura: Hitose has been given a second season and given the younger age of the characters this was always a possbility. Tari Tari's ending was a bit more complete and did not leave much room for a follow up. I would not be expecting a sequel. 

Overall Grade: These series are short and to the point slice of life series with generally appealing characters dealing with their own issues. The animation is easy on the eye, and, by and large, fan service free. While not outstanding, these genre pieces have few real faults (except maybe the continuity issues of the disappearing headmaster at the end of Tari Tari). B for both.