Tama and Friends Forever

Tama and Friends Forever, known in Japan as 'Tama of Third Street: Do You Know My Tama? ~Friends Forever~' (3丁目のタマ うちのタマ知りませんか? ~Friends Forever~) is an anime series produced by MAPPA and Lapin Track. It is part of the Tama and Friends franchise created by Sony Creative Products. The series serves as a continuation of the 1994 Tama of Third Street anime.

The concept for a continuation of the original 1994 series originated from MAPPA founder Masao Maruyama, who wanted more Tama and Friends content. Although initially many staff members at the studio and at Lupin Track were in disagreement over how to properly continue the franchise, it was eventually decided that the 1994 series would be revived with new stories. In creating the series, MAPPA wanted to further explore the protagonist's relationships with his best friend Pochi and love interest Momo, and also wanted to explore the relationship between Tama and Momo's respective owners Takashi and Emi. The music was composed by Hideyuki Fukasawa, Yuki Kajiura, and NUMBER 201. The series was first announced in early 2024. Its 26 episodes were divided into two seasons that aired on Fuji TV from October 4 to December 27, 2024, and April 4 to June 27, 2025, respectively. The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray in both Japanese and English speaking territories in 2015.

Tama and Friends Forever was one of the most anticipated anime of the end of 2024, following from the general popularity of the Tama and Friends franchise in Japan and the success of MAPPA's previous series, ''Uchitama?! Have You Seen My Tama?''. Upon release, it received highly positive reviews from critics, who directed particular praise towards the writing of Tama and other characters as well as the visually striking animation. It was a major commercial success in Japan, having multiple top-selling home media releases and being the winner of multiple awards from the magazine Newtype.

Release
The series was first announced in early 2024, and official announcements about its cast and storyline were made in July 2014. The anime was jointly produced by Aniplex, Lapin Track, and Mappa, the same studios that co-produced the 2020 series Uchitama: Have You Seen My Tama. It was directed by Sunghoo Park (Jujutsu Kaisen), with music composed by Hideyuki Fukasawa; original human character designs by Ume Aoki (Hidamari Sketch, Puella Magi Madoka Magica); and art, 3D, and photography directions by Koji Eto, Kōjirō Shishido, and Yuichi Terao, respectively. The first half of the series ran on Fuji TV from October 4 to December 27, 2024, and the second half ran from April 4 to June 27, 2025. An advanced screening online premiered on September 28, 2024, in several countries across the world, including Japan, the United States, France, Germany and South Korea. In Japan, the series was collected in a total of eleven DVD volumes, which were released from November 26, 2024, to September 30, 2025. Two compilation Blu-ray disks were also released. The first disk containing the first season was released on March 25, 2015. The second disk was released on October 7, 2015.

Aniplex of America acquired streaming and home video rights to the 2024 series for North America. They released an English dub for the first half of the series on DVD and limited Blu-ray Disc on August 25, 2015. A ten-minute original video animation episode, titled Tama's Scary Story, was included with the Blu-ray release for the second half of the series, which was released on October 7, 2025. The episode was a remake of an episode of the same name in the second 1993 OVA.

To promote the anime, Tama, Pochi, Momo and Tora were added to the smartphone game Magia Record - based on the Madoka Magica franchise. Another smartphone game, Fate/Grand Order, was used to promote the anime as well.

Music
''Tama of Third Street: Do You Know My Tama? ~Friends Forever~ Original Soundtrack I'' was composed, arranged and produced by Hideyuki Fukasawa, Yuki Kajiura, and NUMBER 201. The first season opening theme was a cover of Yumi Tanimura's "Aiwa Genki Desu" - a returning theme from the 1993 OVA - by ClariS and the ending theme was "Zutto Tomadachi" by LiSA. Kana Asumi performed the opening theme of the second season, "Forever Love" while the ending theme, "Ringing Bell" was performed by LiSA. A remix of "Ringing Bell", was used as the ending theme for episode 15. Aimer re-recorded her song "Kataomoi", which was used as an insert song for episode 20. ClariS performed their own cover of Yumi Tanimura's "Genki Dashite yo", a returning theme from the 1994 TV anime, which was used throughout the series. The album was first released in Japan on March 25, 2025, by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), with catalog number ANZX-11636, and was re-released as part of the North American Limited Edition Blu-Ray box set on August 25, 2015.

Originally, the series' second opening theme was intended to be a re-recorded version of Kataomoi, composed by Aimer. However, the staff did not find it fitting for the video's sequences and instead used Kana Asumi's "Forever Love".

There were more than 400 compositions created for the entire ~Friends Forever~ soundtrack. This significantly exceeded the average figure for a 24 episode anime series, which normally range around 40-50 tracks. As a retrospective scene accompaniment, two revised compositions by Tom-H@ck from the Uchitama?! series were used.