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 and Friends 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, ''Uchi Tama?! Have You Seen My Tama?'', while the characters for the animals were designed by Mai Otsuka. 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.

Plot
The show continues where the 1994 series left off. Tama, an energetic cat who always wants to go on new adventures, has closer relationships with his friends. Meanwhile, his owner Takeshi is now in middle school, and is now developing a romantic relationship with Emi - Momo's owner. Stories told in the new series contain themes such as friendship, empathy, responding to disasters (the 2011 earthquake and tsunami), the loss of a loved one, peer pressure, teamwork, responsibility, and helping others.

Production
In 2020, Studio MAPPA produced a new series for Sony Creative Products' Tama and Friends franchise, ''Uchi Tama?! Have You Seen My Tama?''. During production, MAPPA founder Masao Maruyama had an idea about the possibility of creating a new anime that would serve as a continuation of the 1990s OVAs and TV series. At the time, Group TAC had already created those two works, as well as a 2006 spinoff titled ''Tama and Friends: Search For It! The Magic Puni-Puni Stone'' before filing for bankruptcy in 2011. Maruyama proposed the idea to Aniplex president Atsuhiro Iwakami, and it was approved.

Iwakami proposed that a continuation of the 1990s OVAs and TV series would be a logical successor to Uchi Tama?!, and MAPPA said that they wished to develop the series in a dark tone similar to 1994 series, with Tama's characterization also being altered. As a result, Maruyama pointed out that in future work he would prefer to focus more on revealing the character of Tama as a character through his personal traits, rather through his friends, in contrast to the 1994 series. Aniplex believed that only Aoki herself was able to convey all the ideas she put into Tama, and help them reflect on the screen correctly and deepen public perception of the character. Another character that Maruyama expanded was Momo's human owner Emi, who received development in the second half of the series when she learns of her father's past.

The animal characters were designed by Mai Otsuka, while the human characters were designed by Ume Aoki, who had previously created the Hidamari Sketch manga series and designed characters for Shaft's critically-acclaimed dark fantasy series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Being fans of the franchise, they were conflicted on how best to depict each human and animal character's expression, but worked with the screen and animation directors in order to create the best possible product. Aoki stated that she was satisfied with the animation throughout the television series.

Voice cast
All the Japanese voice actors from the 1994 anime series from Group TAC reprised their roles. In contrast, the Aniplex dub has a new cast. For example, Tama, Pochi, and Momo are played by Alicyn Packard. Brian Beacock, and Christine Marie Cabanos, respectively. Bryce Papenbrook, who plays the role of Kuro, felt that the story took a "darker path than even the 1994 series took" (with a storyline centering on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami) and that the creators "wanted a different take on Tama". Packard was told to play Tama in a "real" way. As a result, she stated that she had to get herself into a "deep mindset" in order to play the role best.

Hiroko Kasahara noted that she was tense before she started recording for ~Friends Forever~, since she had not been involved in the Tama and Friends franchise or played the title character since the 1994 series. Hekiru Shiina, Momo's seiyuu, noted that the characterization of her role differed in ~Friends Forever~ from the 1993 OVAs and 1994 TV series, due to her character's lack of romantic feelings for Tama in the route. Consequently, Momo was portrayed with a more stoic demeanor, seeing Tama as merely her best friend and not a romantic interest.

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 Tomodachi" by LiSA. Kana Asumi performed the opening theme of the second season, "Forever Love" while the ending theme, "My Very Best Friend" was performed by Aimer. A remix of "My Very Best Friend", was used as the ending theme for episode 15. ClariS performed their own cover of Yumi Tanimura's "Genki Dashite yo", a returning theme from the 1994 TV anime which was used as an insert song for episode 20, and re-recorded their song "Starry", 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.

Release
The series was first announced in early 2024, and official announcements about its cast and storyline were made in July 2024. The anime was jointly produced by Aniplex, Lapin Track, and MAPPA, the same studios that co-produced the 2020 series ''Uchi Tama?! 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.