Tamako Market

Inside the Usagiyama Shopping District lies an eccentric but close-knit community of business owners. Tamako Kitashirakawa, a clumsy though adorable teenage girl, belongs to a family of mochi bakers who own a quaint shop called Tama-ya. One day, Tamako stumbles upon a talking bird that presents himself as royalty from a distant land. Dera Mochimazzi, as he calls himself, states that he’s seeking a bride for his country’s prince. Intent on his mission, Dera follows Tamako home and develops an addiction to mochi, becoming painfully overweight and subsequently unable to fly back to his homeland; thus, he takes up residence with Tamako's family and becomes the community’s beloved mascot.

Meanwhile, Tamako's friend, Mochizou Ooji, continues to hide his true feelings for her. Their fathers are fierce mochi rivals, but will it be enough to drive a wedge between Tamako and Mochizou? And just what will happen to Dera's task of finding his prince’s destined bride?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kitashirakawa, Tamako Main

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Ooji, Mochizou Main

Tamaru, Atsushi Japanese

Makino, Kanna Main

Nagatsuma, Juri Japanese

Mochimazzi, Dera Main

Yamazaki, Takumi Japanese

Asagiri, Shiori Main

Yamashita, Yurie Japanese

Tokiwa, Midori Main

Kaneko, Yuuki Japanese

Kitashirakawa, Anko Supporting

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Mochimazzi, Choi Supporting

Yamaoka, Yuri Japanese

Hanase, Kaoru Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Kitashirakawa, Mamedai Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Senami, Riri Producer

Yamada, Naoko Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Reviews

Oct 29, 2025

mikado_degeso

Recommended

My own profile picture (Asagiri Shiori) is from this show, so I may be a little biased in my review, but nevertheless.

Tamako Market's setting feels incredibly close-knit, with Tamako constantly helping her family run the mochi shop, and hanging out with her friends and all the shop-owners in the district. It gives the anime a sense of community; they all know each other very well. Dera was a little annoying at first, but he grew on me, and I ended up finding him pretty funny, especially during the later episodes, when Choi is actually there to scold him.

The anime's visual style is also ... like eye candy to the viewer. It employs a lot of colours, seen especially during scenes with the shopping district, with all sorts of detail added into the background. It gives the environment a cosy feeling, which only just adds to the cliquey setting of the anime.

All the characters have a lot of personality to them. You have your usual cliché personalities with the main characters; for example, Tamako being the clumsy yet moé character, Choi being the "no nonsense" hot-headed one, or Kanna being the monotone laidback gal, and so on. But there's also the side characters; the shop-owners. While most do not have their backstories presented to us (save for the record store/café owner, who by the way, is really cool), they all have unique personalities, something you don't often see in other anime.

Overall, Tamako Market was a very enjoyable anime for me. While it is no K-ON!, and its pacing may be a little slower than other slice of life anime out there, it's still very relaxing to watch. If you love 'cute girls doing cute things', and you don't mind a somewhat 'slower' setting than usual, then this is the anime for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Oct 21, 2025

dontttt

Mixed Feelings

Tamako Market: A Charming Slice of Life That Struggles with Consistency

I was hungry to delve deeper into the slice of life (SoL) genre, and when I remembered KyoAni released Tamako Market, I had to try it as a fan of the studio.

This might be a hot take, but I believe crafting a truly great SoL anime is harder than excelling in almost any other genre. It demands an incredible balance of drama, romance, cuteness, and comedy, along with a great OST, solid OP and ED, and a strong cast.

Before I dive into my critique, I want to address what I see as the biggest recurring ... issue in SoL anime: inconsistent episode quality. There is often a huge gap between highs and lows within a single season, and Tamako Market is no exception.

By the time I got to episode 5, I was honestly surprised the show wasn’t rated higher. Episode 1 was a little weak, but episodes 3 through 5 were really great, with characters introduced naturally, the comedy landing well, and everything just clicking. Then episode 6 arrived, and from that point the show never fully recovered, except for episode 9, which stood out after one of the weaker episodes.

Some side characters also never got their moment to shine, and rather than filler that didn’t add much, it would have been nice to see more focus on the more interesting secondary characters. On top of that, the series squanders some of its great ideas on filler, the main plot never felt particularly engaging, and the ending was a bit unsatisfying.

Even with these ups and downs, Tamako Market has a lot going for it. The animation is lively, the voice acting is solid, the main cast is great, the soundtrack fits perfectly, and the ED is a banger. When the show is at its best, it really delivers everything you could want from a slice of life anime.

Still, I ended up enjoying the series far more than I expected. I went in thinking I would just push through this season to get to Tamako Love Story, even if the pace was slow, but the warmth, charm, and standout moments made it genuinely enjoyable. Diehard SoL fans might rate it even higher, but for me, it is a small, imperfect series that still showcases what makes KyoAni so special.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 24, 2022

GwenPineapple

Not Recommended

Tamako Market begins very rough, with all of the first half, and a little bit more, being bad and unenjoyable, and by the end does manage to evolve into being somewhat enjoyable, functionally becoming a subpar K-ON - it fails to really meet any reason for existence, when everything makes it so painfully clear that it tries to do what K-ON! does, and fails at it.

Primarily, the show introduces things that it fails to properly utilise, which is the main cause of its failing. The main trio of girls - Tamako, Kanna, and Midori - have some immediate chemistry and charm together, but are rarely ... actually properly used outside of a few moments, there are two love plots (one between Midori and Tamako, and one between Tamako and Mochi) which both remain underdeveloped, and one of them is just swept under the rug as well.

If the show could have focused on its strengths, instead of being mostly directionless, it could have been quite enjoyable in its own right, though always in the shadow of K-ON! unfortunately.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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