Tamako Market

Tamako Market could best be described as like watching a 5 hour long advert for mochi. The shallow story never really allowed me to feel a connection with any of the characters, but was sure to tell us that mochi is, in fact, quite delicious, and something about the power of friendship and family. Special attention to Japanese culture is also given, through the introduction of foreigners who, despite having perfect (and never explained) Japanese language ability, are completely oblivious to aspects of life in Japan.

Character design is by Yukiko Horiguchi of Lucky Star and K-On! fame -- in fact, the characters look almost ... identical to those from K-On!, with the main character Tamako appearing deceptively like K-On's Mio with twin tails. And indeed, this is yet another installment of cute girls doing cute things. However, unlike K-On!, Tamako Market lacks any of the charm of similar shows, and is only memorable for a handful of things: an obnoxious talking bird who apparently is trying to be the second coming of Casanova, a beautiful florist voiced by Daisuke Ono, and -- oh yes, not least of all -- mochi and more mochi. It's mildly amusing, but don't expect too much.

Most of the character voices are bland, with a few exceptions, and the opening theme is utterly forgettable or even slightly annoying. In contrast to the dull sound, however, the artwork is beautiful -- one of the few redeeming aspects of this series.

I can't say I hated Tamako Market. It's pretty, occasionally funny, and depicts idealised life in a small shopping district with a bit of surrealism thrown in. But it felt like a lot of time to spend watching something that never managed to rise above mediocre.

It’s shit.

★☆☆☆

I began this show back in November 2014—and I’m still trying to finish it… even though it’s only 12 episodes. I’m in the middle of episode 12, but I can’t bring myself to finish it. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about you, Tamako, or your friends or whatever mundane crap you’re doing. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? There’s nothing to care about.

Tamako Market is about a cute girl (Tamako) that works in a mochi shop. She has cute friends, she has a cute sister, and she lives in a quaint neighborhood market. She goes to school, she talks with a guy ... that has a crush on her, and she has a talking bird.

By the way, the talking bird has more screen time than any of those little dipshits in the show. He’s flamboyant and has some passion. His dialogue is decently interesting. He’s probably the best character because everybody else is bland moeblob.

Slice-of-life is not a bad genre. No genre is unless you’re doing “Magical Girl Sports Military Harem Fighting Furry Adventures.” I’m gonna throw out this original, patented thought and say King of the Hill is one of the best animate slice-of-lives out there. I’ll even put in those Nickelodeon cartoons like Hey Arnold!.

Why? Because every episode gives you something to care about. It has plot and character development. The most basic definition of SOL is anything episodic without a main story, but it still needs to follow the rules of good writing. Every season of King of the Hill is Hank selling propane (and propane accessories), Peggy being a bitch, and Bobby being a little shit. Hey Arnold! is Arnold solving everybody’s problems whether they want him to or not. In Tamako Market, there are no conflicts for me to care about. Nothing. That's why Tamako Market is so boring, and took me 6 months to get through.

So does this garbage have any redeeming value? Well, it looks fantastic as do all KyoAni shows. The animation is colorful and bubbly. The characters are cute. It always puts me in the mood for mochi.

But what went wrong? It’s the sheer lack of anything to care about. The characters are actually decent. It’s just that without any conflict there’s nothing about them to root for. The closest thing that resembled a conflict was one of Tamako’s friends couldn’t come up with a dance routine for school and she spent the episode hiding it. If this plot sounds familiar then a Saturday morning cartoon has probably done it and better.

Cute girls, but nothing to care about. Another painfully boring slice-of-life.

Now, I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t one of KyoAni’s more creative works- since this one doesn’t mainly focus on high schoolers in a club. If anything Tamako Market defines the slice of genre, by hardly having any actual story and being about the everyday life of a cheerful high school girl and her obsession for mochi.

My issues with Tamako Market’s story would lie in the fact, that there isn’t anything there for you to keep coming back for more. After the introduction of the bird, which was an entertaining first episode- the show keeps on going downhill- unable to find better ways ... to keep you engaged. The show starts of decent and fun enough, being a nice slice of life that you kick back and catch watch after a stressful day. However, by episode 5 is when I feel the show really starts going downhill.

It kind of reminds me how like in Air, they tried doing something completely different half way through which just miserably failed. Same can be said about Tamako Market- with the introduction of a new character named Choi who sent Dera to Tamako’s area. From the beginning of the series, this arc happening was constantly being hinted and given some sort of importance that will in turn affect our main character and those around her.

It even felt like it was going in that direction- but the execution of it was terribly handled- by the end of which it this arc happening felt completely pointless. It didn’t give the story that flare it needed- nor did provide any much needed character development for Tamako or those around her. I just felt completely pointless and when I finished the anime I was frustrated. If anything that arc established was Tamako loves her market- that too in a very messy way. Tamako Market also could have explored several side stories regarding the shop owners close to Tamako and instead focused on developing a stupid arc that felt pointless.

Tamako’s best friend Mochizou who is obviously in love with her- hardly gets the importance he deserves. Yes, he gets one episode dedicated to him about that- but again that hardly changes or progresses anything. The show just didn’t explore or develop the relationship with the two- which was a damn shame and complete waste. The fact, they waited till the movie- is just sad. Yes, we didn’t necessarily need any confessions- but it would have been still better than to have Mochizou being madly in love with her and Tamako being completely dense about it.

As for the characters of the series, they were pretty likeable with some being a hit and a miss. The show does a great job of fleshing out some of the characters. The give attention to characters like Shiori who wants to be friends with Tamako but is unable to speak her mind or Tamako’s little sister Anko who is that little adorable kid who thinks all mature and grown-up and has to deal with her very first crush. But, also Tamako’s father who may seem strict on the outside but is a sweetheart on the inside.

The rest of the characters, however didn’t give much screen time or attention. The bird Dera was a pretty funny comic relief character and he added a lot to the show- but his Choi just felt unnecessary to the story and thanks to her involvement caused the anime to give us several bland episodes and also a very lame conclusion to the story. Tamako Market instead of introducing new characters- so would have just stuck by fleshing out the already huge cast. The supporting cast of the eccentric shop owners were all interesting- so it was sad they were reduced to nothing much more than side characters for Tamako to regularly interact with. Tamako’s friends too don’t get fleshed out well to, with Midori’s intentions and feelings not being properly explained or explored. Also, people’s acceptance of a talking bird just seemed unnatural.

Another thing about Tamako Market that annoys it is its overuse of the word mocha. Like seriously, you can make a drinking game out of the number of times someone says mocha- 90% of the time it would be Tamako. If I had a dollar for every time someone said mocha I would be as rich as Bill Gates. I have never even tried mochi, but by the end of this show I was completely sick of it. That however is my own personal issue, I wonder if any of you felt the same or not.

The opening theme is forgetful but the ED is catchy and adorable- honestly I looked more forward to that than any episode of the show. The animation is really nice- but the character designs aren’t anything original and the type you’d normally come to expect from KyoAni the latter of which isn’t a bad thing. Majority of Tamako Market’s character look way too similar to others. Tamako, Anko, Shiori bearing similar appearances with Mio Akiyama. Mochizou looking like Yukito and a bit of Makoto- and Kanna looking a bit like Yui. But, overall the animation is really clean and polished- despite it not being some of KyoAni’s better looking works.

So overall, Tamako Market started of being a decent slice of life anime- that went downhill because it tried having some sort of a plot that felt pointless because there was no conflict and everything got solved quickly. It didn’t affect any of the characters and our leading lady Tamako remains completely unchanged from start to finish. There were some enjoyable moments in the show, but the comedy was just lackluster for the most part and some episodes were totally skippable as they barely help the story move along and were just down right boring.

I am going to give Tamako Market a 4 and that you should probably SKIP IT! I don’t hate this show because it didn’t piss me of or offend me- but I would be lying if I said I enjoyed it. It is in my opinion one of KyoAni’s disappointing shows- especially with a tonne of waste potential. If Tamako Market just explored all the characters, and focused on developing some of the relationships between the characters than I would have highly recommended it. But, since the story blows and the characters don’t have much to offer- I must say it’s better to watch something else that would be worth your time. Tamako Market felt like a waste of time to me- which was really sad.

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.