rosalind22 - 2016-06-04 07:07:10

TamakoMarket

Tamako Market is a show about a community, andhow that community allows itself to grow and prosper by interacting in andoutside of itself.

Thesetting is a colorful shopping arcade inUsagiyama*, and its full other colorful shops and shopkeepers which help reflectthe tone and themes of the story.

Allthe different characters express their personalities and emotions through theanimation. This is one of the main factors that separates this shows from othershows of its type. Careful detail is given to how each and every character movesand emotes their face. This gives a great amount of information to the viewerin a fun and interesting way. It engages the viewer and makes them think, whichhelps create a relationship between the characters and the audience.

Themain plot of Tamako Market revolvesaround small moments of joy and growth that one pertains when interacting witha community. These range from different types of communities as well.  Such as family, friends or strangers. Thesesmall moments are perfectly captured throughout the story in nearly everyaspect of its production, and is never convoluted or mislead.

Musicwas fun and poppy and thrived in small moments just like the theme.

Thefeeling of progression is missing though. Or at least it is not obvious. Someonecan look back and see how the characters have changed throughout the story butis almost subconscious in the characters and the viewers mind. This is greatbut the emotional bits lack impact because of it.  That and the characters could have been morecomplex.

Allin all GOOD SHOW GO WATCH

bcole - 2014-09-23 22:46:15

ariane.smith - 2013-12-21 18:20:33

Keeping this short and simple, Tamako Market is a good enough time if you are a connoisseur of the slice of life genre, but there are better options out there. Even if we’re just sticking to KyotoAni works, K-On! and Chuunibyou are both superior and are worth a watch. If anything Tamako Market might be a good filler show to watch in-between two better shows. The characters are bland but a few are entertaining, the animation and music are solid but not exceptional and overall this feels like a bit of a subpar offering from KyotoAni, but not by any means a bad one. I heard this series was originally going to have more fantasy elements, bordering on almost being a magical girl series but was changed fairly late in production. That would have been interesting…

In conclusion, it’s a good enough time-waster especially if you like the genre but you aren’t missing out on much if you skip it.

gthiel - 2013-09-05 15:52:33

Pensaba que iba a pasar algo al final, pero no. Y ni se lían la prota y el chico, aunque ambos se gustan. Pffff

tzulauf - 2013-08-25 01:53:52

As always, my reviews are spoiler free.

MAL-era import review; please excuse my lack of experience.

Kyoto Animation, the makers of the wildly successful Haruhi and K-On! series, realized something a few months after K-On! finished airing. Cute girls doing cute things (afterwards CGDCT; call it "moe" if you want to, that's another argument entirely) really sells. The following seasons, and to the day that this review is being written, there have been dozens of series that tried to ride the CGDCT wave all the way to the bank. Most have tried to stand out from the crowd by adding a unique flavor, but in the end it's obvious that they are just trying to scrape up a little more of K-On!'s success. Most have faded into obscurity, but one that is just trying to keep its head above water is Tamako Market.

Chief among the culprits of these "copies" are KyoAni themselves; aside from K-On!! (more ! means more seasons), they released a continuous string of SOL/CGDCT (or CBoysDCT in Free!'s case) with Kyoukai no Kanata being the only break in sight. Among these was Tamako Market, the subject of review today.

Story - 4/10

To begin, here is the short and simple premise: Tamako is a high school girl whose family runs a mochi shop. One day she meets a talking bird from a faraway island who is in search of a bride for his prince.

Let's put the premise aside for a moment though.

SOL anime are very difficult to approach in the story category. Rather than a near-objectively good story (such as Steins;Gate) or near-objectively poor story (such as Skelter Heaven), a SOL story has a "feel" to it. A personal favorite of mine is the Aria series, giving an overarching sense of serenity as the characters go about their lives in a beautiful setting. Even when restricted to high school life, as so many SOLs are, one can find much better "feelings," such as Azumanga Daioh or Hyouka. Each has their own unique charm or interesting characters that draw the viewer in. The problem with Tamako Market is that it doesn't have charm or interesting characters.

The charm that it tried to present was a combination of the talking bird, Dera, and some manor of suppressed romantic subplot around Tamako. Neither one is anywhere close to interesting enough to save the biggest problem in the series: the characters.

Animation - 7/10

KyoAni is not one to slack on the animation budget. All of their recent works are above average in the animation and art department, especially Hyouka. However, compared with each recently animated series, Tamako Market gives off a "good enough" vibe. Those backgrounds are "good enough." Those side character designs were "good enough." That fluidity was "good enough." It's hard to fool a KyoAni fan when they see what the studio is capable of with releases such as Disappearance and Hyouka. Even the previous season's Chuunibyou was leagues ahead.

Overall, the series is below average effort from a far above average studio, but it looks as good or better than most comparable series.

Seen these character designs anywhere before? Yeah, you can tell the K-On! character designer was all over this one.

Sound - 7/10

The backing tracks were good and upbeat. The OP was catchy and fun. However, the real thing I want to mention here are the voice actors and actresses. This series used many brand new seiyuu, and they did a great job. They need to get more roles.

This was well above the standard of most similar series, but still not up to the bar of K-On! or Hyouka.

Characters - 3/10

This is where things really went wrong. Let's do a roll call...

The main cast:

-Tamako, the world's densest girl who is always smiling and optimistic to a near-creepy degree. She loves nothing in the world more than mochi, which is probably why she can never notice the obvious advances of her friends Mochizou and Midori. She has no other features at all.

-Kanna, who is as poker-faced as Tamako is smiley. She does not appear to have emotions or react to many stimuli. She is just a token friend.

She's a little special.

-Midori, the closet lesbian. She shows obvious romantic interest throughout the series that Tamako never notices. Other than being token friend #2, she tries to "protect" Tamako from the romantic advances of others, as if she needs more protection than her denseness.

"Tamako naked touching her skin why doesn't she love me have my babies please notice me"

-Dera, the stuck up bird comic relief. He will be very polarizing, with some viewers loving his aloof humor and others hoping Dera hunting season will soon open in Japan. He also has a video-phone feature.

-Choi, the bride hunting brown girl. She arrives in Japan from a small island kingdom, coming after Dera. She is often harsh for no reason, especially to Dera, as she is his handler. She can use him in some sort of divination ritual. She believes Tamako may the bride for her island's prince.

-Mochizou, who likes Tamako too. He is from the mochi shop right across the street (capitalism ho!). He constantly tries to confess to Tamako, but it is like trying to explain your love to a rock.

The supporting cast consists of many characters who are mainly family members or store owners. They all serve their sole purpose to populate the world or fill a space in the story.

If you think I am summarizing character personalities, I'm not. I have written full biographies for each of them. They are incredibly boring.

Enjoyment - 3/10

I did not enjoy Tamako Market because of the boring setting and the "feeling" I talked about earlier. I've seen hundreds of similar shows, and Tamako Market falls right into the "average" category. The only reason it hasn't been forgotten like other K-On! chasers like A-Channel is that it was made by the same studio.

Other Thoughts

KyoAni is one of my favorite studios, but I think they really dropped the ball on this one.

There are many, many better CGDCT/SOL shows that you could watch. Do yourself a favor and give this one a miss. Take a look at K-On!, Aria, Hyouka, Chuunibyou, Tamayura, Haruhi, Yuru Yuri, Azumanga Daioh or any other of the dozens of better series of this nature.

brent.nitzsche - 2013-07-05 02:02:08

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.

aracely.bartell - 2013-06-10 06:44:31

Tamako Market, your seemingly plot-less moe anime variety. I don't exactly remember what made me start this, but I loved it near instantly. I'm actually really disappointed that this wonderful anime is over, and I very much would love a second season. Yes, TM's cute. Does it have no plot? Is it pointless? Heck NO. It has it's both sad and heartwarming scenes, and more.TM's story is simple; a girl, Tamako, works at a mochi shop with her father, sister, and grandfather. Across the street is a rival mochi shop- the home of a boy, Mochizou, who's interested in the oblivious Tamako. The story is of Tamako's life in both the shop, and her school life, along with her two good friends. In the midst of all this, a strange talking bird appears to Tamako, and tells her he is here to find a bride for his prince. There's a decent amount of humor included. Another fact is that my younger cousins, who play mmo's and minecraft all day, ENJOY this anime. TM is a simple, but heartwarming and sweet one story. If you're like me, it's able to give you feels. Happy emotions, bittersweet emotions, sad ones... this anime is able to pack many feelings into one.The art of this show is of course by KyoAni, so it should seem familiar. The animation is fluid, the colors are bright, warm, and cold. It's high quality. However, anatomy-wise, it might be a little bit less accurate than K-ON!, especially with all of the characters' legs (even minor, nameless ones). The female characters' hands are really small and inconsistent, and at times are either too small, or actually correctly drawn. It's not too big of an issue, though. Expressions are well-done, and lively. All in all, the animation is pretty great.Both the opening and ending for Tamako Market are amazing. The colorful, upbeat op is a lively tune. The song matched the op sequence very well. The ending, stunning, and very catchy to boot. I find it stuck in my head, often... the seiyu for Tamako sings both of these, and she is a pretty good vocalist! The voice acting for TM is great- the cast's voices match very well. Even the bgm's great- matching, quirky, catchy songs. Love the music for TM.Characters of this show, I find unique and lovable. Tamako is just darling- and it's hard to not love her. Her friends are also unique, and have nice quirks to them. I adore both Tamako and Kanna, her brown-haired, measurement enthusiast friend. The shopping district residents are colorful, and they're all depicted very, very warmly, and are all individuals of their own right. We can't forget Dera, the characteristic bird who comes to visit. Also a lovable "character" indeed.I thoroughly enjoy Tamako Market- even when I thought I wouldn't. It's one of the most promising series for this season for me, so you can imagine how much I like it. Every time a new episode arrives, I get really excited and smiles appear on my face no matter how down I feel. A great anime to go to if you're not feeling very happy, or you're down in the dumps.Overall, you should watch this anime if you don't mind lightheartedness and slice of life. This anime is the one I very eagerly wait to see every week this entire season. It's a warm and sweet story, so please enjoy!