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Feb 17 2013

Categories: episodic review, tamako market
Tagged: tamako market

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“I pulled this from the internet.”

Kanna’s ability to just get things done completely conflicts with her looking like Yui Hirasawa. As good as Kyoto’s animation is, they still take shortcuts from time to time like how all the girls have the same exact facial shape. Midori and Tamako’s facial outlines look almost exactly the same, and they’re quite similar to K-On!. At least with Shaft, no one is going to confuse Arakawa with Pani Poni with Monogatari with Hidamari. They have a more diverse palette which can be more hit or miss while Kyoto is more steady as how much Tamako looks like Chitanda at times.

(The whole tape measure thing with Kanna… I liked how fast she estimated the sizing and the number of boxes that will be needed without a single accurate measurement. The tape elongating itself like a silver dong was enough for her.)

(I was a bit disappointed that then the bath owner opened up the unit, there wasn’t a pile of junk inside, after all, who the fuck owns a storage shed that is empty, and we didn’t get a Storage Wars-esque sequence of the characters looking at items and going, “Mmmm… this box of old LaserDiscs is worth $50,” which, at least on Storage Wars, always seem like stupidly overpriced. Who the hell would buy an used crockpot for $50?! Anyway, Storage Wars is one of those shows that is horrible yet I can’t stop watching because I can’t stop screaming at the TV. It’s like watching Guilty Crown all over again… no Shu… NOOOOO!)

What’s in this season besides garlic necklaces? Colorful colors, stripes, and huge belts apparently. If there is anything Kyoto does above and beyond every other studio is that their characters always wear new clothes. Sure, they have their standard school uniforms, but they don’t get lazy and have characters wear the school unis on off days, and they manage to keep the styles modernly current. It’s almost as if the staff browses piperlime.com thoughtfully.

(Only good thing to come out of Endless Eight was Kyoto actually changing the clothes on every reboot. Though, if I woke up 15,532 times, I don’t have enough clothes to make 15,532 different outfits.)

Tamako’s graphic design skills are terrifying in a good way. She has no concept of how it should look, so she just goes with how it looks to her in her own Tamako mochi fun land world. I mean, what the hell is that?! How can that be a doll let alone natto? And why winking? Why purple? Why a weird ghost thing in the bottom corner? And the flyer fails at providing relevant info like when is the event. That would be useful. Also, where is the event. Not everyone is going to see this and go, “Hey, it must by at the unused storeroom of the bunny bath house!”

Why does this remind me of Futurama? I would be perfectly fine with Florist waking up 1,000 years in the future only to discover the world is in perfect harmony due to the music of Wyld Stallyns.

Remember what I said about Kyoto and joke telling? They only repeated the guy trying to impress a girl through a haunted house and failing epicly twice. Should have done it a third time! But that wouldn’t have worked since that would require the girl to be genuinely scared instead of the boy for the third variation, which probably isn’t in Tamako Market‘s “boys are doofy” manifesto.

They sit around drinking soda and tea while eating potato chips and Pocky and sashimi? I want to join a merchant’s association too! If anything, Tamako Market is definitely nostalgia anime where we remember the simpler past more fondly. There’s no texting, Twittering, Facebooking, or Sexy Sax Man. Instead, it’s a close-knit, family-like group of small time store owners who genuinely want each other to succeed and have fun while doing it. This doesn’t happen anymore. With modern shopping districts all franchises and serious business, this type of atmosphere and scene can only exist in our nostalgic memories. That’s kinda the appeal of this show or Yotsuba or Aria: our lives have been complicated enough that we find escape and entertainment in the simpler things.

(I wish Hollywood would realize this. Before greenlighting yet another terrible explosion or sex-filled derivative series, make a show about something simpler. I don’t know. Not everything needs complicated plots to be entertaining. Some stories in Adventure Time is closest we get nowadays.)

(Even more amazing? Internet and cell phones exist in this world, and no one looks at their phones for status updates, nor is there is an url or Facebook link on the flyer. Now how’s that for modern nostalgia? This shopping district doesn’t need urls or even set times, and it still has customers come hopping.)

(And as I said before, Kyoto + Yotsuba = SHUT UP AND TAKE ALL MY MONEY, AWARDS, AND KITTENS.)

Tamako’s dad is such a softie for her. Only in anime can a functional relationship between a high school girl and her dad actually work.

“Sorry young girl, but I need some time to digest this oddity.”

Channeling Houtarou? Though I like Dera coming into Japan, eating everything, and then calling all their traditions weird. It’s like he’s an American visiting Japan or something.

Plot! Advancement! *snore* Rather have yet another weird mochi flavor invented by Tamako.

Three MVPs:

1. Kanna. Her episode, and she goes things her way. She would make a great NERV agent one day.
2. The Shopkeepers. They were adorable in trying to keep Tamako and friends safe, though not sure how effective garlic is in the current zeitgeist against vampires. Maybe dream sequences would be more effective?
3. Dera. For being Dera.