It’s no secret that the only reason I’m watching both Tamako Market and Sasami-San are because of the studios involved (KyoAni and Shaft). Both studios tend to take nothing stories (shut up, the Monogatari series doesn’t have an actual story) and try to raise them to the point that people sing praises of hallelujah. Tamako Market I was especially hyped for because KyoAni have gotten into my good graces again after Hyouka and (sort of) Chuunibyou. Well, that’s not the only reason. It was an original production, it had a talking bird as a main character, and the marketplace is a unique setting. There’s all sorts of fun you can do with that, so for that reason alone, I’m sticking with Tamako Market, even if it ends up sucking.
So how did I feel about Tamako Market? Um…that bird (whose name is Dera Mochiyucky) is going to be onscreen for the majority of the time, right?
Let’s start with the stuff that doesn’t have to do with the bird. It’s typical KyoAni moe behavior with girls being nice to each other, Tama (the main girl) interacting with the friendly neighborhood whilst being cute, some mochi-related stuff happening, and so on and so forth. The show speeds through time starting from Winter break and ending on New Years where Tama forgets her birthday due to working so much, the townsfolk trying to give her a present, and forgetting to give one due to some uproar regarding mochi stuff in Mochiyucky’s throat. It’s kind of haphazard how fast the episode is, but it works due to KyoAni’s talent. You can tell they were having a lot of fun with this. Especially with the opening and ending.
Right, that’s enough of that. Let’s talk about the bird. What makes the bird such a great character isn’t just because he’s a magic talking bird with a deep voice, cool philosophy, and contrasts sharply with the rest of the show. It’s that…he has laser eyes!
Mochiyucky (yes, that name is supposed to be funny because he interacts with a family who makes mochi for a living) comes from a faraway kingdom of some kind and sailed across the seas in order to find a bride for his prince. He fell asleep in a nest of flowers, was gathered amongst those flowers when they were picked in order to be sold in a flower shop, woke up just as Tama discovered him, and he ends up sticking with her because she addressed her love for him according to his bird logic. He decides to leave Tama and resume his job for finding a bride after Winter break ends up, but he ends up eating too much mochi at Tama’s place and gets too fat to fly. Thus, he decides to stay with Tama and put off his search for a while longer. He talks deep whilst the others talk simply. His ignorance of human culture gets him in trouble at times. He’s…a bird. He works as a great exciting contrast to the rest of the lively, if not very exciting, human cast. More than Polar Bear Cafe at any rate…(*gets shot at by Polar Bear Cafe fans*).
With the twelve-episode limit, I’m hoping Mochiyucky’s schtick doesn’t grow stale, because he’s by far the funniest part of the show. So funny in fact that the other stuff looks boring by comparison. Whenever he wasn’t on screen, I had a -_- face on me for most of the non-bird related run. Not that there weren’t amusing scenes regarding the rest of the cast, but none of them can compare to the bird. Judging by the preview, he’s going to be around a lot, but I doubt the show will actually focus on him. The show is most likely going to focus on the rest of the cast and try to make them interesting. Hopefully, they succeed. I heard there was a love triangle between Tama, the male from the rival mochi place, and one of her best (female) friends over her. Hopefully that’s interesting. Chuunibyou is a show that I loved for its comedy, but the second half killed a bunch of my enjoyment for it. Hopefully that doesn’t happen with Tamako Market. So yeah, I’ve got my eyes on this show. Make it good KyoAni.
Oh and don’t bother wondering whether more bird-related people like Mochiyucky will show up. Unless the creators were lying, he’s supposed to be the only magical part of the show. And creators don’t lie…right?
—————————————————————————————————————————
Stingers
- I should really check out Nichijou some time just to see how it is.
There were precisely two reasons why I did not drop the show midway through the episode: Kyoto Animation, and DAT BIRD.
KyoAni takes boring things and animates them so hard that it makes them less boring. The expressive body language and subtle movements make a lot of difference compared to how static many other anime are. If this had been done by another studio without this level of attention-grabbing eyecandy, not even the bird could have saved it for me.
Of course, animation alone can’t carry a show like this, and the bird was an unusual enough gag character with enough interesting circumstances behind him to overcome the nothing-is-happening plague that the episode otherwise suffered from.
The show is pretty and the bird is funny, but otherwise all I really enjoyed about it was the male voice cast and some of the music. That still puts it near the top of a pretty dead season, but I do hope it picks up as it goes on. It’d be nice for the love story or the bird’s backstory or something to come in sooner rather than later to give the show a kick in the pants. Essentially, all I want is for something to happen, and I won’t really know how to feel about the show until then.
How can a bird lust for a human girl? LOL.
I hope the prince will take notice of Tamako and command Dera to take her as bride candidate…
“Chuunibyou is a show that I loved for its comedy, but the second half killed a bunch of my enjoyment for it.”
The second half was what gave the series meaning. We all have to grow up but it doesn’t mean we should give up our inner child/chuuni. Live life on your own terms. Chuunibyou was KyoAni’s best work in years.