Tamako Market
Tamako Market is a Japanese anime television series produced by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada, and written by Reiko Yoshida. Tamako Market centers of a young girl named Tamako Kitashirakawa, the daughter of a mochi shop owner located inside a shopping district in Kyoto's Kamigyo Ward as her life becomes complicated with friendships, rivalries and the arrival of a peculiar bird, named Dera Mochimazzi, from a nearby tropical island.
The series aired in Japan between January 10 and March 28, 2013. The anime has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and adapted into English. A film sequel, Tamako Love Story, premiered in Japan on April 26, 2014, paired with a short film titled Dera-chan of the Southern Islands. In 2023, Kyoto Animation announced a new project to celebrate the anime's 10th anniversary. The Tamako Market series and the Tamako Love Story movie were later screened in theaters in June 2023.
Plot
Tamako Kitashirakawa is the eldest daughter of a family which runs the Tama-ya mochi shop in the Usagiyama Shopping District. One day, Tamako encounters a strange talking bird named Dera Mochimazzi who comes from a distant land searching for a wife for his country's prince. After becoming overweight from eating too much mochi, Dera ends up becoming a freeloader in Tamako's home.The series follows the everyday life of Tamako, her friends, family and neighbors, and this peculiar bird. As well as keeping track to the main course of events, Tamako Market and the following Tamako Love Story film cover the emotional lives of the characters, particularly Tamako's childhood friend Mochizō's crush on her and both of them being too shy to open up to each other.
Characters
Main characters
;Tamako Kitashirakawa;Mochizō Ōji
;Dera Mochimazzi
;Midori Tokiwa
;Kanna Makino
;Shiori Asagiri
Kitashirakawa family
;Anko Kitashirakawa;Mamedai Kitashirakawa
;Fuku Kitashirakawa
;Hinako Kitashirakawa
Ōji family
;Gohei Ōji;Michiko Ōji
Usagiyama shopkeepers
;Kaoru Hanase;Kunio Yaobi
;Chōji Yumoto
;Sayuri Yumoto
;Tomio Shimizu
;Nobuhiko Tokiwa
;Fumiko Mitsumura
;Tadanao Shiraki
;Takashi Uotani
;Mari Uotani
Mochimazzi royal family
;Choi Mochimazzi;Mecha Mochimazzi
Production
The Tamako Market anime television series is produced by Kyoto Animation and aired on Tokyo MX between January 10 and March 28, 2013. While the series consisted of the majority of staff from the K-On! anime, it is directed by Naoko Yamada and the script is written by Reiko Yoshida. The art director is Ikuko Tamine and the character designs are provided by Yukiko Horiguchi. The sound director is Yota Tsuruoka and the music is composed by Tomoko Kataoka. Bonus short episodes are included with the Blu-ray Disc and DVD volumes, which began release from March 20, 2013.Film
A film sequel, titled Tamako Love Story, premiered in theatres in Japan on April 26, 2014, paired with a short film featuring Dera titled Dera-chan of the Southern Islands, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara. The feature film was produced by the same staff and featured the same cast as the television series. The film's opening theme is "Koi no Uta" by Mamedai Kitashirakawa. The film's ending theme is a different version of "Koi no Uta" sung by Aya Suzaki and the film's main theme song "Principle" is also by Suzaki. Unlike the anime series, which focuses on everyday life comedy, the film focuses more on romance and drama.Music
The opening and ending themes respectively are "Dramatic Market Ride" and "Neguse", which are both performed by Aya Suzaki under her character name Tamako Kitashirakawa. Each theme songs received an individual album. The album for the opening theme, "Dramatic Market Ride", was released on January 25, 2013, while the album for its ending theme "Neguse" was released that very same day.International release and distribution
The anime and the film has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and streamed on Hoopla and Anime Network Online with the latter being moved to Hidive in 2017. It is also streamed in the United Kingdom on Anime on Demand. Anime Limited acquired the series for distribution in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An English dub of the series debuted in November 2018. Anime Limited also acquired the film for release in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The series also aired in Animax in Asia.A complete collection of the entire Tamako Market series and the film, Tamako Love Story was released via Section23 Films in North America on June 2, 2020 with Japanese and English audio, complete with textless credits.
Other media
A light novel titled Tamako Market, written by Mutsuki Ichinose and illustrated by Yukiko Horiguchi, was published by Kyoto Animation on April 8, 2013.Reception
Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network gave the anime an overall score of B, praising the light atmosphere and sense of fun while criticizing the characters for lacking enough depth to be memorable.In a 2016 article written by Linda Lombardi of the Associated Press, fans visited Kamigyo Ward's Demachi Masugata Shotengai in which, locals go to the fishmonger, produce vendor or pharmacy, or eat at a neighborhood restaurant. After the series ended, fans still visited a fish shop there with a notebook left outside for visitors to sign.