Reviews of Tamako Market (2013) and related work

Tamako Market (2013Moving picture, 5.0 hours)

Yamada Naoko (director).

Seen in 2017.

“Cute girls doing cute things.” I wish that the tropical island and funny-animal plot elements had been cut entirely rather than minimized to their stature in this adaptation. None of them seem to add anything to the narrative, and cutting them would have allowed for a stronger depiction of the curiously healthy traditional shōtengai. However, even elements of that depiction are quite weak, particularly episode 6, an “idiot ball” sitcom plot.

References here: En betraktelse av A Silent Voice, Gestaltning i A Silent Voice.

moving picture animation Japanese production fiction series

Tamako Love Story (2014Moving picture, 83 minutes)

Yamada Naoko (director).

Seen in 2017.

Mochizō gets his ass in gear.

Romantic comedy. Relegating the finished exotic side plot to an accompanying short allows Yamada to focus on Tamako and her friends, Kanna being particularly amusing here. The long-awaited romantic resolution, albeit predictable, is a welcome break from crappier moekko shows where the very possibility of romance is excluded.

References here: En betraktelse av A Silent Voice, Gestaltning i A Silent Voice.

moving picture sequel animation Japanese production fiction

‣‣ “Dera-chan of the Southern Island” (2014Moving picture, 6 minutes)

Seen in 2017.

In referencing butt mochi it establishes itself as an appendage to the film and not a sequel to the series. As expected, the characters of the fictional southern island—a less cannibalistic but equally exoticizing Rokovoko à la Moby-Dick (1851)—have no lives beyond what is relevant to their tenuous connection to Japan.

moving picture spin-off animation Japanese production fiction