Line #124 Anime/TamakoMarket


1	[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tamako_Market_promotional_image_1_742.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:230:Her name's Tamako. She's in a market. What more do you want?]]
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4	''Tamako Market'' (たまこまーけっと) is an original anime TV series produced by Creator/KyotoAnimation and directed by Naoko Yamada, with Reiko Yoshida serving as series composer and Yukiko Horiguchi serving as character designer and chief animation director; all three women had previously worked together on ''Manga/KOn''.
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6	The story follows a happy-go-lucky girl named Tamako Kitashirakawa and her daily life in a shopping arcade. Tamako herself is a high school student and the daughter of a mochi maker who conducts his business from home. Their mochi business, called Tamaya, is right in front of a western-themed mochi shop called [[GratuitousEnglish Rice Cake Oh! Zee]], which creates a lot of friction between Tamako's father and the Ooji family. Of course, true to the Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet archetype, the son of the owner of Rice Cake Oh! Zee is Mochizou Ooji, a ChildhoodFriend of Tamako. As expected, Tamako is Mochizou's love interest.
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8	One day Tamako goes to the local florist and finds a strange bird inside a bouquet of flowers. As she soon learns, [[PollyWantsAMicrophone the bird can talk]], calling itself [[AerithAndBob Dela Mochimazzi]] and claiming that he is on a quest to find a bride for the prince of a small island nation. The bird follows Tamako back home, whether she or her family likes it or not.
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10	[[http://www.hulu.com/tamako-market Is currently being streamed in the U.S. by Hulu]]. A novel adaptation has also been published.
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12	[[TheMovie A movie]] which acts as a sequel to the TV series, ''Tamako Love Story'', premiered on April 26, 2014. Just as the title suggests, the story focuses more on love than the original show.
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15	Kyoto Animation has [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2023-01-09/kyoto-animation-holds-10th-anniversary-project-for-tamako-market-anime/.193658 announced]] a new project to celebrate its' 10th anniversary in 2023. To coincide with the anniversary, the series and movie [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-05-08/tamako-market-anime-series-film-get-screenings-in-june-for-10th-anniversary/.197872 were screened]] in Japanese movie theaters for one week in June.
16	----
17	!!''Tamako Market'' demonstrates examples of the following tropes:
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19	* AccidentalProposal:
20	** Dela [[CrashIntoHello colliding with Tamako's face]] causes her to sneeze violently; and apparently Dela's culture interprets sneezing at someone as a declaration of courtship towards them. Dela assesses the situation accordingly.
21	** Happens again in episode 2 when Kanna's allergy to birds makes her sneeze on Dela.
22	* AdultsAreUseless: The grown-ups in the market act very over-the-top, and are pretty gullible, while all the teenagers are wiser.
23	%%* AlwaysInClassOne: As of episode 3.
24	* AmbiguouslyBrown: The people that Dela works for. They have dark tan skin, their names are Choi and Mecha Mochimazzi,[[note]]"Mochi" is unambiguously Japanese, "-mazzi" is vaguely Italian[[/note]] they wear outfits whose colorful patterns are not especially emblematic of a particular culture, appear to live on a tropical island, and belong to a monarchy. "Choi" itself is a Chinese/Korean surname, and the food she prepares in episode nine looks Vietnamese. Given all this, "Southeast Asian" may be a good guess, but it's never made clear.
25	* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: The florist Kaoru is voiced by Creator/DaisukeOno but is referred to with female pronouns by others. Signs point towards her being a trans woman, though some material refers to her as male which makes things confusing (though, that might be misgendering due to ValuesDissonance).
26	* ArcWords: [[GratuitousEnglish Everybody loves somebody]].
27	* BeachEpisode: Episode 5 has the characters spending a day at the beach, and focuses on a love triangle formed between Tamako, Mochizou, and Midori..
28	* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: This is Ricecake Oh! Zee (formerly Oojiya)'s theme. Even their item tags were all written in romaji.
29	* AscendedExtra: Mochizou in the film is promoted to {{Deuteragonist}}, as it focuses on his and Tamako's relationship. In the series proper, he was more of a light case of AdvertisedExtra, being one of the many supporting characters.
30	* BirthmarkOfDestiny: Tamako has a mole on her neck. [[spoiler:To Choi, it's apparently another sign that she's meant to be the prince's bride.]]
31	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Tamako (brunette) and her friends Midori (blonde) and Kanna (redhead). Early in the series they're joined by the brunette Shiori.
32	* BookEnds:
33	** Episode 5 starts and ends with a scene when Tamako, Kanna and Midori comes out of Tamaya to go to the pool, and Tamako waves to Mochizou who was boringly sitting at Ricecake Oh!Zee's counter.
34	** The series starts and ends with Tamako finding Dela in a bouquet of flowers.
35	** Episodes 1 and 12 take place on New Years Eve, and concern everyone trying to remember to give Tamako a birthday present. [[spoiler:The first time, they all forget, and the second time, only Mochizou remembers.]]
36	* ButtMonkey: Dela, who gets the short end of the stick when it comes to humor.
37	* CampStraight: Dela is a complete dandy but loves the women.
38	* CannotSpitItOut: Something Midori and Mochizou bond over is the fact that neither can work up the courage to confess their feelings towards Tamako. [[spoiler: Mochizou finally does go through with it in the movie, something Midori laments when she finds out because she was never able to work up the nerves to do so.]]
39	* CerebusSyndrome: The BigDamnMovie, ''love story'', has a bit of a more somber tone compared to the series, focusing on the relationship between Tamako and Mochizou. Fittingly enough, [[ShooOutTheClowns Dela]] has largely been removed from the story here, [[DemotedToExtra only making a brief cameo near the end of the movie.]]
40	* ChekhovsGun: One of the first scenes of the anime has Tamako buying things from the market, and her points card being stamped. While this is a common Japanese practice that people overlooked, the points card became an important plot point in episode 11.
41	* ChildhoodFriend:
42	** Not only is Mochizou a childhood friend of Tamako, he is also the son of the owner of Rice Cake Oh! Zee and thus works for the competition. Him being in love with her makes it even more tropalicious. The movie shows Mochizou really helped Tamako cope after her mother's death.
43	** Midori is another childhood friend of Tamako, having been friends with her since fourth grade... And she ''also'' has a crush on Tamako.
44	* CloseKnitCommunity: The Usagiyama shopping district might as well be a tightly knit extended family.
45	* CloudCuckooLander: Kanna has a rather odd thought process, and she'll typically do and say strange things with a completely straight face.
46	* CoolOldGuy: Tamako's grandfather is relaxed and patient with his granddaughters.
47	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Everyone in town pays attention to Tamako's conversation with [[spoiler:Prince Mecha]] in episode 11. Kanna's only interested in the support beams in the background.
48	* CrashIntoHello: Dela passes out in a field of flowers, gets bundled into a bouquet and shipped to the florist's, where the bouquet he's in is put on display. When he regains consciousness and finds Tamako in his face, he freaks out and flies right into her.
49	* DemotedToExtra: Dela and Choi only have minor cameos near the end of the BigDamnMovie, ''Tamako Love Story.'' Dela in fact doesn't even get any lines.
50	* DesignStudentsOrgasm: After Mochizou confesses to Tamako in ''Tamako Love Story'', she's left running home in a state of confusion, seeing the world in a maze of blobs, shapes and colors.
51	* DietEpisode: Episode 8 focuses on Dela being put on a diet.
52	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: Tamako's seiyuu Creator/AyaSuzaki performs both the opening and ending themes.
53	* DrowningMySorrows:
54	** Bathhouse owner Choji heads straight for the sake when he hears his daughter Sayuri is getting married in episode 7.
55	** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in episode 11. It looks like Mamedai's consoling himself with an Irish coffee after storming out of the community meeting...but then we find out that he had no idea that cafe owner Kunio spiked his joe.
56	* EdibleThemeNaming: The Kitashirakawas all have names related to mochi:
57	** Tamako is named after the shop--the business suffix "-ya" is simply swapped for the feminine name suffix "-ko".
58	** Anko is named after the red bean paste filling.
59	** When you put the names of their father Mamedai and grandfather Fuku together, you'd get Mame-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daifuku daifuku]], Tamaya's specialty. Lampshaded in episode 10.
60	* EmotionlessGirl: Shiori initially appears this way, due to her inability to express her feelings. However, [[NotSoStoic she manages to overcome this]] by becoming friends with Tamako the end of Episode 3.
61	* EvenTheGirlsWantHer:
62	** Midori, who has received valentines from both genders.
63	** Tamako, who is crushed on by Mochizou and Midori.
64	* ExpressiveHair: Tamako's pigtails rise when she's excited, surprised, or happy.
65	* {{Expy}}:
66	** Anko looks like a younger version of [[Manga/KOn Azusa]] in the "Listen!" ED. Even the hair decs match. Like Azusa, she also seems to get a tan real fast (albeit not as absurdly fast) despite putting on lots of sunscreen.
67	** Tamako with her hair down bears striking resemblance to [[Literature/{{Hyouka}} Chitanda]], not to mention having a very similar personality.
68	** [[http://i2.minus.com/iWX00VFt7DIxy.png Shiori]] looks like two meganekko side characters from ''Manga/KOn''
69	** Kana looks strikingly like a cross of Mayaka from Hyouka and Yui from K-ON! with a different hair style.
70	** Choi looks like a darker skinned Azusa.
71	* EyelidPullTaunt: In episode 4, An is forced to help out with the mochi store on Sunday, much to her displeasure. She pulls her eyelid at her dad for it.
72	* ForgottenBirthday:
73	** Everyone temporarily forgets they were going to Tamako's house for her birthday when Dela chokes on mochi. Tamako says something like that happens every year, because her birthday is New Year's Eve and it's such a hectic day at the market. Apparently Mochizou has a drawer full of presents he has failed to give Tamako, though it's not obvious how much of that is due to forgetting instead of the obvious nervousness.
74	** This also applies to Mochizou as his friends have forgotten his birthday again in episode 9. When Tamako gives him a birthday mochi he ends up crying in happiness.
75	* FortuneTeller: [[spoiler:Choi works as this in her island with the aid of Dela. She also does this in front of the market community in episode 7.]]
76	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Tamako and her female friends: she is sanguine, Kanna is phlegmatic, Shiori is melancholic and Midori is slightly choleric.
77	* TheFundamentalist: Tamako's father when it comes to mochi-making.
78	* GarageBand: [[spoiler:Tamako's father was in one with the current owner of the music store when he was a teenager. He even wrote a song for his future wife.]]
79	* GirlishPigtails: Tamako's pigtails fit her simple nature.
80	* GratuitousFrench: The song in episode 2 (which seems to confirm Midori's secret love for blue-eyed Tamako).
81	* GreenEyedMonster: Midori in Episode 5 when she competes with Mochizou for Tamako's attention.
82	* HeadPet: Dela seems most comfortable on Tamako's head. He's spent so much time up there she can tell when he's one glass of water heavier than normal.
83	* HeyYou: Dela addresses Tamako and other young female characters as "young girl", and Mochizou as "young man", with two exceptions: Anko ("[[DoNotCallMePaul Call]] [[CatchPhrase me]] [[InsistentTerminology An]]!") and his own beloved Shiori-san.
84	* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: Mochizou can be read to mean "mochi maker", though the way it's spelled it could also be read as 'he who has mochi' or 'mochi warehouse' -- the "mochi" part is left without kanji and the part that would have meant "maker" is written with the kanji for "posession/ownership."
85	* HollywoodToneDeaf: [[spoiler:Tamako's mother was tone deaf, so the song Tamako's been humming the whole series sounds almost nothing like the ''actual'' song. Tamako's version doesn't having any clashing notes or anything like that and still sounds alright (and is the basis for the ED), but ''man'' was her mother off]].
86	* HypocriticalHumor: Anko demands that others refer to her as "An"... while [[ThirdPersonPerson referring to herself as "Anko"]] in the same sentence. Her father [[LampshadeHanging calls her out on this]], while the bird's compliance with her request actually causes her to freak out.
87	%% zce * InconsistentSpelling: Dera/Dela Mochimazzui/Mochimazzi.
88	* InnocentBlueEyes: Tamako and her mother are infallibly kind girls, both with blue eyes..
89	* InterspeciesRomance: Dela the bird...thing gains a crush on the human Shiori.
90	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
91	** [[spoiler: Mochizou tells Tamako that he will support her with whatever makes her happy.]]
92	** In the movie, [[spoiler: this is Midori's main motivation for giving up on Tamako.]]
93	* LarynxDissonance: Kaoru, [[AmbiguousGender maybe]].
94	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Kunio the owner of the music cafe on occassion. Special mention to Midori suggesting that Dela should go on a starvation diet. As if on cue, [[OminousPipeOrgan Toccata and Fugue in D Minor]] plays immediately thereafter.
95	* LoveConfession: At the very end of the movie [[spoiler:Tamako finally reciprocates Mochizou's feelings by confessing to him at the train station using their TinCanTelephone.]] It is heavily implied, if not confirmed that they finally end up together. Some Official Artwork even supports this.
96	* LoveRevelationEpiphany: A key aspect of the movie Tamako Love Story. Tamako is ObliviousToLove and Mochizou CannotSpitItOut, and it takes him finally working up the courage to confess before she's able to think for even a moment about how she really feels.
97	* LoveTriangle: Between Mochizou and Midori towards Tamako, particularly fleshed out in episode 5.
98	* {{Magitek}}: Or something like it. Dela is some kind of cyborg parakeet with video ports, but a fortune teller can read his wing beats to divine the future.
99	* MaybeEverAfter: For [[spoiler:Tamako and Mochizou]], whose romance is left fairly open-ended in the television series. Not much is left to interpretation after the movie.
100	* MeaningfulName:
101	** Midori's name means "green". She wears a green hairpin and green kneesocks [[spoiler: and is envious of Mochizou's closeness to Tamako]].
102	** Dela Mochimazzi. "''Mochi mazui''" means 'mochi tastes horrible'. Tamako's dad keeps insisting he change it to Mochiunmai, 'mochi tastes awesome'.
103	** Mochizou's name like Tamako's, also reflects his family's business
104	** Ouji most typically means "[[PrinceCharming prince]]", though the name is actually spelled 'large road' [[note]]hence 'ouji' for 'prince' and 'ooji' for the name[[/note]].
105	* MissingMom: Hinako Kitashirakawa, Tamako and Anko's mother, died some years back.
106	* MotivationalLie: Near the end of the movie Midori tells Tamako that [[spoiler:Mochizou was leaving for good to start attending a University in Tokyo, when he was simply just going to take an entance exam. This prompts her to frantically try and catch him before he leaves so that she could finally confess to him.]] This was even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Kanna, who tells Midori she's awful for doing so.
107	* MumLooksLikeASister: Tamako's mom was most likely this, considering how cute she is in her high school flashback, and Mochizou's mother, [[http://i7.minus.com/i2Jk53v5fKWZI.jpg Michiko]], definitely qualifies, she could pass for her son's older sister.
108	* MundaneFantastic: It is a realistic slice-of-life series wherein a talking bird hangs out with humans.
109	* NameOrderConfusion: When Tamako introduces herself to [[spoiler:Prince Mecha]] in episode 11, she uses the western order while speaking ''Japanese''. Shiori is a bit surprised.
110	* NiceGuy (and NiceGirl): Both Tamako and Mochizou are the most friendly and kind-hearted characters in the series, and are known to get along with each other pretty well. They even help make mochi together despite the fierce business competition between their fathers.
111	* ObliviousToLove: Tamako has no idea that two of her close friends are crushing on her.
112	* OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchphrase: "I wonder what kind of mochi we'll have next time?"
113	* PalmFistTap: In episode 4, Anko has a crush on a boy. Tamako doesn’t quite understand, and when she "figures out" that they are "enemies," she taps her fist on her palm.
114	* PerenniallyOvershadowedBirthday: Tamako's birthday is always overshadowed by New Years' Eve, and leads to people forgetting about her birthday.
115	* PollyWantsAMicrophone: Dela talks and and is sentient enough to know what he is talking about.
116	* PuppyLove: Anko is in the fourth-grade and has a crush on Yuzuki, one of her classmates.
117	* QuirkyTown: Bunny Mountain Shopping District is a quaint place with all sorts of strange people, like rival mochi chefs, an eccentric girl with a perpetually stoic facial expression, and a record store owner who puts on fitting records at appropriate times. It gets even weirder once a talking bird is added to the mix.
118	* RealPlaceBackground: The Usagiyama shopping street is based on the Masugata Shōtengai in Kyoto. Many other locations from Kyoto are also recognizable, including the school and the Demachiyanagi neighborhood.
119	* RedHerring: In episode 4. It appeared that Anko had a crush on a hyperactive classmate, but in the end it turned out it was on the sweet boy he was walking with.
120	* RunningGag:
121	** The Kitashirakawas getting shocked whenever the surname Mochimazzi is mentioned.
122	** Dela getting sneezed on.
123	** Mochizou calling Tamako's dad, Dad. Much to the latter's dismay.
124	* SceneryPorn: To quote the ''Manga/KOn'' page, "What you get when you hire Creator/KyoAni to do a high school show taking place anywhere."
125	* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: The main plot line of Dela being in Japan to search for a bride for his prince]] is all for nothing, as it's unsuccessful.
126	* ShipSinking: Despite all the ShipTease between [[spoiler: Midori and Tamako, the makers had Midori give up fairly quickly on Tamako in the movie, so they could focus completely on the blossoming romance between Tamako and Mochizou]].
127	* SignificantBirthDate:
128	** Mochizou was born on 10 October, a day known as the "mochi day"-- fitting for the child of mochi makers.
129	** Tamako was born on December 31st or New Year's Eve, traditionally a very busy day for mochi makers.
130	* SitcomArchnemesis: Tamako's and Mochizou's fathers.
131	* SliceOfLife: Despite the MundaneFantastic angle, it's also about the life and times about a bunch of shopkeepers.
132	* TheStarscream: Kanna makes no secret of her plans to steal the baton club captain seat from Midori.
133	* StalkerWithACrush: In episode 5, Midori thinks Mochizou is being this towards Tamako.
134	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: In episode 6, Dela doesn't understand the point of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ksitigarbha Jizo]] statue, and when told that it protects children, he remarks that it could be useful if you threw it at an enemy. When [[spoiler:Choi, a native from Dela's island]] sees the statue, her first thought is, "What is this? A weapon to use against enemies?"
135	* StrongFamilyResemblance: Tamako looks ''exactly'' like her mother, with the exception of her hairstyle and Tamako's eyes being a ''slightly'' darker shade of blue.
136	* SuperDrowningSkills:
137	** Even as a high schooler, Tamako cannot swim, and still needs floaties whenever she goes into the water, and even so she could not move far. {{Downplayed\|trope}} by Kanna; she also needs floaties but she moves in water well.
138	** In the movie, Tamako even manages to almost drown in one of the shallowest parts of the Kamo River, which is already extremely shallow overall.
139	%%* SupremeChef: Tamako. Shiori proves that she's a pretty good cook as well.
140	* TinCanTelephone: Tamako and Mochizou use these to communicate from their rooms across the alley between their houses, although as Anko points out, they could easily just raise their voices slightly. [[ArtisticLicense And half the time the line isn't even taut enough to conduct the vibrations.]]
141	** In episode 2 Dela sabotages their discussion by standing on the line.
142	** Episode 12 reveals one of the ladies in the market made it for the pair after Mamedai gave them hell for earlier conversations.
143	** The pair plays an important part during the climax of {{the movie}}.
144	* TokenMiniMoe: Anko is the youngest character, and is smaller than everyone else.
145	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The market community seems pretty chill with having a talking bird around [[MisplacedWildlife who comes from an island]] and can project and record film out of its eyes!
146	* WhamEpisode:
147	** Episode 7 [[spoiler: Choi arrives and chews out Dela for neglecting his duties. After a few misunderstandings (mostly the result of Dela trying to shift the blame for his idleness), she comes to befriend Tamako. At the end, she recognizes her as her prince's destined bride.]]
148	** Episode 11: [[spoiler:Prince Mecha personally visits Bunny Mountain]].
149	* WhamLine:
150	** Episode 7:
151	--->'''Choi''': That scent...
152	** Episode 10: Choi tells Tamako that [[spoiler:she's the prince's destined bride.]]
153	--->'''Choi''': Tamako-sama, you are the prince's bride!]]
154	** Episode 12: [[spoiler:Prince Mecha denies that Tamako and he are meant to be.]]
155	* WhamShot: Episode 11 ends with [[spoiler:Prince Mecha handing Tamako her lost medal.]]

Context Anime / TamakoMarket