Tamako Market-Episodes 8-12
(Complete)
I did end up enjoying Tamako a fair bit, but I'll have to say, of all the KyoAni shows I've seen thus far, it's almost certainly the weakest. Well, I wasn't overly fussed on some parts of TSR, but I digress.
Biggest issue for me was I really struggled to invest myself in the characters, which is an issue given this is a very character driven series. Considering it was from the director of K-On, a series that legit made me cry at the end, twice if you count the film, I was expecting a little bit more on that front. Granted, K-On had two series, one of which was two cour, but still, I can't help but feel as if I was more emotionally invested in K-On by the end of S1 than I was here. I think Tamako herself might be a big reason, as she wasn't really a great central character. Sure, she was pretty cute, but she wasn't exactly interesting, and she was lacking any real flaws. Personally, I was much more interested in the Midori, and her seemingly having some hidden feeling for Tamako, but I felt like this didn't really go anywhere or amounted to much. The signs were clearly there, albeit fairly subtle, so it was disappointing to see them not really do much with it. The romance on the whole did come across as being quite half baked, but given there's a whole film to follow up on that element alone, I can't complain too much, but as I think
@Joshawott said, the fact that Tamako here seems very aromantic, and almost totally unaware of Mochizou's advances, it would actually feel somewhat jarring for her to suddenly start taking an interest.
Complaints aside, I still thought the show was on the whole rather enjoyable. Dera was a lot of fun to watch, and I also was quite the fan of Kanna towards the end too. It also has the relaxed, SoL vibe that I love so much. It was just generally quite pleasant, and had a great atmosphere about it. The attempt at some kind of a story was neat too, and not something you generally see in SoL fare such as this, so it was a nice change of pace, and I felt the ending was satisfying enough, romance aside. As I mentioned in a previous post, I absolutely loved the one episode with Shiori and her social anxiety, and I think that episode probably stands as the highlight for me, as it's something that I actually could relate to on a personal level, but I was pretty dissapointed that nothing more was really done with Shiori, as she pretty much disappears into the background after her single episode of focus.
Honestly, I'd still recommend this series at the end of the day, for those seeking out the usual KyoAni SoL fare, just don't expect it to be the next K-On or something.