It’s because of episodes like episode eight that initially persuaded me to watch and blog about Tamako Market in the first place. This is the kind of stuff that Kyoto Animation excels at. It’s a bunch of cute girls doing cute things. There doesn’t need to be anything else to this show other than that. I can’t quite put my finger on why the show drifted from this for 3 episodes. It’s for that exact reason that Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai took a serious fall in the last few episodes of the series.

“Plot is the cancer that is killing anime.”

kevo’, 2011

I think I’m finally starting to fully realize what my editor has been trying to say all these years.

This has been the most enjoyable episode of Tamako Market since Anko got her spotlight in episode four. It’s not so much that this episode had more Kanna in it than in previous episodes (Kyoto Animation, take note of this) as it was that everything just felt right. The chemistry between Choi and everyone else is evolving at such a smooth pace that it doesn’t seem forced. Sure she’s only been in the show for two episodes, but it seems as though she has been there for much longer. I only wish the show had done this with Shiori more so than Choi. I feel Shiori was pushed aside after episode three. She had an episode dedicated to her and she’s in the opening of the show. Yet Choi has gotten more screen time in the show than Shiori has since episode three. I find this to be a crime against humanity and everyone at Kyoto Animation should be held accountable for such an atrocity.

The comedy I feel is starting to worm it’s way back into the show. It’s felt a bit dry in my opinion for the past few episodes, but it feels as though it’s been given new light. When you use music from The Phantom of the Opera and Beethoven as a dramatic amplifier in a show like Tamako Market, comedy seems to nudge it’s way in and take over the spotlight of that moment. I’m starting to think that Master plays a much more important role in this show than people are led to believe. The other aspect that had me grinning like a moron were the faces the characters use. It’s pretty simple, but it’s sometimes the simplest things that make the biggest impact.

Choi is still referring to this particular smell about the Bunny Mountain shopping district. This time around, however, it’s during a conversation between Tamako and Anko about Tamako’s prior shopping expedition. At this point in the show I’m not even certain I pinpoint what exactly this smell is attached to. Is it something dealing with feelings? Is it family? I bet Choi has tapped into a new way of identifying moe. Where we as normal people are able to identify moe by sight, Choi has the supernatural ability to spot moe by smell. I can’t imagine what moe must smell like. If I were to guess, it’s a cross between peaches and heart attacks.

As a closing note I would just like to tell you about my friend Zach. He totally predicted Choi attending school with Tamako and everyone from episode one. I never would have guessed that Choi or any of the island people would, for one, be put in a position where they would venture to the Bunny Mountain shopping district, let alone attend school with the Tamako. That just seemed like such a farfetched idea. What’s next, Tamako someone kisses Mochimazzi and he ends up being the princess that the prince was searching for all this time in some weird cross species/gender-bending Princess and the Frog type scenario? And speaking of the prince, he must have a terrible life. Everyone has left him in order to live out their lives with cute girls and feed off the charity from the people of the Bunny Mountain shopping district. And the only way for him to get in contact with them is through messages through Mochimazzi that will never reach them because they haven’t fully grasped the concept of birds with projectors for eyes. Imagine a life where you are stuck on an island by yourself while all your friends bask in the world of cute girls and free food. I can only assume this is what it’s like to blog for The Cart Driver.