Thursday 7 February 2013

Tamako Market - Episode 5

In the height of summer, what better way to cool off than a visit to the swimming pool?

That said, Tamako and her friend's pool visit is more about business than pleasure - with a school trip to the beach that involves a fair amount of swimming coming up, teaching Tamako how to swim takes top priority.  Meanwhile, Mochizou's inability to join the girls on said pool visit sends him into a malaise as he ponders his relationship (or relative lack thereof) with Tamako.  Maybe this is something that self-professed love expert Dera can help with?


Although Dera does succeed in getting Ouji sufficiently psyched up to consider writing a love letter to Tamako, he soon runs into an obstacle in the form of Midori, who not only prevents this letter from being delivered but also warns Ouji off confessing to Tamako in no uncertain terms.  Is this jealousy she's feeling, and if so is it feelings for Ouji or Tamako that's getting in the way, and do those feelings consist of friendship alone or something rather more substantial?  It's this mystery that effectively sustains this episode.

Well, I say "sustains", because it's still pretty boring and largely unfunny in the way it goes about things - the traditional KyoAni physical comedy has been done too many times before to get any big laughs by this point, and the main cast of characters all remain largely dull; even Midori, perhaps one of the more interesting individuals within the show, becomes a whole lot tougher to like thanks to her attitude and behaviour in this show.  And hey, remember that whole thing about Dera finding a bride for his prince?  Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was some kind of plot point within this series before we got sidetracked by beach and festival episodes.  Maybe if we get back to that side of affairs this series can prove itself to be something more than schmaltzy and mediocre.

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