Tamako Guidebook Short Story TL: Anko’s Lovey Dovey Diary

Anko’s Happy Romantic Diary

Author: Mutsuki Ichinose

Date: ☆/☆
Weather: Rainy!

Today I headed home immediately after school to take over for Gramps. Father was off on a delivery and Gramps had his knitting class in the afternoon, so even though it was just going to be a bit until Father returned, I was going to run “Tamaya.”

“Well, we trust you Anko.”  Gramps had a kind smile as he looked at me.

“ Yep. Leave it to me!”

“ It’s only going to be for a little while. Tamako should be coming home from school too.”

“Ah, that’s right.” I looked at the clock as Gramps spoke. Big sis and her new boyfriend have been walking back to the shopping district since they got together. Only about half the time though.

Right, it’s raining today. Perhaps they’ll be sharing an umbrella. The main street of the district has a cover over it, but there’s none in front of our stores. Maybe, just maybe…… As I was thinking, I pulled out the cutest notebook from my backpack. I set it on my lap right above my knees and prepared to write in my diary.

Tamako Love Story JP BD review

The television anime series Tamako Market aired from January until March 2013. Though it was a pleasantly charming series, the director of the show, Naoko Yamada, felt she wasn’t done with the franchise once the final episode was finished. One of the interesting points of the TV show was that it focused around the main character, Tamako Kitashirakawa, but it never focused on her as a character; rather it detailed about the shopping market as a whole instead. Director Yamada wanted to delve into Tamako herself, and given that the theme of the franchise is “love”, what better medium than an adolescent love story? Thus, Tamako Love Story was brought to life. The film opened on April 26, 2014 and was released on video disc October 10, 2014 (mochi day and Mochizo Ooji’s birthday). This is a review for the Japanese Blu-ray release of the film. My thoughts on the film itself can be found elsewhere.

Front cover

Tamako Love Story: Yamada Excite Interview

Tamako Kitashirakawa: the daughter of the “Tamaya” mochi shopkeeper.
Mochizou Ooji: the son of the “Ricecake Oh! Zee” mochi shopkeeper.
The movie Tamako Love Story depicts the love between these two teenagers who grew up across from each other in the overly warm Bunny Mountain Shopping District.

The film, a sequel to the TV series Tamako Market which aired from January to March 2013, has had a long run in theatres due to the support of both Tamako fans and anime fans. Even over a month following its opening weekend, the film is still increasing the amount of theatres its screening at.

Thus we’ve come to interview the director of the film, Naoko Yamada, in order to thoroughly investigate Kyoto Animation’s newest masterpiece from when it was first planned until the ending.

(UMX warning: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FILM!)

Tamako Love Story: Yamada TAN Interview

In order to hype the upcoming release of Tamako Love Story on Blu-ray/DVD this week in Japan, I’ve taken the liberty to translate a couple of interviews with the director, Naoko Yamada. Here’s the first of them!

Tamako Kitashirakawa is the daughter of a mochi shopkeeper in the Bunny Mountain Shopping District. Tamako Market, the TV series which aired in 2013, begins when Tamako meets a talking bird from a southern island. The heartful comedy depicts people’s connections and love between Tamako’s friends as well as the shopkeepers in the shopping district. Coupled with the thorough work Kyoto Animation is known for with a warm story, the series was valued quite highly.

And so the sequel work, Tamako Love Story opened on April 26th. The orthodox adolescent love story is a new tale that shows a slightly different mood than the TV series. In order to find the highlights of the film as well as discuss production secrets, we went to speak with the director, Naoko Yamada.

Tamako Love Story Director Yamada Newtype March ’14 Interview translated

This month’s edition of the magazine Newtype had an interview with the director of the upcoming film Tamako Love Story, Naoko Yamada, this month. This is a translation of said article. Thanks to violaxcore for editing assistance.

Tamako Love Story Special: Director Yamada Interview translated

The Tamako Love Story official website posted the first part of an interview with the director of the film, Naoko Yamada, on 2014/03/07. This is a translation of that part. I’ll add the second part to this post whenever it is posted on the website. Thanks to violaxcore for editing assistance.

Welcome to Tamako Market: Naoko Yamada x Reiko Yoshida Conversation

Announced immediately after the ninth episode of Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!, Tamako Market is Kyoto Animation’s latest series set to premiere in January. While I’ve translated various bits and pieces about the plot and characters, I recently translated a very long (over 3,500 words) conversation between Naoko Yamada and Reiko Yoshida that was published in the latest Animage magazine. Welcome to Tamako Market!

Translations master list

Since most of the front page was taken up by translation projects, I figured it would be best to make a master list sticky post instead of having each of the translation posts be a sticky. Here’s the projects I’ve worked on and their status:

Nagaru Tanigawa interview from the June 2003  The Sneaker
Finished Post

Nagaru Tanigawa/Noizi Itou discussion from the February 2006 The Sneaker
Finished Post

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Episode comments
Completed! Posts: Pre-air/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/Final Cast Comments

Tamako Market Preview Interview:
Finished Post

Hyouka Episode comments
Finished! Posts: 1-2/3-4/5-6/7-8/9-10/11-12/13-14/15-16/17-18/19-20/21-22

2011 Japan Cultural Affairs Department Kyoto Art Festival – KyoAni roundtable
Finished Post

Free! Director Hiroko Utsumi x Character Designer Futoshi Nishiya interview
Finished! Post 1/Post 2

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Movie/S2 Director Tatsuya Ishihara interviews
Finished! Non-Spoilers/Spoilers Cloud G

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! S2 magazine translations
Finished! Animage 12/13 – Animedia 01/14

CTFK Stage Event Panels translations
Complete! Directors Dialogue/Futoshi Nishiya (Free!)/Producers Discussion