Tamon's B-Side

Marinate1016★ 10

In the midst of a shoujosei golden age it’s only right that my anime of the season be a shoujo. I knew right from the jump that Tamon’s B Side was special. Over the last year, I’ve fallen deeper and deeper into K/J-pop idol culture and it’s probably my biggest hyper fixation after anime at this point, so the concept of a show where an idol stan meets their oshi and they fall in love is right up my alley. It sounds like simple wish fulfilment, but it’s actually so much more substantive than that and has some of the best written characters and developmentaround. I’m not going to say it’s the most complex story ever, it definitely retains a lot of those shoujo wish fulfilment elements, I mean the very concept of you meeting your idol and them only having eyes for you is so unlikely, but the author makes sure to develop Tamon and Utage’s relationship beyond that. The series also examines the pressure young idols are under to maintain appearances and how that can affect their mental and emotional development. Our idols provide so much joy for us, but they’re never allowed to show how they’re truly feeling deep down and that’s a shame. F/ACE might be fictional, but I love these boys just as much as any real life idol group because of how well written every single member is. I had so much fun watching this every week thanks to the amazing characters, the well executed comedy and the beautiful production values. I couldn’t be more proud to say a show was my fave of the season. There’s a lot to love about this show for me. At the center of it all is Utage and Tamon’s relationship. They meet by pure coincidence through Utage’s job and she ends up working for Tamon. Initially, their interactions are dominated by Utage’s adoration for Tamon the idol. This quickly changes as she comes to see more sides of him and learns who he is as an individual, under the idol persona. It’s such a cute developmental path because Utage comes to realize Tamon is an insecure dork under all the boy crush heartthrob facade, but she learns to love him as he is. The sincerity he exudes, his hardworking personality, the way he’s so concerned for her, his group mates and other fans and wants to keep everyone happy.. we eventually learn that while he’s different from his idol persona, he’s just as worthy of being idolized. That’s a trend that extends to the entirety of F/ACE which I’ll get to a little later on. Going back to Tamon and Utage, their romantic development was a pleasure to experience every week. It’s not really a slow burn because it’s obvious how both of them feel about each other, but there’s this gradual progression where Utage goes from being in love with Tamon the idol to Tamon the human being and accepting all of him, flaws and all. I think it’s a nice realistic reminder that we don’t really know our idols and it kind of poses the question, “if you knew the real them, would you still love them?” So many celebrities are totally different in real life, so it’s a nice thought experiment. Luckily, our Tamon is arguably even more lovable as he really is than the idol version. Utage herself is amazing too. She’s not just a self insert character for the audience. She’s gorgeous, resourceful, intelligent, strong, loyal and fierce. She’s very much her own person and drives the story forward by helping Tamon and the other F/ACE members. It was so cool watching her week after week because she is THE idol stan that we all strive to be and also THAT girl. She can hold her own against any other female character this season. The other thing to love about this show are the supporting characters! You know a series is good when you have just as many, if not more, fans of the side characters as the main character. Ouri, Natsuki, Keito and Rintaro all have such fervent and passionate fans online that were hyping up all of their big moments this season. This was definitely one of the most fun shows to live watch in a while. I love that all the boys have their own unique B sides that will endear them to different people. Whether it’s Ouri coming off like a smug and arrogant asshole, Natsuki being a delinquent, Keito being the biggest cheapskate on the planet or Rintaro being the average otaku, there’s something for everyone here. What’s more, the reason all of them act the way they do gets explained(except Rintaro in this season) and you just can’t help but go, “yea that makes sense, those circumstances would lead anyone to become like this.” As I said earlier though, even though the boys are different than their idol fronts, you can see they all posses qualities worthy of being idolized. The way they care for each other, their fans and try their hardest in their own crazy ways is so beautiful. The other thing I like about this story is that it feels like a love letter to oshikatsu and stan culture as a whole. I know stanning gets looked down upon by a lot of people, but I do think it can be a positive outlet for many people of all ages. It’s a way to make friends and feel part of something bigger than yourself. More importantly, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting passionate about your fave artists and supporting them. The entertainment industry can be so fickle and brutal, letting your faves know you’ll always be there for them and that you appreciate how they keep going despite the obstacles they face is a beautiful thing. It’s obviously exaggerated, but I just felt seen thanks to this series and I can tell this was also a personal story for the author. A lot of heart and genuine soul went into this. The production values in this are so good. The art style and character designs are gorgeous, but the animation has no reason going as hard as it does. I will never get over how good the Utage delinquent transformation scenes or the Utage exploding head scenes were! The voice acting performances are all top notch too, so much talent in this cast! J.C Staff have really been on a roll since COVID and this is just their latest banger. Well done all around. Tamon’s B Side was such an amazing experience for me as an idol stan and anime fan. Every single week these episodes went by in the blink of an eye and I enjoyed seeing my girl Utage make Tamon fall even harder for her. It’s the personification of “she fell first, he fell harder” I laughed at all the jokes, I loved the side characters, the little bit of F/ACE music we got.. I just can’t gush enough about this show. When I was in Japan last month, it was all over the place so I’m really hoping we get a season 2. The manga volumes have been selling like hotcakes, so if there’s ever a show to break that should season 2 curse.. this would be it. Anime of the season no debate. Tamon’s B Side gets 10 out of 10.

hbaby1093★ 7

Tamon’s B-Side is a story about a female MC who is a fan of the band - F/ACE - more specifically, her idol Tamon. And one day, she ends up getting a job as his housekeeper. I’ll start with the things that I enjoyed about this story first. Tamon, as a character, was incredibly endearing and genuine, and he felt real. He wasn’t perfect; he was messy and problematic, but in ways that felt earnest and genuine. I thoroughly enjoyed him as a character, and enjoyed watching him gain more and more self-confidence in himself and his relationships with others, like his bandmates. For the plot, itwas simple as far as storylines go. There isn’t any conflict the characters have to overcome or any drama that needs to be resolved. Though I tend to enjoy more compelling storytelling, I actually found this plot very enjoyable despite its mild writing. The characters were entertaining enough to keep my attention from episode to episode, and overall, the plot’s wholesomeness was very sweet. The music was actually pretty nice too, and I enjoyed all the band members’ charisma and their dynamics with one another. Now, for what I truly struggled with - Kinoshita, the protagonist. While she absolutely had promising things about her character, I found the way she interacted with Tamon honestly bothersome. She continuously calls him a “god” and an “idol,” and never progresses to treating him as just Tamon the person. She even separates his “personalities” and calls them gloomy Tamon and hottie Tamon. Which is honestly pretty upsetting. Would you want someone to call the person you actually are, and not your persona, gloomy? All the time, mind you. And despite learning his true nature, she still worships him only as his idol version, and never cares about the actual person Tamon is - anxious and paranoid and sad. We see this during a scene where he attempts to unalive himself, and she doesn’t care enough to tell his bandmates or manager that he’s struggling and to keep an eye on him. Other than giving him some tea to drink, she doesn’t act worried or caring at all...like what? Nor did she call or text and check in with him to make sure he was okay. But then, on the flipside, she’ll constantly say, “I love Tamon.” Which, obviously she is only referring to his idol version as is clear throughout this whole story. At first, I just brushed it off thinking - maybe she just sees herself as unworthy of Tamon, and that’s why she keeps herself as just his fan and nothing more. But when it’s clear that Tamon wants more from her than just a fan/idol relationship, she completely deters his attempts. And I can’t help thinking it’s because she doesn’t like “gloomy tamon.” She doesn’t actually want to change their dynamic because she loves him as an idol, and that’s how she wants it to stay. To only be his fan. Because the real him isn’t hot enough, or confident enough...he’s emotional. And it’s not the version of him that she loves. I could understand acting this way in the beginning, but then having her slowly treat him as a friend/lover as she gets to know him better. But we don’t get any of that. Even when she tries defending him, she says, “I’m his housekeeper” instead of “I’m his friend,” which implies that she’s only spending time with Tamon because he pays her too. And she wouldn’t go out of her way to spend time with him, which we see when that housekeeper goes to take her job back in the earlier episodes, and she stops going to his place because it’s not her job anymore. And when she even says that she can’t go to Tamon’s place when he invites her over on a regular day, because she can only go when she’s being paid. So she’ll spend her money to see him as Tamon the idol in concert and meet and greets, but she won’t go over to his house to see him as simply Tamon unless it’s for work...like what???? How can you convince me she actually loves him and not his idol-self in the end? It’s incredibly confusing. With that stated, while I definitely had my qualms about Kinoshita, overall I did enjoy and would recommend!