[symbv]

Originally Posted by something

No, I doubt Tamako Market is intended to be mainstream. It seems very unlikely that its anything like Chihayafuru (targeted to a broad audience but stuck with a late night slot against its will), and late night anime viewers were intended as the audience from the start. I think what symbv is trying to say is that even given that, it's the sort of show that doesn't contain any "overly-otaku-ish" elements that would be likely to turn off a non-otaku viewer. There's no fanservice, there's no heavy otaku in-jokes, there's no violence, there's just a pretty straightforward, heartwarming story about life in a shopping district, with a bit of a fantastical twist. As he notes, this premise could probably be be passed off as a live action drama. So a more mainstream audience might enjoy it if they watched it, but it'd be more a bonus than the core expectation.

I think Something has given an explanation better than I could have written. @Yvese, as you suspected correctly, midnight anime is not considered mainstream. Its market may be sizable but even within anime industry (itself a niche, though big, market in Japan) it is dwarfed by family fares and other mainstream anime. As I said, I could entirely imagine Tamako Market to be filmed in live-action with real life actors and it could pass as a TV show aired in evening time slots watched by mainstream audience. I do not believe such thing is possible for SAO or K-On, and by this measure I won't call SAO or K-On a show for mainstream audience. For "show for mainstream audience" I mean it is so close to what the broad mainstream TV view audience, not just the anime viewing audience, expects from a show broadcast in golden hours like evening time slots: Mainstream refers to the broad population, most of them do not watch anime. Please notice this is a bit different from "a mainstream anime show" (which would include shows like One Piece or Crayon Shin-chan which may not render itself well as a live-action show for evening TV).

Where things get more speculative is in debating whether its middling sales performance (relative to expectations that it would be #2 of the season I mean, it's still unlikely to sell poorly in an objective sense) is a result of reducing "overly-otaku-ish" elements, thus turning off otaku who only care about fanservice and otaku humor and ::whatever::.
I can't say I buy the argument. It's not significantly more or less mainstream-friendly to me than K-ON! (which we know gained acceptance well beyond 20-something male late-night anime viewership),

The comparison with K-On is most telling, given both Tamakoma and it are made by mostly the same staff. In K-On there is eyebrow raising as to why there is almost no male character and adults are seldom seen (besides the one teacher). There is a strong whiff of idealization here. Of course it does not stop many people who are not hardcore anime fans from watching it and loving it (hence its huge popularity) but it would stand out quite oddly from the usual slice-of-life live-action comedy shows you see on Japan TV aired at the most popular time slots. The case for Tamakoma is very different: we have lots of male characters; we see hints of romantic love; we see many adults in the neighborhood interacting with each other; and family love as well as neighborhood spirit are given highlights. The moe-level is also given a bit of tempering - compared to Yui (or Mio or Azusa), the clumsiness of Tamako only comes up a little bit once in a while.

Actually I have a feeling that the staff had "mainstream" in mind when they created this show even though "mainstream" is not the main audience targeted (realistically they should not expect "mainstream audience" to be the main target as they know it will be broadcast in midnight time slot). KyoAni has strove to break out of its (fair or not) reputation for being the moe studio of choice. In every recent show it tried to strike a balance between the moe elements and something else: Drama in Chuunibyou; Coming of Age though detective mystery in Hyouka; Absurdist humor in Nichijou (I am sure NHK education TV did not pick Nichijou for airing because of its moe cuteness). And here I see an attempt to create a story and a setting that can come from just a show that is broadcast in golden hours but spices it with a competent display of a blend of great animation, cute characters and sincere storytelling that KyoAni has been so (rightly) famous for. To me it is something new that KyoAni is trying, and my point is that the usual midnight anime watching audience may not see that as something special, perhaps because those people just think the usual evening TV shows as boring anyway, even though I'd say the fact that KyoAni is trying this, and making an original anime show at that, is a laudable risk that they are taking. Unlike Chihayafuru, another anime I would say is fit for mainstream audience, which is an adaptation and seems to be fully prepared to see modest BD sales in return for boosting manga sales, Tamako Market is an original anime and I think it is a way for KyoAni to challenge the midnight anime watchers and show that it can produce an original work that caters not only for them but can also be enjoyed by their parents, their non-anime-watching friends and their little cousins without any need to adjust to the anime otaku culture (which is not really the case for K-On). Maybe it is not showing much success so far, but I hope history will prove this show's significance and worthiness among midnight anime.