I don’t know why I keep forgetting that I’m supposed to post on WEDNESDAY. I’ll blame this show’s confusion.

Tatami Galaxy or “Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei” (Mythical 4.5 Tatami Mat Collection) is MADHOUSE’s newest attempt to create awesome visuals whilst telling a story with odd presentation.

Tatami Galaxy tells the story of an unnamed protagonist. Me and other internet goers have taken to calling him “Watashi” (which is how he refers to himself).

This unnamed college-student protagonist is mixture of self-loathing, concentrated effort, and mild social awkwardness. During his campus life (where he lives in a 4.5 Tatami room) .He is accompanied by someone somehow worse than him who’s name is Ozu, who despite being horribly malicious with conscious knowledge of his behavior, still has some sense of loyalty. Watashi met Ozu after joining the Tennis club but was shunned by nearly everyone else involved, so he and Ozu decided to make it their hobby to ruin people’s relationships for the next two years.

Watashi is given a visit by the god of matrimony, who tells him to go confront the love of his life, Akashi-san (part of the engineering department….you’ll be hearing that alot). With crazy antics in between, the protagonist fails to form a relationship with her in the first episode.

Every episode apparently shows a differing two-year period. Episode two shows what happens when Watashi joins the film-club, episode three, shows the cycling club, and so on and so forth.

Presentation

On the animation. I’m not gonna bother describing it because it’s too hard for me to describe.
Watashi as the narrator is the most distinctive part of the show. Mostly because he talks like a guy vocally typing on a type-writer.

Each episode begins by showing the present state of Watashi.
Then it shows how he got to that state.
Then it of course it finalizes everything by showing the resolution (or lack thereof)

In terms of character development. The series does not seem to intend for any. We simply see multiple angles fo the same characters. Watashi remains self-loathing and passive, Ozu remains malicious and ridiculous, and Akashi remains deadpan, and the god of matrimony has the same personality throughout.

Normally I would criticize this aspect (as my motto maintains “character development > god”) but because it allows the viewers to focus on one thing only (the events of the episode), it is quite effective.

Analysis

In this Groundhog Day type story, it’s a little confusing as to what we are supposed to figure out. The pattern is relatively simple.

1. Watashi gets on the campus, decides what club he is going to join
2. Whether or not he likes it, he always becomes affiliated with Ozu
3. By the end of the episode (and thus the two-year period), he fails to form any solid relations with Akashi.

But things get a little bit weirder. In one episode, Watashi doesn’t join any club, but yet still meets with Ozu. Another episode has him try to get closer with a different woman, within that same episode he also has some sort of fetish that was not elaborated in the previous episodes.

So eventually we might get an answer as to what this all means. But after seeing 6 episodes, I can’t tell if this will be a half season long or a full season.

Title

Whilst I usually don’t enjoy the way localized titles don’t literally translate the Japanese name. I have to say that the title “Tatami Galaxy” is actually very appropriate.

Each episode is a depiction of what could have happened to Watashi. Because he lives in a Tatami filled-room. It’s obvious that the whole series is intended to by the “Tatami Galaxy”, and Watashi’s journey (or perhaps even our journey) through these instances.

Music

The music creates a atmosphere of mysteriousness, but because of the crazy visuals I don’t have a conscious effort to pay attention to it.

As for the opening and ending? I love the opening because it has this “feel-good” tune to it, which connects with something that protagonist needs to figue out (he needs to calm down). I’m actually listening to it right now (check it out).

The ending has gotten alot of praise, I’m still not 100% sure how to think of it (it’s haunting that’s for sure). It has a morose feeling attached to it which seems not fully connected with the series…..which is actually nice aspect.