Is there a point in making a sequel to The Tatami Galaxy?

Most likely, the answer is no. Masaaki Yuasa’s seminal 2010 exploration of college life and choice paralysis was as complete and self-contained as a story could possibly be. It spent 11 episodes saying everything it needed to say and left without any loose ends to tie up. And not only are there no real narrative threads to pull on for a follow-up, there’s no real way to recreate the complex time loop gimmick that drove its structure without breaking the narrative machinery in half. Tatami Galaxy was an incredible show, but it was also a show that could only ever work once. So while this twelve-years-later sequel might be little more than a fun nostalgia trip, can you really blame it? There’s nothing that Tatami Time Machine Blues can do that Tatami Galaxy didn’t already do first and better. Might as well just make like an aging rock band and play all the old hits again, secure in the knowledge that what worked then will still work now, even if it lacks the originality and nuance that made it so special to begin with.

To be clear, I have no problem with Tatami Time Machine Blues essentially just being a victory lap reminding you of how great Tatami Galaxy was. Pointless or not, even just existing in this world again is fun enough to justify checking this six-episode OVA out. Where else would I get a visual style this bizarre and expressive, with Shingo Natsume replicating Yuasa’s aesthetics to near perfection? Where else would I get dialogue this layered and verbose and packed full of interesting trivia? Where else would I get the uniquely raucous dynamic between the cynical nameless protagonist, his cackling personal shoulder demon Ozu, and the various stand-out side characters that populate the art-deco streets? There is nothing quite like Tatami Galaxy, not even among Yuasa’s other work. So even if this OVA is just an excuse to revel in the good times again, well, they’re still some damn good times. Just don’t expect anything like a proper continuation, because you’re bound to be disappointed.

Actually, even calling Time Machine Blues a sequel feels inaccurate. We’re still at the same college campus, still going through the motions as if it’s just any other go round the time loop- and indeed, the final episode quasi-canonizes this show as just one more revolution through Watashi’s failed attempts at reaching a rose-colored college life. No, it would be more accurate to descibe Time Machine Blues as a simplified retread. It’s got all the same characters, all the same themes, a just-different-enough use of time travel (as the title implies, this plot is all about time machine shenanigans and trying not to destroy the universe with a time paradox), and ultimately comes to the same basic conclusion as its predecessor. Watching this show feels very much like someone took Tatami Galaxy and simplified it for a lower reading level, as it were. You know how a lot of works of classic literature like, say, Great Expectations have graphic novel versions made of them to make them more easily digestible to younger readers? Like, maybe you’re not ready to tackle such a dense, wordy novel on its own terms, but you can still experience the story through comic form and get most of the point? That’s what Time Machine Blues reminds me of more than anything. It’s Tatami Galaxy for audiences who feel like Tatami Galaxy is too complicated and want a version of the story that doesn’t demand so much brainpower trying to keep up with it.

And again, I don’t mean this as a criticism! There’s plenty of value in making challenging works more easily accessible to everyone. But if you are someone who’s comfortable meeting Tatami Galaxy on its own footing, then this reader’s digest version is going to feel lacking by comparison. The time machine antics are fun, but they pale in comparison to the original’s thematically brilliant time loop structure. The ultimate conclusion is fine, but it lacks the sheer catharsis of the original’s beautiful climax. Even the animation, as near-flawlessly as Natsume recreates the series style, doesn’t hit quite the same imaginative heights as Yuasa was able to reach. Which is a severe nitpick, I’m aware, but why settle for a strong A when you could have an outright flawless A+? As art, as entertainment, as a statement on the importance of making the most of your life and not waiting for someone to work things out for you, Tatami Time Machine Blues is perfectly fine on its own terms, but just a little bit weaker and more superfluous than what came before it. The only thing it really adds, instead of just repeating, is that Akashi gets a little more personality as a deadpan scatterbrain who’s intellect tends to outstrip her common sense. Which I did like: Akashi and Watashi’s romance was always the weakest part of the Tatami universe, so making her character more interesting is a very welcome addition. But it’s ultimately a drop in the ocean of a show that’s otherwise a perfect example of the “everything the same, but worse” school of sequel writing.

You know what, though? At the end of the day, all that really matters is if I had fun or not. And for all my complaints, I absolutely had fun with Time Machine Blues. It’s little more than a victory lap, but it’s a well-deserved lap, and one that still mostly captures all the things that made Tatami Galaxy so entertaining, if not what made it exceptional. And maybe someday, if I feel like re-experiencing this kooky world but don’t have much brainpower to spare, this show will be just the low-carb alternative I’m looking for.