But now I was a brand-spanking freshman university student, and countless doors to the mystical treasure that is known as that "rose-colored campus life" lay open before me.
...and that's how most episodes into Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei, also known as The Tatami Galaxy, get opened with.
In The Tatami Galaxy, we're following the freshman endeavours of an unnamed individual just known as Watashi ("You") to us. Expecting an adventurous and fulfilling life he will put himself into unknown activities, hopeful to finally reach his goals. Over and over again...
Now, it does sound fairly straight-forward, but our fellow has a friend, Ozu, who just spells mischief with his presence, and sometimes more or less willingly brings misfortune along with him.
Most episodes are presented in very similar fashion, and let us follow Watashi's 3 year path of university. It always starts with the same wish, but different choices lead to different outcomes, mostly to our friends regret. These different choices handle a lot of topics, from the aforementioned wish for a happy lack-free life over to the urge for power and greed, as well as love and hate in it's many shapes. Not just from Watashi's perspective, but also the people he met along the way. But, is there a way to break out of the endless circle, and will we be able to reach our goals? The answer might just be dangling in front of you...
Aside of our protagonist triplet consisting of Watashi, Ozu and Akashi every other character is presenting a specific longing or struggle, that not just works in favor or against them, but also to our main cast. The relationships between the different characters can get a little bit complex, but these are also unveiled/deepened in the right situations.
If we look at the message, The Tatami Galaxy closely relates to our actions in the human world as well, which is composed of tough choices, overthinking and ever so often regret from the "wrong" choices we make.
Audiovisually, The Tatami Galaxy impresses with it's simplicity. It choses a very unique artstyle for it's delivery, often being relatively monochrome to sepia-toned, but in other opportunities either switching to fully vibrant colors, always capturing the mood of the scene. Sound-wise there isn't anything super out-of-the-ordinary going on, it's fine as it is, but something that you'll be very suprised about is the extreme speed of the narration in a huge chunk of the anime, get ready for some fast reading because the subtitles will be rushing past you in no time. Also, the ending song "Kami-sama no Iu Tōri" will probably be stuck with me for a while, a definitive earworm.
The Tatami Galaxy will be a lot to take in, but if you consider yourself fit and can handle fast speaking just fine you're in for a definitive treat in many aspects that presents more to us than visible on the surface at first.
That'll be 9,000 yen!
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