Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei

One autumn evening at a mysterious ramen stand behind the Shimogamo Shrine, a lonely third-year college student bumps into a man with an eggplant-shaped head who calls himself a god of matrimony. Meeting this man causes the student to reflect upon his past two years at college—two years bitterly spent trying to break up couples on campus with his only friend Ozu, a ghoulish-looking man seemingly set on making his life as miserable as possible. Resolving to make the most out of the rest of his college life, the student attempts to ask out the unsociable but kind-hearted underclassman Akashi, yet fails to follow through, prompting him to regret not living out his college life differently. As soon as this thought passes through his head, however, he is hurtled through time and space to the beginning of his years at college and given another chance to live his life.

Surreal, artistic, and mind-bending, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei chronicles the misadventures of a young man on a journey to make friends, find love, and experience the rose-colored campus life he always dreamed of.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Watashi Main

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Akashi Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Ozu Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Higuchi, Seitarou Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Johnny Supporting

Hiyama, Nobuyuki Japanese

Hanuki, Ryouko Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Jougasaki, Masaki Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Kaori Supporting

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Fortune Teller Supporting

Mayama, Ako Japanese

Aijima Supporting

Satou, Setsuji Japanese

Fujio, Tsutomu Producer

Ozaki, Noriko Producer

Takeuchi, Fumie Producer

Yuasa, Masaaki Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Reviews

Nov 3, 2024

iceneko_

Recommended

I love this anime very much Enjoy the review :


Welcome to TATAMI GALAXY..!!
An endless metaphorical journey of 11 episodes.!!
A False Gratification full of nothingness…
if you are not sitting around,killing time in your own 4.5 tatami room,and look around THERE are PEOPLE


You must have heard the interpretation that, every person have their own story.
...
Every eye has a story to be told..!
But a story also needs a stage, right?
And yes, there is a stage for everyone..!
Every person have their own stage, their own world, their own GALAXY..!

And Tatami Galaxy the anime is about a person, who cannot seem to create his own galaxy.

Directed by the visionary Mr. Masaki Yuasa, animated by studio Madhouse.
Tatami Galaxy is not a 11 episode satirical dark comedy anime, but this is a MIND F*CK satirical dark comedy anime..!!

If you are not familiar with extremely surreal or abstract story telling then I will give you only one advice
"STAY AWAY FROM TATAMI GALAXY"
This anime will not give any explanation of anything for you, don't even expect it to...!
If I will put it in simple words then, this anime takes a lot of work in understanding and ending it.
If you are ready to spend lots of your brain and time then only watch this anime, otherwise don't waste your time, it never returns for anyone...

EXCEPT For This Guy.!


Do you remember your first day of college when me, you and many other felt that we are relieved from our year of burden...

Well, after spending so many years in prison, the concept of a college seems like a ray of hope for everyone.

We are told by everyone that study for now and in college there is only enjoyment...

Well from personal experience I would say that, NO there is no enjoyment in college..

There are also studies in college, but well as compared to prison named school, it is much better in college..

But the perception of college that we make upon listening to adults only exists in movies, and not in reality..;)
And thanks to god, that I learned about it early in my life...

But what will happen if the perception of a person's mind is so much strong that the concept of college is like a fantasy dream world to them,

And for achieving that Fantasy he gets ready to reject the reality..

There is a very harsh line between fantasy and reality, they are COMPLETELY OPPOSITE to each other,
And the biggest difference between the two is that, reality is real
And fantasy is not bad until you are not rejecting reality for it.

There should be a balance in everything, nothing is completely grey and nothing is completely rose in this world.

The world is made up of a bunch of random colours which is called reality.!

On the surface level, this anime does not offer anything except for its goffiness and a lot of dark comedy.

Thanks to the direction of skills of Masaki Yuasa, who completely tries to make the narration more and more complex.

And with Tatami Galaxy, it reached its highest peak..!!
This 11 episodes anime with its infinitiely complex narrative, continues to blow my mind..!

To understand things on a deeper level, about this anime we actually need to decipher things about it, and sure as hell
I'll do that.!

So our main character watashi has recently passed his entrance exam and ahead of him lies the door to opportunities.

The structure of this anime is like this, that it is actually multiple stories of the same character.

In every episode you would see our protagonist entering the college, choosing a club,

And you will get to see the two years he spends in that club.

Then the next two years in a different club, and any other club in the next episode.

Basically our protagonist tries out every single option given to him,
And this is an episodic anime in which you will witness a different life of our protagonist in different episodes.
But certainly not the different circumstances....


The monotonous life of watashi

Our main character is also infected by this illness of fantasy and perception,
And the only difference is that
"He is not able to come out of it..!" Unlike people who usually can.
For watashi, college means ROSE COLOURED CAMPUS LIFE...
A fantasy which he created himself in his own mind, basically how he sees a college life
His expectations that how a college life is like..
Hundreds of friends, A raven haired maiden, blah blah blah

And just by hearing the description of that, you can tell that it is not something that can exist in real life....

Not in a college atleast..

Watashi is a confused and desperate human being, there are many instances in which he himself doubts his own fantasised Rose coloured campus life's reality.

Which is understandable because the life and details present in his description are not enough to form a compelling reality.

Like he could not even conjure a proper appearance of his raven haired maiden...

Even after having this much uncleared definition he rejects the reality to achieve his Rose coloured campus Life...

CONFUSED

Throughout the run of the entire series, one fact is pretty much solidified that watashi don't want any compromise in his Rose Coloured Campus Life.

He wants his Rose coloured campus Life to be completely Rose Coloured, In which there is not an ounce of interference of any other colour.
In other words, 100% PERFECT..!!

And he is determined to achieve his 100% PERFECT Rose coloured campus Life.

While at the same time, life offers him small happiness time to time, that are not 100% perfect
And yet his strong determination starts to waver....

DESPERATE

From start to end this journey is shown to us by only one perspective,
The protagonist Perspective

And this perspective doesn't even shift for milliseconds, anytime, anywhere.

The shifting of perspective is a very common troupe for any narrative,

If any other character other than the main character has to be flashed out then even for a small time that character has to be made the anchor point of the story, for some time we listen the story from that person's perspective, listen to their inner monologues.
And these things add shades and dimensions to their character.
And these things are NOWHERE in Tatami Galaxy.
That's why, to understand any character other than protagonist becomes a difficult task,
Usually it works as a criticism, but here, it is an artistic choice.

The Rose Coloured Campus Life doesn't exist so there is no chance of getting that.
But at the same time, Watashi has made him so distant from the reality that he cannot see any other colour in life.
Hence his life has become monotonous, the exact opposite of what he wants.

A large fraction of this anime has been painted in a grey and unsaturated way.
It seems this anime doesn't even have any colours, but this is not so.
All the characters and background have been painted in a different way,
And their vibrance has been taken away after doing so The same way all colours have been taken away from Watashi's life.

It's almost like the colours are in front of us but we cannot see them, just like the reality in front of him but he cannot see.


THE INTERFARING COLOURS

There is not really much to say about the characters other than the protagonist, as i already told you, that we never see things from their perspective.
But then also all these characters are present in each episode, and are a part of every event regarding the protagonist.

These are the characters that make this show enjoyable.
Almost all the scenes in which any of this character is not present, And the whole focus of the show is on the main character, each of those scenes are just sad or not moving anywhere.

Watashi hangs out and spends time with them, but then also he doesn't enjoy every moment, because he thinks he is not getting the 100% Happiness.

And that is absolutely right, and this fact is also right that no one is 100% happy in this world.
A human mind can never be satisfied, and watashi cannot accept the fact.

The human brain is so much evolved and thinks so much that, even if it is given 100% happiness, it will make it 99% by thinking and thinking.
And that is why you should never Chase 100% happiness in your life, which in this case is THE ROSE COLOURED CAMPUS LIFE.
So reject this fantasy of rose coloured campus Life, not the reality that is made up of so many different colours
Do not reject these people, even if they don't give 100% happiness, but these are better than someone who doesn't even exist, and only gives you endless despair.

Whenever the protagonist comes in contact with the other three students at the same college, it creates such a nice contrast.
These all characters have their own traits, uniqueness and in-life Goals, basically everything that the main character is lacking.
The appearance of these three makes us realise, how hollow our main character is in comparison to them.


THE PERSON IN CHARGE

To get to his Rose coloured campus Life, watashi makes an imaginary hypothesis, he thinks that the only way to get to his Rose Coloured Campus Life is to join any one club.

He sees that the people in the club, if they are happy or not,
And then begins to compare himself with them.
The attitude behind him joining any club is like this...

He thinks "Well People are happy in this club, this is my Rose Coloured Campus Life".

And then he joins the club without giving a second thought to what we do there.

If people are happy somewhere. it doesn't mean they are happy for no reason.
They are happy because they are doing something that they like, And are around those whose choices are alike them.

You don't join a sports club because you want to be happy, you join that club because you like playing sports and it gives you happiness
It just works like that, so simple...
And this is the thing that is not getting into our main character mind, he joins any club without thinking.
And then when everything turns out bad and he doesn't get his Rose Coloured Campus Life, then he begins to blame the CHOICE he made in the start.

He thinks that if he would've have joined another club then he would've got his rosed coloured campus Life.
And right at that moment,the clock shows up,time rewinds back, and he gets to that moment in which he happily entered the college...
And even after that he repeats the same mistakes all over again.
Joining any club without thinking anything, dreaming about something that doesn't even exist.
Rejecting reality again and again, and blaming his choices for his mistakes.
This person is DELUSIONAL, he is living his life for something that does not even exist.
And due to delusion he is facing embarrassment and the feeling of not being needed by anyone.

And you sure don't want to be like that person, don't be a circle...that is a circle don’t have any side or imperfections
And that is why it cannot match perfectly with any other shape

A square and a triangle, are perfect match for each other, because they have sides,that represent imperfections.

But when a perfect circle forcefully tries to fit in with a different shape that has imperfections,then it always leaves a dead space…

So remember to not be a circle, don’t chase perfection,
Because the people around you are not perfect as well, :)

And that is exactly what makes them interesting…

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 8, 2023

XeroBeat

Mixed Feelings

Informative

Alarmingly in tune with my own experiences of life, The Tatami Galaxy feels like something I should be deeply moved by and passionately in favour of, and yet, I'm not. While the series admirably leans in to the ambition of it's premise through the fantastic visual style, inventive animation and unique methods of storytelling, these strong points are left hanging by the show's apparent lack of depth, and so the experience of watching it feels hollow come the conclusion.

What the Tatami Galaxy suffers from so greatly is how it only manages to explore it's ideas on the surface. From as early as the first 10 ... minutes, you can immediately deduce what the point of the series is and what the story will culminate into. And yet, the show nominates to continue along this exact path for the remainder of it's 9 formulaic episodes, slowly revealing it's hand to the audience like it's meant to come with any surprise.

In many ways, the quality of this series is strangely contradictory. The extreme level of focus that is put on exploring the protagonist's endless possible lives is betrayed by how linear and indistinct many of those lives are. Because an overwhelming majority of the series is spent being episodic, the show's attempt at character development is unfulfilling come the conclusion. Despite being clearly telegraphed, the show manages to culminate into a fantastic climax, showcasing all the rich creativity, nuanced introspection and emotional core that the series has become revered for. Because of these inconsistencies, The Tatami Galaxy falls right down the middle for me. It managed to surprise me in it's own unremarkable way, and for that I have a conflicted sense of appreciation for it.

For those willing to bear with the faults of a show just to see the full scope of it's artistic vision, appreciate stories that you're able to gain a lot from on repeat viewing or just like shows that give you an experience through the way they're watched, I can cautiously recommend The Tatami Galaxy. Otherwise, if you don't have a tolerance for monotony or prefer stories with compelling character development and introspection, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 17, 2023

RESOLVING_POWER

Not Recommended

I watched Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei (including the specials), also known as The Tatami Galaxy. Here are my thoughts:

Once I realized that the MC was a self-pitying young man who was envious of his peers and pining for romantic affection, I knew I was going to have a bad time. Seriously, I can't stand this kind of character. If you find this garbage relatable then you need to take a serious look at what kind of person you are.

The two central characters (MC and Ozu) are pieces of shit, and the story consists of them acting like pieces of shit but with some time-loop stuff ... thrown in. I pretty much hated everything about the writing in this anime. My enjoyment was significantly impeded by this. Most of the story revolves around the MC being the pathetic worm that he is and treating everyone around him terribly, all the while yearning for romance. In addition to this unpleasantly relentless theme, the plot itself often feels repetitive due to the frequent time rewinds. This is because the same events and scenarios are repeated frequently, often with little variation both in terms of the facts of the story as well as the style in which it is told.

Visually, the show is pretty creative. The art style in the backgrounds is unique and stylistic, as well as highly detailed despite the constant scene changes. In general, I enjoyed looking at these creative visuals — they captivated me enough to continue watching the anime despite my grievances.

The style of direction and storytelling is interesting. The first-person narration by the MC is unique, particularly in anime. I think this style of storytelling is more common in American movies. Perhaps this is because it is relatively less common for anime to have conventional novels as source material. My main complaint about this storytelling style is that the narration is almost relentless during each episode. What I mean by that is, there is a near-constant info dump to pay attention to, while also trying to appreciate everything that is happening on-screen. I felt like my attention was often split between the visuals taking place and the narrative audio.

On the subject of audio, the voice acting is not bad. It's difficult for me to gauge the OST because of the literally constant fast-paced narrative dialogue which prevents me from hearing the music clearly. I recall there being some not-bad piano music. OP and ED songs are okay.


My personal overall rating: 4/10
As I already said, I seriously loathed both the characters and the writing in this. Furthermore, although unique, I didn't particularly like the style of storytelling. Additionally, this anime became repetitive very quickly and often felt like a chore to watch. The creative visuals are pretty much the only reason I watched this to completion.

To be fair, I am probably the wrong audience for this anime. This kind of story doesn't click with me at all. Furthermore, the focus is entirely on the MC, who is nearly always on-screen. So, in my case, hating the MC's guts is a major issue.

My intuition might be wrong about this, but I suspect that a lot of the people celebrating this anime must find it relatable in some way. At least the college setting is probably relatable for much of this anime's audience.

I will concede that the 'love doll' story arc was pretty funny. It got some laughs out of me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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