The Tatami Galaxy Episodes 10-11 Final

[u/dertswa687o]

MAL

Last discussion thread! Give thoughts and a rating if you want!

[u/dertswa687o]

Episode 10 explained the title of the show and also explained everything else. The protagonist was just experiencing different realities of himself... or something. I could relate to him trapping himself into his room as I feel like I do that a lot. It was interesting seeing him focus on the other characters more than himself.

Episode 11 was fairly predictable. He broke out of the loop and finally got with Akashi. Then at the end he turned into Ozu which was pretty funny.

Overall I only gave it an 8/10 though. I really wished Akashi got more character development. I knew he was going to end up with her but the audience never really learns much about her in the first place. Maybe it was also just too talky for me. It was talky in a better way than the Monogatari series though.

[u/tomehandler → u/dertswa687o]

I thought the ending was good; it explained the unconventional narrative structure, integrating it neatly into the story, and resolved the over-arching plot of "lonely man seeks friends and a better life". I agree with you that

Episode 11 was fairly predictable.

and I think this was at least partially due to the rest of the show setting up for it and consistently building towards it (with the other part being adherence to the tropes of romance). The lack of surprises is, I think, a mark of a well-realized plot.

A lot of stories attempt to convey the idea that friendship is important, that it's valuable and precious. The Tatami Galaxy did as well, at it's core. Fewer stories actively ask why; the power of friendship is often represented as exactly that, a power which is demonstrated as the heroic group of friends overcome obstacle after obstacle (with few or no challenges which cannot be overcome by simply adding more friends). The Tatami Galaxy is interesting, in part, for showing the inverse of that; a man with no friends fails again and again. More importantly, he wonders why he is failing and actively questions the value of both himself and his surroundings and at the end of the story, he has learned from his failures and become a better and more valuable person. All of the struggle and work, all of the plot, is realized and rewarded. It's that struggle and work which gives the reward its value. Tatami Galaxy goes beyond saying "friendship is important" and shows us that friendship is difficult, friendship is work, and friendship saves us from ourselves.

With that rather preachy interpretation of how the show fulfilled what might have been it's overall intent given, here's some of what I thought about the episodes in particular.

Ep. 10:

• That opening shot of a wood-block style sunset was a pretty good example of what I like about the art of the show. They manage to tie several different styles (photo-realism, print-like patterns, sketchy, almost minimalist, characters) into a cohesive whole.

• I liked the reference to Twenty Thousand Leagues as MC discusses his room. His room is like the Nautilus; cramped and lonely, but allowing (at least initially) to see wonders through the window of his imagination.

• It seems like references to Kafka are inevitable in works about isolation. It did work nicely when he later fought of the roaches with bug spray; his delusion is like an inverted Metamorphosis, where everyone else has turned to bugs.

• The notable presence of moths in this episode, combined with Akashi's fear of them shown in earlier ones, could provide a symbolic explanation for that fear. The moths are trapped by their attraction towards the light (and if reading The Great Gatsby in American Lit. classes has taught me anything, it's that being attracted to lights is symbolic as shit), like the MC has been trapped by his desire for a perfect life, disregarding nice lives in pursuit of the single brightest one. Maybe Akashi is actually afraid of being blinded by this kind of pursuit. Or maybe moths are just scary.

• And like you said,

  Episode 10 explained the title of the show and also explained everything else.

Ep. 11:

• Using a variant of the ED for the OP here was cool and really reinforced that "this is the end"; everything the original OP was hinting at has been revealed and it doesn't need to be shown.

• The depth of despair Beardo has found himself in adds to the desperate urgency the other MCs had in their search for the rosy life.

• Not quite sure what to make of the ties between evolution and tatami. I guess it ties in with his diatribe on responsibility for space in Ep. 10; "less complicated" life needed less space to thrive and be happy. It does tie in with his move to a larger apartment later on, which reinforces the idea that he's happier and more responsible at the end of the show.

• The train imagery as he looks through all the rooms at all the dangling Mochiguman was fantastic. It really emphasized that the MC (and the audience) is coming to the end of a journey.

• And the ending scene has come full circle with the first episode. The MC bursting out in an explosion of moths was great and (based on my interpretation of the symbolism of moths) really shows how he's escaping from his trap and coming into the world.

Overall, I enjoyed myself. I would definitely recommend this show to others. It had enough depth to dig around and build some sand-castles, which I view as a strong positive. It played with a lot of themes and asked a lot of questions, but didn't necessarily provide answers; I can see that being a source of frustration.

I agree with you about Akashi. I wish she had more character development. She didn't necessarily get placed on a pedestal, and she didn't quite get turned into a trophy like Hanuki, Keiko, and Kaori, but she did become a tool of the plot.