The Tatami Galaxy
The Tatami Galaxy is a 2004 Japanese varsity novel written by Tomihiko Morimi and published by Ohta Publishing. Its first-person narrator is an unnamed upperclassman at Kyoto University reminiscing on the misadventures of his previous years of campus life, with each of the four chapters taking place in parallel universes in which he is enrolled in a different student society.
A sequel, The Tatami Time Machine Blues, was published in 2020, which combines the characters of The Tatami Galaxy with the plot of Makoto Ueda's play and film Summer Time Machine Blues. English translations of both novels were published by HarperCollins in December 2022 and November 2023, respectively.
The Tatami Galaxy was adapted into an 11-episode anime television series produced by Madhouse and directed by Masaaki Yuasa, which aired on Fuji TV's late-night Noitamina programming block in 2010. The adaptation was critically acclaimed, winning the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize in the Animation Division and the 2011 Tokyo Anime Award in the Television Category. An original net animation adaptation of The Tatami Time Machine Blues produced by Science Saru premiered in September 2022 on Disney+.
Plot
The Tatami Galaxy follows an unnamed third-year student at Kyoto University, using parallel universes as a plot device to explore how his life would have differed had he joined a particular student society. The original novel follows four different timelines. The first has him joining the Film Ablutions Club where he works under the tyrannical rule of upperclassman Jōgasaki, the second timeline has him answer a "Disciples Wanted" notice where he is joined by fellow classman Ozu and Akashi to perform tasks for the eccentric Seitarō Higuchi, the third timeline has him joining the Mellow Softball Club, a cult-like group that he ultimately leaves, before he is thrown into a conflict involving Ozu and Jōgasaki's pristine love doll Kaori, and the fourth timeline has him join the underground Lucky Cat Chinese Food group, which he ultimately leaves due to their cruel methods.In each timeline, the protagonist constantly runs into the devious Ozu who, despite his malicious and diabolical mind, considers him his closest friend. He also meets Akashi, a girl who is a year younger than him whom he slowly develops a close romantic kinship with, thanks to a mochiguman keychain she lost. Other characters he frequently meets, in differing situations thanks to the parallel universe theme, are the eccentric master Seitarō Higuchi, the jock-like film club leader Masaki Jōgasaki, and the lively alcoholic dental hygienist Ryōko Hanuki. Within each further timeline, the protagonist is convinced that life would be much different if he had chosen another club, mainly to avoid people like Ozu, only for this to be disproven with each timeline. His closeness to Akashi also changes from that of mutual respect, to that of genuine love.
He encounters a fortune teller who tells him that he is to pursue some kind of chance that he must take, adding that even if he was to pass it up, it will still come to him at some point. The prediction is "Colosseo", with the protagonist finding something in each timeline that seems to have a loose connection to it. This culminates in the last timeline: the protagonist decides that he no longer wants to attend any meetings or meet anyone, and finds himself in an endless universe of four-and-a-half mat tatami rooms. He traverses the endless Tatami Galaxy for eighty days, during which he discovers that each tatami room is actually an alternate timeline. Coming to the conclusion that he misses his friends and that no matter what he did, he was never going to achieve a "rose-colored campus life", he finally escapes the Tatami Galaxy.
Each timeline ends with the protagonist, and a few of the associated characters, chasing Ozu onto a bridge above the Kamo River Delta, following him pulling one too many devious actions. A swarm of moths fly in and coats the entire area. It always ends with Akashi running in terror from the moths and Ozu falling into the Delta and breaking his leg. The protagonist comforts and later asks Akashi out, and meets with Ozu in the hospital where he makes amends with him. The first three chapters end with a malicious Ozu telling the protagonist that he likes to show his "love" to him with his weird habits, while the final chapter has the newly appreciative protagonist turn the tables on Ozu's "affection".
Characters
;Protagonist / "Me";Ozu
;Akashi
;Seitarō Higuchi
;Masaki Jōgasaki
;Ryōko Hanuki
;Kaori
;Aijima
;Keiko Higuchi
;Fortune teller
;Cat Ramen stall owner
;Johnny
;Tamura
Media
Novel
The Tatami Galaxy was first published in Japanese in December 2004 as a tankōbon by Ohta Publishing; it was republished in March 2008 as a bunkoban by Kadokawa Shoten. The novel was published in Korean by Viche in August 2008, in traditional Chinese by China Times Publishing in December 2009, and in simplified Chinese by Shanghai People's Publishing House in August 2010.Morimi's 2006 novel The Night Is Short, [Walk On Girl] serves as a spiritual successor to Tatami Galaxy, with a shared setting and some recurring characters. The novel was published in English in the United States in 2019 by Yen Press.
The Tatami Galaxy received a sequel, titled The Tatami Time Machine Blues, inspired by Makoto Ueda's stage play and film Summer Time Machine Blues. It was published in Japan on July 29, 2020.
Both The Tatami Galaxy and The Tatami Time Machine Blues were published in the United States by HarperCollins in December 2022 and November 2023, respectively, translated by Emily Balistrieri.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation of The Tatami Galaxy was produced by Madhouse, with Masaaki Yuasa as director, series composition by Makoto Ueda, teleplays by Ueda and Yuasa, and music by Michiru Ōshima. The series premiered on April 22, 2010, as a part of Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. Two theme songs are used for the series: "Maigoinu to Ame no Beat" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation as the opening theme, and "Kamisama no Iutōri by Etsuko Yakushimaru as the closing theme.Three seven-minute animated shorts were included with the Japanese DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases of the series. The first DVD/BD volume was released on August 20, 2010, and contained the first short; the second and third shorts were released on the third and fourth DVD/BD volumes on October 22, 2010, and November 26, 2010, respectively.
In North America, the series was simulcast by Funimation, and it was first licensed in United Kingdom by Beez Entertainment. In June 2019, Funimation announced the release of the series on Blu-ray and DVD with subtitles only on September 3.
On August 12, 2021, it was announced that The Tatami Time Machine Blues novel would be receiving an anime adaptation. The series, later revealed to be an original net animation, is produced by Science Saru, directed by Shingo Natsume and written for television by Makoto Ueda, with character designs by Yusuke Nakamura, music composed by Michiru Ōshima, and the majority of the original Japanese voice cast reprising their roles. Asian Kung-Fu Generation performed the theme song "Demachiyanagi Parallel Universe". The 6-episode series premiered exclusively on Disney+ in Japan on September 14, 2022, while a theatrical compilation film version followed on September 30. The Disney+ release of the series includes an original episode that was not covered by the theatrical compilation, which was released on October 12, 2022 along with the series finale. The series was also released in the United States on November 9, 2022. It was slated to appear on Disney+, but was unexpectedly moved over to Hulu with no promotion or announcement.
Episode list
| # | Title | Storyboard artist | Episode director | Original air date |
Film
Night Is Short, Walk On Girl, a feature film and spiritual sequel to The Tatami Galaxy, based on the novel of the same name, was released by Toho on April 7, 2017.Reception
The Tatami Galaxy won the grand prize in the animation category at the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival on December 8, 2010, making it the first television series to win the award, with the jury describing the series in their justification as a "richly expressive work that turns the limitations of TV on its head" and complimenting its "unique scene layouts, characters' actions and color scheme." It also won the Television Category award at the 10th Tokyo Anime Awards in 2011.In 2019, Polygon staff named The Tatami Galaxy as one of the best anime of the 2010s; writer Julia Lee commented, "This is my all-time favorite anime. It's wordy, it's fun, and it has this great, over exaggerated art style". In a 2019 Forbes article about the best anime of the 2010s decade, Lauren Orsini considered it to be one of the five best anime of 2010; she wrote, "With thoughtful wordplay and deep insight into the human condition, this Bildungsroman bridges fantasy and reality with a cast of characters just on the other side of absurd".