The Tatami Galaxy is a 2004 Japanese campus novel written by Tomihiko Morimi and published by Ohta Publishing. Its first-person narrator is an unnamed upperclassman at a 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 university society. The novel was adapted into an 11-episode anime television series by Madhouse directed by Masaaki Yuasa, which aired on Fuji Television's late-night Noitamina programming block from April 22 to July 1, 2010. The Tatami Galaxy won the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize in the Animation Division and the 2011 Tokyo Anime Award in the Television Category. The novel received a sequel, Tatami Time Machine Blues, in 2020.
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 campus club. The majority of the series' episodes follow the same basic structure: the protagonist joins a circle as a freshman, but is disillusioned when the activity does not lead to the idealized "rose-colored campus life" he dreamed of. He meets Ozu, another student, whose encouragement sets him on a mission of dubious morality. He becomes close to Akashi, a second year engineering student, and makes a promise to her, usually of and within a romantic subtext. He encounters a fortune teller, who cryptically informs him of an opportunity "dangling" in front of his eyes; this prompts him to remember a mochiguman keychain lost by Akashi and recovered by the protagonist, which he leaves hanging from a pull switch in his apartment and perpetually forgets to return to her. The dubious mission ends poorly for the protagonist, causing him to bemoan the state of his life and wonder how things would have differed had he joined a different circle. Time rewinds, and the subsequent episode depicts the protagonist once again as a freshman, joining a different circle.
The Tatami Galaxy was first released as a novel by Tomihiko Morimi, published in December 2004 as a tankōbon by Ohta Publishing, and republished in March 2008 as a bunkoban by Kadokawa Shoten. The novel was translated into Korean by Viche in August 2008, traditional Chinese by China Times Publishing in December 2009, and simplified Chinese by Shanghai People's Publishing House in August 2010. The 2006 Morimi novel The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl has the same setting and some recurring characters. The novel received a sequel titled Tatami Time Machine Blues which was released on July 29, 2020.
Anime
A television adaptation of The Tatami Galaxy was produced by Madhouse, with Masaaki Yuasa as director, Makoto Ueda as screenwriter, and Michiru Ōshima as composer. The series premiered on April 22, 2010 as a part of Fuji TV's noitamina programming block. Two pieces of theme music are used for the series: "Maigoinu to Ame no Beat" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation as the opening theme, and "Kami-sama no Iutōri by Etsuko Yakushimaru as the closing theme. Three seven-minute shorts were included with the DVD and Blu-ray release 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 licensed by Beez Entertainment in the United Kingdom. In June 2019, Funimation announced the release of the series on Blu-ray and DVD with subtitles only on September 3.
Episode list
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 animated 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".
