'The Tatami Galaxy' ~ the modern days of you and me. ME? no, thanks

after watching 'Trapeze' I understood I would like to continue my journey on the 'weird side' of the anime world. however, unlike the above-mentioned 'Trapeze', 'Tatami' was not attractive even in the least, despite a huge number of its praiseworthy aspects and advantages, and of course, constant getting 10 out of 10 from most commentators and review writers. the more I watched, the more I got bored. after ep. 3 I was seriously thinking to drop but then hoped I could get used to it and decided to go on

story and characters

the first thing that attracts people in 'Tatami' is the unusual way of telling the story which is done by the main character, nameless, and in the first person. this is supposed, probably, to make us associate with him and put ourselves in his shoes

well, associating myself with a Japanese student is probably impossible. from the beginning, I had never had any anticipations of 'rose-coloured colledge life', or any intention of joining any clubs only because of some posters, nor had I waited for my personal life to be settled at once after I enter the university. I never blamed my meeting with some other person for taking away all luck from me. I cannot understand whether 'tis really that important not to yield to a temptation of sleeping with a drunk woman
I cannot understand whether a beautifully made doll can make a young man steal her and run away from her owner

I cannot understand whether lying about yourself in letters gives so much pleasure

by the way, again I come at the conclusion that despite all the greatness of English, some things stay untranslatable. probably, the closest to what I want to say would be 'fooling around', though the Narrator was pretty serious. however that may be, the Russian "страдать фигней" seems the most appropriate to me...
anyway, 9 episodes out of 11 the Narrator was occupying himself with activities that are beyond my comprehension. throughout the series I just could not understand what I was supposed to feel towards him. if 'twere sympathy, then I pass
yeah, 9 episodes, some of which repeat the same events, some present another version of the developments. none were interesting. NONE. and NONE of the characters were likeable. they hardly even had any personalities. well climbing the stairs of hierarchy in some institution, tendency to lick faces when drunk or collecting Mochiguma do not look like much of a personality to me
the great idea, conveyed to me through the series, was that I should

 and that

did you hear it right? yes? I do not believe you. therefore, please hear (or read) the same thing 11 times in a row
jokes. oh, there were some. some were even good

however

when you do not like them all
and I could not help asking myself the same thing the main character asked himself

because

yes. I agree

by the way, he also said once

but that is exactly what I did. after watching 5 episodes I dropped for quite a while and returned to 'Tatami' much later simply because I had nothing else to watch (I never expected I would ever say this phrase)

voicing

imagine this text pronounced in 3,5 seconds

and you will understand this is not an easy thing to watch. nor my Japanese listening skills, nor my English reading skills are perfect enough to constantly listen and read and simultaneously understand. however, this is not the main problem. this is TIRING. while strange intonations and over-expressive voices, like those of Dr. Irabu, may be annoying, absence of any intonation simply bereaves the text of any resemblance of meaning. and you do not suppose me to believe in what is said in such a manner, huh? intonation exists so that people could convey their feelings. if everything is pronounced in a level voice, then it cannot move me at all

lines other than the narration were ok, but I cannot say that there was something too outstanding

music

if you mute the video and look at the graphics, you will at once understand who is the theme song performer. well, if you have ever seen AKFG album covers, haha

if you listen closely, or at least read the subtitles to the song, you will see how perfectly it fits the Tatami's story. the title of my post if based on the lyrics from the chorus - 'if modern days are only a repetition...'. well from now on I might dislike this song you know
the ED theme - 'kami no iu toori' - was an interesting song with interesting lyrics and I loved the melody and vocals also, but actually I could not understand why this song was pinned to the ED

graphics
if there is style, I can accept it, no matter how it looks. even the 'drawn-with-the-left-foot-toes' FF Unlimited eventually got me calm down. of course, the original-but-not-so-original style of 'Tatami' did not scare me at all. backgrounds made of real photos are not that rare

 and some other images filled with different patterns were not bad

conclusion

well, let us imagine I should not see all these events as they are. I should have taken all the episodes as an circumlocution, kind of very sophisticated parable. however the final 'moral' of the story is very simple - so simple that it is almost disappointing

in other words, doing all possible kinds of foolish things, killing time in whatever manner and occupying yourself with whatever nonsense is better than locking yourself up in your small room

however, in the end when the Main Character finally gathers his courage to return to his normal life and make a step forward, everything suddenly becomes so great and the life becomes so colourful and exciting that the Character decides to stop telling about himself any longer

to be honest, you have been doing it for the whole 11 episodes, my dear Main Character

calming down and gathering all the control over myself I have in order to make an unbiased and coldblooded judgement, I say. if what I understood through the last 2 episodes is truly the idea that the authors were trying to convey, then 'Tatami' is an epic fail not worthy of Madhouse name. or, more possibly, I am mistaken when I say that Madhouse is a studio responsible for masterpieces only. 'Tatami' manifests a hint on a good story, a raw product of a good idea, and only a resemblance of a shocking manner of storytelling

p. s.
and Russian letters А and Л were messed up. but that does not matter at all, you know