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' Life is not meant to be sought or measured, life is meant to be lived.'

An anime that holds no need for superficial or amazing concepts to be successful, it's just a realistic story executed in a masterful way...ladies and gentlemen i present you = Tatami Galaxy
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Story : 10/10 - Outstanding

Tatami Galaxy is set in Kyoto if i'm not mistaken, well it's not that important ,it's just one of those Japanese towns. Our MC, 'Watashi', a freshman engineering student, expects to find the 'rose colored campus life' that he always dreamed of, entering a campus club (circle) to meet 'the raven-haired girl of ... his dreams'. After joining a club in his first year,he meets Ozu, another freshman student in his department who has a very misfit persona. 2 years pass and at the same time he contemplates his affection for another engineering student, Akashi, and makes promises to her, usually of and within a romantic subtext. Now In his 3rd year, instead of reaching his "rose colored campus life dream" he finds mischief and disappointment, he also doesn't find a chance to ask out Akashi, long story short: everything goes wrong as he ends up regretting his club choice, wanting to go back to the moment of choosing it resets his life and he changes his choice. BUT, as he joins a different club, everything seem to go wrong again despite changing his choice and again he ends up regretting his choice and resets again. This goes on and on as he always ends up regreting his choice and resets , also his dubious missions often conflict with his interest in Akashi in some way as he always ends up not having a chance to ask her out. The plot is following his different choices and the different lives he lived after them.

Basically, this formula of "resetting" continues on until the last two episodes but eventually it leads to one of most satisfying conclusions you can ever see in an anime.
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Art: 9/10 - Great

'It's inventive and distinctive and regularly beautiful'.

Seen as poor by many, the art of Tatami Galaxy is gravely underrated but the funny thing is that Tatami Galaxy won the grand prize for the animation category in the Japan Media Arts Festival on December 8, 2010. It was the first time a TV animation series won the grand prize.

Art effectively depicts the themes of the show, It will regularly spin through a dozen visual styles in a single minute, combines gloriously abstract representations and actual live footage sometimes, illustrates its protagonists’ barreling inner monologue through an endless buffet of visual metaphors. And all that visual stuff doesn’t exist in a vacuum, either - it is an integral part of the storytelling, and the two compliment each other perfectly.
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Sound: 10/10 - Outstanding

A testament to the superb voice acting could be that, even though 'Watashi's speech is faster than a bullet train, he still manages to keep the viewer in his toes with his smart (and funny) take on many different subjects and make him feel whatever emotion he emits. Akashi's and Ozu's voice are on spot too.

As for the soundtrack, it fits great with the theme and mood of the series, successfully representing the constant changes in atmosphere, from the melancholic "Youjou han to Castella to Watashi" to the mysterious "Kamotaketsunuminogami" and powerfully liberating "Yojouhan Ki Owari" or "Takasegawa" and of course, hands down to OP: "Maigoinu to Ame no Beat" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation completely catches the theme of the show and captures you with it's beat, you can't help but to sing along. ED theme is "Kami-sama no Iutōri ("As God Dictates") has a completely different air to it that captures you, oh and after the end of 10th episode , you will look to ED in a different way , i assure you.
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Characters: 10/10 - Outstanding

Cast is the recipe for instant success. You will immediately fell in love with them.
I will briefly describe the 3 main characters and one of the supporting characters.

1) MC : 'Watashi' is a young college student in the engineering department who never seizes to amaze with his sarcastic and dark but witty dialogues on everything he analyzes. He is the source of the dialogues and monologues in Tatami Galaxy, and his themes vary from social commentary to self - sarcasm of the highest caliber. He entered college dreaming of the "rosy campus life" and wanting to meet the 'raven-haired girl of his dreams', which is why he joins a new social circle/club in each episode.

2) Ozu is another college student in the engineering department. Misfit, dark and devilish character, who constantly drags 'Watashi' to troubles. He's often the one manipulating the other characters against the protagonist. He also seems to care for the protagonist, and rescues him on certain occasions from sticky situations, they have a complicated relationship, as series progress it becomes more clear.

3) Akashi, is another college student in the engineering department , is an adorable female character, and 'Watashi's biggest love interest. She is commonly the center of the protagonist's affections, she acts rationally and even coldly towards most people, but often shows hints of affection to the protagonist. Her fear of moths also contrasts with her normally calm demeanor. She often appears in the same club that the protagonist joins, though her main club is 'Birdman circle', some sort of engineering circle that designs Light Sport Aircrafts.

Higuchi is a stoic, and full with dreams on exploring the globe, he 's originally introduced as a deity of matrimony (god of marriage) in the first episode, but he is depicted in the rest of the series as an eighth year student living in the same dorm as the protagonist. He also has many hidden sides, which made him mysterious, spiritual and occasionally wise.
There are more supporting characters that are also very interesting like another eight year student, Masaki Jōgasaki, but doesn't quite measure up to the other mentioned above. However, there is not a single character that is not likable in this series, because of their quirks and personality.
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Enjoyment: 10/10 - Outstanding

Fully enjoyed of every minute of the show, especially the last episode.
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Overall: 10/10 - Outstanding + Masterpiece

Masterpiece is pretty much the word when it comes to Tatami Galaxy - every element of its production glimmers with polish.


It's not everyone's cup of tea and some even call it '2deep4u' despite it's simple messages , for example:

*Do not let your dreams like " I want a rose-colored life" blind the already beautifully colored life you have been living all along , it does not have to be rose colored, it's beautifully colored as it is. Don't project your failures and personal ugliness outwards, embraces all the cracks and imperfections that made your life worth living, take responsibility for your own journey.

*Do not let your dreams like " I want to be with raven haired girl of my ideals" blind you, just seize the opportunity in front of you and open up to girl you want to open up to, yes, that adorable girl right in front of you : that girl who liked your silly movies, that girl who enjoyed your silly performances, that girl who wanted to visit your favorite ramen shop with you,

' Life is not meant to be sought or measured, life is meant to be lived.'
This show’s answer to the question of the meaning of life seems to be “drink your tea.” To put it briefly : Show is telling you ' just live to YOUR fullest ',


For me this is one of the greatest series I've ever seen, The Tatami Galaxy deserves an EXTREMELY OBVIOUS 10/10 from the overall score.
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LAST WORDS: People don't call this show masterpiece for no reason, it's truly a hidden gem, This may be the best show you haven't watched, i can't say enough about how good the show is. It's whimsical, funny, yet deep, sending a good and yet a simple message to us all. The characters seem pretty 'normal' at first, but at the end, you can't help but to love every single one of them. It's a very experimental, yet cleverly put together show. Minute for minute this was one of the most worthwhile watching experiences I've ever had, anime or not. Overall an extremely charming and colorful piece of work, one that I'll NEVER forget.

Honestly you have to watch it to understand it but after you watch it, it WILL to be in your top 10 , maybe 5.

So yeah, that’s The Tatami Galaxy, a perfect little tatami box of its own.

Thank you for reading.

PROS (+) =
*Characters are really well done, has great personalities and funny in their own ways, i love all 4 of them (especially megumin)
*Superb comedy ,seriously.. i haven't laughed this hard since Gintama and Nichijou, even cried of laughter two or three times.
*Plot is fun.
*The male protagonist's comments, oh and btw he's really likeable and smart, i love him.
*OP and especially ED is on spot.
*And of course= the 'voice acting'... god, i guess i'm exaggerating a bit but main characters voice actings are on spot if you ask me.
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*It's not actually a Harem show, it may look like one. There are some quite ... a bit of Ecchish type of things here and there but it's not worth mentioning aside from "THAT" particular episode,omg..
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There is not major 'con' i can think of, but still, i will mention few things...you can either take them as cons or not, how you look at this anime and what you expect to find from it is really important.

*Animations and Art is good but nothing special, it's just fine. It could have been better with a higher budget.
*** It's a gag anime, ok ? and dam good at it, If you are expecting a deep plot , you won't find one. Bcs it never was and probably never will be one of the main concerns of this anime.
*It's only 10 episode :( , BUT 2nd SEASON IS ON THE WAY, YES !!!
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I want to quote from a video i watched: 'This is a simple show, but the execution and the delivery of the simple ascpets of the show makes it so engaging that it makes it so easy to watch episode after episode of a very uneventful story, it's the simplicty of everything that makes konosuba work so well.'

Rate:
Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Characters: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10

Overall: 9/10

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, GO AND WATCH IT !
SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE RIDE.