I remember starting this anime once, only to drop it after the first episode. Ozu's face was bit to get used to and the whole stylistic narration as well. Some anime you have to pay some attention to or you lose out. It's like, some books you can just read the dialogue and skip all the boring description bits, but in some other books, the dialogue doesn't make sense if you don't read the description along with it. That's probably why I'd dropped it before. But am I glad I picked it back up and started from the beginning. This time, I watched all eleven eps in one go and was left with a big smile on my face.
Tatami Galaxy = the answer to the question: "What if ...?"
=there's no point in answering that because you'll never be satisfied anyway. Whether that alternate possibility had occured or not. You'd still be lamenting and asking "What if...?". It's like the futility of jealousy, even if you have what that other person has, you still wouldn't be satisfied and would seek what you initially had. In Tatami Galaxy's case, you'd have completely forgotten that you once had that. Ah, the dramatic irony in this anime is superb.
As I mentioned before, it's the kind of anime you can't really take your eyes off, even if just to catch all the subtitles because Mr Protagonist talks so fast (it adds to the narration's charm though). He's never given a name - he's really a universal type of character that stands for each of us in the audience. The different choices he makes turns him into the different people and it really makes you wonder about yourself and what kind of person you would be if you had taken a different choice somewhere down the road of life.
It also gives you the idea that maybe meeting some people in your life is inevitable. For example, Mr Protagonist's one and only friend, Ozu and the black thread of fate that links them together. And the castella, can't forget the castella.
I've seen some people call this a mindfuck anime, but i really couldn't disagree more. It's just smart and well planned out and loaded with symbolism. It is a bit confusing and somewhat surreal, almost, at first, but everything's rounded off really well at the end and really you don't need to understand the point of the anime to enjoy it (you'll get it at the end anyway, so don't worry about that until the last few episodes, just enjoy the ride). Each episode is hilarious and fun in its own way. The message at the end is heartwarming too :D. Ah, I wanted to give them all a hug at the end.
You can call it deep if you want, but at the same time it's not. It's just awesome storytelling that gets its message across very well. Like, you have some stories which happen to teach you life lessons along the way, but you have this, where from the first instance, the story builds up to convey one main end message.
