I did not care for Tatami Galaxy (despite its FANTASTIC ED), and I meh'd this piece. It did not merit hatred, rather only scoring as high as vague disappointment.
I believe there is an aquifer of common emotional imagery, a well of shared dreams. In this anime, the particular dream is one I've had myself: a bright evening, full of unknown adventure awaiting in the shadows and garish lights of the nighttime frolic. It's an evening ripe with possibilities and chance encounters with fascinating strangers. These are places I have seen myself during my excursions into the dream realm, and Masaaki Yuasa seems to know his way around.
However, he takes this premise and turns it into a menagerie of cynicism, missed opportunity, embarrassment and shame. It seems the female lead represents youth, innocence, and intrepid courage, while the male lead takes the role of a worm crawling through the guilty soil of humanity's regret, only able to chase after this bright young thing while simultaneously being subjected to one abject humiliation after another before her. Is he mocking young men for putting women up on pedestals? Or is he himself deluded by a feminine ideal that is both unreachable and snide? It's the unfortunate stereotype of women looking down their noses at men while at the same time accepting free drinks from them. But not everyone is the same, and I feel the creator's own disappointments should not keep people from attempting to exceed the very low bar of trying to pass off jaded cliches as wisdom.
This was the way Tatami Galaxy worked, and it's the way this movie unfolds as well.
Masaaki Yuasa somehow takes wonderful scenes (Tatami Galaxy's Neko Ramen stand was pure genius -- the midnight snack shack that could straddle worlds or the space in between different universes) and then pollutes them with the mundane regrets and pathetic tragedies. For example, in this anime, our young girl protagonist is entering the glorious adult world (her words), and to her this means drinking somehow without physical consequences while armed with her "friendship punch". I was disappointed. This is the only word I can think of to describe a mind that has seen the bright lights of the dream realm and comes away with such dross. Seriously, the first man she encounters is a dirty old man who gropes her, earning aforementioned punch and then financial support from her via a drinking contest where the alcohol disappears in her nubile tummy into flowers. (Way to teach young viewers about consequences!)
If you are the artsy type who worships originality and clever animation, you might think this is a masterpiece. I'm not saying it is without literary merit or quality of production. Quite the contrary. It is exactly the kind of art I despise the most: brilliantly executed with a solid basis in themes I can relate to, but lacking in morality and ethics. Where I see literature as a vehicle to bring hope and wonder to a beleaguered heart, this specific brand of artist (I pronounce them "ar-teests) too often gravitate towards cynicism and despair. It's almost as if they are saying, "my own pain and failure is the inevitable outcome of all effort." But do not be deceived: they are only hoping that their "art" instills similar despair in their viewers and thereby renders everyone as equally miserable as they are.
IN MY OPINION, art should be used to uplift and inspire. Despair under the pretense of education is not a worthy use of the medium. And yet that's exactly the flavor that tends to win awards. So we're going to get a million more Tatami Galaxies and Yoru wa's touted as masterpieces, all the while whittling away at the human soul. So embrace this work if you like so many others believe shock value or getting any kind of rise out of people is a worthy end in and of itself. I prefer to move on in my own night time walk towards a different neighborhood--among people with whom I might make genuine connections and from whom I might learn about wonder instead of self-loathing.
