best of 2010: #1a
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Parallel. Universes.
#1A: Tatami Galaxy
Also wins for 2010:
- Best Shaft being Shaft Animation
- Best Ramen
- Best Use of Multiple Dimensions
- Best Johnny Since Eden of the East
- Most Castella Cakes
- Least Satisfying Ending
- Most Wasted Two Years
- Best Fortune Teller
Let’s start with what I wrote in 2011 first… “In terms of nitpicking, yes, my Best Of lists are reserved for TV series, not movies, but this year is tremendously weak. I thought for a long time to leave the #1 slot open as there’s no show worthy of joining Kamichu, Haruhi, Gurren Lagann, Clannad AS, and Bakemonogatari.” And it’s been bugging me since 2011. Finally, in 2014, I’m going to rectify this paragraph. There was an amazing show back in 2010 that plugs nicely into the Kamichu, Haruhi, Gurren Lagann, Clannad AS, Bakemonogatari, Steins;Gate, ???, and KILL la KILL timeline: Tatami Galaxy. You might be wondering two things. Wait, seriously, 2014? And what’s with the three question marks earlier? Those two are not unrelated. The three question marks represent some show that aired in 2012 that would be #1 except I still haven’t written a Best of 2012 yet. As usual, stuff happens and stuff gets pushed to the sides.
I am a fan of Masaaki Yuasa. He is one of the younger anime directors with style and innovation. There is so much to the direction of Tatami Galaxy that is impressive: he uses live action Shaft being Shaft cuts in a way that makes sense, not making me wondering why we are seeing a bowl of goldfish randomly or something, the ED that reminds me of scenery you see flying over mid-America is fantastic, the dialogue is fast-paced, repetitive, yet highly effective, and the use of different art styles for different situations. Imagine if Shinbo put a little thought into his choices: that’s Masaaki Yuasa. As I mentioned before, if I were running Ghibli, I would take a good look at him for a future directing job. While some of his original works have been so-so, if you give him a narrative construct like Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong, or Adventure Time, he can knock it out of the park.
What else do I enjoy about Tatami Galaxy? The characters. From Protagonist, to Ozu, to Akashi, to Jay Leno, to Jougasaki and Keiko, to Hanuki, to the Fortune Teller, to Johnny (who looks like Woody and sounds like Viral)… they are all excellent characters who grow in parallel with the show. The amazing thing isn’t that they grow during their years at the university. They seem to grow in different ways throughout each dimension, and it isn’t until the dimensional reckoning where the individual growths add together to form characters growing into their “complete” form. Previously (and one year later in 2011), time loop and parallel dimension scenarios were enacted to save someone from some catastrophic outcome. Haruhi, Madoka, and Steins;Gate… and even All I Need Is Kill/Edge of Tomorrow/LIVE DIE REPEAT/The Adventures of Mr. Cruise follow this same literal live, fuck up, repeat cycle. Tatami Galaxy does that also… but the fuck up each time and again is lamenting the lost days of college. Could those days have been better? It is a twist on the rebooting formula, and it is a great one. It is hard to think about another show from 2010 through 2014 that has that same class of characters.
I also like the narrative. There are a few “Wait, what happened?” moments early on, but they get explained in sensible ways down the road. Yuasa shows us everything in this world. It is a very direct and blunt story yet doesn’t feel that way. The “GRAB THE HAPPINESS DANGLING IN FRONT OF YOU!” is as blunt as it gets, and it only took like ten reboots for the Protagonist to understand it. Maybe it’s a commentary that what we want and what we think we want are different things. OH SHINY IPHONE 6 PLUS~
But what I like most is how the characters fit into the narrative. I like how Protagonist rejects all and hides in the tatami galaxy but then slowly devolves into Tom Hanks yelling at Wilson. It was finally then that he realizes his mistake after seeing so mainly failed incarnations of himself. Just a great narrative moment.
The one disappointment I had with the show is that the ending was a bit too hand-washy. The Protagonist explains that we don’t need to see him as a couple with Akashi because it’s boring. NO! That’s the payoff we get for sticking with his harebrained schemes! We just need some small closure, like maybe a zoom-in of a picture of him and Akashi being happy at a flower viewing on his desk or something. But I did like how Ozu saw him as Ozu and vice-versa. At least we didn’t get a OH GEASS NO bromance ending between him and the Protagonist.
There are many ways to analyze this show, and I’m sure you can spend a psych 101 discussion session on it, but watch it, and then think about your first semester at college. The choices you made then… how did they get you to where you are now… and how you kinda knew that back then and how overwhelming some choices might have felt.
So there you have it, the newest #1 for 2010. Tatami Galaxy is a great show that isn’t typical anime but with a strong cast of characters.
2 Responses to “best of 2010: #1a”
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For some inexplicable reason that probably made sense to me at the time, I ranked TATAMI GALAXY 6th best for 2010. Every year I do a top 9 (instead of a top 10 becuase top 10’s are banal, insipid, and generally overwrought).
My top 9 list is also named in honour and homage to NASCAR Camping World Truck series champion Ron Hornaday. So my top 9 in 2010 ran about thus:
The Ron Hornaday Top 9 Anime Shows of 2010
1. Giant Killing
2. Sora No Woto
3. Angel Beats
4. Durarara!!
5. High School of The Dead
6. The Tatami Galaxy
7. Yosuga No Sora
8. My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute
9. The World God Only Knows
Inexplicable in some respects. But High School Of The Focking Dead was tough to beat!! I mean, it’s HIGH SCHOOL of the Dead, not College of the Dead or Charm School of the Dead.
As for Giant Killing topping the charts, well…I’m a big football fan, so I thought it was time to give a sports anime some deserved props. Especially since Japan’s version of The Pogues, the Cherry Cokes, did the OP. Also, for some reason that I caanot fathom, Japan never seems to put out a NASCAR anime.
My wife actually made me watch TATAMI GALAXY, and I glad she did. I tried to make her watch GIANT KILLING, but she was having none of it.
In retrospect, I’d probably bump TATAMI GALAXY up to 4th on that list. And I’m quite sure Ron Hornaday would agree.
I’m in my sophomore year of college, my freshman year having been highly unsuccessful. I watched this show a few weeks ago. Really glad I did. The art direction was fantastic, and it was quite entertaining, but above all, I’ve never related to something so much in my life. I, too, loved the way Protag became Ozu’s … Ozu. And I think the fact Akashi was by his side, visiting him in the hospital, was good enough indication they stayed together.