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A review by rbruehlman
The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi
3.0
Well, that was a weird book.
Once in a while, in the corner of your eye, you'll catch sight of something familiar, and your brain will excitedly think, Hey, that's [insert thing], here of all places! Then you just as quickly realize there's no possible way that is [insert thing]--when you take a closer look, you realize what you saw is actually some other entirely different, mundane thing, with some weird small element that reminded you of [insert thing].
Except, while in the bookstore, I caught sight of The Tatami Galaxy's artwork in the corner of my eye ... and it was, in fact, The Tatami Galaxy. Whoa! Translated into English?! Never in a million years.
I rarely watch TV, but I picked up The Tatami Galaxy several years ago on account of the gorgeous artwork. The artwork depicted a stoic man and a quietly beautiful woman, and I imagined the show would be similarly quiet and subdued. Oh, no. That's not The Tatami Galaxy. It was a delightfully weird and zany show, with gorgeous art. I never finished the show, but I loved the concept. Aside from a friend who used to use the artwork as an MSN Messenger avatar (my introduction), I didn't know anyone else who had even heard of it.
Accordingly, I was super excited to read this book. It ended up being just okay? It was weird and strange, for sure, featuring various intertwining variations of the protagonist's college life if he had chosen to join one college club or another. If only he had not met his contemptible and corrupting friend Ozu, the unnamed protagonist always laments, perhaps he would have had a rose-colored college life. Each wildly different path the protagonist takes, however, involves the same set of unsavory characters, and similar minor events play out regardless. (And, of course, the protagonist is still an unmotivated loser in every version.) Life really doesn't change much! Until he's trapped in an endless maze of his four-and-a-half tatami rooms for months on end.
It was weird.
Interestingly, this book is actually the first book I've read that I thought was much better as a TV show/movie. Usually books are so much better than the video adaptation! I guess there's a first for everything. I do not know if I would have had the patience for this book if I was not able to simultaneously re-conjure the wacky, weird art from the show. Read alone, this book would have felt meandering and pointless. I do want to finish the show now, though. The ending was so weird that I regret finishing the book before the show. The ending would have been much so much more fun to experience in animated form.
So very weird.
Once in a while, in the corner of your eye, you'll catch sight of something familiar, and your brain will excitedly think, Hey, that's [insert thing], here of all places! Then you just as quickly realize there's no possible way that is [insert thing]--when you take a closer look, you realize what you saw is actually some other entirely different, mundane thing, with some weird small element that reminded you of [insert thing].
Except, while in the bookstore, I caught sight of The Tatami Galaxy's artwork in the corner of my eye ... and it was, in fact, The Tatami Galaxy. Whoa! Translated into English?! Never in a million years.
I rarely watch TV, but I picked up The Tatami Galaxy several years ago on account of the gorgeous artwork. The artwork depicted a stoic man and a quietly beautiful woman, and I imagined the show would be similarly quiet and subdued. Oh, no. That's not The Tatami Galaxy. It was a delightfully weird and zany show, with gorgeous art. I never finished the show, but I loved the concept. Aside from a friend who used to use the artwork as an MSN Messenger avatar (my introduction), I didn't know anyone else who had even heard of it.
Accordingly, I was super excited to read this book. It ended up being just okay? It was weird and strange, for sure, featuring various intertwining variations of the protagonist's college life if he had chosen to join one college club or another. If only he had not met his contemptible and corrupting friend Ozu, the unnamed protagonist always laments, perhaps he would have had a rose-colored college life. Each wildly different path the protagonist takes, however, involves the same set of unsavory characters, and similar minor events play out regardless. (And, of course, the protagonist is still an unmotivated loser in every version.) Life really doesn't change much! Until he's trapped in an endless maze of his four-and-a-half tatami rooms for months on end.
It was weird.
Interestingly, this book is actually the first book I've read that I thought was much better as a TV show/movie. Usually books are so much better than the video adaptation! I guess there's a first for everything. I do not know if I would have had the patience for this book if I was not able to simultaneously re-conjure the wacky, weird art from the show. Read alone, this book would have felt meandering and pointless. I do want to finish the show now, though. The ending was so weird that I regret finishing the book before the show. The ending would have been much so much more fun to experience in animated form.
So very weird.