Yojōhan Shinwa Taikei/The Tatami Galaxy

[erious]

Yojōhan Shinwa Taikei is an adaptation of Japanese novel by Morimi Tomihiko, created by studio Madhouse and directed by Masaaki Yuasa of Kaiba, Mind Game and Kemonozume fame.
It's also one of the very best anime I've ever seen.
The story is great. The characters are even better. The direction, art style and animation, while they might take a little getting used to, actually complement the story perfectly. The narration style is great as well, though it might be a bit hard on you if you're a slow reader, it's never boring. With few great cast members(Maaya Sakamoto voicing Akashi, Nobuyuki Hiyama as the protagonist's penis(yes, this show is THAT awesome) and Yakushimaru Etsuko singing the ending song) everything comes together to form a great anime.
Now, of course - it doesn't look very much like your mainstream anime, but if that bothers you, then it's not a show for you.
This is an anime that can be different, interesting, and quite artistic, without being pretentious - the story, while a bit complex in execution, is actually pretty simple, and the message is very clear. And the show is really, really fun.
I couldn't recommend it enough.
Sadly, it's licensed by Funimation, so we won't see it on BakaBT anytime soon - but it's not that hard to find it elsewhere, and it's really worth it.

[newy]

it might be a bit hard on you if you're a slow reader

I'm pretty confident in my reading speed but when I watched the first episode I thought I heard a train rushing through the episode D: -> stalled for now.

I take it you grabbed the J-pwq subs?

[erious]

Yup.
They're pretty good, I wish they did more than just dialogue translation, though.
For me the text speed wasn't a big problem, still I had to pause to read once or twice during the series - mostly because of timing though(which still wasn't half bad, all things considered). And I found Asanuma Shintaro's rapidfire narration quite interesting - between this and Seitokai Yakuindomo, I'm growing quite fond of his voice acting.

[jaybug]

I only got to where I realized the whole thing was

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deja vu all over again

and then I stopped.

I do like the animation. I like the machine gun chatter narration by the protagonist. I even rather like the story.

I don't like that I just did this with Haruhi.

[erious]

You are aware that in this show the events are different every time?
It's something like saying you won't watch Akagi because you just watched Saki, since they're both about Mahjong.
But even sillier.

[jaybug]

It's still the same two years of college, just in different clubs. It's more like watching "Groundhog Day" to me. Or, after watching 8 endless episodes, and then five more of a different show that have only superficial differences, don't you think that you are a character locked in a time loop? I did.

It probably would have been better for me to view this series as once per week, rather than trying to catch up all at once.

I think also part of the mis-appreciation may be due to trying to speed read all the narration, while trying to actually watch what is going on in the show. This show, I feel needs to be watched without subtitles.

[Soryon]

sorry for the necro-

Ok, I started watching this but the dude speed talking is getting on my nerves, I can keep up with the text but then I cant watch the show or I watch the show and miss some text.
Does it stay like this for the whole series? I really like the way its animated, but simply watching it is becoming a chore.

[lStealtherl]

I also recall the series being very fast in beginning, but in later episodes there wasn't any problem at all. If it was actually slowing down or me getting used to it is hard to say though. If I had to bet I do think they slow down a bit.

[Tatsujin]

Just started watching this, BD 1080p with FLAC. Episode 1.

[jaybug]

I finally finished it. It had been bugging me for I guess three years now. I liked the show. I finally got the punchline. I think I know the truth of the show now. But since it was layered in so much BS, hard to tell.

If I started learning how to understand Japanese by listening, I wonder how long it would take for me to fully understand the monologues. woof. Feel sorry for the translators if this show. They worked very hard. Timers have a truly thankless job here. If they slow down the screen time for each bit of line spoken, they'll have to use the entire screen, and just keep scrolling up! I really had to use the pause button often, because if a line made me think, I would miss the following line. And again it's a mess.

I wonder if the idea for this show began when the author was in college bored and broke in his 4.5 tatami room.

[zherok]

It's based on his college experiences, yes.

While the monologues were some of the densest deliveries I've seen in an anime, I thought that for the most part he was essentially delivering the same monologue over and over again, with the only variations tending to be him delivering less information each successive time since he was just repeating what he'd already said (and was clearly sick of retreading the same ground.)

[jaybug]

It's based on his college experiences, yes.

While the monologues were some of the densest deliveries I've seen in an anime, I thought that for the most part he was essentially delivering the same monologue over and over again, with the only variations tending to be him delivering less information each successive time since he was just repeating what he'd already said (and was clearly sick of retreading the same ground.)

Well yes. I guess to stay in character, they would have to have him get sick of the deja vu all over again life he finds himself living. As in,

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when he meets the old fortune teller, he doesn't remember a thing, yet knows he's somehow done it before. Mostly he knows the price goes up 1,000 yen per episode. And not until eps. 10 & 11, does he really make a major discovery.

[VicViper573]

It's based on his college experiences, yes....

That means he repeated college 11 times? 

On a random note, this show makes me want to eat some Castella Cake.  Is it as good as everyone says?

[jaybug]

It's based on his college experiences, yes....

That means he repeated college 11 times? 

On a random note, this show makes me want to eat some Castella Cake.  Is it as good as everyone says?

Huh. I thought it was a giant custard, not a cake. Looked like Flan to me, sort of...

I don't know about the character going to college 11 times, or if

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the individuals of 11 different universes went to college, and then somehow integrated into one universe at the end, or something like that.

[zherok]

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It's clear he has some recognition he's doing things he's done previously in the earlier cycles though.

[jaybug]

Yeah.

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It seems tragic on some level to have spent 22 years, and only remembering the cost of the fortune teller's advice.It's two years later, and he cries, "So fast!?!" when the price jumps 1,000 yen. And that's all, but then, it is the only particular that he repeats in every sequence.

Also, for most of the series, we feel that his worst/best friend must have some supernatural powers, otherwise how could he do what he does? And how does he always manage to find him? Is it the "black thread of fate?" (Is there a black thread of fate? I know of the red thread, but black?) But at the last, it is our protagonist who wields a supernatural power, and the person who we thought looked rather demon-like appears normal. Is it just because he has finally, after 22 years of the same old same old, he took part in, control of his own life; instead of letting the capricious winds of fate dictate his destiny?

I need to google earth and see where in the Kyoto area that bridge is. It'd be cool if google earth would show the fires on the mountains, so we had a better idea.