The Tatami Galaxy 9

All up in the air now...

When Akashi had more airtime in the first two minutes than she has had in the last three episodes in this episode; I had a good feeling about this episode. I was right; this was a fantastic episode. All my complaints were brought to light with a Watashi that didn’t just complain about how he spent his two years, but also questioned himself about why he spent them that way. When his sense of fulfillment was pulverized he reverted in to what can only be described as a Tatami Galaxy. This episode not only gave Watashi and the viewer a new impression of Ozu, but it also gave us both a new interpretation of why Watashi has wasted these years over and over again.

The walls are closing in...

I will admit that I was quite upset when Akashi still got very little in way of screen time, but she had more impact this episode than she has had so far. As far as circles go, Watashi certainly had the most interesting one this time around. He might as well have been Yakuza in the way that his organization had its fingers in every pie. Every pie it didn’t already have its fingers in was stolen from the windowsill. There seems to be a theme with food and cats in this show. Considering that there was “Neko Ramen” starting from the first episode and now the ‘Lucky Cat Chinese Restaurant’. If this show was nine episodes I would’ve seen symbolism, however this show runs for an awkward eleven episodes so unless there is an explanation it is simply coincidence; though I may have forgotten something.

Not you of course.

Higuchi was ‘useful’ in this episode; I put it like that because I don’t want to associate the word with him directly until he has a direct effect on something. Seriously, taking two years to read a book (even one as old A.K.A. difficult) as “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” is pretty messed. I had to read that book in only a couple of weeks, which was quite easy considering it’s a normal length book. “Paradise Lost” in the same amount of time was not so easy. The reason I mention this is because there is an interesting connection between the show and the book. The Captain in the book is called ‘Nemo’ which (my Latin being ten years rusty) I’m pretty sure means ‘no man’.

My copy does not have such an epic cover.

I relate the Captain to Watashi partly because of how anonymous their names are. The other reason why I relate them so closely is the almost symbiotic relationship they both have with their domiciles. Each of them relate to the world from their dwelling and, certainly after this most recent episode, feel that they can never leave it. I do not know what ‘Ozu’ means, so it would be great if a smart person out there could tell me, but he is more relatable, character wise, to Nemo than Watashi is. If the four-and-a-half tatami room belonged to Ozu, but Watashi could not leave, the symbolism between the two works would be undeniable.

I was just as happy when I finished the essay I had to write after finishing...

This episode also showed the first occasion of Watashi regretting the loss of Akashi, though he still didn’t change anything, nor did he acknowledge that she was the regret in any form. As quirky as Akashi is; she is still the most normal person in this show. The episode seemed to take it in stride, but let’s make one thing clear: Watashi completely and utterly crushed Akashi’s dream. As we saw in the birdman episode; Akashi used all the money she earned from racing to design, engineer and build her flying machine, and Watashi without a second thought steals and sells the machine for his own gain. When yelling at him she never mentioned the money or time she put into it, the main cause of her upset was how everyone had built it together. This episode did not do a good job at making me like the main character.

Yes, you; you bloody asshole.

The thing that burned me the most was how she gave up the machine without a fight. However I found the reason to be quite clear and it was something that I was unsure about before. There is only one reason why someone would give up on their dream; and that is love. I believe that this episode 100% confirms that Akashi is in love with Watashi. Whether it’s how he saved her at the concert, caught her from falling down stairs, was simply a person to talk to through letter and words or an amalgamation of all of them; Akashi loves Watashi. In front of him the whole time is this girl with a quirky, slightly cold demeanor who is great at cycling, enjoys small children’s toys and is weak against moths, but is so in love with him that she allows him to sell her dream; and it breaks my heart.

And probably hers too.

The next two episodes will have a lot to make up to Akashi before I will forgive this. It makes for a great narrative, but boy does it make me angry. It is even ironic in the face of Jougasaki and Ozu; both of whom (according to the narrative) have a very pure love. What is even more ironic is how, even for Jougasaki’s taboo love, he feels the need to protect it because of its purity. He even completely changes his opinion of Ozu when Hanuki explains how much of a romantic Ozu is toward his girlfriend, and how everything he had done in the organization may well of been for her benefit. Akashi’s love is just as pure, in fact considering the characters, I’d say hers is more pure than anyone’s. Except perhaps Hanuki who seems to be hung up on Higuchi despite his refined worthlessness.

A very surprising revelation for Ozu.

Watashi does not have a dream; he works very hard towards a goal that always turns out to be fruitless, but hey, life’s a journey right? The fortune teller is right in her repeated analysis of him, he has great potential. The amount of work he does to reach his desire is impressive. Yet, when he reaches the end of his path instead of continuing on a new path, he looks back and wonders about the other paths he could have taken and goes as far as wishing he had taken one of them. Higuchi is right when he says that he wants the impossible since life isn’t one colour; you have to take the bad with the good. I’ll leave you with this thought; even if you’re walking the wrong path, it isn’t wrong to continue walking down it. Watashi continues to repeat because he not only can’t move forward; but he also can’t live with the path he’s walked.

/ 5 Commentsleave a comment /

• Sarah says:

  June 27, 2010

  OMG, I love your coments.

  By the way, Ozu means "Your picture" and AKashi means "Testimony"

  Reply
  • Quarkboy says:

    June 28, 2010

    Ozu's name is spelled 小津, which means "small port", not what the person posted above.

    It's just a place name.

    Reply
• Kyokai says:

  June 28, 2010

  Another thing that was hinted in this episode was that this repetition might actually mean Watashi's trapped in a limbo of sorts with too many possibilities in front of him and he unable to make any proper choice of which life to take. It's always greener on the other side but I think the most important fact is working on what one has now and realistic achievements rather than something that you can only dream about.

  Reply
• Quarkboy says:

  June 28, 2010

  Also, Akashi – 明石 – Bright Stone

  Higuchi – 樋口 – Spouting Mouth

  Jougasaki – 城ヶ崎 – Castle on the Pennisula

  Hanuki – 羽貫 – Feather Pierce

  Akashi can also mean "proof" or "evidence" spelled differently

  Hanuki is a pun because it can mean "baring teeth" spelled differently

  Reply
  • Flags says:

    June 28, 2010

    I don't like orz so you get a OJZ.

    Reply