History Literature / TheTatamiGalaxy

* TheStoic: Akashi with almost everyone. The only exception seen on screen is [[spoiler: the protagonist. See SugarAndIcePersonality below.]]
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Akashi. She is very reserved, quiet, and can be a bit standoffish, but is a genuinely sweet and kind person at her core - [[spoiler: it's just that the "sugar" aspect is seen solely by the protagonist. It's this exact trait of hers that makes the protagonist fall in love with her, which he reveals toward the end of the series:]]
--> '''Narrator:''' At that point her expression, which was like some European fortress city, relaxed into a smile, [[LoveEpiphany and that smile made an impression that has never left my mind.]]

** The novel has a few consistent points in every timeline: the protagonist runs into a Mochiguma, Ozu gets hospitalized after [[spoiler:jummping off a bridge]], and [[spoiler:he and Akashi end up in a relationship at the very end]]. [[spoiler:He also, no matter what club he picks, meets Ozu and becomes his friend, something that Ozu points out himself.]]

* GoodIsBoring: The narrator jated being part of Honkawa because there was zero strife to be had. There was no need for seniority, ranks, or gender differences; everyone had a good time playing with each other and socializing with one another. The monotonous pleasantries and fluffy atmosphere suffocated the protagonist.

* ClockTower: There is a huge clock tower in the middle of campus. In the anie adaptation, the hands reverse following the completion of a route, showing that time is rewinding and causing the protagonist to live his college life again each episode. [[spoiler:When the protagonist is stuck in his room, its lack of rewinding shows that there's no more chances at resetting for him.]]

* AdaptationExpansion: The original novel has four major paths the protagonist took (Misogi Film, Honwaka Baseball, being Higuchi's apprentice, and the Lucky Cat Restaurant secret society), plus a handful of other clubs that were mentioned offhandedly. The anime adaptation expands on this and gives the protagonist ten different outcomes, some of which include the throwaway clubs, [[spoiler:and splits the final timeline where he doesn't do anything up]].

* AntiHero: The protagonist is a type I, of a very ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' variety without the suicidal tendencies.

In 2020, the original book received a crossover sequel with the Makoto Ueda stage play ''Summer Time Machine Blues''. Titled ''Tatami Time Machine Blues'' (Yojohan Time Machine Blues), this book follows Ozu and the Protagonist going back in time to prevent their dorm's air conditioner remote from being broken. This book was announced to have an anime adaptation in 2021--alongside an official translation of the original ''Tatami Galaxy'' novel.

* HorribleHousing: Shimogamo Yuusinsou is a nightmare of an apartment building. The walls are thin, the floors even thinner, the kitchen an unused, filthy mess, and the halls thin and seedy. Barely anything gets fixed there, and it's a plotpoint in all the nvel's timelines that the narrator gets soaked from Higuchi's antics a floor above him.

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: It's revealed in an episode that Jogasaki, Higuchi, Hanuki, and the Neko Ramen vendor all went to Kyoto University at the same time, which is how they all already know each other.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: The narrator gets manipulated into looking like he's [[strike:confiscating]] stealing the Birdman team's plane. Of course, Akashi just happens to arrive and comes to the wrong conclusion. [[spoiler:In a later episode, he actually ''is'' the one who stole the glider in that incident.]]

* GoodIsBoring: The narrator jated being part of Honkawa because there was zero strife to be had. There was no need for seniority, ranks, or gemder differences; everyone had a good time playing with each other and socializing with one another. The monotonous pleasantries and fluffy atmosphere suffocated the protagonist.

* {{Hikikomori}}: The final stories of both the novel and the anime have it so that [[spoiler:the Narrator holes himself u in his room for the rest of his time in school]]. The circumstances differ, however; in the novel, this was caused by the narrator striking out with the Library Police Force and becoming fearful of what they might do to him, while the anime version has the Narrator become so fed up with the GroundhogDayLoop (even if he's only subconsciously aware of it) that he decides to nix looking for a club and spend time inside. [[spoiler: Of course, as he starts traveling across the various iterations of his college life, he starts to realize how much he missed out on by abandoning any chance of meeting the cast of characters that had defined his college life in the other iterations.]]

* PragmaticAdaptation: The novel has more or less complete timelines where regardless of what happens, the protagonist [[spoiler:successfully takes the opportunity to date Akashi]] although he does wonder what would happen if things went differently. The anime, however, runs a thread through all of the timelines, and instead of letting the protagonist have a fulfilling life at the end of each timeline, deliberately leaves him unsatisfied until the final episode. [[spoiler:In addition, instead of leaning on a different aspect of Akashi to start up a relationship with her, as in the novel, the one singular connection point that allows him to get that RelationshipUpgrade is the Mochiguma (when it was only that important in Chapter 1, but even then, not so much).]]

* ChurchOfHappyology: [[spoiler:Honwaka]].

* ClockTower: It shows that time is rewinding, causing the protagonist to live his college life again each episode. [[spoiler:When the protagonist is stuck in his room, its lack of rewinding shows that there's no more chances at resetting for him.]]

* ChekovsGunman: [[spoiler:The moth in the narrator's room. Because the tatami maze is made up of identical but slightly different rooms, a moth also shows up in that one. Eventually, after breaking down so many rooms over the course of eighty days, a cloud-sized cluster of moths develops and is the source of that timeline's version of the moth swarm.]]

* ChekovsGunman: [[spoiler:The mpth in the narrator's room. Because the tatami maze is made up of identical but slightly diffrent rooms, a moth also shows up in that one. Eventually, after breaing down so many rooms over the course of eighty days, a cloud-sized cluster of moths develops and is the source of that timeline's version of the moth swarm.]]

* SharedCatchphrase: Usually, after the narrator's encounter with the fortune teller, someone will run into him jovially asking "a lost little lamb, are we?". Respectively, the people saying this are Ozu (Misogi), Akashi (Proxy War),and Hanuki (Honwaka). Because [[spoiler:the narrator doesn't bond with anyone]] in the final timeline, no one comes for him and says the phrase then.

** His first story, about two young men playing pranks on each other with the stakes increasing every time, is a condensed version of the origin of the Masochistic Proxy-Proxy War. Ozu dyes himself pink just as Jogasaki dyes Higuchi's kimono pink, and the final showdown takes place on the Kamo-Ohashi, just as all final battles for thr proxies do.

** "Colosseum". The Fortune Teller asks the narrator to heed this word when she advises him to seize opportunity, but each timeline has it refer to something different. [[spoiler:Akashi was interest in Roman architecture in one timeline, Hanuki had a photo of a colosseum in another, and in the last, the narrator thinks that his heavily rotted wisdom tooth looks like a colosseum when he looks inside of it.]]
** "You and I are bound by a black string of fate" is the key phrase describing the relationship between the narrator and Ozu, capturign the fact that no matter how chaotic it gets, the two young men will ''always'' be stuck together.

* HorribleHousing: Somogato Yuusinsou is a nightmare of an apartment building. The walls are thin, the floors even thinner, the kitchen an unused, filthy mess, and the halls thin and seedy. Barely anything gets fixed there, and it's a plotpoint in all the nvel's timelines that the narrator gets soaked from Higuchi's antics a floor above him.

** The novel has a few consistent points in every timeline: the protagonist runs into a Mochiguma, Ozu gets hospitalized after [[spoiler:jummping off a bridge]], and [[spoiler:he and Akashi end up in a relationship at the very end]]. [[spoiler:He also, no matter what club he picks, meets Ozu and becomes his friend, something that Ozu even points out himself.]]

* ArcWords: "Colosseum". The Fortune Teller asks the narrator to heed this word when she advises him to seize opportunity, but each timeline has it refer to something different. [[spoiler:Akashi was interest in Roman architecture in one timeline, Hanuki had a photo of a colosseum in another, and in the last, the narrator thinks that his heavily rotted wisdom tooth looks like a colosseum when he looks inside of it.]]

** The novel has a few consistent points in every timeline: the protagonist runs into a Mochiguma, Ozu gets hospitalized after [[spoiler:jummping off a bridge]], and [[spoiler:he and Akashi end up in a relationship at the very end]].

* EyeBeams: Akashi can also (figuratively) fire these.

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Hanuki. There's a ''reason'' she only will drink with people who are close to her.
* {{Hikikomori}}: In episode 10, the Narrator has become so fed up with the GroundhogDayLoop (even if he's only subconsciously aware of it) that he decides to spend as much time as possible in his 4.5 tatami room. [[spoiler: Of course, as he starts traveling across the various iterations of his college life, he starts to realize how much he missed out on by abandoning any chance of meeting the cast of characters that had defined his college life in the other iterations.]]

** The novel has a few consistent points in every timeline: the protagonist runs into a Mochiguman, Ozu gets hospitalized, and [[spoiler:he and Akashi end up in a relationship at the very end]].

* PragmaticAdaptation: The novel has more or less complete timelines where regardless of what happens, the protagonist is satisfied with how his life turned out and [[spoiler:successfully takes the opportunity to date Akashi]]. The anime, however, runs a thread through all of the timelines, and instead of letting the protagonist have a fulfilling life at the end of each timeline, deliberately leaves him unsatisfied until the final episode. [[spoiler:In addition, instead of leaning on a different aspect of Akashi to start up a relationship with her, as in the novel, the one singular connection point that allows him to get that RelationshipUpgrade is the Mochiguman (when it was only that important in Chapter 1, but even then, not so much).]]

* SharedCatchphrase: Usually, after the narrator's encounter with the fortune teller, someone will run into him jovially asking "a lost little lamb, are we?". Respectively, the people saying this are Ozu (Misogi), Akashi (Proxy War), Hanuki (Honkawa), and (...).

** His first story, about two young men playing pranks on each other with the stakes increasing every time, is a condensed version of the origin of the Masochistic Proxy-Proxy War. Ozu dyes himself pink just as Jogasaki dyes Higuchi's kimono pink, and the final showdown takes place on the Kamo-Ohashi, just as all final battles for thr procies do.
** His second is a ''Theater/KingLear''-inspired love dilemma surrounding three women, none of whom are played by women. [[spoiler: the baseball timeline has the protagonist fall in love with a [[{{GIRL}} fake female pen pal]], be shacked up with Jogasaki's beautiful sex doll Kaoru, and the third is Hanuki, who he doesn't really consider a "proper woman" for her partying and drinking.]]

* AdaptationExpansion: The original novel has four major paths the protagonist took (Misogi Film, Honwaka Baseball, being Higuchi's apprentice, and the Lucky Cat Restaurant secret society). The anime adaptation expands on this and gives the protagonist ten different outcomes, [[spoiler:plus the one where he doesn't do anything at all]].

* ArcNumber: 4. There are only four clubs/activities that catch the narrator's eye in the novel, the room the protagonist is renting out is a 4.5 tatami and Akashi has only four Mochiguman because she lost the fifth one. [[spoiler:When the protagonist ''finally'' returns the fifth Mochiguman and decides to move out of his room to a bigger apartment, it symbolizes that he's moving past everything associated with four to better himself.]]

* FirstEpisodeTwist: The series seems like it might be an ordinary, albeit fast-paced SliceOfLife at first... then the episode ends on the note of the protagonist blaming the club for his failures in achieving his [[ArcWords rose-tinted college life]] and [[ResetButton time being thrown back]], setting up for [[GroundhogDayLoop the rest of the series]].

* AdaptationExpansion: The original novel has four major paths the protagonist took (Misogi Film, Honwaka Baseball, being Higuchi's apprentice, and the Neko Ramen secret society). The anime adaptation expands on this and gives the protagonist ten different outcomes, [[spoiler:plus the one where he doesn't do anything at all]].