I’m a bit sick today.  But I’m well enough to take tea and write, and after reading 8c’s fantastic entry on Tatami Galaxy/Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei, I feel somehow inspired.

Love the ending. It also seems to work better as a full piece than Etsuko Yakushimaru's other song this season.

Watashi’s endless repetition of his first two years of college is an adventure through quantum spacetime.  I’m talking about the many-worlds interpretation and the weirder parts of string theory, which suggest that from “our” universe radiates a number of alternate universes based on different choices.  In each episode, Watashi chooses a different social circle, and in doing so he appears to become different people: A cyclist, a struggling filmmaker, an anti-cupid who fires rockets at couples on the riverbank.

But there are constants.  Ozu, Watashi’s friend and demon on his shoulder, is always there.  Akashi-san is always present.  And always, always, Watashi fails at achieving happiness and wishes he chose a different life.  And so the clock winds back, and we find ourselves in another galaxy.

Ever heard of the concept of synchronicity?  Carl Jung, that strange Swiss superman of oddball psychological theories, was the first to posit the idea, and I’m rather fond of it.  It goes something like this: Just as there exist causal relationships in the universe, which are usually discernible to logic and reason, there also exist non-causal relationships, which connect events and ideas in a way that only makes sense in the poetry of our minds.  In other words, we’re talking about coincidence, maybe even fate.

There’s no question that something is holding these characters together through each incarnation of the universe.  Granted, perspectives change (e.g. the pathetic boob maniac becomes a rather inspirational boob maniac), but everyone reenters Watashi’s life somehow, especially Miss Akashi.  Causes change, but the magical synchronicity remains.

Assuming that the concept from the first episode was true—that the man in the kimono with the grotesque chin really is a god who will decide Watashi’s love life—I think that we’re seeing a Schroedinger love story, a romp through the multiverse tied together with the red string of fate.  It’s great stuff.

Postscript: The Akashi Fascination Movement

I love this character!  In a way, she’s like Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari, in how difficult and perhaps inauthentic she is (Meanwhile, somewhere in Manila, Ghostlightning receives a call).  But with all those talents and passion for engineering—real interests, by Jove!— she’s a woman after my own heart.  And that tone of voice!  Oh, Maaya Sakamoto, you do your job too well…  Okay, gushing over.