Yojouhan Time Machine Blues

On a hot summer day in Kyoto, a young man walks toward his apartment, dreaming of turning on the air conditioner and cooling down. But before he can turn his dream into reality, disaster naturally strikes in the form of Ozu, who spills soda all over the remote. With the air conditioner rendered completely unusable, the man and his friends are left to suffer in the terrible August heat.

Just when all hope seems lost, the group finds a true-to-life time machine in their storage room. Not knowing the dire consequences of doing so, they decide to travel back to the past and grab the remote before Ozu even has a chance to destroy it. What awaits them on the other side is a staggering adventure none of them are prepared for.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Watashi Main

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Akashi Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Ozu Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Higuchi, Seitarou Supporting

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Hanuki, Ryouko Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Jougasaki, Masaki Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Aijima Supporting

Satou, Setsuji Japanese

Tamura Supporting

Honda, Chikara Japanese

Choi, Eun-Young Producer

Sugawara, Hana Producer

Sakita, Kouhei Producer

Takeuchi, Fumie Producer

Reviews

Jun 20, 2023

SingleH

Recommended

Disclaimer: An entire bottle of Mount Gay Black Barrel, an undisclosed amount of Appleton 21, and multiple cans of Bacardi Rum Punch (to use as chasers) were consulted in the creation of this review. Plus however much Barrell Armida is in this rocks glass. This entire show and this entire review itself were both additionally and respectively viewed and created over the course of about nineteen hours. Alcohol and its affects were therefore heavily involved in all relevant processes. Hopefully you enjoy…

Being a drunk corpse, I figured a much more pertinent use of my time than watching Cyberpunk: Edgerunners—as much fun as that show was—would ... be to take a leap back in time to once again reacquaint myself with the 4.5 Tatami Ideologue, and I must say, it was more than happily worth my time. Maybe I would’ve felt differently about the series if I had watched it first at the appropriate age, but personally, The Tatami Galaxy had always been one of those anime whose reputation seemed completely incongruous with my own experience. It was always spoken of as being this “pretentious,” “elitist,” “pseudo-intellectual” anime, and I could never understand why. I obviously understand that in the context of their common usage, these phrases are buzzwords that mean nothing and whose actual definitions are completely unknown and misunderstood to those using them, but still, these buzzwords have always been used to describe artsy, confusing, abstruse anime which the casual viewer would consider annoyingly if not purposefully difficult to parse. Anything written by Chiaki Konaka; anything directed by Mamoru Oshii; anything touched with a ten-foot pole by Kunihiko Ikuhara; even shit like Evangelion. These to me are anime which most of these people would call “pretentious,” “elitist,” whatever. But even if I find things like this to be relatively easy to understand, I at least understand why others wouldn’t. Lots of weird symbolism, unstated themes, non-linear storytelling, etc. But The Tatami Galaxy doesn’t really have any of that. It’s just a show about a college kid losing his mind in his dorm room, because he doesn’t know how to grapple with his newfound freedom to choose his own path and frankly thinks he REALLY should’ve gotten laid by now…which is a station in life pretty much anyone over the age of twenty can empathize with…right?

Unless everyone on the internet whose ever used those buzzwords to describe The Tatami Galaxy was fucking fourteen (which I highly doubt), then the idea that such an anime would be lumped in with the taste of someone who’d be super into Serial Experiments Lain for example seemed completely ridiculous to me. What could possibly be less “pretentious” than a story such as this, let alone one presented with this much emotional honestly and this many details which reveal it all to come from a place of the author’s intensely personal experience? At the end, seeing the main character being the one to tease Ozu in the hospital bed is among the most cathartic character arcs I’ve ever seen executed on screen, and the idea anyone could see something this sappy and adorable and think “elitist” is downright alien to me. And Masaaki Yuasa had at that point had already established himself as a master of this specific craft. Mind Game, Kemonozume, Kaiba—they all vary in subject matter, in theme, and—let’s be honest—in overall quality, but they all share this emotional openness that characterizes a great deal of his catalog, and The Tatami Galaxy was far from being an exception. Even characters who you weren’t strictly supposed to relate to, I found to be open books. Far more than the main character and his isolated arrogance, I personally found Akashi to be a much more empathetic presence, because depending on how you look at it, she is failing to reach out and “grasp the opportunity” just as egregiously as he is. Even in the early episodes, it’s completely obvious that she’s trying to get this guy’s attention, and yet she stops short of making any moves on him despite the fact he’s clearly fucking oblivious. And that’s fine—The Tatami Galaxy is very much a male show, meant to teach a lesson to a male audience. But the fact it can nevertheless have so many angles to appreciate it from speaks volumes.

If there was one human being on Earth who I would think to be a good-enough Yuasa replacement to take the reins of Yojouhan Time Machine Blues, Shingo Natsume would most probably be the one. Not only did he work as an episode director on the original show, and not only is he a genius director on his own rights, but his style simply fits this project perfectly. And this project was, if it needed to be stated, an exercise in pure nostalgia. Never have I felt more warm in my heart and at home in my soul than I did as soon as that Asian Kung-Fu Generation OP kicked on. I don’t know what exactly it is about the music they’ve done for this series, but it fits so wonderfully. Seeing all these faces I’ve known for over a decade now felt like…well, it felt like seeing faces I’ve known for over a decade now. I didn’t even have to look at the screen in that opening scene. I was on the other side of the room, pouring this glass, but hearing Jougasaki, Hanuki, Higuchi, Ozu, and Akashi speak—I didn’t need to see the screen to know the expressions on their faces. I was actually just talking to my hairdresser about this earlier today, because, not to brag or anything, but next week I’m getting transferred and promoted. And the people I’m going to be presiding over now are angels send down from Heaven to save me from the fiery depths of hell. I was talking to her about how it’s been so long since I’ve been able to spend time around people who actually LIKE me. People who actually know something about me, and who I know something about, who ACTUALLY like me. We like being around each other, and it’s cute. This department in particular has, more than any other department I interact in the vicinity of, a distinct “work culture,” for lack of a better term. And it’s because they like and know each other. They spend time together. This series has absolutely succeeding in capturing that aura of…I don’t know…that aura of people.

It was so funny. The morning I posted my most recent project, I was so happy, so excited, so optimistic for the future, and within hours it was humiliatingly raped and destroyed, and I sunk deep, deep, deep back into the bottle, to a depth and darkness which I still have yet to escape. Night is Short, Walk on Girl, another companion piece to The Tatami Galaxy, is a movie which I’ve slowly over the years come to appreciate as a film which can only be properly enjoyed while intoxicated, and I say this seriously with a straight face. All her talk of cocktails, and how she wishes the Pacific Ocean was made of rum is, yes, #SoRelatable, but it is also in all seriousness a legitimate guide to enjoying the film. The serendipitous, jovial nonsense; the attitude of gleeful abandon; the endless shifting from one adventure to the next, all while keeping the overall emotional arc in mind. The way the film flows is very much reminiscent of an actual night on the town, and I don’t think I ever truly experienced that film until I did so drunk. And I did this; I’m typing this sentence separately, but I did this, and it was life-altering. This is ironic not simply for obvious reasons, but also because becoming a proper alcoholic has utterly decimated my short-term memory. I can’t really remember anything anymore. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. なし. I can’t remember anything, but I do remember this series. And what does that say? Well, first of all, it’s actually good, but moreover, it’s memorable and worthwhile enough to warrant not only enjoyment, but a rewatch of the entire series. Typically, I write to slow, lyric-less music. Anything else I think would be too distracting, and so I write to the tune of shit you could fall asleep to—shit I actively do fall asleep to on occasion. But this time, sippin’ whiskey, of course, I felt it would be an utter sacrilege to type to the tune of anything other than the titular blues.

Now if only I had a time machine to go with…

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 1, 2024

jetrax12

Mixed Feelings

I was probably harsher on this due to its relation to Tatami Galaxy, which set an impossibly high bar; if it was not related to that, I would probably have ranked it a bit higher, but I think I still would not recommend it as a must-watch. The narrative structure was much more straightforward than Tatami Galaxy, and one is kind of expected to be familiar with the characters of the aforementioned. That said, it was still a fun little romp with familiar characters and felt a little comfy in that regard - it was nice to see the main cast all doing stuff together ... instead of how adversarial Galaxy felt at times. While it lacked the punch of Tatami Galaxy's message, it felt like it remained in this form: where Tatami Galaxy said don't dwell on your past mistakes, this said don't worry about your future choices. I guess that at least makes it feel a bit more substantial.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 25, 2024

Bountyfull

Not Recommended

Funny

Operation nostalgia that does nothing of value, playing with the watcher's feelings about the 2010 masterpiece.

The problem with this sequel? Potential future? Whatever it is, is that it's lazy. Extremely lazy. It backloads the entire character development, background, and nuances to the 2010 main series while giving us a glimpse of a different path.
But let's go in order.

When dealing with this kind of anime, which is abundantly quoting and taking inspiration from the original, it's impossible to not consider parallels with the former series. The screenwriters impose it on us, anyway, since the series forces you to know all the characters beforehand. This ... is not necessarily a bad thing.
ART 9.5/10

The original has aged respectably, but Shingo Natsume empowered everything to the max wherever it was showing signs of its age. Not much to fault, but there were a few static talking scenes that, in a 6 episode series, stand out annoyingly. Overall, Shingo is one of the few directors competent enough to deal with this boulder of a series. We also begin to see how much is "stolen" by the original. It's necessary and not a bad thing, but we'll see when it all starts crashing down when substance starts to matter.

SOUND 8.5/10

Again, it mostly used all songs, which is good. Tamura's and Higuchi's dubbers are weaker, and while for the latter it's comprehensible given the death of the first dubber, for the former it's just inexcusable. It's not a big deal but it's there.

Both the ending and the opening are weaker than the original. Again, they're not bad per se, but not as great as before.

STORY: 5/10

Here's where push comes to shove. The story is terrible and extremely devoid of pathos. It reeks of banality and goes for the pointless and trite trope of time travel. The original also had some supernatural touches here and there, but it was never the major point of the story, whereas here it's the main pull.

Time travel stories are almost always made in 2 ways: either you go for a closed space-time loop or a multiple-universe approach. Tertium non datur.

This series goes for the former. It removes all agency from its characters and makes the entire plot extremely predictable. Almost all plot points become devoid of interest because of it, although you can commend how the complexity of the loop was explained and taken care of. Alas, it's not enough.

The story in itself is also bad. It is pointless in the grand scheme of things because it doesn't add anything of value to the original series. It also abundantly cites the point of annoyance catchphrases, jokes, and even major plot points.

This is eloquently illustrated by the true ending in episode 5, which features an almost identical dialogue that we have during the last episode of the original series. It's not bad per se... but we've already seen it once, which makes it...pointless.

The pacing was very good... until the screenwriters decided to add context to the first episode by backloading it after the lovely conclusion of the story in the fifth one. This is absurd and destroys the ending, by also adding stuff that it's not long enough to make us empathize with the characters. The sixth episode is basically a compressed, mini version of the first one from the original, which makes it all the more silly. They are already heavily implying you need to know these characters and the plot points from the original... so it makes no sense. Pretty baffling decision, really.

CHARACTERS 5/10

It's not that these characters are bad (except for Tamura, and there's a reason for it...), it's more like that the series is just offloading all the development to the first one because they don't have time or a reason to develop them more. It's the correct decision... but this pseudo-sequel is just a possible path that's arguably not even canon, and definitely not an ounce as good as the original ending!

So all the characters are as good as the original... but because of that, they are lazy homages to the originals. The only one who isn't it's Tamura... which in fact just sucks. It doesn't have screen time nor does it get developed in such a short amount of time. Sigh.

There's not much to say about them, they are fine but mediocre, they don't have their own flavor, they're just a bland copy of the originals that exist to force nostalgia out of the watcher. Pretty sad.

ENJOYMENT: 4.5/10

In the end, I loathed my time with time machine blues, because time travel stories are overdone to death unless some genius does something interesting, which unfortunately doesn't happen here. Moreover, as I have stated, the entire anime is a pointless homage to the original series, and doesn't stand a chance in comparison to it, nor is it needed or pleasurable to see.
It seems like whoever wrote the script forgot that the sci-fi escamotage from the first series was not the actual pull, but just the flint that got the plot going. The characters and their realistic stories were the main focus, which is why you can consider it the greatest coming-of-age anime of all time, and arguably one of the best, if not THE best, the media has to offer.

I also don't care that this is an adaptation of a stage play since it doesn't matter in the slightest, for self-evident reasons.

Tatami Galaxy was a masterpiece that stands among the greats even today, and its warning about living life with rose-tinted glasses is hilariously applied here: take off your nostalgia goggles and go watch something better.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	The story is the same as Summer Time Machine Blues (2005) astrogaijin2 - Aug 13, 2021	11 replies	by CRankit »» Jun 20, 4:47 AM
	Poll: Yojouhan Time Machine Blues Episode 2 Discussion _MushiRock11_ - Sep 21, 2022	24 replies	by Karva1 »» May 9, 1:14 PM
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	Poll: Yojouhan Time Machine Blues Episode 5 Discussion Unowen - Oct 12, 2022	21 replies	by deg »» Dec 7, 2023 3:05 AM