Nov 8, 2022
Note: I received an advanced review copy in exchange for... like $15? Somebody sold it to me lol.
I watched the anime adaptation of The Tatami Galaxy about two months ago (finishing it a few days before I started the light novel). It quickly became one of my favorite anime, and I was surprised to find that it was based on a light novel, rather than being an original series.
This is to say that the novel had a lot to live up to, and it was... good. Ultimately, I think most of the changes made from the novel to the anime was in the anime's favor,
...
with the exception that I think Ozu being represented less saliently like a yokai in this novel makes it easier to sympathize with him and understand his relationship with Watashi. (He is definitely still described as a yokai, so maybe this speaks more to my deficiencies in visualizing things as a reader than anything).
While I thought the translation was very good overall, I did find some of the translation choices questionable. For example, while I imagine the term "black-haired maiden" probably is as valid a choice as "raven-haired maiden", fans of the anime would be used to the latter, and it is more evocative, so why use the former? I also question some of the glossary choices. Early on, there is a reference to "geta clogs", but in their glossary definition they are said to "closely resemble flip-flops", while the definition for Tengu mentions "Geta associated with tengu can be thought of as single-toothed platform sandals". While none of these are incorrect, it's weird to me to refer to them in-text as "geta clogs" rather than just geta, when a definition is provided (and it is further strange to me that it they are described inconsistently).
Overall, I enjoyed this novel, and I can see that most of the pieces were in place that made the anime so good, but ultimately I really would recommend just watching the anime over reading this (assuming you can read subtitles pretty quickly!).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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