The Tatami Galaxy 2

EPISODE 02: Movie Circle Misogi

the princely Jougasaki, leader of the movie circle

The episode begins with Watashi and Ozu watching a hidden camera video of Jougasaki, a senpai in school who apparently has many strange habits. After the opening sequence, Watashi narrates how as a freshman he thought that the movie circle is going to be his ticket to a "rosy campus life." But he is sadly mistaken when he figures out that the club's leader, the uber-popular Jougasaki, is merely using him and everyone else in the club to make himself look good.

my eyes spit fire!

When Watashi figures this out, his righteous indignation leads him to make smaller, independent films. However, his films' subject matters are simply too weird and out-of-this-world to please his audience. The only person who seems to get it is Akashi, a younger student who is pretty enough to become popular but whose reserved and blunt demeanor scares most people away. Watashi suffers no such ill-will from Akashi but he's too wrapped in his own little world to notice her as a possible romantic interest.

Akashi and Watashi

Meanwhile, Jougasaki continues to ride on his popularity and decides to film a much hyped-over remake of "Alexander the Great." In response and at Ozu's instigation, Watashi decides to make a documentary on Jougasaki, revealing all his dirty secrets from bad grades to his boob fetish, OCD and a mannequin girlfriend at home. Ozu then inserts film into "Alexander the Great" so that instead of the expected movie, what the audience see are hidden camera clips of Jougasaki at his worst moments, thus earning the latter's long-standing grudge.

I'm a bit confused. Is Watashi in this episode the same Watashi in the first episode? Because the story is different, yet the timeline is the same. Moreover, the characters are the same except for the narrator who doesn't seem to be playing the same part. Also, repetition can be a clever way of driving a point. In The Tatami Galaxy, particularly this episode, I don't think it worked very well. The jokes are not that funny a second time around.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: