The clip of the anime Tatami Time Machine Blues shows the monologue of the protagonist
The official television anime website of Tomihiko Morimi's novel Tatami Time Machine Blues (Yojō-Han Time Machine Blues) has started streaming the opening footage of the anime's first episode. In the video, the unnamed protagonist (voiced by Shintarō Asanuma) explains how he has never experienced a useful summer, as he talks about the scorching summer heat of Kyoto.
The anime will launch on Disney + in Japan on Wednesday, September 14 at 16:00 PM JST. The anime will stream weekly on Wednesdays for a total of five episodes.
A sixth original episode will be streamed on October 12 and will feature an original story not in the novel. It will be a Disney + exclusive and will feature footage that will not be featured in the theatrical version of the anime's film compilation.
The Walt Disney Company will exclusively stream the new anime globally. The theatrical version of the anime's film compilation will begin its limited three-week run on September 30th.
Tatami Time Machine Blues is a sequel to Morimi's previous novel The Tatami Galaxy (Yojō-Han Shinwa Taikei). It was shipped in July 2020, 16 years after the original novel. The novel is inspired by the play Summer Time Machine Blues by Makoto Ueda. Morimi wrote the novel and Ueda, Morimi's friend, is credited with the original idea. The sequel novel combines elements of the story of the play with characters from Morimi's novel. Nakamura is back to illustrate the cover.
In the story of the sequel novel, the problematic friend of the protagonist of The Tatami Galaxy Ozu gets the only remote control of the air conditioner in the student apartments wet, breaking it on a certain midsummer day. The students wonder what to do about the situation for the rest of the summer and make a plan with Akashi. An antiquated 25-year-old student in the future arrives in a time machine. The protagonist travels back in time to try to retrieve the remote control before it breaks.
Most of the cast members will return for the anime sequel, including Shintarō Asanuma as protagonist “I” (Watashi), Maaya Sakamoto as Akashi, Hiroyuki Yoshino as Ozu, Junichi Suwabe as Jōgasaki and Yuko Kaida as Hanuki. Kazuya Nakai will voice Higuchi, replacing the character's original voice actor, the late Keiji Fujiwara.
Setsuji Satoh is returning from the anime The Tatami Galaxy to reprise the role of Aijima, and Europe Kikaku's Chikara Honda will similarly reprise the role of Tamura-kun from the stage show Summer Time Machine Blues and the subsequent live-action film.
Six members of the Europe Kikaku theater group will play Shimogamo Yuusuis®̄ retirement residents of the future, including Makoto Ueda, Chikara Honda, Gо̄ta Ishida, Yoshifumi Sakai, Kazunari-Tosa and Munenori Nagano. Ueda, who is also the screenwriter of the series, is the representative member of Europe Kikaku. The role marks Ueda's acting debut.
Shingo Natsume (One-Punch Man, Space Dandy, Sonny Boy) will direct the anime at Science SARU and Makoto Ueda will return as the writer of The Tatami Galaxy. Yūsuke Nakamura also returns as a character designer.
Ohta Publishing published Moriminel's 2005 novel The Tatami Galaxy, with Nakamura illustrating the cover. The novel inspired an 11-episode anime by Masaaki Yuasa in April 2010.
HarperCollins' HarperVia label will publish the novel The Tatami Galaxy in English in the fall of 2022. The release will be followed by the sequel novel Tatami Time Machine Blues in the summer of 2023. Emily Balistrieri is translating both novels. Balistrieri previously translated Morimi's novel The Night is Young, Walk on Girl, which inspired a 2017 anime film also directed by Masaaki Yuasa from a script by Ueda.
