I started two episodes of #TatamiGalaxy today... I remember almost nothing except the ending and the fast talking. Oh, and the ending song, of course. I believe that I will find this anime a lot more satisfying this time.
I think I didn't really understand this anime the first/last time I watched it because I watched it towards the end of my high school years, and it's set in college. It's the same: I can no longer enjoy ecchi anime like MM! in the same earnest way that I could when I was a middle/high schooler. There are works like that which are aimed at a certain demographic, and to have an emotional effect, I have to watch them at the right time, at the right age. Gender plays into this as well, of course, although I think those ecchi romantic comedies had something in them for girls up to high school age as well, because of the romance. I wonder if I will come to be unable to earnestly enjoy "evergreen" works which I have always thought were good, but it doesn't really matter. I will just keep on finding new works of art that I find relatable and enjoyable.
I have also become a lot more amenable to the idea of time loops thanks to Steins; Gate. I think as a high schooler, I became dogmatically obsessed with the idea of character development, that the whole point of watching a story is to see the characters develop themselves from the beginning to the end to become better, and to be inspired to do the same and emulate what we saw on screen as viewers. Perhaps I was reacting to accusations by persons of low intelligence that implied that art escapism prevents people from living fulfilling lives by by allowing them to live vicariously through fiction. I do not want to waste any time refuting this but I will just say that this is to put the cart before the horse, to blame fiction for reality, is truly a delusional mind's way of escaping from responsibility. Or in other words, they are so bitter about their own lives that seeing happy, uncynical fictional depictions hurts them.
#SteinsGate was also probably the first anime about college aged adults which I enjoyed.
I don't know whether to dread or look forward to it yet, but I guess the next stage would be to get into anime about middle aged "ojisan/obasan" characters. As Japan's demographics get older there will undoubtedly come a time when there is a market for anime like this. While it is sad of course that I and Japan are getting older at about the same rate, I am happy that I will be able to experience new types of works, new experiences.
Of course, there are also stories which start with the protagonist as a child and end with their death... but that feeling of eternity, of endless summer, is unique to youth... Of course, if I were to objectively measure my early youth, it was more boring because I was less free, but would I go back if I were given the opportunity? I know I would, because experiencing so many things for the first time is what made that time special to me, even if my experiences do not exactly fit into the mould of youth set by others, they were undoubtedly precious to me. But rather than to sorrow about what is gone now, I take it as a sign that I can find more precious things to me now, today, and tomorrow.