Much as he'd love to buy his own equipment and gear, Yuki simply can't afford such luxuries at the moment, meaning that it's time to find himself a part-time job. Luckily for him, there's a job at hand that will allow him to both earn money and increase his knowledge of fishing, courtesy of an opportunity to work on the boat of Ayumi (aka The Captain) alongside Haru, helping out tourists looking to do a spot of fishing out at sea.
Of course, having to deal with strangers, being at sea and numerous other things is a huge stress for Yuki, causing him to screw up on his first day to the point where he feels that he doesn't deserve his pay cheque. On Ayumi's insistence however, he reluctantly takes the money, and as time goes on both his confidence and enjoyment grow - he becomes a better, more self-assured person, and he enjoys spending time around his new-found friends even more.
While all of this is somewhat satisfying to watch, it isn't exactly gripping viewing - Yuki's growth as a person makes for a nice centrepiece for this episode (and the series so far as a whole), but it only serves to increase the feeling that the more bizarre elements of the series are just there for show, and it isn't enough to cover up the fact that fishing is (to me at least) incredibly dull. Kudos to Tsuritama for running with fishing, and in terms of animation and overall presentation it's done an incredible job of making it as vibrant as humanly possible, but ultimately from my personal perspective it's a bit like trying to make an anime series about eating celery interesting - no matter how you frame it, it isn't going to work. Thus, Tsuritama remains in the realms of "pleasant, but towards the bottom of my watch list" for the season at the moment, not helped by the impressive company it keeps of a Thursday - I still get the feeling that might change, but unlike Yuki there's no sign of it breaking out of its shell just yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment