Tsuritama - Episode 12 (Completed)

A full-strength typhoon, their precious and legendary lure broken and all hope seemingly lost - where next for oursea-faring friends as they attempt to fish JFX out of the ocean?

It seems that the only option left is for Haru to sacrifice himself for the greater good, but as he says his rather protracted goodbyes Yuki is having none of it, racking his brains in a desperate last-gasp search for an answer... and whaddya know, he finds one.  This couldn't come as a better moment either, as time finally runs out in terms of keeping Duck's barrage of missiles at bay.

Ultimately, Yuki's idea is a simple one - rather than having Haru sacrifice himself, why not simply use him as a lure?  This makes for one of the show's more satisfying scenes, as Haru has fishing line tied tightly around the neck before he's dumped into the ocean.  Joking aside, this is just the ticket when it comes to catching Haru's alien comrade, and as JFX is fished out of the sea the bad weather breaks to reveal sunshine as fish rain down across the town and we're introduced to the true nature of the threat which has hounded Enoshima of late.  From here, it's happy endings all around, as even Haru and his newly-caught friend quickly make a return to Earth after saying their goodbyes.

This plethora of happy endings for all and sundries, including the re-emergence of the "transfer student" trope to resolve everything as positively as possible, is broadly fitting of the twee nature of Tsuritama, which continued to be colourful and fundamentally cheerful even when it was throwing explosions and missiles around.  The sense of the surreal and ridiculous never really sat well with me, especially when coupled with the insistence upon viewing everything through the lens of fishing, which frankly left me cold.  As a result of all of these things, I never found myself caring about the characters or the situations befalling them - a huge issue for a show predicated almost entirely around you feeling for its characters and their relationships.  While Kids on the Slope was a runaway success for me this season, Tsuritama is easily the spring's biggest disappointment for me - beyond its colourful shenanigans it could do nothing at all to catch my eye.

Tsuritama - Episode 11

Despite an inadvertent missile strike against the port as the typhoon, and more importantly JFX's control of the Duck reinforcement vessels, takes hold, our group of friends are still determined to catch this alien before it does too much damage no matter what.

Thankfully, although the Captain is injured his fishing equipment (and even more importantly his boat) are still intact, meaning that the plan to capture JFX is still well and truly on.  That is, provided they can get past Duck's opposition, as their leader makes one final attempt to bring Yamada back onside.  Once this fails, Akira uses his surprisingly proficient fighting techniques to buy them the time the group needs to take to the sea on the trail of their opponent.

From here, it's really all about Yuki and his attempts to fish out JFX in the midst of stormy seas as the typhoon reaches the cusp of hitting the area.  Can he catch it in time?  He's going to need all of his nous to do so, but despite all of his planning and forethought it still might not be enough to save the day as the world's media look on.  Is Haru going to have to sacrifice himself for the greater good in his stead?

Now that it really has some solid drama to get its teeth into, this is at least a solid episode of Tsuritama, even though it still struggles to really generate any excitement out of a pivotal moment that involves catching a fish, no matter how big.  Again, things maybe different if you have more interest or empathy with its characters, but I simply don't - Natsuki aside, none of the individuals within the show resonate with me in the slightest.  There are some nice touches here - Yuki using his way of replaying events in his head to his advantage was smartly done in particular - and the show is certainly above average compared to a lot of anime fare, but not by much and not in a way which engages me on a personal level.

Tsuritama - Episode 10

Although the DUCK organisation seems to have everything pretty tidily wrapped up in both their hunt for "JFX" and to protect Enoshima's residents from the forthcoming typhoon and everything that entails, not everybody shares their enthusiasm or the way they go about their business.

Thus, as this penultimate episode of Tsuritama progresses, we see an increasing "rebel" faction emerging from Enoshima's residents - no prizes for guessing those involved.  As this group assembles with a little help from Akira, it becomes clear that they'll have to enact their own plan to capture the alien undersea menace in perhaps the world's most dangerous fishing trip.

Luckily, their number is soon to be bolstered by Yuki, who manages to return to Enoshima against the odds, ostensibly to search out and find Haru and, quite literally, slap some sense into the guy... or rather, fish.  With everyone they need reunited, all that is required now is to grab the correct lure, find a boat and go fishing.  Surely things couldn't be quite this simple though?  Of course not... as the typhoon breaks, things start to get decidedly more difficult for our would-be heroes.

As you'd expect from this late point in the series, Tsuritama is finally starting to come to life somewhat, although even here it tends to be rather ponderous in its setup, taking far too long on aspects of its plot that arguably don't require such a time-heavy treatment.  Of course, in my particular case the biggest issue is still that I don't care about any of the characters, so what should probably be an emotional reunion between Yuki and Haru leaves me cold, and the continued reliance on fishing as the answer to everything still leaves me rolling my eyes.  Still, at least it's all over next week and I can stop grumbling about my dissatisfaction with this show!

Tsuritama - Episode 9

With a typhoon on the way and the scope of so-called "Bermuda Syndrome" spreading, Enoshima and the world beyond are having to face up to a fate worse than a second season of Nichijou - an entire planet, doing the Enoshima dance, forever.

As the situation becomes increasingly dire, Duck organisation forces are quickly on hand to try and take control of the situation using waterproof chemical suits, a copious amount of hair-driers and a ban on the use of water that English councils could only dream of in their wildest fantasies.  Despite Akira arguing to the contrary, Haru (or JF1) is still one of Duck's top targets of the cause of the problem currently gripping the sea.

For Haru's part, himself and sister Koko (no, not the loco one) set off to try and capture their relative before it's too late, albeit to no avail - with Koko seemingly lost, and "JFX" still very much at large, Haru decides there's nothing for it but to go it alone, using his water pistol and trademark batshit craziness to drive the populace of Enoshima away from the area using whatever means necessary.  Of course, this sudden change in Haru's tone and behaviour confuses Yuki in particular massively, leaving it to his grandmother to patiently put him on the right track again.  With Natsuki and Akira also seemingly determined to do something to save, or at least help, Haru, you can probably see where the series is headed from here...

I think it's common knowledge by this point that I'm simply not invested in Tsuritama, so even upon reaching this crunch point in the series I can't particularly feel for Haru or any of his friends as they go about wringing overly simplistic emotion from the scenario at hand - its wacky surrealism doesn't really sit well against its tale of friendship at the best of time, and the entire affair threatens to become borderline patronising when it comes to explaining what's going on in Haru's head to the clueless Yuki.  Now that we're all set for a sweet "friends unite to save the world by fishing together" ending, I'll just be glad to get this series out of the way and shelved in my decidedly small "noitaminA shows I wished I'd never bothered to watch" pile.

Tsuritama - Episode 8

Sibling quarrels are always heart-felt affairs, and thus it's no surprise that Natsuki lashing out at his sister Sakura has led to her disappearing.  But where has she gone?  As this week's Tsuritama begins, friends and family begin their search for the errant girl.

As it turns out, it doesn't take all that long to find her - cue a happy family reunion.  This event also turns into something of a revelation for other characters, as it leads to them all taking a look at themselves, what they're missing in life and what their friendships have allowed them to achieve that they wouldn't have otherwise.

In the specific case of Akira, he decides that it's time to come clean to Haru and Koko and admit his affiliation and true mission, that being to monitor JF1 (aka Haru's) movements.  As a result, we get to learn exactly why they've come to Earth, and of course it all revolves around so-called Bermuda Syndrome and the strange goings-on around the Enoshima fishing reef.  With Haru deciding to take up fishing again it seems that our extra-terrestrial visitors are all set to resolve the issue with their sea-bound brethren, but with a tropical storm whipping up a whole new escalation of their problems and "Duck" deciding to make an offensive move in their operations, things are about to get decidedly fraught.

By "fraught" of course, I mean "slightly less dull" - this was another dry episode that did little to further foster any personal interest in its main characters or their situation, not helped by the fact that the alien problem threatening the world involves the possibility of some boats being moved around and making people dance against their will, which sounds like the plot of a particularly camp production of War of the Worlds.  In addition, Haru continues to grate on me more and more by the week to leave me as cold as.... well, a damp fish I suppose.  While other series feel like they're going to end far too soon with a few episodes still to go, this is one spring season show that already feels like it's overstayed its welcome for me.

Tsuritama - Episode 7

After a summer of hard work, Yuki finally has the money he needs to buy his own fishing gear.  It's a daunting task... but more importantly, why is Haru suddenly not even vaguely interested in fishing?

While their "Bermuda Triangle" incident seems to have been enough to put Haru off the hobby for life, Yuki, Natsuki and Akira carry on fishing whenever an opportunity arises - indeed, we've now reached a point where Natsuki is leaving Yuki to make his own decisions and decide upon his own strategies rather than teaching him how to go about catching fish.

More importantly than such things however, news reaches us via his sister that Natsuki's birthday is coming up, with his family planning to celebrate the big day by - you guessed it - going fishing.  With his friends also brought along for the ride, it looks all set to be a great day, but that would of course be reckoning without the fractious relationship between Natsuki and his father.  As this comes to a head, and another strange incident at sea threatening those upon the captain's boat, a number of relationships are thrown into turmoil as the strange behaviour starting to manifest itself around Enoshima becomes an ever-greater problem.

As I've mentioned over previous weeks, my main issue with Tsuritama continues to be its reliance on fishing as the central arbiter of everything it does - every piece of drama, every argument and each moment of plot progression is carried out with a fishing rod in close proximity, and it does nothing but suffocate the otherwise well-played family drama exhibited by this episode to the point where it significantly weakens its impact.  Alongside this, the presence of Haru and the whole "alien thing" has also done little to move on the other elements of the show up to this point, although it seems as if these oddities are finally going to come to the fore over the next week or two.  I'm still trying my best to like Tsuritama, but at this point it seems like it's something of a lost cause for me.

Tsuritama - Episode 6

It seems that everything is coming up roses all of a sudden - he's gotten to grips with fishing (and duly loves doing it), his summer job is going swimmingly, close friendships have been forged, and to top it all of his grandmother is about to be discharged from hospital.

Given that final piece of good news, it's no surprise that Yuki wants to do something special for her return home, and his choice of homecoming gift is... some freshly caught tuna.  Cue a session in learning how to catch these decidedly tricky critters, and the unique techniques required for a successful operation along these lines.

As well as knowing how to catch tuna, actually tracking them down is a trick in itself - a trick made more difficult by the local's staunch refusal to use Akemi, a local fishing reef simply teeming with the things.  Although Ayumi refuses to take them anywhere near it, the availability of Akira's boat offers a perfect opportunity to help Yuki catch his precious tuna.  The trouble is, it seems that the rumours surrounding Akemi are at least somewhat true, as Haru goes haywire and chaos ensues once they're in the vicinity of that area.  Luckily for those involved, help is soon at hand and little real damage is done - perhaps more importantly, we're finally getting to the crux of exactly what Haru and his sister are seeking.

In line with my weekly thoughts on Tsuritama, I still utterly fail to be taken with it.  Yes, we're coming towards a pivotal point in the series where all is (hopefully) revealed regarding Haru, and perhaps even Akira, but with another half episode taken up with fishing tips and not a lot else to speak of beyond more examples of the importance of friends and family, I'm finding it almost impossible to hold any interest or excitement in any revelations which are just around the corner.  I'm sure that Tsuritama isn't a bad series - it just singularly fails to do anything to hold my attention, leaving me to simply go through the motions each week in the hope that this will suddenly change.  There's certainly no sign of that at this point though, sadly.

Tsuritama - Episode 5

Now that Yuki has well and truly caught the fishing bug, it's time for that shocking revelation that comes with pretty much any hobby - being enthusiastic about any interest is an expensive business.

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.

Tsuritama - Episode 4

Having his grandmother in hospital is enough on its own merit to make Yuki's life decidedly busier, but now he has even more of a scramble of a morning for an entirely different reason.  No, not Haru (well, actually yes, Haru is part of the reason too), but the need to get in an early morning fishing session.

Not only has this change in Yuki's habits helped his friendship with Natsuki, it's also seen him and Haru strike up something of a relationship with his father too, giving us a closer look at the rather dysfunctional father-son relationship with this pairing, particularly through the eyes of the ever-astute Haru when it comes to these things.

Indeed, not only has Haru observed the problem, but he also decides to try and put it right with some liberal use of his deus ex water pistol.  This looks all set to work its magic too until Yuki comes along, admonishing Haru for using the pistol again and perhaps more importantly for breaking his promise not to do so.  Thus, we have another fracture in Yuki and Haru's relationship, which is only repaired in light of Yuki finally getting the hang of this whole fishing lark and managing to net himself an impressively big sea bass.

First off, I have to admit that this has probably been the most enjoyable instalment of Tsuritama so far for me - Haru's use as a builder of bridges on account of his straightforward nature is really starting to come to the fore, although I really hope we genuinely don't see any further use of that damned water pistol as it's really a downright lazy plot device at this point in proceedings.  This episode was also generally more amusing and entertaining for me than previous instalments, perhaps on account of things having settled down now that Natsuki has levelled out and well and truly become part of proceedings.  The only question now is - where does the series go from here?  Its overall goals are still pretty ill-defined, and I feel like it's going to have to narrow its focus and aims sooner rather than later.

Tsuritama - Episode 3

Thus far, Tsuritama has tried hard to be a different kettle of fish to other spring season anime, but although it's still a long way from shooting fish in a barrel, does it have what it takes to cast its line into a bucket?

It's this exact challenge (the casting a line into a bucket part, not the horribly laboured introduction part) that is set to Yuki and Haru by Natsuki as they continue their fishing education, and the all-important ability of casting your line properly which has far more to it than meets the eye.  Although his "pupils" quickly pick up on Natsuki's verbal timing trick to get the basic concept right, actually completing their challenge proves to be rather more difficult.

Come that evening however, fishing quickly becomes the last thing on Yuki's mind, as his grandmother Keiko announces that she'll be spending some time in hospital starting from the next day on account of her mysterious illness.  Of course, this worries Yuki greatly, and he isn't exactly helped by Haru's insensitive (yet true) comments, to the point where he's interested in neither attending school nor fishing.  However, time alone to think can be a great healer, and eventually Yuki has another cracking at Natsuki's challenge, to the thrill of all those concerned.  But what of Akira and his organisation, and how about Haru and his sister; what are they up to exactly?  There are still plenty of unanswered questions that look likely to be harder to snare.

While I'm certainly relieved to see some of Tsuritama's threads coming together from this episode, there's still something missing from this series - for starters, I'm yet to develop any kind of emotional bond with any of the characters even in situations where I can empathise with them somewhat.  The fishing side of things also hasn't exactly captured my imagination despite the show's best efforts to draw me in, which is also a concern.  Overall, I can't help but think of Tsuritama as a less charming version of NieA under 7 at the moment between its aliens and zany nature - I haven't given up on the series just yet, and as I just mentioned it's starting to feel as though things are coming together, but it certainly has a lot of work still to do if it's going to win me over.

Tsuritama - Episode 2

As if Yuki didn't have enough to cope with due to his introverted demeanour and tendency to pull the most horrifying of faces when put under any kind of pressure, now he finds himself living with an overly exuberant and slightly crazy alien.

Worse still, we soon discover in this second episode of Tsuritama that Haru actually has a sister - who sister who demands that Yuki catch a particular fish will ensure that the Earth and humanity itself is saved.  Before he knows it, Yuki (along with Haru) are back begging the fishing "prince" Natsuki for lessons, helped along by the fact that the normally sullen fishing genius acts entirely differently when his little sister is around.

Given his reticence to act as a teacher for these two crazy classmates however, Natsuki isn't exactly the most accommodating of tutors, and even a shot from Haru's water pistol (which in turn gives us a glimpse of what it's capable of) isn't enough for Yuki to get the hang of tying the required not to attach bait to the line, which leads to him losing his chance to catch another fish at the all-important moment before running away in the face of Natsuki's criticism.  Still, it seems that Yuki has caught the fishing bug whether he likes it or not, and in the process he even begins to build (albeit every-so slightly) both his confidence and a friendship with Natsuki.  With another transfer student (and his duck) entering Yuki and Haru's class however, things look set to take some more strange turns sooner rather than later.

After feeling so apathetic towards its first episode for the most part, there are some interesting glimpses into the deeper story of Tsuritama this week from a character-centric point of view - Natsuki's family situation is obviously a cause of deep distress for him, while Yuki's grandmother seems to be keeping health issues from her grandson into the bargain.  These are but small fry in the lake of lunacy that this series is swimming in however, and I can't break away from the feeling that the series is trying to be zany and fill its character roster with oddballs simply because it can.  I can't say that this aspect of the series is particularly endearing to me at this stage - Yuki's neuroses are fine and work well enough, but Haru is intensely annoying and his sister feels like a somewhat pointless insert at this juncture.  If the show's weirder characters are fleshed out properly hopefully such issues may dissolve - on this occasion, I'm really hoping that my gut feeling about Tsuritama is proved wrong.

Tsuritama - Episode 1

Tsuritama is the tale of two oddballs - albeit one decidedly more odd than the other.

On the one hand, we have Yuki Sanada, a relatively ordinary kid whose life is disrupted by his constantly travelling grandmother which in turn sees him transferring schools more often than most people have hot dinners.  This is particularly problematic given that Yuki tends to have rather unique panic attacks when he feels pressured or the centre of attention, leading to him pulling a seriously disturbing face while he imagines himself drowning.  On the flipside of this we have Haru, a seriously strange kid who carries a fish in a goldfish bowl around and declares himself an alien to anyone who will listen.

Somehow, these disparate characters come together as Yuki is forced to move again, this time to the quiet seaside town of Enoshima.  Of course, a new home means a new school, and poor Yuki has to go through the motions and stresses of introducing himself to new people - a stress which looks like it could be alleviated as attention is snatched away from him by the appearance of Haru as another transfer student, only to be piled back on to him as both Yuki and Haru are labelled as fish from the same shoal.  Still, it's good to have a friend even if he bonkers, right?  Right?!

It's difficult to know what to say about this opening episode of Tsuritama - it made me laugh a few times so it's certainly achieved that goal, but at this juncture there isn't actually a lot I can find to say in either criticism or praise of it.  My biggest concern is that the series is going try a little too hard to be wacky without any real purpose, which will only take you so far, but for now I'm going to reserve any judgement until I can get a bit more of a feeling for what Tsuritama's grand plan is.  Until then, it's a pleasant little distraction that hasn't set my world alight - let's just hope it doesn't extinguish the remaining flames of passion altogether.