TSURITAMA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

OVA ComedyTsuritama: Harikitte Contest
NOVEL Sci-FiTsuritama
NOVEL Sci-FiTsuritama SF -Short Films-

REVIEWS

• 

  ChillLaChill

  90/100
  Tsuritama is an underrated gem, offering genuine fun and a lot of heart.

  Tsuritama, what an odd quirky name for an oddly quirky show, truly fitting for an anime like this. How did I discover it? Well, that's a good question, it happened to be the off chance that I was browsing anime featuring Turbans and I came across a photo with Akira Agarkar doing the "yoga" pose. Yeah, it's as strange as it sounds. Don't ask.

  I've never got into fishing, nor am I really fond of the concept. After watching Tsuritama it got me thinking, this is actually a genius idea for this kind of show. Mind you, a fishing anime sounds odd in concept, but it works here to build a sense of friendship and comradery. Yuki Sanada moves to a new town with his grandma and just can't seem to adjust to his school life. Yuki has no friends and finds it's difficult to open up to others without being extremely awkward. After an alien visits his house, claiming it as his own, things take a turn for the crazy. Yuki is tasked with capturing one of the rarest types of fish so that his alien friend can finally return to space. Along Yuki's fishing journey, he meets some people along the way who not only help him catch fish and friendship. Eventually, these small get-togethers soon develop into something more than a pastime, but an experience of a lifetime.

  Tsuritama is one bright, happy show, full of life and colour. This is the way it should be. I wouldn't have this show any other way than it is already. It doesn't really require a lot of flashy animations in order to appeal to everyone. All the scenery is relaxing to look at, and I felt a wave of nostalgia with each passing episode. It's perfect because it's a standout art style that's not really typical of A1's portfolio. The characters make Tsuritama, and they should with good reason. I don't think there was a moment in the show where I was like "this shouldn't be like this, cause there was no hook in the story" or "I didn’t find the characters to be very funny or inspiring" ; taking a jab at thatanimesnob who critiqued these things, he's an asshat who needs to be sent to a mental institution. Before I get any more sidetracked, Tsuritama always had me smiling every moment. I let the show take me on this wonderful journey with these characters, namely Akira Agarkar who is one of my favourites.

  Tsuritama is the definition of a good time. So many moments you feel warm on the inside because it's just such a joy to watch, including the opening and ending. It's the perfect summer show even though it takes place during the school year. Everything about Tsuritama just shows you that it's okay to have fun, even if it's not zany or off-the-walls. It might be silly, but it's in no way stupid. There's something peculiar about Tsuritama that will make you chuckle because the territory feels so familiar, yet you've never watched this kind of show before. It is a story about friendship, and it is a show that still lies somewhere as being the go-to show when I want to just sit back and reflect on something. Watch Tsuritama during a weekend, or when you're feeling down. Do it because I can guarantee this show will cheer you up when your not exactly feeling 100%. Maybe you might be lonely, angry, or depressed, but don't worry because Tsuritama is the kind of show to bring you back up. I can give you my word that Tsuritama will most certainly make you feel worth once you give it a watch through its sense of warm familiarity.

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• 

  MermaidDork

  90/100
  Con la cabeza en alto y una sonrisa <3

  Vivo en un pueblo costero, así que me familiarizo mucho con el setting de esta serie. No hay tanta gente, casi todo el mundo se conoce, y las relaciones interpersonales son más entre familias que entre completos extraños. Obviamente sentí una comodidad increíble mientras veía este anime tan solo con ese detalle.

  Pero más que la experiencia linda del pueblo, lo que más me gustó fue ver crecer a estos niños.
  Con Haru me identifico mucho personalmente, pero fuera de eso siento que es de las mejores formas en las que alguien ha escrito a un Alien adaptándose a una cultura humana, se nota que es una historia muy preferida para animar de Kenji Nakamura (Vean Gatchaman Crowds), claro importa también la novela en la que está basada la serie, espero poder leerla en algún futuro.
  Mi punto es que Haru no es el típico personaje todo perdido, genuinamente quiere aprender a comprender a los humanos, y más que malentendidos lo que causa su intervención es que la gente del pueblo se vaya conociendo mucho mejor, como dijo la abuela de Yuki, es la flor que alegra la vida de los demás.
  Natsuki es otro protagonista con un enfoque cercano a mi corazón, su familia es lo más importante para él, pero debido a su pérdida y otras razones, se está limitando su propio futuro, atado al lugar donde nació.
  Esto no sólo es común en Japón, siento que también ocurre mucho en México, ese estereotipo de Hollywood del hijo dejando su hogar tan fácilmente es un concepto completamente alienígena en países que no se llaman Estados Unidos. En este caso la familia de Natsuki también quiere que salga adelante, pero ambas partes no han sabido comunicarse mutuamente.
  Es en su amistad con Yuki y Haru y las interacciones resultantes que logra finalmente comprender que su padre ya esta listo para seguir adelante, y que él debería hacerlo también.
  Yuki también logra superar su más grande reto, no, no me refiero a pescar al alien al final, sino que logra adaptarse a sus problemas de ansiedad social con la ayuda de sus amigos y toda la gente que lo quiere.
  Me gusta mucho que Tsuritama reconozca que los problemas de socialización no son cosas que se resuelven mágicamente de la noche a la mañana, aceptando también que a veces esos impedimentos no tienen por qué hacer a una persona sentir que vale menos.
  Al final de la serie, Yuki aún tiene problemas para hablar libremente cuando está entre un montón de público o en grupos, pero al menos ya tiene disposición de hacer lo mejor dentro de sus capacidades para relacionarse con sus compañeros.
  Verlo progresar a través de 12 capítulos fue muy emocionante, y como dije al inicio, fue como verlo crecer y madurar, pocas series logran darme ese sentimiento de manera convincente.

  Fuera de los tres protagonistas, Tsuritama está repleta de quirks y detallitos lindos que me gustaron mucho, pero que llenaría mil páginas si me pusiera a mencionarlos y expresarlos todos, así que haré una simple lista (?)

  • Tapioca el pato. No tengo que decir nada más, es un pato, con eso ya ganó
  • Akira es buen personaje, me hizo feliz ver cómo cambió por completo al relacionarse con los tres chicos, podrían haberlo estereotipado y burlado un poco menos tho
    -Estos diseños son como el inverso a CLAMP ¿por qué todos los hombres de esta serie tienen piernitas chiquitas y flacas como fideos? lfkdslfks
  • El único medio de entretenimiento capaz de convertir a la práctica de la pesca en un fenómeno épico, emocionante y divertido, mis respetos.
  • El seis meses después tampoco se sintió forzado, wtf

  Agradezco mucho a todos mis amigues que me recomendaron esta serie, como siempre, ya sabían que la iba a amar mucho, chidoris.

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• 

  Mazomonogatari

  80/100
  A Kenji Nakamura Retrospective: The Healing Nature of Tsuritama.

  Tsuritama

  Change
  
  Tsuritama is drastically different form the two previous series by Kenji Nakamura that I’ve looked at. It was created with an entirely new team of incredibly creative and talented minds for Kenji to bounce off. It was also created at a new studio, the not yet incredibly inadequate and creatively bankrupt A1 pictures. And it was seemingly created with an entirely different mindset.

  Tsuritama accomplishes something that, despite having their moments, Mononoke and Kuuchuu Buranko where never able to do. And that’s be an exceptionally uplifting experience with a tremendous amount of heart. Mononoke was a mesmerizing moving painting with a suffocating atmosphere, constantly keeping you dreading more so than guessing. Juxtaposed Tsuritama has majestic rural landscapes exploding with brilliantly bright colours. If Nature is a panacea, then Tsuritama revels in this universal remedy.

  Where Kuuchuu Buranko was an esoteric exploration of the human condition happy to indulge in the ugly side of human nature with an adverse nature of its own. Tsuritama looks to welcome you to Enoshima much like its protagonist. in tackling mental health issues and personal
  problems, Tsuritama looks to showcase a far less clinical manner of how we can embrace ourselves and accept help form the people around us who truly care.

  Throughout Mononoke and Kuuchuu Buranko there is almost no attempt from either series protagonist to form any true connections with the people around them. In fact both Kusuriuri and Dr Irabu barely have a connection to are perception of the world and definitely don’t have a care for the rules your everyday mere-mortal has to abide too. Once again in contrast Tsuritama is all about making connections, strengthening bonds and finding purpose. Tsuritama is practically the complete opposite of Kenji Nakamura’s previous series, but nonetheless is still an intrinsically stylistic experience with an immersive atmosphere that meets the exceedingly high expectations I had personally placed upon it.
  

  Once Upon a Time in Enoshima

  Island of the bay
  Before I get to the story and more importantly side-character’s of Tsuritama I have to discuss the main character and the absolute show stealer of Tsuritama, Enoshima. The detail rich recreation of Enoshima is a phenomenal setting. The sparkling oceans are dazzling. The reflected blues are remarkable, paying the greatest compliment to the boundless skies they mirror. Another essential element in supporting Tsuritama’s soothing atmosphere is the abundant but simple use of colour. Tsuritama creates depth by utilising a similar method of shading as the sensational Seizou Watase. Seizou’s art, whilst overtly commercial, is distinctly stylistic and captures a certain aesthetic and another artist in a similar vein would be Eizin Suzuki’s. Suzuki's Japanese Americana art style undeniably and rather ironically has a massive impact on this overtly Japanese series. It also features as cover to many a great City Pop albums such as, Tatsuro Yamashita-For You.

  The labour of love and extraordinary craftsmanship that went into replicating Enoshima goes far beyond the environment. These landscapes are filled with some meticulously designed and memorable destination’s that really brings Enoshima to life. Every building and subsequently every room in said buildings are overflowing with life. There’s a term I use to describe how favourable the interior design of a building is, it’s “The Kyoani Room.” For instance when you start K-on! You get a detailed view into exactly who Yui is without having to hear her say a word. The room says it all as it should. It’s not just where someone happens to sleep, it should incapsulate there being, it’s a goddamn extension of their personality. A display of who they are, it’s really flipping important, and nothing annoys me more than blank rooms in anime. Thankfully the Tsuritama team seem to agree with me because these rooms rank a strong 8 on The Kyoani Room scale. It’s not just personal abodes that get the extra touch there are many businesses across Enoshima that the character’s regularly visit and the Tsuritama team decided there should be enough personalised logos for every little business to make the world’s least intimidating battle jacket. It’s such a minor touch but it amazed me, I was pausing the show to look and absorb the unique branding of each shop.

  Something else that is very special about Tsuritama is the addition of Cencoroll creator, director, character designer, script writer, and editor Atsuya Uki. Tsuritama as of now is the only Television series Atsuya has done designs for. This is a massive shame and hopefully, but probably not, something that changes in time. His designs are so special yet so simple yet so singular. Thanks to this design philosophy the character acting is amazing, even Naoko Yamada would be impressed. But those designs would amount to nothing if the character’s themselves weren't equally as special.

  People of the Bay

  Tsuritama has the 2nd best grandma in anime history, the 2nd best duck in anime history and the least offensive Indian in anime history. So yeah, pretty good going. All that aside this is a great cast of characters ranging form side character’s all the way to the mains and I think it’s only right to give each of them their own spotlight.

  Yuki Sanada
  
  Yuki is our protagonist who suffers from social anxiety due to being moved around constantly growing up. Yuki see’s moving to Enoshima as hopefully permanent fixture. This also sparks an interest in forming meaningful relationships something his life has been devoid of outside his grandma, Keito, who he lives with and is the best and I love her. At his core though Yuki is extremely sweet and caring it’s just channelling his true nature he struggles with. The manifestation of Yuki’s anxiety is drowning, Yuki struggles to navigate the emotions of his heart through the storm in his head. This quite sadly causes Yuki to become visibly frustrated at himself which Is often interpreted as being angered by those around him. Thanks to the way his face contorts into that of a demon, and I mean a literal demon the animator’s really showcase the flexibility and fluidity of Atsuya’s design’s during these sequences. Yuki’s struggles are wholly relatable, and I was invested in him and his story almost immediately. Thankfully for Yuki and the audience an unbeknownst force of self-proclaimed extra-terrestrial origin is about to burst into his life.

  Natsuki Usami
  Natsuki is Yuki’s fellow intimidating classmate. Natsuki is extremely stern, he’s more standoffish than Clint Eastwood as the man with no-name but with far less wit. We learn that Natsuki has the potential to become a pro angler and also no desire to do so. In fact, he’s quite embarrassed by his talent and his title of “Ouji.” The obvious question with Natsuki is why? The only time he seems to smile or even be relatively happy is when talking to his Imouto.(BigSisconEnergy) Unfortunately Natsuki doesn’t share the same love for the rest of his family. Struggling to cope with his mother’s passing and the continuing emotional effects of losing someone he loves Natsuki finds himself only becoming increasingly agitated by his father’s silver lining outlook on the matter. It’s especially painful when his dad is looking to change the family restaurant for the sake of his new partner, Mariko. Now Natsuki’s emotional distress isn’t invalid, and neither is his emotional distancing form his father. This is a complex issue and is treated so accordingly. Tamotsu is presented as a loving father who want’s the best for his family, he isn’t forcing his partner Mari-chan on the family and neither is she forcing herself upon them. It’s an awkward situation where no one is in the wrong. Thankfully for Natsuki and his family A uncontrollable bright bubbly ball of unrelenting positivity and brutal honesty is about to burst into their lives.

  Akira Agarkar Yamada
  The mysterious and stoic Akira is very different form the other two mains of the series. Firstly, he’s not a student but a secret agent working for an equally as secretive and all powerful organisation D.U.C.K. Secondly what set’s Akira apart is the small fact that he’s 25 years old, but thanks to his connections he’s still able to attain a placement at the same school as Yuki, Natsuki and X. Not only that he’s able to land himself in the same class which I’m sure is just a coincidence. Thirdly Akira is actively stalking and having the main cast heavily monitored. So, whilst he’s part of the main cast he is by far the most distant member. At first a cool collected ominous workaholic, we learn that despite his obligations Akira isn’t particularly fond of his superiors nor the action’s they have him taking. We also get to know a soft, more genuine side of Akira especially though his interactions with his pet duck and secret best character Tapioca. I love Tapioca and Akira’s bond, and it might unironically be my favourite in the show, which is saying a lot, like a Pacific Ocean sized a lot. The interpersonal relationships of the cast is Tsuritama’s greatest strength. But seeing Akira confide and have active conversations, meaningful conversations, heartfelt conversations with his pet duck is so endearing. They love each other so much. And I love them. But even with their indestructible love the inner power struggle happening within D.U.C.K is damaging not just too Akira but the whole world and more importantly Tapioca too. Akira is the one facing the adverse effects of his superior’s actions but thankfully an exceedingly stylish target and avid lover of fishing with the fate of the world in his hands is about to burst into his life and his name is…

  Haru
  Haru is the knot that keeps the rod fishing. He’s the confidence boost Yuki needs, the honesty that the Usami family needs to share and the target that Akira needs to catch. His efforts can be certainly misguided, but there always his best efforts. His actions can have server consequences but there always his independent actions. He often misunderstands what others are feeling, but he always cares about what there feeling. He’s a trigger-happy mind controlling alien with his mission on his mind and he’s a caring friend to all constantly wanting to help and incessantly trying to make them smile whilst always being willing to listen. Haru and his sister Coco are undeniably invaders of Enoshima and undeniably force their way into Yuki’s life with a singular goal in mind. But Haru stays in Enoshima because of the friends he makes and especially because of his best friend Yuki. Hell yeah friendship.

  Now that the big hitters are out the way I’m going to quickly go through the side character’s that enrich the Tsuritama experience and add to it’s heart melting nature.

  Keito Sanada
  Full time punk rock grandma and part time hospital patient, Keito is Yuki’s loving and wise grandma. She is often a beacon of light for Yuki, Haru and even the audience if you want to listen. She gives some amazing life advice and many scenes involving Keito got me doing some thinking/reflecting. Unfortunately, Keito suffers from a bad case of “non-descript anime illness.” But this is worked cleverly into the script and boost the emotional impact of one the series best arch’s. Overall, her presence is a massive positive, and she’s also a gardener. Hell yeah gardeners rock!!

  Coco
  Coco’s design is phenomenal. she has the same groovy hair as Dr Irabu. She is cool. That is all.

  Misaki Shimano
  Misaki is awesome, the collective cool onee-san of Enoshima. She’s the day manger of a local fishing equipment/coffee shop that I would very much like to visit. Hopefully it’s not to faraway form Café Alpha, might be able to do both in the same day.

  Ayumi Inoue
  Ayumi has a crush on Misaki and it’s super kawaii, he’s gets super jealous of Akira and it’s super kawaii, he’s the stern owner of a fishing vessel and gives the boys not only a summer job but some great life advice and it’s super kawaii because he’s super kawaii. He also has a sick facial scar which is not super kawaii but super cool... except I lied it actually is super Kawaii.

  Story of the bay

  Tsuritama is a retelling of the Enoshima Engi, because It’s Kenji Nakamura and you best believe Buddhism is going to play an essential part in the story. Another essential part of the story is fishing as this is how the water deity, Benzaiten conspired with the terrorized villagers of Enoshima to catch The Kami Ugajin. Whilst this doesn’t necessarily spoil Tsuritama it does give you a clear indication of how the story is going to play out. This overarching plot is what stops Tsuritama form becoming a full-on Iyashikei. Although I do believe that Tsuritama is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to dip their toes in the Iyashikei waters. Because whilst the story builds to a multi-layered race against the clock and secret agencies to save Enoshima, the series for me is at it’s best when it’s simply focusing on Yuki, Natsuki, Haru and Akira growing closer as buddies and stronger as individuals.

  I find the choice of fishing an interesting one, Fishing is often viewed as a calming holistic hobby. And a quintessentially escapist hobby and that’s why it’s the perfect hobby for Yuki, Natsuki, Haru and Akira. Moments such as Yuki dedicating himself to getting his lure into a bucket set up by Natsuki are incredibly personal and leads to possibly the best episode of Tsuritama. You can see him going through the motions questioning why’s he’s even bothering. The only reason he started fishing was to appease Haru so why does he keep going? He keeps going because he’s found a purpose, something he can dedicate himself too. He’s found someone he not only wants to impress in Natsuki but also someone he wants to become equals too. He’s found something he can share with others and something they can grow closer through. And that was exactly his goal in moving to Enoshima, and through Fishing he’s achieved that goal. This is just one of the many great and admittedly inspirational arches of Tsuritama. Tsuritama has so many high points:

  • Yuki leaning to tie his first knot
  • Haru promising Yuki to stop using his water gun, in doing so making his first compromise for Yuki
  • Haru and Yuki having to learn to live together/Haru having to learn to live on Earth
  • The boys getting a summer job with Ayumi so that Yuki and Haru can buy fishing gear
  • Keito teaching Haru the meaning of personal space so that he can give Yuki time to think leading to them discovering how much they’ve grown to care for one another

  These are just a few of many high points. Although I must add that Tsuritama isn’t a perfectly told story. There are some elements especially towards the end that I wasn’t personally fond off. But I discovered when I finished Tsuritama that in the grand scheme of things they were mostly pretty inconsequential (except for something that Natsuki does in Ep9 that kinda goes a bit too far, writer’s probably should have thought his actions through a bit better.) Overall Tsuritama is a another amazing one of a kind experience form Kenji Nakamura, that left my heart thoroughly melted. So…

  Watch

  

  This

  

  Show

  

  Please

  That's the end of my Kenji Nakamura retrospective thingy. I've come to find that he is easily one of the most quintessentially overlooked director's in the medium. The man has firmly established a legacy of deeply intriguing and multi-layered shows laced with interesting psychology and a healthy overdoes of Buddhist imagery. He has also fostered and worked with a great deal of massive talent. So おめでとう!!! and ありがとう ございます!! Kenji Nakamura.

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