The fishing adventures continue as Yuki’s skill only continues to grow.
What They Say:
Now that Yuki has his own fishing equipment his enthusiasm for the past time has increased, but Haru no longer wants to do anything that involves the water. Natsuki’s birthday is coming up and his sister wants to have a family fishing trip but what happens on the water affects everybody.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the previous episode having thrown up some new information and teases when it comes to what’s underneath the water out there in the ocean, Tsuritama shifts to things that are a bit quieter again. But it’s a welcome change since for Yuki, his grandmother has returned back home from the hospital and that’s a load off of Yuki’s mind. For Yuki, he’s really gotten into the fishing now and has used his funds to get himself some very good pieces of equipment so that he can get into fishing even more, but that’s now unsettled Haru who is insisting that he won’t have anything to do with the ocean anymore. The ties to what they discovered, albeit briefly, in the last episode is strong.
Thankfully, Yuki still has Natuski to fish with and Natuski’s own love and skill from it is second to none. And he continues to be a very good teacher as well, helping Yuki to grow in his own skills. It’s fun to watch the three of them continuing on their fishing, with Akira as a part of the group, while Haru is insistent that he won’t do it anymore. Akira’s been the odd man out since the start for obvious reasons on so many levels, yet even when the group is pared down by one, he still feels like he’s disconnect from the group. Akira’s been the most curious of the characters since there’s a lot more going on with him than the rest of the group knows, but that distance continues to be the really odd part of the show that stands out.
Where things become a problem with Haru’s stubbornness is that as Natsuki’s father’s birthday is coming around, it’s going to be celebrated out on the sea on the boat. And Haru has been resistant to going back out on the water after what happened. The party side of it is a lot of fun and like a lot of the series, the visuals are great since it does the whole sunset angle and really brings it alive in a beautiful way. Of course, any situation in which family is involved at an event, there’s always a chance for things to flare up. And exactly that does happen here, unfortunately, as it pushes Natuski and his father into a confrontation and even spills over to Natsuki’s sister. It ends up dragging others in as well which put a strain on the friends and their relationships, especially for Yuki since he’s an only child and hasn’t had to deal with the different pressures that come from it, even more so since he’s lived with just his grandmother. It’s an interesting turn of events to be sure, one that could go in an unexpected direction.
In Summary:
Tsuritama continues to work its cast over in interesting ways, changing up the group dynamic a few times in the episode and then placing some additional pressures everywhere. I’m particularly pleased to see how Yuki has been growing throughout the series both as a person and with his fishing skills. Seeing him come into his own with a passion and a hobby, one that isn’t spiraling out of control or going overboard, is really appealing to see. And that he makes friends along the way as well. The boys here all deal with some different things but the one that has me wanting to see more of is Haru since he’s going overboard in not going on board anymore. Events in the previous episode have definitely made an impression and it’s got Akira on high watch as well. The show continues to do some fun things while looking striking and beautiful throughout. I can’t wait to see where else it will go.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
