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Tsuritama is just the 3rd anime that I was able
to finish for Spring 2012 and in no surprise, Tsuritama
just ended very well. It wasn't the most moving conclusion out there but it was
at its usual fun to watch episode of Tsuritama
with an unexpected ending (on my opinion, that
is) because I believe that most of us are expecting this to end the same
way winter season's Ano Natsu de Matteru did.
First of all, let me
give a quick overview of Tsuritama's main
plot or where the story basically revolves. It's practically all about fishing
an alien out of the ocean of Enoshima. Yup, that's about it. Anyway, what's
pretty interesting about this series is that it opens with a slice of life feel
to it with Sanada Yuki (Ohsaka Ryota)
moving to Enoshima and suddenly meets Haru (Irino Miyu) who
proclaims himself to be an alien and needs Yuki's help to save the world.
Getting deeper into the series, it gives off that sci-fi feel to it with all
the alien talk and an anti-alien organization under the name DUCK BUT this
series focuses more on the relationship and development of each main character.
As what webkid had
been going around for the last couple of posts, the idea that Tsuritama is an original anime gives it an edge
not only to its partner noitaminA show, Sakamichi
no Apollon, but an edge to almost all the shows this season. Tsuritama is practically good in a lot of ways
even just looking at the plot, the story and how it was presented. It's overall
core value which is friendship has been very prominent in the show ever since
the beginning. With the staff's 1-cour anime in mind, the pacing of Tsuritama had been very well laid out unlike
what happened to Sakamichi no Apollon these last episodes.
The whole idea of fishing was really a great element of the series. If we all
see Kaoru and Sentarou from Sakamichi get
bonded by jazz, in Tsuritama, we get to
see the four main characters get bonded by fishing. Their time together through
fishing had made solid bonds between the four of them.
Going through the
characters, my initial thought about them (before watching the series) is that
they (or rather the entire series) seems like a collision of Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou and Kimi to Boku. They usually give off the
relaxing kind of feeling when you watch them and at the same time they are very
fun to watch. I never even got bored of this series because of the 4 main
characters. I really like how the four of them were very well developed throughout
the series. First off, Yuki had change so much with Haru's intervention in his
all-so quiet and friendless life. He learns how to make friends and what it
means to have one through Haru and the rest. As for Haru, I like how as an
alien, he tries to understand human emotions. His curiosity about human
emotions that is shown throughout the first half of the series is always so
interesting to see. Now for Usami Natsuki (Uchiyama Kouki),
seeing how much he also changes right from the very first time he met Haru and
Yuki has been a great ride. Although I can't relate so much on what he feels, I
was moved by his relationship with his family the most. Finally for DUCK's
agent, Yamada Akira (Sugita
Tomokazu), the thing I liked the most about him was the time when he
finally joined Haru and the rest to fish. There weren't much Yamada moments at
the beginning of the series but as the second half opens, we see development on
Akira and by the end of Tsuritama, it was
pretty refreshing to see him value friendship despite being a member of an
anti-alien organization (or whatever).
I wouldn't go deeper
and discuss so much on the secondary characters but all-in-all, most of them
played big roles in the development of each main characters. To give a
particular example, there's Yuki's cool grandma, Sanada Keito (Hirano Fumi) who
explains to Haru his curiosities particularly about Yuki's actions. Despite not
getting the most attention, the secondary characters were definitely not left
out in the series that we get to see all of them have a piece of action by the
last part of the series.
As for the music,
there aren't much that particularly stood out for me. Although I have to admit
that the music did well in the series in giving more emotions to each scene.
The OP of Tsuritama is something that I
always enjoy listening to and I definitely never skip it :D I'm pretty sure
most people don't skip it as well. That OP is just so fun to watch. Anyway, the
voice action of the series is pretty well done. The four main voice actors were
really great headed by Miyu Irino as Haru who's also voicing Tachibana
Chizuru from Kimi to Boku who has the same quirky
character as Haru that shifts from being noisy to being emotional anytime
around. The newbie voice actor, Ohsaka Ryota who voiced Yuki also did a great
job. I'll be looking forward to more series with him(:
Finally for the art
and animation, I have to particularly say that this has got to be another great
thing about Tsuritama. I really love the
vivid colors and the fancy art. It's very attractive and will never get you
bored. When the scene calls for an emotional part, the beautiful lively colors
can always turn to the right mood. The dark scenes (in the final part) were really
great and doesn't really go off with Tsuritama's
style in art. Also, at the final episode, when all those fishes went straight
into the sky cutting the clouds, I was really amazed about how great it looked
:D
Overall, this series
is definitely one of my candidates for best anime this season. Everything about
this series just came in perfectly executed from the story to the character
developments to the mood settlement up to the stunning art. Tsuritama is definitely a must to watch series
most especially for those who want some anime with the friendship theme.
