Tsuritama – 04

Even the characters in Tsuritama watch Tsuritama.

Aaand the awesome duo of cute and cool is back this week to bring to you another episode of Fishing with Aliens! (*≧▽≦) I find myself looking forward to simply seeing more of the characters’ funny antics and their budding relationships more than saving the world… I am obviously great at getting my priorities right. xD

Tsuritama makes me want to take up fishing, even though my only encounter with the sport has been accidentally impaling my friend with a fish hook as a kid. I don’t know how that happened, but there was a lot of blood. ANYWAYS, UH, BACK TO HAPPY-GO-LUCKY FISHING?!?

With Yuki’s grandma in the hospital, things are getting hectic. Haru is being…well…Haru and causing a huge amount of trouble without even realizing it. The only routine that’s kept constant in their chaotic lives is school and fishing. While practising their casting by the beach, Yuki and Haru spot Natsuki’s dad. Don’t ask me how, but Haru has already got himself acquainted with Natsuki’s entire family, and it’s not long before their friendly banter leads them to having lunch together. It’s time to ditch enoshima don training for some REAL enoshima don!

…I need to try and cook this one day

They all seem to get along quite well, so Haru innocently asks if they could all go fishing together. However, this brings up a rather raw wound. Natsuki doesn’t talk to his dad any more, and that’s not something that can be easily fixed. Haru doesn’t really take a hint at the mood of the room though, and remains just as oblivious. Yuki is so exasperated that he visits his grandma in the hospital and asks for advice. “Calm yo shit, pansy.” she sagely tells him. He promptly sucks it up and goes fishing with him and Natsuki the next day. They’ve come a long way from being unable to cast properly, and Yuki almost catches a fish again! However, it wriggles away at the last minute.

Meanwhile, Akira is hard at work spying on anyone close to Haru with surveillance cameras and binoculars. He’s suspicious about this “big fish” that Haru wants to catch, and hopes that Haru will hightail it out of there as soon as he catches his fish. Possibly in an attempt to catch it for him so he leaves, Akira enlists the aid of a local fisherman and borrows their boat. I guess I don’t blame them for keeping an eye on Haru, because he’s up to his old mind-controlling tricks again. He squirts Natsuki and his dad with his watergun and psychically coerces them to fish with each other. They were just fighting the night before over the future plans for the store, so you can imagine things did not go well when they snapped out of their trance. Even with a rod in hand, Natsuki stormed away, disgusted at the prospect of even being near his dad. Haru doesn’t get why it didn’t work, and this ignorance is the last straw to make Yuki finally go off at Haru and leave in a huff.

“No more drive-by shootings.” “BUT YUKI, HOW WILL I BE GANGSTA?!”

This time, Haru visits Keito and asks for advice. “Suck less” she explains calmly. With this new knowledge, Haru distances himself from Yuki and doesn’t go to school any more. It slowly takes its toll on the redhead, and he doesn’t snap out of it until Natsuki puts him through some more fishing therapy. As per usual, Yuki loosens up more when he’s fishing, and he actually speaks his mind to Natsuki. Pleased, Natsuki praises him for being more comfortable with him, and attributes that to Haru. Like magic, Yuki hooks a fish as soon as this touching revelation is established. After a few laborous minutes, he reels in a giant sea bass. He takes a picture to show Haru…but then he can’t find him.

New Facebook profile pic!

Yuki has a miniature panic attack and runs around town screaming for Haru. He finds him face down in the ocean at night. Instead of turning chicken, he dives in and tries to save Haru…except Haru is fine. He was just “dry.” Haru ends up being the one to save Yuki (he can’t swim) by dragging him to shore. Once they’re safe and slightly less drenched, they apologize to each other. Now they’ve really become friends…although Haru doesn’t believe that he caught a giant fish because he doesn’t have photo evidence. It’s better that Yuki can’t rely on his waterlogged phone anymore!

Leftover Bait:

“Yukiiii, what does ‘no homo’ mean?” “Based on how this show is going, I don’t think you’ll ever need to use that term and mean it.”

Oh, you dirty flowers, you! I love when you act all sassy…

The rare ‘keikaku doori’ dance.

“Oh my God, Natsuki..it’s so…so BIG! What do I do with it!?” “Yuki, please-” “CAN I TAKE A PHOTO OF IT?”

End Thoughts:

Dawww that was a really heartwarming episode! I really like how Tsuritama manages to bring in the essence of human (+alien?) relationships while teaching us all the complicated fishing techniques. xD It’s evident that somewhere deep, deep down inside, Natsuki is actually a really caring guy who thinks for the people around him. I mean, just look at his attitude towards his beloved sister, and you’ll see how much love this grouchy guy can actually give. Unfortunately, he’s erected walls between himself and everyone else, possibly due to some trauma from his mother’s passing. His inability to accept his father being with someone else other than his mother is currently the main reason why he’s being so tsun and angsty towards him. I’m sure that throughout the course of the next few episodes, Yuki and Haru will be helping him to deal with his emotions though. Haru is like your alien relationship facilitator! He clicks instantly with almost everyone and just has a way of easing any tension or insecurities between people – it’s obvious that he’s helping both Natsuki and Yuki to progress in the way they interact. Natsuki’s slowly lowering his guard (he can smile and laugh freely around them now! BIG IMPROVEMENT!!) and Yuki is… on his way to becoming less like a socially-awkward penguin.

Although Haru’s actions always have good intentions, his alien brain doesn’t work in the same way as humans do, so he occasionally ends up hurting people instead. One thing to note in this episode is that Yuki has finally accepted the fact that Haru is indeed an alien! I suppose Haru’s been rubbing off on him, adorable silliness and all, and he (like the rest of us viewers here) can’t help but grow fond of him. With every episode, Haru is slowly learning the ways of humans – he doesn’t know, but he wants to know, and he’s getting better at that. Although they had a short quibble, with Yuki being unable to admit his true feelings at first, when he finally caught that sea bass after so much hard work that Haru also played a part in, his happiness and desire to share it with Haru overrode everything else. Those scenes with his frantic search and a “drowning” Haru were dramatic and cheesy in a way, but that’s how this anime rocks, isn’t it? Yuki apologized and expressed his worry for Haru! Again, BIG IMPROVEMENT!! It was sweet when they worked it all out, admitting their mistakes and agreeing to work together to “avoid any more fights”. Ah, the power of a growing friendship. This show makes me want to smile at everyone and everything in the world. :’)

Back to Haru, it looks as if he really is unable to go without water for long periods of time, and this will undoubtedly be used against him in the future. ): Although Akira stated that Haru might’ve just came to Enoshima to make friends, I highly doubt that that is his real motive. Though looking at the progress of the anime thus far I can’t say that we’ll be moving on anytime soon, the whole saving-the-world thing still seems entirely plausible to me. Somehow all these slice-of-life moments are actually extremely enjoyable, and I’m actually totally fine with them being prioritized over the saving the world at this point in the anime. (Not sure if this is a good or bad thing xD) After all, character relationships and depth are eventually going to contribute to the entire impact when they actually do manage (I hope) to save the world. For now, I can say I’m content with watching the developments of our beloved alien and high-school boys. Oh, and also a quacking Tapioca.

Not bad, Tsuritama! I didn’t feel this episode as much as I did the previous two, but it was still good. I’m constantly teetering on the edge between liking and disliking Haru, which may be why I wasn’t instantly sold on episode 4. He’s cute at times, but I know if I ever met him in real life I would punch him in the face after a few minutes. If Yuki would calm down and explain human emotions to him like Keito, he’d learn faster…but I really don’t blame him for just getting exasperated and giving up. It would take a lot of time and effort to teach him how the human heart works, and even then he’d never really get it. Haru’s biggest hang-up seems to be that he doesn’t understand what suffering is like. It makes me wonder if Keito will die so Haru can experience suffering himself. Also, they can’t keep going to her for help, they should work it out amongst each other. I know she seems perfectly fine, but they don’t just keep someone in the hospital that long for no reason. Anyways, that’s more wishful thinking on my side because I want her to die just so I can see Haru cry like a baby. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

*ahem* Anyways, Haru’s lack of knowledge of the human world is a huge barrier, and I hope he overcomes it at least a bit more as the series progresses. I wonder if his sister is just as bad. Unlike Haru, she’s focused purely on the mission and judges Yuki’s worth based on his fishing skills alone. What is she doing in her time alone, huh? She’d be a really conspicuous target if she just walked around and danced in plain sight all day…

The main highlight this week was supposed to be Yuki and Haru becoming friends. Seeing Yuki revert back to his old, Haru-deprived life served as a stark contrast to his new routine. Let’s face it – his life is boring without Haru. He met Natsuki through Haru, and got into his number one stress-buster (fishing) because of him as well. Yuki himself doesn’t even see it until it’s pointed out to him and the problem is glaring him in the face. Yet another clever way Tsuritama takes different character’s perspectives into account. During his phase of dislike for Haru, Yuki couldn’t catch a single fish. Once he made up his mind that Haru was important to him, he finally caught a fish. I always saw Yuki as the fish that Haru caught, but this episode reversed that role. Yuki even dove into the ocean to catch Haru at the end of the episode, which is as literal as a fishing metaphor as you can get without Haru biting a lure and being reeled in (Oh God, he does bite the lures though….). As a side note, it’s funny that Haru needs water to live while Yuki drowns in water in nerve-wracking situations.

Remember when I said the highlight was supposed to be Yuki and Haru? Their dilemma was indeed the main issue, but my eyes were on Natsuki. I can kind of understand what Natsuki is going through on a personal level, which is precisely I’m glued to the screen whenever he’s interacting with his dad. He hardly says anything, but his body language is enough for you to tell just how much he hates his father and what he’s doing with his life. His sister’s reaction of clamming up but looking forlorn and depressed is what almost always happens to the mediator of an awkward situation such as this. I’ve been in this situation, and I love the ease at which they show the tension between the family members. As Miyu said, Haru will probably work some magic and get to fixing things without his water gun. I’m waiting to see how that goes.

Natsuki is my favourite character of the show (not just because he looks, sounds, and acts like my ideal boyfriend…I swear..!!). He speaks harshly and takes everything too seriously, but he’s actually quite thoughtful of others. My absolute favourite moment this week was when he told Yuki about all the changes he’d noticed. While us, the viewers, have been privy to all of his inner thoughts – Natsuki hasn’t. To him, Yuki was just a kid who made weird faces and said nothing. Fishing and Haru both seem to calm him down, and he manages to talk when one or more of those factors is in play. Seeing Natsuki seek him out and give him some fishing therapy because he knew Yuki was depressed and needed to vent was really sweet of him. I wonder if Natsuki used to relieve stress by fishing, but stopped because of his dad. There are just so many nuances to Natsuki, I can’t help but love him for trying to help people in the only way he can (fishing) even when he has his own set of problems towering above him. Oh, Fishing Prince! You’ve caught my heart hook, line and sinker!

We’ll see you next week for more gay fishing! (too many yaoi jokes? NEVERRRR!!!)

About Tag Team

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.