Tsuritama – 06

“Tuna are huge, without one of these, they’ll TAKE your rod!” …Sounds painful

Ahh, the pain of having two shows that I blog come out on the same day. How will I cope with this next week when I have Anime North to attend? Ah well, I’ll manage somehow. Just enjoy this week’s dose of gay fishing, brought to you by Miyu and Cool =w= It’s a very WTF episode, so hang on tight!

With the last of my exams over after a grueling 3 months or so, I finally have the time to のんびり! (nonbiri nonbiri~ it means relax and it’s so cute to pronounce) I’m just in the mood for more gay fishing fun and this will be my last episodic for Tsuritama before I fly off to Japan! See you guys soon from the magical land of animanga.

The trio, having grown attached to their job, continue to enjoy their routine of practicing fishing after each day of hard work. Haru and Yuki head off to visit Keito, and she announces she’s going to be discharged from the hospital by the end of the week. The two decide to celebrate her return, but Yuki has a special surprise for her – he wants to catch his very own tuna as a present for her.

Is it just me or are Yuki and Natsuki virtually identical with goggles on excluding their hair colors…

“What do you mean the tanning didn’t work?“

Akira gets in touch with his boss from the DUCK organization, and the two discuss about the strange incident that occurred recently in Enoshima. A few surfers claimed that time had stopped for them while they were in the ocean, and when they came to their senses, they realized that they had shifted to a different location. He offers his opinion on this matter but gets shot down by his boss, who reminds him to focus on his own task. The rebellious “high school student” he is, Akira heads to the shrine and asks the head priest about being spirited away. The head priest then tells him the legend about the five-headed dragon and the goddess, and says that he’s got a baaaad feeling for what’s going to come…

I have never seen a priest look so… hip

Soon after, joined by Akira, Yuki, Haru and Natsuki begin their quest to catch some tuna! They come across Akemi, an artificial fish reef which encourages fish to live and reproduce. Upon seeing the abundance of fish, a customer requests to fish there, but Captain refuses and tells them that there’s a ban on fishing there. However, Natsuki reveals to Yuki that there’s actually no such thing and the locals are simply avoiding it because of the disappearance of a fishing boat in the past.

The next day, Captain ends their fishing trip early due to other appointments, but Akira offers to bring them fishing on his own hugeass boat instead. After many unsuccessful attempts, they decide to head over to Akemi in spite of Captain’s prior warnings, with high hopes of actually finding some tuna. Eventually, Yuki manages to catch his first tuna ever, and just when the mood was starting to become brighter, time suddenly stops! They realize that their boat is suddenly meters away from Akemi, whereas they were right beside it just a few moments ago. Without warning, water starts splashing everywhere and weird sea creatures jump out to attack them. This gets Haru excited – it looks as if he’s finally found what he was looking for. He sprays Yuki and Natsuki with the water gun in some attempt to gain control, but the boat is subsequently overturned by the strong waves. When they regain consciousness, they find themselves stranded on an island of sorts across Enoshima, but boats soon come for the rescue.

Battleship – now also in Real Life!

We fast forward to Keito’s return, and all their neighbors and friends join them for a welcome-back party with lots of tuna and smiles. However, Yuki notices that for once, Haru’s not smiling… A few days later, a group of fishers spot some people drunkenly doing the Enoshima dance on a nearby boat, seemingly under an alien’s trance…

This is why you should never get drunk…

What did I just watch? For those of you worried about the plot progression – fear not, because Kenji Nakamura is the type to suddenly catapult you neck-deep into a confusing story. It’s going to be quite a while before our questions are answered, and even then, not everything will be cut and dry. Those of you watching this just for cute boys doing cute things may start to feel a little less love for the show. Personally, I like the weirdness, although the sudden plunge into this much insanity was a bit too much of a jolt to the system.

No, really, what DID I just watch? I’m going to try to sort out my own theories for what happened this week. As soon as Yuki caught his tuna, there was a lapse of time where things were completely unaccounted for. In that space of time, the tuna stopped moving, while Natsuki and Akira steered the boat. It sounds exactly like Haru’s watergun ability, but that can’t be the case seeing that he was surprised to see that the tuna had ceased to flop around the boat like a mad man and that the sun had set. It wasn’t him, but it was something else that shares his abilities. This “thing” is most likely the mysterious fish that Haru wanted to catch…which at this point, we are inclined to believe is the five-headed dragon. Remember when Akira went to ask about kamikakushi (being spirited away) and saw a lure in the mouth of the dragon statue? That’s probably a sign that Haru is trying to catch the dragon that will save the world. Whether or not this is for good or evil is really under scrutiny. You could argue either way at this point.

I actually think Haru isn’t on the bad side. When the giant sea creature started to attack their boat, I think he was trying to control it. Remember in episode 1 when he used his powers to control a tank full of fish in the aquarium? His halo only appears at certain times when he’s using his powers. I think he was trying to subdue the sea creature, but failed. His halo shattered, and the sea creature started to control Haru. Like I said before, they must have the same powers (they even have the same halo. His is just bigger because he’s STRONGER). Haru started shooting everyone on the boat only because he couldn’t help it. He paused before shooting Akira though, as if he were trying to fight against it. He didn’t want to shoot them, or else he wouldn’t have hesitated.

Everyone got knocked out a certain point, so we don’t know what happened between then and the boat crash. Haru’s sister suddenly appears, so I’m guessing she helped rescue them somehow. Afterwards, Haru’s behaviour changes rather drastically. He blushes and makes happy sighs, like some sort of lovesick schoolgirl. I think he really wanted to reunite with the sea creature. His seemingly friendly relationship with something so strong and violent is troubling. What does he want to do with it once he catches it? His connection to the sea creature is a lot deeper than I originally thought, but I still get the feeling that Haru means well, but is endangering the world as a by-product of his actions. Now they HAVE to do something about it, because the sea creature seems to be haphazardly brainwashing passing fisherman and forcing them to dance. Err, okay, that won’t destroy the world, but it’s a slippery slope from there! I think!

Last of all, I want to talk about Akira a bit. DUCK may be the shadiest organization ever, but Akira seems to have the best of intentions. DUCK is trying to persuade him not to pry too deeply into the why or how of everything he’s digging up for them, but he’s not satisfied. Akira will be the one to unravel this mystery, and this this dedication is what will keep him close to the trio of teens, until he gets attached to them. I can see the other DUCK members turning on Akira if he ends up “knowing too much.” He’s our detective though, and I expect him to ask all the hard questions that Yuki would be too shy to ask and Natsuki wouldn’t be concerned enough to think about.

Things are really hectic, and I’m sure everyone has different ideas swimming in their heads, so by all means SHARE THEM! *points to the comment section enthusiastically*

Well, it looks like we’re finally moving on onto the saving the world part this episode! I think Haru’s big transformation just goes to show that he might not be as bubbly happy-go-lucky as he appears to be. Not only did he break his promise to Yuki of not using the water guns again, he did it without any hesitation at all. At that moment, he lost his logical mind and all that mattered to him was his encounter with that thing in the ocean. It seemed to me that he had actually used the water guns to simply get rid of any other distractions, which is truthfully really sad after whatever they’ve been through together – does he just view Yuki and Natsuki as disposable fish-catchers, only useful when he needs them to fish and help him accomplish his motive? I’m not too sure if the only thing inherently evil is in the ocean – Haru seems to have the potential to become the villain of the anime too. The way he simply cast his friends aside when the time was honestly despicable, and I don’t think I like him that much anymore. Then again, it’s usually characters that look so carefree and easygoing on the surface who have the really rotten personalities inside, so I should’ve expected it D: He was cute when it lasted. The weirdly dancing people on the boat at the end of the episode was probably also caused by him too, and I think at this point he’s willing to use anyone – even the people he’s been all buddy-buddy with since he moved to Enoshima – as a tool to get what he wants.

If you’ve noticed, Haru had the same triangle symbol above his head as the… thing in the ocean did. It looked more as if he was happy to see that thing again, that it was more of a joyous reunion than the discovery of the location of an enemy. Then again, it was only after that big pink triangle broke his own that Haru really went a little bonkers and started shooting people, so that thing may have the ability to control minds too? Or maybe it just caused Haru to revert back to his true malicious self. Who knows, Haru ‘s fellow aliens may have been the ones who sent the dragon to Earth to destroy all mankind in the first place, and then after they found out that it had been sealed by a goddess, they sent Haru and his sister down to release it once more and fulfill it’s true purpose… of what? I’m starting to get some creepy Madoka vibes here, but the aliens might have considered wiping out mankind so that they could use Earth as their new home. Maybe their planet is dying off. I don’t even know where I’m going with this, but this episode really makes me feel as if Haru’s the bad guy. ):

On the other hand, Akira looks as if he might become a potential ally in helping them defeat the thing in the ocean. Since he already has an unhappy relationship with his boss, I’m sure he’ll have no qualms disobeying orders and interfering in this matter anyway. This brings us to the DUCK organization – why are they monitoring the aliens? Could they have already seen this coming? This episode has finally brought this anime onto its darker themes, and it looks as if happy times may soon be over. The storm is here!

And now we leave you with a glorious picture of a cat’s behind