Tsuritama - 3

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Much like fishing, this episode is just proof that to make a big catch you need time and patience.

This episode continued on the nice and not so fast yet not so slow pace that Tsuritama has set from the first episode and in the form of another fishing lesson and this time it was about properly casting your line. This time the significance of the fishing technique, casting of the line had to do with hard work and never giving up and was brought up various times by both Haru and Yuki's grandma, unlike the previous episode where the "moral" was to not underestimate fishing; you can definitely tell that this piece is quite the shonen slice of life fantasy. I liked how so far Tsuritama has managed to show the seriousness and the time needed for fishing properly, reminding me of my holidays way back when I would be up at a ridiculous hour, having prepared bait the night before and packing a cooler full of food and water just so I can go fishing for a couple of hours with my dad and grandpa.

Yuki seems to be developing better abilities to communicate and is even helped by his improving friendship with Natsuki and we also get to see a more emotional side to Haru, in particular his woes about the suggestion made by Coco for him to cut ties with Yuki - gotta say it was nice to finally see Haru worried about something and showing other emotions instead of just being a constantly happy character with nothing else to do but fish. Natsuki, Yuki and Haru's friendships seem to be progressing nicely, with each of them showing signs of happiness and most notably right at the end when Natsuki is finally shown laughing for the first time whilst running in the rain (the phrase like an idiot might be best used here).

Whilst all of this very nice and tame friendship stuff was going on, the ever suspicious Akira is still lurking in the shadows and is part of what I assume to be Tsuritama's version of the Men in Black who instead call themselves "Duck" and are lead by a very Lady Gaga type fashionable male who is living in a harem. Somehow I've found myself enjoying Akira's random appearances since they always make me laugh just by being absolutely random, so I was pleased to see him get more screen time this episode considering he only had like 2 minutes worth from the first 2 episodes and even with his actions and thoughts about the guys being negative in a too cool for friendship type way, he gives off the vibe of being the tsundere in the group; a little surprising how he has taken that role from Natsuki almost immediately. With Akira's appearances the plot has advanced yet again into the supernatural direction but in an almost 100% effort to remain care-free and feel less sci-fi and more slice of life.

I don't foresee the series getting remotely serious and that's why I enjoy it but since this is an original piece I have no idea what can happen but I'm hoping that the next episodes continue in the same manner. I'm still intrigued as to what role Erica has to play in the story, considering she's made appearances in every episode and spoke very little or not at all (in this episode she appeared at the beginning for a few seconds and said nothing) which has made me re-consider my theory that she's there to serve as a love interest for Yuki.

Another chilled episode from Tsuritama and with it's third it hasn't disappointed me yet so I remain happy and hopeful with this series.