Although the ‘soup for the soul’ variety of anime is not exactly common in the particular industry, nevertheless, when titles of the category do come out, they tend to be quite good. “Negative Positive Angler”, an original anime TV series, is definitely one of those titles.
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Tsunehiro’s life’s in shambles. Despite attending university, he has lost all his money trading on financial markets and a group of loan sharks are on his heels for the money he borrowed from them. Even worse, he gets some news from the doctor that he has only two years to live due to stomach cancer, while one day, while returning to his apartment, he finds the whole complex demolished. Essentially giving up, he jumps from a bridge, only to be saved by Hana Ayukawa amd Takaaki Tsutsujimori, two amateur fishers who also work in a convenience store that they shape more and more as a market for fishers, to the frustration of the owner, Machida.
Along with the rest of the employees, they have formed a close group under the support of Machida, and Tsunehiro ends up staying with Takaaki and also working in the store. Soon, and in a quite of a forced way, he also takes up fishing, while Takaaki helps him with his financial issues. Gradually, however, more and more problems, from everyone in the group actually, come to the fore.
Yutaka Uemura and scriptwriter Tomohiro Suzuki do a number of very interesting things here. For starters, by introducing the concept of fishing and the inclusion of a group of misfits, they take the focus away from Tsunehiro’s illness, thus avoiding creating a tear-jerker where melodrama would be the main ingredient through and through. At the same time, that they do not ‘undermine’ the issues the protagonist faces, but allow them to loom over the story along with the ones the rest of the characters face, in another great choice in the series.
In the same way, that all characters get their share of time, with them having their issues and lives analyzed in a way that results in a number of comments, including the difficulties immigrants and divorced individuals with kids face, adds even more value to the anime, by creating empathy for all of them essentially. The impact kind heartedness can have, as much as finding something to focus on in life, even if it is a hobby, are also exemplified here. The fact that the main issue and the ‘good samaritan’ attitude particularly Takaaki exhibits find their climax close to its finale, with the same applying to the dramatic aspect of the anime, works quite well for the series too.
For the rest of the 12-episode duration, fishing takes the sceptres, with the focus on the endeavor being quite detailed and informative, with an attention to detail that borders on the documentary. At the same time, the thrill of catching (and then gutting, cooking, and eating) fish is highlighted in a way that definitely adds to the entertainment the series offers.
And while the context and the narrative here are top notch, the same does not apply to the art form unfortunately. The continuous use of ‘silly faces’ gets annoying quite quickly, with the fact that some of the characters, Ice in particular, seem to constantly be in this state, being even more annoying. In general, the character design by Taniguchi Hiromi emerges as the weakest element here, with the hair of the characters and particularly of Hana, being quite problematic. The animation by Studio Mother, on the other hand, although not exactly special, definitely works for the series, while the inclusion of the occasional live footage and the overall presentation of the fish is occasionally impressive.
Despite its technical shortcomings, “Negative Positive Angler” ends up a rather pleasant anime to watch, particularly due to the story and the characters, as much as the presentation of the concept of fishing.