Tsuritama – 06

The pacing in Tsuritama is really excellent – just as I was thinking it was about time the plot started coming to the forefront, that’s exactly what happening in this episode; and I love this show more than ever.

Haru’s actions were of particular note this episode.  Coco had previously warned Haru against going to far out to sea lest he encounter ‘Him’ – and sure enough that’s exactly what happened this week, which Haru actually appearing to be possessed by whatever lurks in the sea.  Who ‘He’ actually is is still up for debate, but it definitely has something to do with the Enoshima mythos of the Dragon & the Goddess given the way that story is brought up repeatedly in the series.

One possible explanation could be that Haru has some connection to the Goddess in the myth as he sports a golden triangular halo while the sea god has a huge pink version, and Haru also exclaims “This is where we meet after 100 years!” when the pink halo first appears.  Haru’s behaviour in the aftermath of the encounter is also strange – he looks like he is pining for something/someone, and even Yuki says in a voice-over “I didn’t see Haru truly smile for a while after that day”.  Perhaps Haru is some sort of reincarnation of this Goddess?  The fact he is of alien origin makes me think that the Enoshima myth sprung up around a previous encounter with an alien & whatever it is that lives in the sea around Akemi – which also makes Yuki’s narration in an earlier episode that the boys will “save the world” make a bit more sense.

I’m quite interested in the way circles and triangles constantly appear in this show.  We have the obvious triangular halos that appear, but there was also a big red triangle on Ayumi’s radar when the boat passed close to Akemi, and then the repeated mentions of the Bermuda Triangle.  Circles and spheres appear a lot too – from Haru & Coco’s clothing & space ship, to the giant bait balls and cyclones of fish that appear throughout the show and Akira’s strange device that consists of two orbs circling a pillar.

I don’t think there’s anything much to read into this as it’s probably just a stylistic choice to give the show a more uniform look, but it’s little details like that which attract me to this show so much.  I also really enjoy how the boys got so tanned after a month on the boat (even if that is pointed out by Keito in the episode) and the way they’re constantly changing their clothes (with the notable exception of Akira, who is always either in his designated fishing attire or in shirt & tie).

I’m glad that Tsuritama is now spending a bit more time with Akira – he’s the last of the four central characters that need attention (Coco could stand to have some more development too).  Akira’s actions this week reminded me that he’s older than the rest of the cast – the way he took control when Haru was possessed, the fact he drives and his interaction with his superiors all subtly show that Akira does have  a bit of life experience behind him.  I’m intensely curious about his background and how he got involved with the Duck organisation – Akira is clearly itching to investigate outside of his designated remit of “observe the aliens” and can’t seem to stop himself from looking into the reported disappearances in the Akemi area.

It was interesting to see how Akira reacted when Haru started acting bizarrely after being possessed – whipping a gun out of his turban and then managing to get the boys & boat to safety despite being concussed by a taking a tuna to the face, all show that Akira is cool under pressure and quite capable of handling himself – I’m dying to find out just what brought him to this stage.

Overall this was an excellent episode, I can’t believe how easily the show transitioned from being a nice sedate show about the joys of fishing & finding friends, into a properly interesting supernatural mystery.  Tsuritama continues to impress – I sincerely hope it continues like this!