Tsuritama – 03

This episode was pretty quackers (sorry, sorry – I’ve got it out of my system now!) – looks like Turban-kun has an even stranger story behind him than I had originally imagined!  There was also some nice character development for Yuki & Natsuki in this episode – Tsuritama is pacing it’s story quite well so far.

The most intriguing aspect of this episode was probably the reveal that Akira is a card-carrying (literally) member of some sort of secret society (called Duck!), who appear to be investigating aliens on earth.  The whole scene where he’s reporting to his superiors while spoon-feeding his duck curry was just surreal, but brilliant – its quirky scenes like this that I love about Tsuritama.  There is no real indication as to why Duck is so interested in what Haru & Koko are up to, they are very bit the mysterious organisation, complete with elaborate headquarters and secret society phrases/poses!

Very curious about what further role Duck is going to play – wonder why they picked the very conspicuous Akira & his gang of turban wearing underlings to infiltrate Enoshima island – they’re just as weird as Haru & Koko.  The only thing I could think of is that Akira & his gang are fairly low down the ladder in the Duck organisation, so perhaps they’ve been sent to investigate Haru & Koko because they don’t seem to pose much of a threat at the moment – the higher-ups do say they are busy investigating the “Bermuda Syndrome”.  I very much doubt that this was a throwaway statement, I expect to find out a lot more about this “Bermuda Syndrome” sooner rather than latter, especially with all the foreshadowing going on in the ending narrations.

Now that I’m paying more attention to him, it really is remarkable how little Yuki actually speaks.  With his constant neurotic narration it is an easy thing to miss, but he spends the vast majority of his time mute.  When Yuki does speak, he does so in quite a whispered, stilted manner – it’s completely different to his internal manner of speaking to which we’re accustomed; I really like little touches like this.  The only time that Yuki’s verbal speech is identical to his internal voice is when he’s too riled up to pay any mind to the anxieties that usually inhibit him, but as soon as he calms down he reverts to that quiet, shy manner of speech.

Yuki’s angsty antics this week were triggered by Granny Keito tripping yet more death flags with a trip to the hospital and a philosophical talk about living life to the fullest – we get it Tsuritama, the woman is sick, no need to hammer it home any more.  Keito herself seems to be well aware of Yuki’s social anxiety issues, but she chooses not to address them with Yuki directly – rather she settles for nudging Haru into worming his way through Yuki’s protective barriers, probably in an attempt to lessen Yuki’s complete reliance on her for emotional support…….I don’t think Keito could set off any more death flags if she tried.

Haru himself continues to be somewhat annoying – his antics could stand to be toned back a bit, especially since Koko is much less hyperactive and dense than he is, however this episode did see Haru act a bit more introspective which was a welcome change.  I still have no notion about Haru & Koko’s motivations for wanting Yuki to fish for them – Koko seems impatient and urges Haru to give up on the sadsack Yuki and go choose someone else to help them out.  Haru however proves to be quite stubborn and insists on sticking with Yuki – but it has to be noted that a lot of Haru’s reasoning comes second-hand from Keito.  Still it is undeniable that Haru’s unflinchingly sunny disposition and dogged determination to stick with Yuki, has had a positive effect on Yuki overall.

It’s interesting to see Natsuki gradually warm to Yuki & Haru.  He’s clearly passionate about fishing as he won’t let anyone approach it half-assed – as a result he’s a very strict teacher, but at the same time very attentive . Natsuki really wants to ensure the other boys get the basics down perfectly before allowing them to try their luck at the ocean.   It was interesting to see how his personal method of measuring the perfect timing for casting was learned from his father – I don’t think Natsuki intended to say ‘Eno! Shima! Don!’ aloud.  The phrase probably has lots of happy memories tied to it for him, from the time before things got strained between father and son, so it was probably slightly embarrassing but gratifying for Natsuki to see Yuki & Haru use that same phrase when learning to cast themselves.  He’s clearly delighted for Yuki when he masters the casting – that pleased laugh & excited run through the rain, wonder how long it will be before he shows such an expression to other people?

Natsuki also shows himself to be quite considerate in his own way.  Upon hearing that Yuki’s grandmother was hospitalised and seeing how withdrawn Yuki becomes as a result, Natsuki goes out of his way to try to draw Yuki out of his pity party since it is apparent that Haru is ill-equipped to do so.  Unfortunately Natsuki is still quite brusque and clearly unaccustomed to comforting people – I’d imagine that he tried to cope with his mother’s death by concentrating on fishing and wants to put across to Yuki that there is a more constructive way to deal with negative emotions, however it just comes out as a simple order to practice casting.  Clearly Natsuki is a very caring individual who takes things to heart easily – I’m very interested in seeing how the boys friendship gradually deepens as they all open up to each other more.

(Apologies if this post doesn’t read very well – I’m heavily medicated & typing with one hand!)