Negative Positive Angler – Episode 1

Content warning: suicide and gambling addiction. 

What’s it about? Sasaki Tsunehiro is a university student who has failed at everything he’s ever tried and is now burdened with an enormous financial debt.  If life already wasn’t hard enough, finding out he’s terminally ill with a brain tumor would certainly break anyone’s spirit.  While on the run from debt collectors he falls into the sea and is rescued by a group of fishing friends; together, they bond over the art of fishing.

Life truly has to suck for the main character if he can’t even take his own life properly.  I know dark comedies aren’t for everyone, but for me personally, I love that they tend to address sensitive topics that are often difficult to discuss with anyone.  Oftentimes dark comedies help people cope with their own problems by laughing at their own pain and it makes them realize they aren’t alone.  Plenty of people that got upset about I’m Glad My Mom Died, but those of us that have toxic parents immediately got a good laugh out of the title.  

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well this premiere handled Tsunehiro’s problems without completely falling into despair. The poor guy is clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown, but even knowing he’s terminally ill doesn’t magically remove the stress of his financial situation.  Rather than trying to make the best of his final years, he primarily focuses on feeding his gambling addiction.  While I’m no expert on addiction, I appreciate how the series portrays the extreme difficulties addicts have in stopping their bad habits.  It’s not something that can be cured overnight, and the road to recovery is usually a thorny path.  

It totally makes sense why Tsunehiro would double down on his addiction in order to escape from a very scary reality.  I think what ultimately prevents this premiere from feeling like a complete downer are the quirky personalities of all the characters.  Even the debt collectors come off as extremely silly, and the tone of the episode brightens up the moment the strange array of fish loving enthusiasts show up to impart words of wisdom to our depressed protagonist.  I’ll admit it sort of lost me the moment fishing was introduced as a way to teach some life lessons.  I know that sounds terrible, but I never found fishing to be particularly interesting.  Hell, that’s one of the reasons why I never checked out tsuritama even though I adore the director’s other work, Mononoke. 

Despite my minor gripes, it was nice to see Tsunehiro connect with other people and form meaningful relationships.  His friendship with the fishing gang is probably going to be the highlight of the series and how he’ll try to do more things that’ll give him a sense of purpose rather than feeding into his unhealthy habits.  

It’s hard to give a solid recommendation since I know the content warnings I mentioned are probably a dealbreaker for some of you.  If Tsunehiro’s journey is at all appealing to you then I highly recommend you check it out.  As for me, I’m dipping out early because I just find fishing to be boring. 

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