colby42 - 2016-03-09 05:18:09

When i found this one, i was'nt entirely sure what i was getting myself in for based on the summery, but just an episode in and i was having a great time!
The story was consistant and paced well where no time ever felt 'wasted' and nothing felt too rushed.
Halfway through things got abit strange, but overall, it worked for what it was going for, and turned into a truely amazing story that brought a tear to my eye.

vesta05 - 2015-07-07 10:55:26

Even months and months after having completed Tsuritama, I feel myself drawn to it (and horribly frustrated by the lack of merch). It starts out as a light-hearted sort of summery story with tons of humor and charm, but develops into so much more. There more emotional parts don't feel forced or rushed, everything develops very smoothly, and it has a very nice blend of Real World Problems vs Random Alien Antics, if you know what I mean. It's both relatable and fantastical. The friendships that develop, particularly between Haru and Yuki, are absolutely adorable. It all builds up to an explosive sort of finish, where the whole series gets turned upside down. Everything is topped off with very refreshing, artistic (not to mention beautiful) visuals and a nice soundtrack. 

theller - 2015-02-04 00:37:27

Tsuritama was a good anime, a fun one at that. If you're looking for something with some humor or you have thing for fishing (probably not) then I advise you check it out. It has some very intriguing characters (Haru being my favorite for obvious reasons in the anime) and all in all was a jolly, light-hearted show. Also, you may learn a cool dance to take with you forever that will get stuck in your head all the time. 

My overall rating: 7/10. 

syost - 2014-09-21 12:18:44

I never heard about this anime until I was browsing into myanimelist for recommendations and then,I found Tsuritama. This made me interested into watching it as it was about fishing,which is something you would associate to trotlines,boats,the smelly fishermen,the raging waters,the huge catch or just a passtime you do at summer camp (if there is even a pond or lake).So,what’s good about this anime that makes something so boring exciting ? Obviously,you’re reading this review to find out and I actually made a good introduction for once.

You can’t catch fish if you don’t go fishing, and you can’t make friends if you don’t at least try,which is how relationship-challenged student Yuki finds himself on a fishing trip to a tiny island with three other boys he barely knows. Well, two other boys and Haru, who claims that he’s an alien. Not that constantly stewing Natsuki or mysterious Akira are any more likely as prospects for good companionship.But there’s something about fishing that makes it unlike any other pastime, and maybe that quiet sense of companionship and hopeful expectation is just what Yuki needs to start charting the unfamiliar waters of personal connections. Or maybe it will turn out that Haru’s right and they’re going to have to save the entire planet.There are lots of different kinds of fish stories, from the “ones that got away” to the “best catches ever,” but whichever way the currents of life take them, for four young men, this trip may turn out to be the biggest whopper ever! (Source: Sentai Filmworks because I’m lazy at summaries)

I would describe the story to be a calm breeze at first but it gets a bit intense further and becomes calm at the end.The story is calm and pleasant and quite funny.It’s not something that will rustle your jimmies nor it give you a shock of a lifetime,rather it feels like staring at the sea and saying “the sea is actually nice” and then going back to your routine (for me,I just stare at my sink).Easygoing but nothing complicated.It’s also vibrant and colourful,with a bit of mystery.It actually made fishing cool as a sport (without the competition shit).It’s not just taking a stick with a rope and hook attached with bait.It’s taking a good fishing rod and reel,lure,learning the basics of fishing and hunting for sea bass,tuna etc. and also catch a powerful mind controlling alien.Pacing is neither fast,nor slow but just at a normal pace.Putting aside the ‘meh’ ending,the story is good.

Let’s talk about the characters,shall we ? Staring with Sanada Yuki,who’s a not so social person and makes a demonic face when he’s afraid or nervous and when stressed, he feels like he’s drowning and is fond of the sea in Enoshima. Haru,a happy,cheerful,positive attitude filled alien who shoots water at Yuki or anyone with a water pistol and controls them ( best way to control the world) and is on a mission to save earth from one of their species from controlling all of Enoshima ,Usami Natsuki,a person who is well known for his participations in national fishing championships, earning the nickname ‘Fishing Prince’,but doesn’t interact with people much except Sakura,his sister whom he has a soft spot on and Akira Agarkar Yamada,an Indian (and well mannered) spy along with his pet duck Tapioca (nice name btw).They go on fishing trips and save the world. I actually like the characters. Apart from the ‘Relate you to the MCs’ thing, the character relations and development are the high-points of this show. The drama isn’t forced and not given in the heckles.The realationship between Natsuki and Sakura as well as Yuki and Haru are really good as well.Focusing on character development,Yuki and Natsuki’s were great,Haru and Akira’s were good.To sum it up,The character department was great.

And here’s my favourite part (which is easy for me to write),the animation. The backgrounds were scenery porn and wallpaper worthy.Everything is so colourful and wacky (depends on how you guys see it).Even though this looks like it,this isn’t made by SHAFT,rather made by A-1 pictures with a high budget and Kenji Nakamura,who has done shows like Kuuchu Buranko,Mononoke and Gatchaman Crowds.Even so,there were a few times where there was framerate drops but that’s it. Soundtracks were good,especially the track when Akira and Tapioca appears.

All in all,it’s a good slice of life,sports anime with a side of supernatural added to it.If you like something to watch after a stressful day or to watch a good timepass anime,then you should watch this.Story is good and easygoing as well as characters,animation is scenery porn and soundtracks are good.Heck,even if you didn’t like it,atleast you learnt a new dance for once.

Rating : 7/10

Myanimelist : http://myanimelist.net/anime/12883/Tsuritama                       

Hummingbird : http://hummingbird.me/anime/tsuritama                           

Things I would recommend :                                                                         

Barakamon

Kuchuu Buranko     

Danshi Kokusei No Nichijou 

reichert.missouri - 2013-11-29 02:37:41

From the spring anime releases of 2012, Tsuritama have a surprisingly summery feel and is, in my opinion, is a breath of fresh air. A-1 picture have been a great studio that came out with fantasies and fantastic animation, so I expected no less. Not surprisingly I was shocked that something so light and relaxing. This is when I factor in that most of their popular shows were Fairly Tails, Black Butler(I and II), and Sword Art Online. Still they do have similar lighthearted shows recently.

So without further a due here's my review of Tsuritama.(I'll try not to spoils anything beyond the third episode.)

Plot: The show starts with the introduction of our first two main characters: Haru and Yuki. One is alien and the other is a friendless and awkward boy. Just like serendipity, these two characters are brought together through Haru certain attraction. After somehow moving into Yuki and his grandmother(btw Yuki partners are never present nor mention, seriously), Haru decides that Yuki will be the one to fish him... something. So they meet our third main character Natsuki, the "fishing fish" of Endoshima to help. As they do this the presence of the Akira, the final main character, that is all... They actually became friends and for most of the anime its fairly peaceful and it is just them learning how to fish, then the other half happen. The pacing of the whole thing is very well great. If wants to be slow its slow, if it want to be fast its fast. The entire thing is wonderfully put together, this brief description will not do it any justice. Also some of the details will not be directly spoken of so as a view you might have to deduce what is happening in any given point of time, IE Natsuki's family issues. Still the show was a bit fluffy and that can drag if you are prepared it.

Characters: The main focus is on the four main characters, so they are the ones you can expect the most development from. Yet the secondary characters are fun and also relate able. Seriously there is a character for almost anyone, even the alien, to relate to. I can't say much more, but this is the best thing about this anime and excel at this.

Animation: This is one of the best part of the whole anime. Period. Endoshima was scenery porn. Its bight and colorful but can also be dark and gloomy when the mood calls for it. The artist must have been on LSD or acid or some kind of recreational drug to create an anime with the palette of the flipping rainbow. Then again this is actually one of the less tripy thing that Nakamura have produce. As far as I see only a few of the scene seem distorted or out of place. Pretty good.

Before I and on this review, the whole fishing thing was a major nostalgia trip for me. I loved fishing and seeing this renew my love for fishing and untimely contain my bias on the show itself. This meant that I milked this show for everything the character, color, and crazy plot. Then again that's just me.

TL;DR

Watch this if you enjoy aliens and a lighthearted story.

Don't touch it if prefer faster more action-y story.

kendra.hand - 2013-08-08 11:16:27

Combining absurdity with a meaningful story is never an easy task and might be considered an artform in and of itself. That it is possible is a certainty, but it requires a solid foundation and a fine balance not to let one overshadow the other. Drama without seriousness and excitement without consistency are hard to achieve, and though Tsuritama does well regarding the latter of both those things, its drama and excitement have some difficulty shining through from below all that.

Setting
The story basically starts fresh, there is little to no history for the story to build upon, and so it has a lot of room to develop something from scratch. This is both a good and a bad thing, the good thing being that little comes without explanation, everything you see in the series is both new to you and the protagonist and for you to discover together. Unfortunately the series, being only 12 episodes, doesn't introduce the setting smoothly, but serves all of its courses in rather quick succession. This makes for little room for explanation after all and makes for there being little left to discover in the end, also seeing as there are only a few recurring locations and a narrow cast and setting to discover to begin with.

Plot
The plot is understandably simple, it is a slice-of-life series to begin with after all. Despite the strange nature of the series there is really nothing unexpected going on, the setting develops quite linearly and contains very little surprises. Though a linear plot is common for a slice-of-life, Tsuritama has a certain flair to it which makes it hard to accept its predictability in the end. The absurd, ridiculous and colourful nature apparent throughout doesn't seem to be content with the plot it is provided. The absurdity doesn't carry over to the story but remains more like something of a gimmick, the weird stuff going on turns out to be very normal in the end.

Characters
The characters are one of the few things escaping the overall absurdness, and that is most certainly for the better. The characters are however not boring or shallow by any means, they remain very distinct and interesting, but at the same time believable. Safe for perhaps one character, none of them are ridiculous or crazy to the point where you won't find yourself able to identify with any of them. Yet they usually obtain one trait which makes them an oddity nonetheless, in line with the rest of the series.

Development
The characters' development is highly impressive as well, their subtle changes and progressive reactions are magnificent. The characters develop their personality constantly, and the way they act towards each other accordingly.
How the character development is initiated by the plot however is somewhat of a disappointment. Yes the characters respond to plot changes well, though that's not the case the other way around. The linear pattern the plot follows proceeds without much of an interruption, seemingly not caring about whatever a character might do or has already done. This leads to characters coming to insights and conclusions without much reason for it to happen necessarily at that given time. Conversations often escalate without much introduction or follow-up, and are easily forgotten after it has passed.

Immersion
Slice-of-life anime mainly have to depend on character development, -interactions and atmosphere to remain interesting, and Tsuritama really only does one of those things well. The plot already harms the establishment of all of those things, but it isn't that well carried on either. The characters that had been put down so carefully and likeable before often turn into unrelateable beings, caused by just how perfectly they can express themselves and understand each other. If there's one thing which makes character interactions difficult and interesting it would be complexity, misunderstandings and a wide range of all kinds of different emotions, Tsuritama unfortunately doesn't have any of this. Their conflicts and conversations often turn into perfectly worded speeches and monologues without any real interaction, just a perfect mutual agreement in the end.
And though friendship remains an overall present, well rounded, element it doesn't take the foreground very often, and most of the atmosphere is disturbed or brought down by the general absurdity.

Emersion
It is mainly in the less dramatic or action-oriented parts that you actually feel for the characters and story. The constant character development makes for the most interesting part, but this is often interrupted by the more poorly constructed plot devices. This turns the scenes with the most going on into an uninteresting interruption of what you actually came to see, a meaningful slice-of-life. All the drama and excitement is not actually that great, which it could have been if the rest of the development would've actually worked towards it, which it unfortunately doesn't. Though these parts are put on the foreground more than the slice-of-life aspects, meaning the best part of the anime gets obstructed by something you can't really feel for.

Voice Acting
The voice acting is great, the chosen actors fit their characters very well and do a good job in performing their respective roles. Unfortunately the dialogue isn't great for them to work with, but the acting on itself still manages to provide the characters with plenty of personality.

Art
Visually the anime is very impressive and unique (as is to be expected from Nakamura), and even though the art was highly simplified, there was still an amazing sense of depth and detail. The vibrant colours and their specific use of obtaining variety and texture in surfaces gave the backgrounds a noticeable presence without being flashy or intrusive, so that even something like a view of only sky and ocean remained interesting.
The animation however is not as impressive as the colouring, backgrounds and overall design; and the camera angles didn't show a whole lot of variation.

Sound
The music has much of the absurdness and lack of seriousness like other aspects have, but for the music it worked surprisingly well. Of course there were also more dramatic and serious scores but these were used sparingly, and the upbeat and generally lighthearted soundtrack brought some of the interesting quirkiness back to many scenes, without having it overshadow the more emotional aspects like other things did.
Soundeffects and recordings were not as impressive, but were simple and somewhat distinctive and crisp which worked well for the series.

Overall personal experience
Though Tsuritama does something worth taking note of, it doesn't do it that amazingly well. The unique style and the occasional absurdity are what define the series in the end, leaving little left of its primary objective of showing a story about friendship and coming-of-age. Those aspects are still present, and manage to break free and show itself on occasion, but are generally lost in whatever uninteresting plot or improper craziness manages to push itself to the stage.
Personally it was a strange anime for me, seeing as how I took a long break from watching, being more interested in other anime twice. This is not something I normally do and it's still hard for me to put my finger on whatever it was that turned me off so much exactly. This review helped me to decide on what is generally better or worse about the series, but there is still something else about the whole thing. The series is definitely unique and original, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be great; it gets away with just being good at most things instead of amazing.

Comments
Story (setting, plot, development), Animation (art), Sound (sound, voice acting), Character (characters) and Enjoyment (immersion, emersion, overall experience) were split up into more manageable portions so I could remain focused on 1 aspect of the series in an attempt to remain objective and spoiler-free. Also no unnecessary synopsis, and the OP and ED of a series aren't an actual part of the anime! Know that all feedback is appreciated, please use the helpful button as intended, and thanks for reading!