NegaPosi Angler

For blasé college dropout Tsunehiro Sasaki, life has become hopeless. After failing to enter a top university, he has lost all his money trading on financial markets and is now critically indebted. To add to his misery, he learns that he only has at most two years left to live due to an incurable disease.

The trajectory of Tsunehiro's life suddenly changes after a group of amateur fishermen saves him from drowning as he was trying to escape from a trio of creditors. While Takaaki Tsutsujimori pushes Tsunehiro to work at the group's workplace—a convenience store that doubles as a fishing shop—Hana Ayukawa tries to share her love for fishing.

Although the attempts of the joyful group of anglers initially prove unsuccessful, Takaaki urges Tsunehiro to take a fresh start in life, and the young man eventually accepts the fishing enthusiast's assistance to pay off his debts. As work, friendships, and an unfamiliar hobby all suddenly find their way into his life, Tsunehiro must find the strength to change his ways if he wants to make the best of his remaining time.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsutsujimori, Takaaki Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Ayukawa, Hana Main

Fairouz Ai Japanese

Sasaki, Tsunehiro Main

Iwanaka, Mutsuki Japanese

Ice Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Nishimori, Kozue Supporting

Tsuchiya, Rio Japanese

Fujishiro Supporting

Sugawara, Masashi Japanese

Machida Supporting

Tsuchida, Hiroshi Japanese

Debt Collector Boss Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Arua Supporting

Hirose, Yuuya Japanese

Yuu Supporting

Aimi Japanese

Kikushima, Kazufumi Producer

Nishimae, Shuka Producer

Tsunoki, Takuya Producer

Vig, Julien Producer

Reviews

Dec 19, 2024

Kudo_Endo

Recommended

Tsunehiro never saw his efforts pay off.

Despite studying hard, he was only approved in a third-rate university. His family felt the heavy burden of sending him to higher education. Walking around campus, among groups of carefree young adults socialising, only made him feel inadequate.

He had a niche interest, where he could safely retreat to and feel a sense of accomplishment: investment. Tsunehiro was an avid enthusiast, spending his free time studying the market and seeing his assets grow. Here he could explore his full potential while securing a bright future for himself! Unfortunately, our protagonist learned in a catastrophic fashion that ... some great capital gains come with high risks: all his savings plunged. Desperate to recuperate some of the losses, he took loans from shady loan sharks, saw this new money evaporate, resorted to gambling and, before he knew it, he was drowning in more debt than he could ever be reasonably expected to pay. On top of it all, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

A walking carcass, kept alive by the whims of a cynical god. There was no real point in going on. Every attempt to prematurely end his life failed. Feeling incapable to even do that crushed any energy he might have had to fight his way out.

In one of his seemingly fruitless flights from his creditors, he jumps from a bridge and falls into a boat. What first was a miracle suddenly turned into a nightmare: that boat was headed to the open sea in the middle of the night. Aboard, a jolly group of recreational fishers introduced themselves to their newfound companion. At first, “Hiro” was relieved for successfully fending off his assailants, but spending the whole night in the middle of nowhere with fishing lunatics seemed like punishment. With nothing better to do, he got his first taste of the sport, opening up a whole new world.

During the series we follow the tribulations of a depressed young man, with no prospects for a long and happy life, trying to get his final years together. Fishing is not a random hobby for someone with his life history. Fishers literally sink in hours and hours with no guarantee of a reward, even if he does everything right. To even start the activity, the upfront costs (equipment, transportation, time, effort) seem to outweigh any potential catch. After all, they are only doing it for fun and, maybe, one good meal afterwards. But that’s the beauty of fishing: enjoying a good time with like-minded people regardless of material returns, doing an activity outdoors in which the result is in your own hands.



One of the most common complaints I’ve seen about this anime is how annoying the main character is. I totally agree, but ironically I find this assessment one of the strongest points of the character building. Anyone who had to personally deal with depression to the point of suicidal ideation (themselves or with close relatives) knows how frustrating it can be. A healthy person will rightfully be shocked at some decisions. “How could he not take this chance!? With a stable job, good friends and a new place to stay he could slowly pay off his debt, so why fall into gambling again? Wait, he’s spending his salary lavishly? Arg, this lack of discipline is insane!”

When you are deep into a pit of despair, diligently climbing up may seem obvious to an outsider. Clear opportunities are right in front of them, so why can’t they at least try? To the person down there, however, digging down may be the only activity they are capable of bringing themselves to perform. NegaPosi Angler shows us how important the insistent intervention of a wholesome community can be to heal a wounded individual. Ultimately, though, they have to make an effort of their own volition. Tsunehiro found good friends who could benefit from having him on their team while helping him take the baby steps necessary to reclaim his life. It’s not a one-sided relationship, nor is it a straightforward process. It’s simply satisfying to watch good people congregating around a beautiful sport to elevate one another.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 22, 2024

Kyou_Ryuu

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

THE GOOD:
The premise of the show is brilliant: if you were choked by debts and only had 2 years to live, you probably wouldn't want to spend most of your remaining time fishing with some newly found friends... and yet, that's EXACTLY what the MC needed to exit his spiral of negativity. It's a refreshing take of a not-so-original idea, that drives you into a psychological and introspective direction to find out what "living" really means.
The visuals are solid, especially the character design, and the animation looks good too.
The voice acting by Fairouz (Hana) is great, with Iwanaka (Hiro) as close second, but in general ... all the cast did a nice job.

THE MEH:
Pacing is the main problem of the series. All the episodes from 4 to 9 feel almost like filler, with only a few minutes of significant plot and character progression spread across more than 2 hours of runtime. Then you have too many things crammed into the last 3 episodes, which obviously make them look rushed, and ultimately fail to provide proper closure to the two main character arcs (Hiro's and Takaaki's).
Mind you, those "filler" episodes are relaxing, have overall good vibes and are nice to watch. But I'm pretty sure the writers could have cut some of the fluff to further the story more and eventually give the audience a well balanced watching experience instead of shoehorning all the drama in the last hour.

THE BAD:
I won't lie, I didn't like the ending. Without spoiling it, I can only say that the way they handled it undermined the whole premise. They could have pulled it off in a way that was true to the premise, but they didn't... maybe because they didn't have enough runtime left.
Also, Hana is just waifu-bait: in the key visuals and trailers she is presented almost as one of the MCs, but she is just a side character, and unlike others in the cast she has zero development. The only MC in the show is Hiro, with Takaaki as co-protagonist.
Finally, from a visual perspective, the CGI didn't always blend in nicely, especially when it came to fish rendering and animation.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I cannot say I hated the show, but it was a mixed bag for me. If they handled the pacing differently and gave the MCs the attention their arcs required, I would have loved this series.
Recommended only if you like fishing, or feel-good vibes, and you're not too nitpicky about story developments.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 13, 2025

joemaamah

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/12 eps)

Ep. 6 update: Still can't get with the character art or the poorly applied 3D CGI. It's been half a season now and there's been no inkling of a plot. I'm going to be a lunker, shake the lure on this one, and swim off into the depths. Drop the grade to 68/100; only a D+ I am afraid.

Ep.5 update: What's with all the romcom and harem cliches? Plus that 3D CG was really annoying. Another episode like this, and I'm snapping the line on this one. Drop the grade to 72/100; high C-

Going to pass this one on the 3 eps test, ... but still kind of on the fence about it. Will this sink or swim? I'm not convinced it won't go belly up.

The artwork is all over the place. There's some really nice background work, but some of the character art is downright wonky. Same inconsistency with the animation. In inconsequential 2D scenes, it can be pretty good, but in important scenes, they break out some lame looking 3D renderings. It's distracting.

I'm not totally buying into the story yet either, The MC is written as a typical yutz. The side characters are more likeable, but very two dimensional so far. Are they fishermen or convenience store workers? Not much depth, regardless. The writers try to work in some comedy, but mostly it falls flat. While I have always been a fishing fan since I was little, I have yet to see anything from the writers to hook me into this tale at all.

The VA work is decent but I wouldn't call it inspired. The director seems to take the actors into cliche performances. And with the animation weirdness, I can't find much to like about the direction. The soundtrack is bland, but at least it's not distracting.

I'll continue to nibble at the bait for a few more episodes, to see how this evolves. But I am not sure if it can reel me in. If I was to grade this to this point I'd say a mid C at 75/100 would be about right. I may not be taking this hook, line and sinker, but I will stick around for a while to see if it improves. I'll update the review whichever direction it goes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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