Tsuritama Episode 3--Bloom

You know that you've got something good on your hands when a show is only three episodes in and can make you feel a whole range of emotions.




Tsuritama does seem to revel in its own mystery. I still don't have a clear understanding of what's going on or how the characters' action will lead to whatever the endpoint is. However, I'm still not bothered by any of that, and it's a rare show that can let me brush off basic questions about the plot so easily. A lot of this is due to the characters; rather than believing that this show is about an external quest to save the world, I'm convinced that it'll be an internal one, centering around Yuki.

Last week, I mentioned that Yuki and Natsuki have suffered loss in their lives. That came to the forefront of this episode for Yuki in a big enough way that I doubt it is going to leave this show anytime soon. Despite what his grandmother says and the smile she puts on, the possibility that she could leave him behind incapacitates Yuki. Then there's Haru, who unintentionally makes things worse. The scene where Haru speaks the reality that Yuki can't accept ("Everyone dies someday") was particularly telling, especially considered with Yuki's statement a few scenes later--"You're an alien, right? Then you wouldn't understand how I feel. There's no way you could know!"

At this point, Haru is still just an "outsider" who still hasn't managed to work himself into Yuki's internal world, an alien in a different sense of the word. Despite having the right intentions and causing a slight misunderstanding, all Haru can really do for Yuki is to be supportive of him. Like in the previous episode, he's slowing learning how friendship really works. In the end though, it was Natsuki that gave Yuki the right motivation ("Now is the perfect time to cast"). He knew how to deal with him and what to say since he's gone through something similar himself.




Over this episode and the previous one, the show seems to be pairing the boys up--no, not in that way--as reflections but also character foils. For example, most of the hilarious "what is going on" scenes tend to come either from Haru or everyone's husbando Akira (if you're willing to share with Tapioca, that is). This week we find out that Akira is part of an organization that is tracking the aliens for some reason...and that's pretty much it. Like Haru's declaration of "I'm an alien!" it's not so much about what is being told as it is about the entertaining stuff going on during the scene--I personally was completely distracted by Tapioca eating curry. Yet despite the similarity in how they're portrayed as the over-the-top comic relief, the show seems to be leading up to them becoming enemies; Haru is visibly afraid of Akira, and Akira just wants his mission done.

And then there's Yuki and Natsuki. I've already talked about their similarities so we'll leave it at that, but they also make great foils for each other in the way that they deal with their situations. Yuki tends to freak out and stop coping until whatever it is that's making him uncomfortable is gone or he's out of the general vicinity. Natsuki, from what we've seen of him, doesn't get personally bothered by other people at all; the only opinion that he seems to value is his little sister's. He's clearly a guy who puts family above all else (another similarity to Yuki, who is emotionally dependent on his grandmother). Despite the cold exterior that he shows to everyone else though, if you know what to look for, the little bit of caring shine through; for example, the "Enoshima Bowl" apparently came from his dad (or some other family outing) and the fact that he shared it with Yuki and Haru says a lot on its own.

With these four thrown together, my expectations for the character development in this show are sky-high. What I've talked about here feels like only the tip of the iceburg of the things presented in this episode, but they'll probably need more context as the show goes on before I can begin to grasp them. But I do have one prediction; I think that the characters in this show, especially Yuki, will learn to live in the same way that Kate cares for her flowers. They have to find that right mixture of kindness and self-awareness to truly bloom. Even if it doesn't get that deep (but right now I think it will), then I can still enjoy the crazy alien and duck antics.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.