Congrats to Negaposi Angler for winning the Fall 2024 Patron poll. It was a clear win, though a competitive race. Honesty compels me to admit I might very well have covered it anyway, even airing on the busiest day of the season. And at that, I’m still kind of on the fence about the series that finished second. So I might end up covering both, we’ll see – but Negaposi Angler is definitely in the rotation. I think it’s probably the one I would have voted for myself, though I try to never to anything (apart from my episodic posts) that might put a thumb on the scale.
We’re still solidly in slice of life mode here and ignoring elephants. But that works – fishing is a contemplative exercise anyway. It’s payday at the fishing konbini – Hiro’s first (and maybe his first paycheck, period?). Except it’s not a check at all, but cash. That’s fishy (no pun intended) to begin with (though that’s not played up), but also a terrible idea for a guy like Hiro. He’s easily lured into blowing the whole wad at the local fishing superstore. First by Hana, at whose suggestion he goes, but even more so by Nishimori Kozue – the “other” girl (one of them) at the shop.
Kozue hasn’t gotten much run before now, but she’s very much the spotlight figure this week. She’s charming and feminine and seems very nice. But there’s something slightly ominous in the way she casually leads Hiro into blowing his whole salary on lures and other fishing swag (some of it for her). And later, twice that on an expensive rod and reel. It may be that she’s privately wealthy and doesn’t understand the value of money (though that wouldn’t explain her working at the shop). But honestly she’s not doing Hiro any favors here.
Hiro is also starting to fall for Kozue. That’s innocent enough but she doesn’t pull her punches – she makes it clear she’s fishing because the person she likes is a fisher, and that person is Hana. I thought this was straightforwardly a declaration of romantic love but Hiro doesn’t take it that way at all. So either he or I are misreading the room (I’m pretty sure it’s him). I also see no indication that Hana is aware of this or reciprocates, though she and Kozue are certainly friends.
I absolutely get Hiro’s fascination with fancy equipment (I assume Exceed is a sponsor, as it’s a real gear manufacturer) – I totally get that way at the start of a new hobby. But Hiro is out of his mind dropping ¥130000 on a rod and reel (again, thanks Kozue). Takaaki is as always a model of understanding, but he has every right to be this irritated and a whole lot more. If indeed he’s serious about confiscating Hiro’s future pay packets I wouldn’t blame him a bit. For obvious reasons Hiro isn’t thinking much about his long-term responsibilities, but he has short-term ones with Takaaki – and he’s done more than enough to earn having them taken seriously by Hiro.
In addition to the usual wealth of fishing minutiae (nope, never heard of this “sabiki” method even in English) we got a very interesting conversation about fishing between the two guys. Takaaki’s comment about his current love for fishing being an indication that he was being true to himself was the sort of philosophical discourse I would expect in a fishing show. At some point we’re going to drift into into the more serious waters the plot has so far skirted around, and I think this sort of conversation inches us closer to that development.
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