It’s sort of ironic that an episode about a typhoon was the calm before the storm. But of course that’s exactly how it’s playing out with Negaposi Angler. Now that Pandora’s box has been opened there’s really no way to restore the old order. We know exactly what these last couple of eps will be about, but then we’ve probably known since the very beginning. It may have taken a bit longer to get here than I expected but get here it was always going to.
Now comes the hard part. This is a crucible for pretty much every one-cour slice of life series. They switch to plot mode in the last couple of episodes, with varying degrees of success. I have a pretty high confidence level with Negaposi though, as it’s already shown a very deft hand with serious emotional matters. It’s also working with a premise that it’s been building towards from the very start, so nothing is being pulled out of left field here. It’s all going to come down to execution but based on this episode (and the ones before it) I’m expecting it to stick the landing.
The catalyst for this is Machida-san going into the hospital after falling off a skateboard. I love the fact that this is the only thing anyone comments on, not the fact that it was Fujishiro-san’s skateboard he fell off of. In any event it naturally happens to be the same hospital where Tsunehiro got his grim prognosis, which sets off a bout of understandable PTSD. He bolts while the others visit Machida (he’s fine), and makes up an excuse about urgent personal business when Takaaki arrives home.
Some things become clear pretty quickly. Hiro is torn between fatalism and denial. He feels fine, so he tells himself that his diagnosis (we’re still not told exactly what it was) was a mistake. But not surprisingly he starts to feel distinctly ill now that the whole thing has been dredged up in this fashion. He has stomach pains – due to food poisoning from Spanish mackerel (probably) but he’s looking up something else on his phone, which Takaaki sees when he runs to the bathroom. And the next day – with Hiro taking a sick day – Ice mentions Hiro’s odd comment about having only two years to live to Takaaki.
Takaaki’s devotion to helping Tsunehiro has really been remarkable. Do the revelations about his past change my outlook on that in any way? If one wants to look through cynical glasses you could say he’s using Hiro as a substitute for his departed younger brother (Sakakihara Yuki) – even trying to assuage (probably misplaced) guilt over his death. We learn of this when Takaaki’s uncle visits the konbini while Hiro is on duty. There may well be more to this story but I suspect we’ve heard the truth of it. Takaaki disappeared on his family after his brother died, not even answering his phone. That’s certainly not okay, absent any extenuating circumstances (which there certainly could be).
But based on what I know now, I still see Takaaki as very much a good guy here. If he’s nagging Hiro to book a checkup at the hospital because of what happened to his brother, well – so what? It’s still the right thing to do. Likewise I hold both these guys pretty blameless for the dust-up between them. Each had reason to be upset, and even to take it out on the other. It wasn’t personal really – just a natural reaction to being pushed about something neither wanted to be pushed on.
That Hiro’s reaction to his diagnosis was effectively to run away is totally consistent with his behavior from the start of the series. And to be fair, that’s a tough thing for anybody to hear – and when one is a college student at the peak of perceived immortality, it has to seem like a bad dream. He’s a mess to be sure – if he truly has no idea where his insurance card is that means he’s been in complete denial about his health. Takaaki’s decision to run away, by contrast, is in complete conflict with his pattern of behavior. I don’t doubt that these two are going to help each other heal emotionally, but the larger question of whether Hiro can heal physically still hangs over Negaposi Angler like a dark cloud.
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