Negative Positive Angler

Episode 5

Another week comes and goes with another woman dragging Hiro further into fishing hell. This time, it's Kozue's turn to grab Hiro's hand, and she guides him through the surprisingly expensive world of sporting goods retail. Negative Positive Angler has settled into a comfortable rhythm so there aren't too many surprises in this episode—although I'd say there's at least one big one. Regardless, a good character drama doesn't need surprises to impress, and the writing continues to navigate the waters of the human experience with a refreshing breeziness.

As the current focal character, Kozue measures up well. She's a familiar archetype: someone who exudes niceness in a wholly genuine way and can make friends with almost anybody. In other words, she's the polar opposite of the flighty and morose Hiro. Being the brilliant social savant that he is, Hiro naturally interprets her kindness as flirtation. He spends the first part of this episode under the impression that she's coming onto him, and the anime does some deft maneuvering with this believable misunderstanding. Hiro isn't out of line feeling those butterflies, but the narrative shows the audience how he is responsible for his delusion. The best example is how he reacts to Kozue's earnest educational tidbits about the gear and their expenses. She's being helpful, but Hiro sees this as an opportunity to “be a man,” i.e. throw his entire paycheck at a hobby he's barely scratched the surface of.

I like Takaaki as both the figurative and literal avatar of Hiro's conscience. If we interpret the story at face value, Takaaki is the nicest guy in the universe; he pays off a stranger's debts and let him move into his apartment. However, NegaPosi Angler is telling a tale of second chances, and Takaaki symbolizes a good side of humanity that Hiro had blinded himself to when we first met him. However, “good” doesn't mean “wishy-washy,” and Takaaki, both real and imagined, has to be firm with Hiro to break his self-destructive habits. Blowing your paycheck on fishing gear is marginally more responsible than feeding it into a pachinko machine—at least one enables you to feed yourself with tasty fish—but it's not exactly functioning adult behavior. Hiro still has quite a bit of rehabilitation to go.

Rehabilitation and healing are rarely straight lines, either. Returning to fishing as a metaphor, it's not as simple as casting your line, reeling in a big bass, and repeating. It requires luck and persistence, and everyone goes about it for different reasons. Kozue, for instance, admits to Hiro that she finds fishing largely repulsive. The episode engages with this through an unflinching demonstration of how gross baiting your hook can be, which Kozue has mastered the art of disassociation to perform. It's a funny scene, but it's poignant too. Life is full of nasty and uncomfortable stuff, but we navigate those parts because the good moments are worth it.

That's right, Kozue has a crush on Hana! It's nice how casually NegaPosi Angler brings this up—so casually it blows past Hiro. After all, he did spend a good chunk of the episode thinking she was coming onto him, but her language and behavior around Hana are unquestionably sapphic. Hana doesn't seem to reciprocate (although they are close friends), so it's too early to say whether this will be fuel for drama down the road or just a light sprinkling of yuri. It gives Kozue more depth and makes her a more interesting character.

That also isn't the only expression of queer romance to be found this week. Their heart-to-heart prompts Takaaki to let Hiro hold his rod, and Hiro has a ball playing around with it. Phallic symbolism aside, their conversation is more intimate than Hiro's other interactions. Takaaki fully opens up about what made him fall in love with fishing—how his quest to be the best in the eyes of others morphed into something more personal and fulfilling. I like how much the show leaves in the subtext. Takaaki's brother will likely be a tragic figure informing his current kindness towards Hiro, but the writing gets this across without spelling any of it out in words. It's all contained in the small gesture of Takaaki handing down something precious to him.

Hiro grows up a little, too. His two big purchases of fishing supplies are both irresponsible, but they're different flavors of irresponsible. At first, he sees the more expensive gear as a flex. He's trying to impress Kozue and looking at the expensive reel as a shortcut towards fishing mastery. At the end of the episode, though, there's been a subtle shift. He sees the gear not as a quick fix, but as a means through which he can continue to fish. At both Takaaki's and Kozue's promptings, he realizes that he's nurtured a passion for the hobby and wants better gear as an extension. That doesn't make it a smart decision, but it means Hiro has accepted something he can look forward to. He's decided to embrace a life that isn't weighed down by his debts or cancer diagnosis. He's taking his chances and casting his rod out into the vast and unknowable sea because that's what he wants to do.

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Negative Positive Angler is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is on Twitter while it lasts. Fish most certainly do not fear him. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.