The animation of this episode was slightly rushed, towards the end some distorted faces popped up. But still, this really was fun. Perhaps not as fun as the build-up that preceded it, but this definitely was a worthy way to end this series.
Really, this season is full of interesting endings (not counting the ones that cut off for another season). There is a lot of refreshing stuff amongst them that tries to do things differently from the norm. The best examples of this were Fate/Zero and Lupin, but Tsuritama also had a great climax that was full of emotion, yet avoided hammy drama completely. The big bad guy turned out to be completely different from the evil overlords you usually see. We already knew that he was of Haru’s kind, but for it to be such a fidgety guy is completely different from what I expected.
The epilogue was great too, but I have one problem with that one. This is a series that thrived on originality, and yet one cliche slipped through: the one where a lot of drama is created around the characters saying goodbye to each other. The characters had a great time together, but now it’s time for everyone to move on and go their own ways and… wait never mind! They just return as random transfer students!
Overall, Tsuritama was Kenji Nakamura doing something completely different, and succeeding at it. I wouldn’t sy that it was his best work: Bake Neko still stands out as his masterpiece, and I’d also consider Mononoke to be more interesting. And ultimately C’s ending was more interesting because of how well things came together. Despite all that though, it definitely trumped all of those series in terms of characterization and fun: the character in Tsuritama really felt alive and the plot feels complete and not rushed at all.
Rating: *+ (Great)
One word : Fish!
Three words: Oh My God!
That line made me laugh!
Find distorted faces, complain everywhere
really psgels, i expected better from you
The “rushed” feel no doubt coming from a sudden increase of the animation director for episode 11 and 12
Aww, I’m disappointed! (w/ psgels’ opinion, not w/ the ending)
This ending, if anything, is perfect to me and I enjoyed it immensely. Actually, the last stretch of episodes has really improved my opinion about the series as a whole and after such a great and satisfied ending I couldn’t help but raise its final score from 8/10 to 9/10 (which is the same score for Sakamichi Apollon btw, though I favor Tsuritama a little more).
One thing I agree w/ you though, is that the characters are easily the best thing about this series. Such a loveable and colorful cast even outside of the main four, and it’s awesome to see how much they’ve developed through out the course of the show. (Yuki is my favorite character btw.)
P.S. The second best thing about this series, to me, is definitely the soundtrack! Can’t wait to listen to the upcoming OST! 🙂
People are really kind to Tsuritama. I mean, I know it’s Noitamina and Nakamura, but this was just a whimsical anime that forced in a lot of “world-ending” and “friendship” drama that always felt anticlimactic or tacked on to me.
I enjoyed it on the level of whimsy and slice of life, but any more serious themes lost me. Especially the “he was just a harmless bishie all along” villain and the “never say goodbye” ending. They spent so much time building up those plot threads, and in the end they were entirely inconsequential.
I think my problem was that I could never tell what they were aiming for – just tongue-in-cheek irreverence, or something more serious. Usually I don’t mind that approach, but I didn’t like the way it was handled here much. It almost felt like it was trying to be something it didn’t really want to be.
Oh well, still a decent anime.
I don’t think Tsuritama was trying to force in any serious theme. To me, it has always been a fun, whimsical little story about friendship and family. All in all it’s very simple, but has a lot of heart and I love it for that. 🙂
Yes I loved Tsuritama because it just filled me with so much joy. It was about friendship & family but also community as everyone in Enoshima really came together.
It was a fun and fitting ending.
Also, the captain and his wife had their honeymoon in Rome! 🙂 The picture was taken in Piazza della Repubblica, right in front of the Fontana delle Naiadi.
While I did feel the ending got it mostly right, I think it just went one step too far with the very last scene. It should have stopped with only Urara showing up as a student because seeing Yuki make the first remark was the full circle for me. If there had to be some some Haru “closure” then it should have been from like a letter to the grandmother or something because I also thought everything going their own ways was really fitting – that’s how things go.
Overall I still enjoyed the series and will definitely be looking to get it for my collection one day!