And here’s the second sleeper pick debuting today, an original from Studio Nut. NegaPosi Angler is yet another show about adults, though the protagonist is barely one (college age) and doesn’t seem to be working. Nut has actually done some pretty good work on the production side, though not much of it has been to my taste so far. Directing is Uemura Yutaka, a Gainax veteran with a bit of a mixed track record. And writing (the most important person on an original, as you know) is Suzuki Tomohiro. He has a very good resume when it comes to adaptations, not much of one when it comes to originals (Double Decker – which I kind of liked –  is the only one I’m seeing).

I’ll say this for NegaPosi Angler, it hits the ground running. We immediately start off with a couple of huge societal problems which anime rarely tackles – suicide and pachinko – at center stage. Sasaki Tsunehiro is trying to hang himself in his dingy apartment and fails – as he tells us he does at everything. This is drawn and animated as if it were a comic scene, which is certainly a bold choice. As it turns out Tsunehiro has been told he has only two years to live (without treatment – we’re not told if he’s being treated, but he acts like it’s a done deal). His only pleasure in life seems to be pachinko.

There was a rash of shows about five or six years ago really playing up the Gainax vibe, but that’s gotten rarer lately as the old-timers work less and the others become assimilated by the larger creative gene pool. Negative Positive Angler is a throwback, then. Uemura (a legit Gainax showrunner) is not the only alumnus working on it, and the aesthetic and animation are pure Gainax. For an original without any huge names or an obvious hook (heh) this series seems to have a solid budget – it looks pretty damn good.

The story – and characters – grew on me over its run. Tsunehiro winds up being accosted by debt collectors at his pachinko hall, his master strategy of piling up debt since he’s on the clock anyway clearly backfiring. Fleeing them he winds up diving into Tokyo Bay, and is eventually scooped up by a group of anglers on their way out to a breakwater. When he wakes up they’re already casting. It’s a superficially pretty typical group of anime oddballs, headed up by the friendly and gregarious Tsutsujimori Takaki. But Tsunehiro’s eye is drawn to Ayukawa Hana, the plucky girl who eventually insists that he take a try at casting himself.

I’m not especially knowledgeable or sentimental about fishing  – I fished with my Dad a few times as a kid (Lake Michigan or the Skokie Lagoons) but not at all seriously. But of course one of my favorite anime of all-time (Tsuritama) is fishing-themed. And it’s not really about the fishing – it’s about a loser who’s given up on life becoming part of something that gives him a bit of hope. And I did like the way Uemura and Suzuki used Hiro’s (if Takaki is going with it so will I) hopelessness and desperation as the means by which he becomes a better angler.

All of the fishing group (Takaki and Hana are the only ones who really stand out so far) – except the boss, also a member – being part-timers at the same combini is an interesting element. One gets the sense this show is going to have a philosophical bent to it, and indeed many fishing stories seem to (it’s a rather contemplative activity). It’s all going to come down to the writing but I definitely see potential here, and the visuals seemingly will more than carry their weight. NegaPosi Angler is definitely one to keep an eye on, as seemed to be the case from the time it was announced.