I’ll be honest, I have pretty much zero interest in fishing lures. Maybe a tiny bit at the abstract level. – like the science of it versus the art. But I also realize that there are people (like Hana) for whom lures are endlessly fascinating. And the thing is, anime about people really interested in something can be interesting just by the act of showing that. Fanatics over anything can be an interesting subject for fiction. I don’t really care about ballet or karuta or badminton either, but a good depiction I do care about because it’s the feelings of the characters that make it interesting. If it’s good.

Is Negaposi Angler good? I think so. It’s quirky in a good way. The art styles and character designs are all over the place. The characters are all odd in their own ways, but so far those ways are mostly endearing. It’s striking a pretty good balance between the heavier stuff (and that’s obviously pretty heavy) and the offbeat humor. And in this episode, mostly focused on Hana, it slipped into a pure slice-of-life mode. That seems like a natural fit for a fishing show, and indeed Negaposi wears that suit very comfortably.

Hana is an oddball, but we already knew that (with some of the oddest hair in anime since the 90’s). She’s a hard-core fishing otaku, that’s for sure. Hiro is understandably having trouble with the fishing aspects of the konbini job – the standard duties he handles like a fish to water – and she can certainly help with that. But taking over is one thing, teaching something else – and that’s something Hana doesn’t really grok. She just acts passionate and throws a lot of terminology at Hiro, who goes increasingly glossy-eyed. But she struggles with other things – like making change without the register telling her the amount (the “tsuri” pun is a keeper) – and he has a chance to balance the score a little.

Exposition on Hana we got, in plenty. Hiro is interested in learning about her – because she’s such an oddie, or for other reasons? I suspect in his position Hiro would reject the possibility of romance with anyone for multiple reasons, but the heart wants what it wants. The news that she lives at the store is rather a jolt. He asks Tenchou-san about it, and initially guesses that she’s his daughter. She’s not – her grandma owns the place and Machida-san is a hired manager. Why is she so into fishing? Machida claims to have no idea. He does add (despite saying he can’t for privacy reasons, LOL) that her parents are divorced and she may have moved in so as not to intrude between her mother and stepfather (who seems to be a good man).

Hana is certainly an interesting enigma. You wouldn’t expect the average teenaged girl to be into fishing, but something must have given her the bug. She and Hiro have a fun chemistry. She seems to basically just blurt out whatever she thinks and he overthinks every word. Hiro obsesses over his calling her “-san” and her using no honorific despite his being older. Hana basically taking Hiro fishing just to show him how hopeless he is was an interesting move – not mean-spirited to me so much as her playing a long game.

At this point we’re still kind of dancing around the elephant in the room, but that’s okay. Original series have the advantage of being able to set their own pace, so I think we have to trust that Negaposi Angler will get there in good time. Fishing is, it seems to me, a pretty philosophical exercise. Mostly, it’s waiting. The idea of a guy whose clock is rapidly ticking down being drawn into a hobby like that is a fascinating paradox, and I don’t think that’s coincidental. I’m not quite fully committed here yet (Negaposi is part of the Patron Pick ballot, too) but I’m creeping closer.