There’s a definite pattern with slice of life series, especially originals. Establish the MacGuffin, do a circuit around the cast and give everyone an episode or two, then go plot-heavy in the final couple of episodes. It’s just normal – that’s how it works. Of course there’s a huge variance in how well an individual series handles these transitions. It’s certainly been my experience that many such shows lose their charm when they make that shift for the final arc.

That’s not happening with Negaposi Angler, and there are a couple of reasons for that. First, the MacGuffin is an awfully good one and it’s not overused in anime. And second, the overall persona of the show hasn’t really changed that much. It still ambles, even if the stakes have gotten a lot higher. That business with the telephone game happening after Tsunehiro announced that he and Takaaki had a fight, with Ice’s non-native Japanese playing a role – that was really smart and funny. Observational humor is something this series does very well and it’s smart not to abandon it even if the plot sucks up most of the oxygen.

Without question, there’s another size 17 boot to drop in the Takkaki and his brother storyline. I probably misread that last week – it does seem as if the younger brother’s death was not as a result of his illness but some sort of incident in which both were involved. That said, it doesn’t reflect well on Takaaki that he’s gone AWOL again here. It pretty firmly establishes him as a guy who runs away when the going gets tough. It’s also kind of shitty of him to leave Hiro to his own devices when he knows how crucial it is that he get checked out ASAP. It sounds as if the younger brother laid a guilt trip on Takaaki about not being able to fish, and Takaaki snuck him out with tragic results. But we’ll likely know soon enough.

As for Hiro, he’s dutifully covering Takaaki’s shifts at the konbini and dutifully feeling remorseful (and resentful too) over what happened. The rumors start flying immediately, and it’s not surprising that it’s Kozue who’s at the heart of that. She seems to be genuinely enjoying the spectacle – there’s definitely something a bit dark and twisted about her. Hiro responds to the crisis by embracing his inner fisher – which means going philosophical. Hana’s comment about finding Takaaki through fishing had something to do with that but he was trending in that direction anyway.

Hiro is like a hunter here, trying to think like his prey to find it (which is what fishing is of course). It makes a certain sense both poetically and practically – Tokyo is a massive town but an expert fisher is going to go where the best fishing is. He also feels more and more guilt about blowing off his health, and finally decides to call the hospital and get himself checked out. I thought he might message Takaaki and let him know as a sort of olive branch, but then Takaaki is probably ignoring his phone as that’s his M.O. when he’s ducking his responsibilities in life.

This is a sad story in a lot of ways. Takaaki and Hiro are both pretty broken, and it’s clear Takaaki has latched onto Hiro as a kind of substitute for his brother. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve formed a real bond. Tsunehiro needs someone like Takaaki in his life – someone to lovingly slap some sense into him when necessary and tell him everything is going to be OK. Takaaki clearly has a lot of empathy to spread around and feels more whole when he’s doing it. If this motley konbini crew is a substitute family for its members, well, so what? Family is family. Life is richer when we share the things we love with other people (and fishing certainly qualifies).

As it stands, Tsunehiro – with some help from s fishing bro (props for getting Miki Shinichirou for the cameo) – has finally followed his muse to Takaaki. Both are after the “ranker” sea bass, and Hiro followed Takaaki’s words of wisdom to find it. We don’t know what the hospital told Hiro (I’m hopeful but uncertain) or what really happened with Takaaki’s brother. But I do think these two will realize that they mean something to each other and get past their rough patch. They both have far more to gain than lose by doing so – and Hiro is just starting to feel like he has something he doesn’t want to lose.