NegaPosi Angler – Episode 12

Episode Synopsis:

Takaaki and Hiro spend a long night of fishing together, slowly opening back up to one another. Hiro says he’s gone back to the hospital, and is ready to go home and seek regular treatment, much to his friend’s relief. After Hiro finally lands a massive sea bass, the two wander into the late hours, sharing some of Takaaki’s past. The next day, Hiro says his goodbyes to the rest of the Everymart gang and prepares to return home, though not before Hana shows up to say her own kind of farewell.

Review:

The first half of this final episode is excellent. It offers closure on the unresolved threads between Hiro and Takaaki, and sets us up for a hopeful, if bittersweet conclusion. The second half is fine, but left me wishing that we could’ve had one more episode to stretch out the finale and denouement just a little bit longer.

Hiro and Takaaki’s reconciliation begins fitfully, with Takaaki still understandably upset with his friend for not taking care of himself, further angry from the unresolved trauma of his brother’s illness and death. After Hiro explains that he finally took the advice and is seeking long-term treatment, their disposition shifts completely, back to the mismatched friends we’ve come to love.

In the first of several emotional peaks in the show, Hiro finally catches the ranker sea bass he’s been dreaming of, and Takaaki helps him land it just in time. We’ve seen Hiro warming up and having fun, but this is the first time that we’ve see him look so joyful, and it’s truly heartwarming to see the poor guy earn this personal victory.

When the two go out later at night to watch the snowfall, Takaaki finally opens up about his own experience with death through his brother. His brother didn’t die of his illness; he got into an accident after running away from the hospital following the fight they had when he expressed how he might be better off dead. While Takaaki genuinely did care for his brother, he didn’t consider his how his words would feel to someone who already felt like a burden. To this day, he holds himself responsible for his brother’s death, and this is the first time (that we know of) that he’s expressed this to anyone else. The two simply stay together for a time as Takaaki lets his tears out, because frankly… what can you say in that situation?

This brings us to the last third of the episode, which feels a bit rushed as Hiro says goodbye to his coworkers. We don’t get any one-on-one time with anyone at first, which is disappointing because they’ve all had an impact on Hiro’s outlook and helped him see life in ways that helped him find the courage to face his situation with a will to survive. A brief farewell just isn’t enough, especially on the back of the lengthy time we spent with him and Takaaki.

We do get a tiny bit more closure with Hana when Hiro runs into her on a bridge before he leaves for home. She’s already heard that he’s leaving and in true Hana fashion, managed to catch a sea bass that was two centimeters longer that Hiro’s. Childish act of one-upsmanship, or a less-than-subtle challenge for him to keep at it and try to catch up to her? Based on her face, probably both.

And that is where the episode ends, feeling quite abrupt. Luckily, there is a short post-credits epilogue set two years later which gives some additional closure and a last tug on the heartstrings. It’s not perfect, but it does send us off well enough.

Summary:

It was honestly hard for me to continue the show after Takaaki’s blowup with Hiro. The rawness of that confrontation hit me hard, and I wasn’t sure that the rest of the series would be strong enough to follow it up. While it’s too short and weaker near the end, it’s still a solid conclusion to a surprisingly compelling and emotional show. I look forward to dissecting it with my fellow Con Artists to see how they felt about the finale.

We’ll see you in our upcoming podcast soon – until then, keep on going and maybe take a shot at fishing. I hear it’s good for the mind and soul.

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