Yeah, you know me

In the next to last episode of Tsuritama, Ayumi has enough room to trip away from the explosion and lend Akira and the boys his boat. However, when Duck organizes a harsh countermeasure against the hypnotized Duck members onboard the missile-carrying ships, can they all catch the Sea Dragon before that all happens or will one of them have to make a last resort

We begin with a quick resolution to the cliffhanger where it was believed that Ayumi was still in the Hemingway when a missile crashed into the shop. However, once everyone gets there, they see that Ayumi is passed out on the deck after getting tossed back by the blast’s force. Luckily, he’s still conscious as he reacts favorably to Misaki hugging him.

And on that day, the Angry Pink Shirt Guy no longer had a reason to be angry.

Everyone is all revved up to catch the Sea Dragon and kick some ass, but Haru is still down in the dumps about having to leave Earth in order to take the Sea Dragon back to his planet as he is the Goddess depicted in the 1st episode’s story. However, Ayumi won’t have that shit as he uses the strength he has left to give Haru a brohug, saying that they’ll definitely go fishing again.

And with this, Haru will get blushy and cheer to the skies like Ayumi

However, things are starting to get bad for them as Duck grabs Haru and David Bowie demands that Akira steps down. When he refuses, he strips Akira of his title, but that only gives Akira leeway to do things like beat up his coworkers, save Haru, and speed off in the boat as he tosses Bowie off the ship.

“You’re quadruple fired!”

This doesn’t stop plans though for Duck who are willing and ready to transport people even further from Enoshima, as they plan to launch nukes at the brainwashed Duck crew to prevent them from launching any more missiles at Enoshima.

What on earth is the dresscode for Duck Employees?

As the boys head out to sea, they are prepping up as Yuki aims to catch the Sea Dragon so that Haru won’t have a need to go back to his planet. And with this, all of the guys do their last rounds of Enoshima Bowls before they cast the bait forward.

GLORIOUS!

After not getting a bite for several tries, the guys are losing hope as it seems the Sea Dragon just ain’t interested in taking the bait, that is, until Yuki decides to pass out. Via passing out, he is able to discover one thing that Haru and the Sea Monster have in common.

They like closing their eyes alot, so the best approach would be flash a flashlight in the monster’s face

Actually, it seems that what Haru and the Sea Dragon have in common is that they both love the color red, so Yuki decides to paint his bait red to get the Sea Dragon to bite onto it.

The only question I have is if Haru would want to nom on Yuki’s johnson if the carpet matches the drapes

Everyone’s back to kicking ass once again but Yuki finds himself discouraged one last time as Tapioca turns on the news to find that their exploits are being watched on a global scale. Yuki’s not the type who would like to be under the eye of a live studio audience, but once the crew assures that it’s just another fishing trip, they’re back to fishing.

Where did they get those badass mugshots of Yuki and Natsuki?

The heat is on for Akira as he has to convince David Bowie not to launch nukes at their men when he’s revved up and ready to fire. He insists on waiting til they catch the Sea Dragon, but that isn’t going to happen as the red bait is crunched up by the Dragon and Yuki didn’t catch it.

Shit!

The episode ends on a down note as failing to catch the Sea Dragon causes Haru to realize what he has to do and bids farewell to Yuki as he prepares to use himself as bait and Yuki cries out to him.

Double shit!

Man, this show is building up to an amazing climax. It’s great to see that Ayumi wasn’t too close to the blast and that they dodged the bullet of having random people die for the sake of death. If there’s something I know the show has been doing a great job at with this last batch of episodes is building up the suspense with the battle between optimism and pessimism. The obstacles with Duck, their nukes, and the Sea Dragon make it seem as if there is nothing the kids can do to win, but with what seems like a hopeless venture comes the silver lining as their comradery and passion for fishing are too strong to let that happen without a fight.

Someone I met once said that they liked their favorite show (Bamboo Blade) because the characters had heart, and that no matter what odds were stacked against them, they always got back up. While most anime do follow the formula of the underdog story to some extent, I feel that with Tsuritama, they help get us invested with the characters to a point where we’re not only hoping the characters succeed but it’s actually heartbreaking when so much is thrown at them that even the most optimistic situations can sink quickly. Kate’s quote on “Everything has to end someday, so we have to make the most of what we have” resonates the most with this as the next episode makes it seem that there is no other way this could end but with a bang.