There is something fishy going on in the anime world. There’s fish everywhere! I understand that the Japan is surrounded by the ocean and the Japanese do love eating fish. Japan is the home of sashimi (sliced raw fish) but they don’t stop there! There’s fish in everything. They celebrate the holiday of Boys Day or Tango no Sekku by flying fish flags. They spend a whole season adoring gold fish or kingyo during the Summer. Not to mention the largest robotic crab on the planet is guarding over a restaurant entrance in Osaka, Japan. But should they even put fish in anime? Maybe they’ve gone too far? To some in the fish loving community (like me!) maybe they haven’t gone far enough! So if you just can’t get enough fish in your life, here are some great anime you just have to catch!
Ponyo
Ponyo is an adorable studio Ghibli film about a fish princess that swims up to the shore because she was curious. She unfortunately gets caught in some garbage, but is quickly rescued by a very friendly little boy name Sosuke that scoops the princess (in fish form) into his little plastic beach bucket and carries her home. The little boy is very kind to his new fishy friend, giving her plenty of fresh water and even feeding his ham sandwich to her, until Pop! she turns into a little girl! The Sosuke names the fish princess/little girl Ponyo and the two have some super cute adventures as Ponyo learns about the human world, that is, until Dad the Sea King shows up to take his little princess back!
Slow Loop
Slow Loop is another cute anime! This one is about two step sisters bonding over fishing. The main character (Hiyori) learned to fish from her late father. Three years after his death Hiyori’s mother decides to remarry and wants Hiyori to meet her new step dad and sibling over dinner. Not knowing how to feel about this (because Hiyori is still quite attached to her father’s memory) she retreats to an old fishing spot by the sea to think things through. That’s where she meets the cheerful and energetic Koharu, who tried to jump into the sea the moment she saw it! Thankfully Hiyori managed to stop her before Koharu made it into the water (it wasn’t the Summer and the water would be very cold) and the two started talking about fishing. Hiyori is surprised, but cautiously delighted to finally find a girl her age that also likes fishing and water in general, but one thing leads to another and it ends up that Koharu is not just Hiyori’s new water loving, fishing friend but also her new step sibling!
Tsuritama
It was actually an AMV of Tsuritama that inspired this post! This is a wonderfully weird anime about Yuki Sanada, a very shy boy that lives with his ill grandmother in a small town on a rather secluded island and the fish alien that decides he’s going to be Yuki’s friend whether Yuki likes it or not! Natsuki Usami (a classmate of Yuki and a skilled fisherman) quickly gets reeled into to make a trio of friends. Not long after the alien Haru shows up things start getting really weird around the island, which is saying a lot because Haru is certainly not a boring person. Fishing boats are found around the island drifting in the water with the crews in an odd trance while doing a Macarena style dance. Even more bizarre government agents show up to investigate the situation, and there’s an Indian guy with a duck on his head. It gets even more odd from there.
Squid Girl
Squid girl is about a girl with tentacles for hair and some of the abilities of a squid, who came out of the sea to conquer the world. And once she subjugated all the filthy humans, she would force them to stop polluting the oceans. Or at least that was Ika Musume’s plan. She never got passed the beach. The first place Ika happened upon was a beach shack cafe, and one thing led to another and she accidentally put a great big hole in their wall. The two sisters that own the cafe insisted that Ika had to work at the cafe to pay for the repairs. Ika might be an egotistical megalomaniac bent on world domination, but she’s not the smartest squid in the sea, so she agrees. So the rest of the anime is about her working at the cafe as she tries and fails to take over the world, over and over again ala Pinky and the Brain.
Anime Hanabi 