Houkago Teibou Nisshi – 04

「エギング」 (Eging)
“Eging”

Back in April, Houkago Teibou Nisshi was one of the first casualties of the Spring 2020 lineup to be pulled off-air amid the on-going spread of COVID-19. It’s always difficult to get a clear update on how studios have been able to work with proper safety precautions, nor how the delays factored into how the rest of the anime would be completed by the next season. But alas, this was the season chosen for the broadcast of slice-of-life fishing anime Houkago Teibou Nisshi to give us a soft reset.

Throughout July, they’ve been airing the first three episodes from April, but now that we’re caught up, we get to finally get some new material from Houkago Teibou Nisshi. This time around, we get a little more from Hina and Natsumi as they become better acquainted with the Fishing Club. It was amusing to see how prominent Natsumi has gotten as she gave significant pushback about the Jacke given how unfashionable it would be to wear such equipment, tried to get everyone on board with throwing down on desserts before they even got to the fishing supply shop, and helped pitch in for a hat for Hina in spite of her idea to take credit for the purchase. It was also neat to hear more about how squid could be caught with your standard fishing reel as long as you use the right egi as your tackle.

But the upperclassmen stand out as such fun characters to follow throughout the episode.
Yuuki’s bond with Natsumi was hilarious as the newbie’s smart mouth gets on Yuuki’s highest nerves. It’s funny to see how much they end up teasing each other considering how usually, the upperclassmen and newer students tend to be worlds apart in most slice-of-life anime.

Oono Makoto is another great character for being a stealth role-model for the new recruits considering how lackadaisical Yuuki can get about having to teach the newbies. At the same time, she hashes over the concerns she has for getting cute fishing gear when they don’t have as many cute ones that match her height. It’s also adorable to see how flustered she gets for someone who is usually calm, collected, and towers over the rest of her fellow club members. Luckily, she gets to stand out more in this episode as well since she was able to catch the squid that they’d eventually take into the clubroom to make sashimi out of.

It’s still pretty niche, but I’m enjoying Houkago Teibou Nisshi as a nice, breezy slice-of-life anime. With how much is going on, it’s great to watch something that has such an easygoing vibe to it, and this anime really fills in that void for a cozy show this season.