Houkago Teibou Nisshi – 12 (END)

「これから…」 (Korekara…)
“From Now On…”

Houkago Teibou Nisshi’s final episode helps wind things down to a satisfying close as we see Hina finally able to catch a whiting fish of her own with the artificial lure. In a fun twist, we also have Hina give the club a chance to learn from her by teaching them all how to sew.

As expected, it’s good to see that Hina had gained some closure on catching the whiting fish by her own accord. And while the hints she received were also written down on the package, it doesn’t take away from the glory that comes from her finally achieving greatness and catching the whiting.

But to me, the most exciting part of the episode was that they actually let Hina take the spotlight by teaching the girls something they’re not familiar with. By focusing on her own personal talents, it helps make Hina look like she can hold her own when she’s spent most of the anime being the student rather than the teacher. This time around, she gets to be more involved with teaching a lesson in the episode as the girls are able to have a good time learning the handicrafts and stitching that Hina likes doing in her spare time.

We also learn that the humorous reason why she didn’t automatically join the Handicrafts Club was because she was mortified by the fact that the club was a sausage-fest and that she’d be the only girl in the club if she joined.

Final Impressions:

It’s great to be able to see that Houkago Teibou Nisshi wrapped up well after everything the show’s been through. At first, I was worried that we wouldn’t get the remainder of the anime since it was one of the shows that was cut short during the Spring season due to the Coronavirus. But with all of it out now, it definitely had more of a Summer vibe to it so it didn’t feel too upsetting to learn that it’d return by then.

One thing that was fun and unique about Houkago Teibou Nisshi was how they never sanitized the act of fishing for food. When I jumped into the show, I assumed they’d be exclusively doing “catch-and-release” fishing. But because part of the club’s rules are to eat what you catch and take with you, they make no bones about giving us the gory details of butchering a fish. From stabbing squids to gutting mackerel, it’s interesting to see a slice-of-life that is as violent as this one solely off the basis that the girls usually cook the fish they catch right then and there.

It also helps that the cast is also fun to follow. Hina’s comical skittishness bounces off of other characters pretty well such as with her friend Natsumi’s energetic “go-with-the-flow” demeanor. Yuuki is an amusing character as well with the mischievous ulterior motives she has towards asking others to do things for her own gain or give her less work to do as the other girls handle the tough tasks. It’s difficult not to cheer for Ohno since she’s the one senior that is both happy to help the underclassmen and has a ton of enthusiasm towards the aspects of fishing she does enjoy. One of the standout characters of the show wound up being Sayaka, who uses her supervisorial role in the Breakwater Club to score herself some free food to chow down on while she binge-drinks all of the beers she has access to.

Houkago Teibou Nisshi was an enjoyable and interesting glance at the trials and tribulations that come from recreational fishing. It was nice to see week-in and week-out what kind of fishing trips they were going on and getting familiar with what their interests were. Shows like this might be meant to last for only a season, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of what Houkago Teibou Nisshi has to offer.