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While Doga Koba is deviating a bit from their norm with Sing “Yesterday” for Me, they are still animating a CGDCT anime this season, Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater. Animating two anime for a season isn’t an atypical occurrence but I do hope the studio is taking it a little easy with the pandemic going on.
But about the show. The first episode of Breakwater has a pretty typical set up with slice of life/school club anime. City girl Hina Tsurugi (Kanon Takao) moves to her old coastal town and intends to join the Handicrafts Club at the school she’s transferring to. Before her first day however, she runs into Yuuki Kuroiwa, leader of the school’s fishing club. Noticing that Hina’s motor skills from handcrafting would translate well to handling fishing equipment, Yuuki asks the city girl to give the activity a try.
Having spent much of her life in the city, Hina is neither experienced in fishing nor is really comfortable being around sea creatures (or bugs for that matter). That makes her ideal as a viewpoint character for a show whose subject matter might turn some viewers off (I’ve personally enjoyed fishing but it’s not for everyone). Characters have a good excuse explaining the equipment and techniques and Hina’s unease with, say, using chum or catching an octopus is something viewers can relate with.
Yuuki provides much entertainment for the premiere. She’s quite proud of her rural background, speaking with a heavy accent and often teasing Hina for being a city girl. Unlike Hina, she’s completely comfortable with the act of fishing as well as butchering and cooking the food she catches. The resulting clash of culture and attitude makes for some fun chemistry. Yuuki’s also quite mischievous, deliberately pushes Hina a bit out of her comfort zone (and I do mean comfort zone) and coerces her into signing up for the Breakwater Club which is low on members. While definitely a slimy move, Yuuki does apologize and offers to rescind the application when Hina expresses second thoughts. She also convinces Hina to give fishing another whirl, resulting in a more positive experience. For all her mischief, she does want the newbie to enjoy fishing.
Also introduced in this premiere are Hina’s childhood friend Natsumi Nodaka (Natsumi kawaida) and another club veteran Makoto Onno (Satomi Akesaka). Natsumi being a familiar face helps Hina ease into the fishing hobby, even providing the city girl with some tidbits. Makoto isn’t too prevalent in the episode, it doesn’t help that she’s supposed to be the quiet type, but the show will inevitably get to her.
I doubt this show will knock my socks off. With some exceptions, Doga Kobo’s CGDCT offerings tend to be more run of the mill. Still, this show looks competent enough and should tide you over for the season, that is unless you have a really strong aversion to fishing.
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ED: “Tsuri no Sekai e” by Umino High School Teibou-bu
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Thanks for reading!
Watch Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater on Funimation
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