Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

"Grandma, the outside is not scary at all."

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish may have had a slightly bumpy start, but it knows its own strengths and uses it to build its momentum. At its apex, this film shines in all its beauty and fills you up with all sorts of emotions. What you will witness from this anime is the clear result of a passionate team that knows how to delicately craft a story that is able to stand out among the crowd of modern anime.

Josee's story contains several tropes, including cliche ones, but it is able to execute them when time is appropriate and the result is of praise. The main characters, Josee and Tsuneo, got to meet each other through a coincidence, which is nothing special but certainly not bad. Their relationship went off to a rocky beginning, however, when both of them realized their similar interest for the ocean, it kicked off the steady climb in terms of their understanding of each other. That is great and all, but it was not yet what I was looking for. Josee always had a love for drawing of the ocean and fishes. She even dreams of her swimming as a mermaid in an underwater world with fishes. The part of the story that heavily stuck out to me was the scene where Josee reads a storybook to the children. Every page of the storybook was painted by Josee; every page of the storybook encapsulates Josee's love for the ocean. The story? An analogy of her dearest memories with Tsuneo. It really pulled my heartstrings. I teared up.

Alongside the story, Josee featured spectacular technical qualities. From the art to the voice acting, there is nothing I can really complain about at all. The soft lineart along with a colorful palette really suited what this film is about. They were consistent with it, and it allowed for dynamic facial expressions as well. If I were to nitpick something real quick, it would be the 3DCG standing out at times during certain parts of the film. Although that's not too much of a concern since most of the movie uses animated drawings, I figured to still point it out as a room for improvement. Other than that, I was particularly impressed with its lighting. It's something a lot of studios tend to cut corners on, but in all honesty good lighting can give your film an entire layer of color.

The OSTs for Josee were good, though I would not go out of my way to say it is breathtaking. Even so, Eve's 'Ao no Waltz' was quite powerful and incredible, what else can I really comment on. The voice acting, however, was really something else. Kaya Kiyohara really outperformed herself with the Kansai accent and the passionate immersion in her role; but that might just be me with my soft spot for Kansai accents.

In a romance film, what really matters is the character dynamic. How was it? I do not think their dynamics are original in any way, but it was executed in a manner that did not feel excessively tropey and overused. Pretty much what you might see in other romance series or movies, two main characters and two supporting characters, with the two girls soon falling in love with the same guy. This dynamic faintly reminds me of shows like Toradora, but with a lot less pointless drama. The latter factor allowed me to enjoy this film much more, and I am glad for that. I found the interactions between Josee and Tsuneo to be really cute though. I am weak for blushing, but they just kept blushing in romantically adorable ways. I give them an additional 10 points for tugging my heartstring.

On the whole, Josee, the Tiger and the Fish does use tropes, it does have character dynamics that have appeared in other shows before. At the same time, it features a promisingly solid story with its own times to truly shine alongside a magnificent production quality. Personally, I am biased to a cute romance couple so I enjoyed it a lot. Would I recommend it? Sure, it is a great film to just watch with a friend or even alone.