Houkago Teibou Nisshi - Introduction, TV Anime Details and Expectations.

Houkago Teibou Nisshi - Kousaka Yasuyuki
Serialised in Young Champion Retsu
Genre - Slice of Life

Setting and Synopsis -
Houkago Teibou Nisshi starts off with the main character, Tsurigi Hina, who favours indoors activities, she has a love for knitting. Hina and her family move to the small beach town of Ashiya-machi in Fukuoka, Kyushu. She and her family had previously lived in Ashiya-machi as it happens to be the home town of her father. After a meeting with a member of the Teibou club, she gets pressured into joining the club and involved in outdoor activities like fishing.

Story and Comment

There is no story as such in Houkago, after all its a series about a girl coming out of her shell and discovering new things and various different ways to have fun that might have otherwise been difficult if not impossible in Kanto. I do believe there is both a fulfilment and a role in the development of the person in trying different things such as fishing and other activities of leisure but i do feel perhaps a bit irked is that it might be subtly saying indoor activities are not as fun and fulfilling as outdoors. Indoor activities like knitting, playing board games like chess and the likes can not only help with the development of motor skills but also help in the development and maintenance of the brain.  This might perhaps not be the intention of the author at all but It was just something that I felt like highlighting.

In addition, the plot device of that leads to the Hina joining the club seems to me like bullying, it is especially highlighted by the unwillingness of Hina at first to go to the club. Her enjoyment of the activities does eventually mean it is forgotten but it leaves a bitter taste of a poor plot device that is commonly used.

In other aspects like the technical side of fishing, the series seem to be well researched. So it can be something that could get people interested in fishing, in a similar way that Yuru Camp got many people into camping.

TV Anime Staff -

The series will be animated by the studio Doga Kobo. A studio that has a lot of experience with similar series to Hougkago Teibou Nisshi like Yuru Yuri and other series which are primarily slice of life and have no overarching plot.

Ookuma Takaharu will be the director, it will be his first time directing a series. He has previous worked as animation director, assistant director in various series like Sabage-bu, Mitsudomoe and Yuru Yuri. Similarly to the studio, he has vast experience in slice of life series.

In a similar vein comes Shimo Fumihiko with the series composition, she has also worked before in various slice of life series like Stella no Mahou, New Game, Anima Yell and many others.

Next is Kumagai Katsuhiro with the character designs which from visuals seem to replicate the original work's art style perfectly. His backlog of works is thin when compared to the others, but the visuals do look good so far.

It is in safe hands but what can it achieve?

Houkago is in a genre that is kind of a stable nowadays, series with a similar mood are present in almost every anime season with hits like Non Non Biyori, Yuru Camp and Gochuumon Usagi desu ka?  in recent years. Thus it might be a question of whether Hougako Teibou Nisshi provides something that slice of life series that were not too successful did not. It is the fishing element that for me makes Houkago stand out, fishing is not typically the topic of a lot of anime, specifically casual fishing. Houkago represents it as exciting activity in itself but it also shows the aftermath by showing different fishes and ways to prepare, cook and eat them. Fishing is after all a fun activity that can be practiced leisurely and competitively in addition it can be done socially in groups or alone. It is this that can be the standout feature of Houkago Teibou Nisshi, so i do believe it can be successful anime.