Josee to Tora to Sakana-tachi

Equipped with his passion for diving and admiration for marine biology, university student Tsuneo Suzukawa tries his best to juggle several part-time jobs to earn enough money to study abroad. But one night, in a fateful accident, he meets a girl in a wheelchair, driving his current path into a detour.

The girl, Kumiko—who prefers to be called "Josee"—initially comes off as rude. Tsuneo, however, is then convinced by Josee's grandmother to take on the paid job to be Josee's caretaker. Despite being annoyed with her bossy demeanor, Tsuneo sees the opportunity to save more funds to support his academic dream. Nonetheless, after putting up with Josee's behavior for some time, Tsuneo tries to quit, only to discover Josee's dreams of traversing the outside world—to experience a life free from her crippling condition.

Changing his mind, Tsuneo decides to accompany Josee in exploring the wonders that the world has to offer. Through their time together, the two begin to realize that the traits that bind them may be vital toward fulfilling their respective aspirations.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Josee Main

Kiyohara, Kaya Japanese

Suzukawa, Tsuneo Main

Nakagawa, Taishi Japanese

Ninomiya, Mai Supporting

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Matsuura, Hayato Supporting

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Kishimoto, Kana Supporting

Lynn Japanese

Yamamura, Chizu Supporting

Matsutera, Chiemi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Suzuki, Mari Producer

Mukai, Kouichirou Producer

Kasahara, Shuuzou Producer

Reviews

Aug 31, 2024

tonaruto044

Recommended

"What is the taste of sea?"

In the world of romcoms, "mediocre" would be the word to describe most of them. It's so rare to come by a piece of fiction in this category that can "Wow" you and truly success in bringing out your true emotions, I'd say this movie have succeeded. The movie have everything I ever wanted in a romance — A story that perfectly blends together the character, the twist and turns, the emotions and the clichés. "Josee, the Tiger and the Fish", unlike the others, expresses a sensation that ... none have ever had.

This movie is centered around the heroine Kumiko (who is also "Josee") and the hero Tsuneo Suzukawa (Who is often referred to by Josee as "Servant"). The plot is a simple yet fulfilling story between the characters that are introduced. I can almost feel like I was there with them, as the two main characters while watching. I can feel the feelings of delight, hopelessness, and most importantly hope itself. Everyone, everywhere had a meaning and a sentiment to it. This movie manages its moments of cliché perfectly. Many movies use these moments as a plot device in order to elevate the story. While "Josee, the Tiger and the Fish" has them, the movie uses it without it being cringey.

What I especially love is how everything develops. From the feelings the two main characters have for each other changing, to how the surrounding themselves morphs into the characters' mood is just simply magnificent. The characters are consistent and they truly feel like they are humans and not some terrible ways to try and convey the story to the audience.

From where you look at it, this movie can be a simple and straight forward movie: The heroine meets the hero and the two went through their troubles together, then ended up as a pair. To enjoy this movie is to not look at the start and the end, however, it's to look at how the story progressed.

This story was enjoyable, it made me and my friend giggle, it made myself think that I was missing out on something. This movie had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I couldn't bring myself to not smile. Simply enjoyable.

10/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 1, 2024

griddyweeb

Mixed Feelings

Not a bad watch by any means, but it doesn't have a conclusion besides a surface level "never give up" wisdom. Will explain that further below with minor spoilers. The movie feels a bit short, but it really isn't, it's just a bit slow so it feels short. Still an enjoyable experience, but leaves you with a bad taste.

The 2 main characters seem well written but they're not being showcased deeply, we don't get much insight into their feelings. I don't mind if an anime refuses to use internal monologues at all, I even like they take the challenge, it can be viewed as a ... cheap way to get the message across to the viewer. But if you can't find another way to make it work then it's still better to just use the "cheap" method. Side characters are just the regular filler characters, can't expect much more from a movie because of the limited time, so I won't hold that against it.

I was pleased with the art, nothing crazy, but it looked good when it mattered.

----------- LIGHT SPOILERS --------------
Not hard to guess that a romance show has a confession eventually. Not hard to guess where this story is going even if you only read the synopsis, but sure, spoiler ahead. The confession happens at the very end and that's it. There are random scenes afterwards of their near and not so far future, but really there's not much. Watching any romance show warrants some kind of romantic development and a confession, that's the bottom line. What matters is how the development is made and the climax when they confess, but if the whole thing ends with "I love you" "I love you too", there's no message or a lesson to be learned, that's not an ending. It was a fine experience in terms of romantic development, but the ending makes me question if it was worth my time. Still, I'm happy I didn't skip this movie.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 22, 2022

RebelPanda

Not Recommended

I consider myself a very patient person. It takes a lot to get under my skin. Even when I watch bad anime, I still enjoy riffing on the flaws.

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish managed to irritate me. Trying to finish it was like waiting at the end of a school day, watching the clock tick tick tick… I constantly paused to take in the frustrating decisions the characters made, then brace myself for more melodrama. The protagonist, Tsuneo, is a lot like me. Maybe that's why I had such a strong reaction to it. We're both 22-year-old guys planning to study abroad, working a ... part-time job to save money. Except, he's much more patient and resilient to psychological abuse than I am.

His tormenter is named Josee. A slightly older woman with a disability that prevents her from walking. You might assume from the art that she is a pleasant person. That is so far from the truth. Tsuneo and Josee met by coincidence—someone pushed her down a hill. Luckily Tsuneo caught her moments before she hit the pavement. Instead of graciously thanking him for saving her life, she accuses him of being a pervert for groping her. He did not. Their wacky facial expressions imply this false sexual assault accusation was meant as a joke—that's the kind of tone-deaf humor we're dealing with here. Their relationship proceeds as follows: Tsuneo wastes his time and energy to ensure her happiness and livelihood while she begrudgingly puts up with him. A series of contrived unfortunate events befall Josee throughout the film. That's what forces him to stay by her side and help. After saving her from nearly dying, Josee's grandmother invites him in for dinner. For some reason, everyone ignores the sexual assault thing. Her grandmother continues inviting him over to assist with chores for payment. While writing a thesis, applying to school abroad, and a part-time job, he chooses to keep working for this bizarre family for a bit of cash. Josee calls him her "Servant" but she treats him like that too, and this is supposed to be cute? Why the hell does he put up with her awful personality? Josee and Tsuneo's dreams merge in Kon-esque psychedelic montages, among other unanswered questions. Cool, but why?

Nothing about the art style stood out aside from the dream sequences. At least the animation is fine, but the background art is pretty bad for a Bones production. I appreciate that they animated everyone with 2D rather than CGI, the complex movements of crowds and designs of each one take time and commitment to a seamless experience. The compositing was quite good too. Characters blended with the background well because of the soft line art and lighting filters.

I love stories about awful people. One of my favorite anime is Monster (2004). The antagonist Johan Libert is a devilish serial killer. The difference between Johan and Josee is that we understand why he murders people because he's well written. We're assured his actions are morally reprehensible because the protagonist recognizes his unwavering cruelty. Whereas Josee to Tora wants us to believe she is completely justified and we should root for her success. Tsuneo returns to her, not even for the money, to be tormented. His autonomy, dreams, and self-respect vanish into thin air at Josee's will. Josee blackmails Tsuneo by saying she'd accuse him of sexual assault again, and he's forced to oblige. Do human beings do this? Unlikely, but not impossible. Do human beings fall in love with blackmailers? I hope not, but evidently, this dude does. I regret to inform you this is a "love" story. Is Tsuneo a masochist? Likely. Is he desensitized to abuse? Very likely. The most frustrating thing about him is that he's too one-dimensional to loathe him. There's nothing to him that explains his self-destructive choices. His closest friend is only interested in chasing women rather than worrying about this man's descent into madness. The side cast is equally inconsequential, and the character designs are not unique at all. Other torture porn movies go through great effort to acknowledge the misery—he just suffers emotionlessly.

Josee takes advantage of Tsuneo's kindness (or stupidity) by guilt-tripping him. When she's feeling sad that he's gone, she avoids him until he runs back like a dog—sometimes returning with an apology gift as though he did something wrong. Tsuneo simply speaking to a female friend makes Josee bitter and jealous, despite still treating him like dirt beneath her wheels. Rather than talking things through, she manipulates him into staying with her. One unfortunate coincidence after another forces them together… And now it's a romance. The movie repurposes old cliches—sudden death, freak accidents, and rapid mood swings for a quick burst of melodrama. One or two contrivances are easy to overlook. The ENTIRE story is made of contrived situations.

Despite being the most rational voice in the movie, Tsuneo's female friend (the one Josee hates) the film treats her as rude and unsympathetic. Firstly, she treats him like her equal, respects his space, and is open about her feelings. She is not flawless; however, she always attempts to speak rationally by asking Josee to treat Tsuneo with dignity. Suddenly, she drops degrading comments that make her attempts seem artificial and misguided. The script implicitly validates Josee's disdain for the woman. A well-written character doesn't randomly alter their personality like her. It is a pattern of contradictions used to absolve Josee of her rude behavior. Josee herself is not a very likable character unless you love kawaii cliches and hate yourself. There are a few pros to her: The screenwriters illustrate ableism in a way that's not condescending. A businessman bumps into her wheelchair and blames her for getting in the way because of her condition. It evokes an intense reaction without preaching. Portraying people with disabilities is often a problem anime have—see Komi-san Can't Communicate. Since the film is based on a live-action movie from 2003, I'm assuming the themes were forward for the time. Nowadays, they could've done a lot more to realistically convey life for someone with a disability.

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2003) had a different ending than the animated version. I doubt it could've been any worse than the overly idealistic way this insidious crap wrapped up. Imagine a train full of cow manure derailing into a burning pit full of used needles—it was worse. Many of us know what it is like to be manipulated. Watching it romanticized disgusted me. A tragic event portrayed through rose-tinted glasses. I understand these characters are just lines on a screen, but they are lines I despised. If you found something to love here, as so many people seemed to, I'm happy for you. If this sounds like something you'd hate, avoid it. Please, God, avoid it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Reason behind josee disability apexvoid - Aug 21	13 replies	by polnalyubvi »» Aug 24, 2:19 AM
	Poll: Josee to Tora to Sakana-tachi Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Whateverlife - Apr 12, 2021	220 replies	by renzospark »» Aug 18, 2:22 AM
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	Question about the ending mechian - Dec 24, 2020	29 replies	by RobertBobert »» Jun 17, 12:00 AM
	About Mai ( 1 2 ) iwun1 - Jul 25, 2021	50 replies	by removed-user »» May 30, 11:21 PM