I do enjoy a bit of Shuichi Okita, ever since I first saw "The Story of Yonosuke" (2013), through to his recent "Hey! Our Dear Don-chan" (2022). In fact, the last couple of years have been somewhat prolific for Okita, and so I was sure I would enjoy the very Okita-like "The Fish Tale."
Based on real-life, fish-loving TV personality "Sakana-kun," this is the tale of young Meebo (Non) who grows to a similar fate. As a young girl, Meebo is obsessed with fish in all their shapes and sizes. She is single-minded in her dedication, but this starts to impact on her relationships with others, and indeed her life skills. On reaching adulthood, she moves to Tokyo with fish in her heart, but barely a thought in her mind.
She fails at a series of fish-associated jobs, but finds luck in meeting various estranged friends in the city who all offer her a nudge in the right direction: notably Momoko (Kaho), who gets her work curating luxury fish tanks; and more successfully Hiyo (Yuya Yagira), who now works as a TV director.
Okita's characters are always fish out of water, and Meebo is certainly that. Non enthusiastically plays the role of the enthusiast from her teens onwards, with an ever- growing smile, even when getting most personal with fish. Very much like Kengo Kora in "Yonosuke," she has an infectiousness that sees people drawn in and an earnestness that means people can't be mad at her.
But despite the happy-go-lucky spirit, the big city dents some dreams. The coming-of-age realisation is that simply loving something isn't enough. Having never applied herself to anything else or shown any discipline, she is simply not cut out to work a job she would enjoy. Meebo can only be herself, and luckily for her, a friend can make use of that.
Okita always has a warm heart and wants earnestness to succeed. Meebo, therefore, does, but only through a series of exceptional coincidences with people from her past bumping into her present. In many ways this is similar to "Yonosuke" as, episodically, each character recalls how Meebo touched their lives now they have matured and able to appreciate her naivety.
The coincidences, however, don't always make for great storytelling, as Meebo repeatedly fails, yet seems to fall upwards. The hardship and struggl doesn't quite feel real enough. The high school, yanki delinquent scenes in the middle are a little too goofy, and a little out of sorts from where the beginning and end have these characters develop.
Meebo herself, despite full of charms, is perhaps a little too quirky at times to be fully believable. Okita's characters are often humble and with faults, but likeable. Here, they are much more suited to manga or anime, somewhat larger than life. Where his other works and characters are at times awkward, "The Fish Tale" and Meebo are at times annoying, and so not as strong and well developed.
Okita's signature long runtime, however, is not unwelcome. As ever episodic, breaking things down into chunks makes this easily digestible; and weaker moments will soon be replaced by better ones. Okita wants to focus on the positive side of life, and so "The Fish Tale" leaves you with that feel good vibe he wants you to take away. In many ways, the film leaves you like an encounter with Meebo: confused, but smiling.
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