What do I do when it comes to shows and movies that pile on the melodrama, I ask myself whenever one comes along. A show like P.A Works’ A Lull In The Sea keeps piling it on episode-by-episode but because the setting and theme works so well, it’s something that wasn’t a major problem. Meanwhile a movie like Maquia (also by P.A Works) has an issue when it comes to it all. And why? Because back when I saw it, the melodrama really dominated the entire movie, leaving the rest of it be like some sideshow, including the gorgeous-looking fantasy world the movie was set in.
Josee, The Tiger and The Fish is originally a short story from 1984 by Seiko Tanabe, and had had already been adapted twice: once in a 2003 live-action film, and the other in a Korean film released last year. But while the live-action films were far more mature in their nature, this anime adaptation by Bones takes us on more of a light-hearted journey, while sticking to the atypical traits of a romance anime.
I think there was just one thing that was holding me back slightly. I had already read some critics’ reviews, all of which using words like ‘must watch’, ‘remarkable’ and ‘absolute gem’. But was it, really? Or was my own personal relationship with melodramatic anime getting in the way of my enjoyment?
Tsuneo is a college student studying marine biology, who has plans to study in Mexico. A chance encounter leads him to Kumiko, an highly-talented illustrator who is confined to a wheelchair. Around the start of the film, we see that they both have very different personalities; while he is more optimistic about life, Kumiko (or Josee, as she prefers to be called) has grown to be a bitter, crabby and unpleasant girl due to being confined in her grandmother’s house for so long. I have a bit to say about her, but first let’s go on to what one of the major themes Josee, The Tiger and The Fish has: chasing dreams.
Tsuneo already has his set in stone. Throughout, we get to see how pumped he is with the thought of going abroad to study the one thing that he is enthusiastic about, ever since he was a young boy. He knows that that dream won’t be rosy, and so decides to take a lot of part-time jobs to raise the money he would likely need while he is on the other side of the world. We even get a small backstory of how he has been learned to live independently after his parents divorced, and so the movie portrays him as this all-round nice guy. Josee, on the other hand, does have her own dream of illustrating, but has grown more pessimistic and even angry due to needing a wheelchair. In her eyes, this dream of her is out-of-reach, and so has pretty much given up on it, choosing to be a burden to her grandmother.
That chance encounter of theirs leads Tsuneo to becoming Josee’s ‘servant’. While he doesn’t really cook or clean (or at least, we don’t get to see him do it), Josee begins to drive Tsuneo insane due to the petty things she wants him to do, like counting grooves in tatami mats, or going out to find four-leaved clovers. Eventually Tsuneo discovers how Josee wants to leave her prison and see the wide open world with her own eyes. And it was this part of the movie that I found the most interesting: Josee’s own restrictions, both physically and mentally.
Her disability has meant that she has had no-one else to talk to; while we don’t hear much about what happened to her parents, her grandmother believes she is doing the right thing by keeping her inside, safe from all the evils of the big and scary world. This confinement means that, despite being 24, she is incredibly childish, emotional and immature. And so it’s by chance that her ‘servant’ Tsuneo plays along with her plan of sneaking out and doing things in the outside world some of us might take for granted, like seeing the ocean, visiting a zoo or aquarium, or going on a train.
I thought it was very sweet to see this change in her as time goes on, from becoming someone incredibly afraid of the outside world to someone who grows to enjoy both the beauty and the dangers of it. We see these moments where she has to meet people she is unfamiliar with, and go to places she has never been to before. Tsuneo ends up becoming more and more willing to take her on these journeys, and so it’s only when the big bad world bites the both of them in the backside that they both realize not everything is sunshine and rainbows, or the fairytale they were hoping for.
As for the movie itself, it is a very beautiful watch. Their encounters in life, especially when it comes to the sea and watching marine life go by, are moments where we can sit back and savor how pretty it all is. Josee’s own illustrations and watercolor paintings are a treat to look at as well. As time goes on in the movie itself, everything around them just looks prettier somehow. The movie does have, I think, an issue when it comes to the portrayal of disability; at first Josee is often seen as someone who is in need of help or rescue, and so it’s only as time goes by, and she grows more confident in the outside world, when she is able to help herself.
Its final arc is where the movie is at its most melodramatic and bittersweet, though. I’m not spoiling what happens at all, but what I will say is that it is something that makes the two of them wake up and take notice of what life is really about. Despite even that, the movie doesn’t falter when it comes to telling their love story. Instead of help being one-way, with Tsuneo feeling like he is the one leading Josee out into the real world outside of her ‘prison’, Josee uses her newly-learned skills to make their relationship become two-way.
Josee, The Tiger and The Fish is a very sweet movie to watch, full to the brim with melodrama, gorgeous animation and a very cute love story. It doesn’t get too emotional or saccharine, and makes us actually want their relationship and romance to have the happy ending that they deserve. And by not going into any mature themes like past adaptations have done and made it more family-friendly (it received a PG rating here in the UK), it’s something that everyone can enjoy…and cry at, depending on how you like your melodrama.
Josee, The Tiger and The Fish was available to watch in theaters in the US/Canada on July. 12. 2021, with its release in the UK/Ireland on August. 11.