English Dub Season Review: Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Hina is a girl who moved to the countryside and she meets Yuki, another high schooler on the docks. Yuki makes a deal with her to remove the octopus Hina caught in exchange for joining the small fishing club. She reunites with Natsumi, an old friend, and is introduced to Makoto, a second-year at their high school. Despite her initial rejection Hina tries out the club and learns to have fun while fishing.

She learns the basics of fishing and the gear from the members. Every time they catch a large fish or have a large haul the girls cook it at their clubroom. On occasion, their club advisor, Sayaka, will join them for the free food. Over time Hina grows as she makes decisions like suggesting what they fish for the day or saving the heron that kept taking her catches from the tangled fishing line on its leg. In the end, the girls continue to their high school days going out to fish.

 

Our Take:  

Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater is a cute high school comedy anime about four high schoolers fishing in the countryside. The opening is good and it fits the cheerful mood of the anime. The ending has jazz with the girls singing to its tune. The accents in the voice acting help with the countryside setting of the anime. The animation is good I enjoyed how exciting it made fishing be.

Now if you’re looking for any high school events like a school festival you won’t find any in this anime. The girls spend all of their time near water be it at the beach or under a bridge fishing for freshwater prawns. Each episode showcases a different type of aquatic animal and their characteristic. Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater also displays the different types of methods on how people fish and the different fishing spots.

Aside from the fishing, there are also the preparations that go into fishing as the girls frequent a fishing supplies store to get their supplies using their club funds. In one episode of the show, the girls have to get a fishing permit to fish for the freshwater prawns. It’s pretty informative on why they need the fishing permits. In addition, I do like the minor characters like the old man that runs the fishing supplies store since he resembles the octopus mascot of his store.

Most of the problems in the anime revolve around Hina figuring out why she’s not getting the fish. There are also not any conflicts between the girls which is nice. There’s only one high school-related problem and it’s the midterms where Hina has to study for. The heron incident stuck out to me as in one episode Hina and the girls see a heron with a fishing line tangling its leg. After seeing it Hina does some research on her dad’s computer and goes to Yuki to figure out a way to get the tangled fishing line off on the heron. They successfully get the fishing line off the heron, and that scene was a good change of pace of the anime to discuss the environmental issues.

Hina is an indoors type of girl with a fear of bugs and likes handicrafts. After being coerced into joining the fishing club which is notorious for having weirdos as members she at first tries to reject it. However, after hearing Yuki’s suggestion on trying something new Hina does try to fish and she grows to like fishing. The series continues with Hina learning new things about fishing from the prey they catch to the gear. While in the club she reveals her competitive spirit with fishing.

I did enjoy how the show uses her talent in handicrafts and applies it to making knots or untangling the fishing reels. Fishing and handicrafts even come together when she makes a cute fish plushie to help her with gutting the real fish. It later evolves into crafted plushies for the other girls who try out the plush-making process. When Hina catches a flatfish for the first time it’s an exciting and terrifying event. After catching it she has to take its life as it’s her responsibility since she’s the one who caught it. Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater did a good job at incorporating lessons like that in its episodes.

Natsumi is a childhood friend of Hina back when Hina used to visit during the summers. Her vibrant personality and quirks make her a great foil to the shy Hina. When Hina tries fishing outside of club activities she’s stuck because the fishes aren’t interested in her rig. Natsumi explains when she joins Hina that it’s because she was using larger hooks. She’s the person Hina goes to for tutoring before the midterms, and it adds another side to her character.

Makoto is the resident chef in the club that is often seen wearing a life jacket. She is responsible for cooking the catch of the day and it is mouth-watering to watch. From tempura to sashimi Makoto can cook pretty well, she even does like a cooking segment with Hina and it’s cute. She does know how to fish like the rest of the club members as she teaches Hina how to cast. The reason why she wears a life jacket is because of a childhood accident. It’s even a problem in one of the later episodes where the girls get a lesson from Sayaka on learning how to float in deeper water.

Yuki is the one who roped Hina into joining as the club needed more members. She’s the club president and she mostly sits in her foldable chair than fishing. Despite her mischievous personality when it comes to getting people to do things Yuki is wise and kind. She helps Hina navigate through her problems with small suggestions and broadens Hina’s perspective to enjoy fishing.

Overall the show is an interesting watch for anyone who’s curious about fishing. It’s definitely a different experience from other high school animes.