After falling into a depression, Tsunehiro Sasaki stops going to college and wracks up a huge gambling debt. To make matters worse, a doctor discovered a brain tumor and tells him he only has about two years to live.
While fleeing from debt collectors, Sasaki falls into the ocean where he is rescued by a group of friends fishing. Joining them on their fishing trip and offered a job at the convenience store they all work at, Sasaki eventually begins to see the charms of fishing himself.
All the delicious fish of fishing and all the delicious character drama of a sports anime, Negative Positive Angler provides a balanced meal for the weary soul. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Negative Positive Angler, head on down below.
Anime Like Negative Positive Angler
For Fans of Fishing
Diary Of Our Days At The Breakwater
Hina Tsurugi has just moved to a quiet seaside town with her family.
While visiting the ocean, she stumbles upon a girl named Yuuki who invites her to join her while fishing. Hina manages to land an octopus, but being afraid of bugs and big creatures, she begs Yuuki to remove it when it lands on her.
Yuuki uses this as an opportunity to try to get her to join the Breakwater Club, a club where members catch and eat fish.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and Diary of Our Days at The Breakwater
- Main character uninterested in fishing is strong-armed into fishing and ends up loving it.
- Educational about fishing techniques, equipment, catching different kinds of fish, and – of course – eating said fish.
- Diverse cast of interesting, easy to like characters who enjoy fishing for different reasons
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and Diary of Our Days at The Breakwater
- Diary of Our Days at The Breakwater is about school girls in a fishing club rather than adults. As its cast is all-female, it can be a bit Cute Girls Doing Cute Things about it too.
- Diary of Our Days at The Breakwater is highly focused on fishing, and doesn’t really have the same deeper character drama that Negative Positive Angler fills a decent chunk of time with.
- The main character in Diary of Our Days at The Breakwater takes to fishing a lot faster.
- Diary of Our Days at The Breakwater is rural, beachy vibes while Negative and Positive Angler does well to show fishing in a city setting.
Slow Loop
As a young girl, Hiyori’s father taught her the joys of fly fishing. Even after he unexpectedly passed away, she still uses fishing as a way to feel connected to him.
One day while fishing, she meets and energetic new girl in town named Koharu who ends up fishing and eating said fish together. However, when she returns home, she discovers that Koharu is also her new step-sister.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and Slow Loop
- Newbies going fishing with more experienced fishers
- Both are fishing anime, but also equally as much about the characters addressing their personal problems.
- Educational about fishing, different types of fishing techniques, and eating fish
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and Slow Loop
- Slow Loop is very clearly a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime with its cast of exclusively cute, moe school girls.
- The character drama in Slow Loop is more family-focused and it doesn’t feature the large array of diverse character backstories that you get in Negative Positive Angler
- The main character in Slow Loop is the experience fisher who is teaching her new step-sister.
- Slow Loop is a rural setting while Negative Positive Angler is unique in exploring fishing in its urban setting.
Tsuritama
Yuki Sanada is a socially awkward young man that, due to his grandmother’s job, has to move around a lot. He has all but given up on making normal friends until he moved to the town of Enoshima.
There, he meets a man named Haru who claims to be an alien. It turns out Yuki was right on one account, he would never make “normal” friends.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and Tsuritama
- Main character uninterested in fishing is forced to start fishing
- A group of outcasts are brought together through a shared love of fishing
- Sizable cast of unique, interesting characters with their own reasons to love fishing
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and Tsuritama
- Tsuritama is far more of a comedy, and features sci-fi elements that detach it from reality.
- Tsuritama is rural and vibrant while Negative Positive Angler is urban and subdued
- Tsuritama is less educational about fishing
- Tsuritama has interesting character stories, but they aren’t as modern and “real” feeling like in Negative Positive Angler.
For Fans of Chronically Depressed, Adrift, Struggling Through Life
March Comes In Like A Lion
Rei Kiriyama recently started to live alone in his last year of high school. He is able to financial support himself as a professional Shogi player, but while he officially became a pro in middle school, he is collapsing under the pressure to succeed.
Burdened with his own problems, Rei has found solace among a kind family of three sisters, the Kawamotos. The oldest, Akari, likes to take in strays and Rei is the latest.
While he feels conflicted about spending time with them, they provide the accepting affection that he has gotten nowhere else.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and March Comes In Like A Lion
- Chronically depressed, socially outcasted main character
- Educational about seemingly uninteresting subject matter that it uses at a catalyst for character stories (fishing, shogi)
- Main character’s clandestine meeting with strangers helps him form social connections and re-ignites interest in his life.
- Sizable cast of complex characters with diverse back stories/problems to explore
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and March Comes In Like A Lion
- March Comes in Like a Lion is about a middle school shogi prodigy with depression and a complicated family dynamic all amidst high pressure to live up to professional expectations.
- March Comes in Like a Lion develops a romantic element
- Negative Positive Angler is more subtle with its character stories, and not everyone has super dramatic problems. March Comes in Like a Lion is not heavy-handed with its exploration of its drama, but does have more of it.
Barakamon
After losing his temper on a critic, renowned calligraphy artist Sieshuu Handa is exiled to the Goto Islands by his father for a period of self-reflection.
There, he seeks to find new inspiration for his art, but finds that his neighbors and some neighborhood kids keep getting in his way.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and Barakamon
- Troubled main character finds peace among the simple pleasures of the people that pull him into stuff.
- Main characters working through their various issues around other people who are seemingly living their best lives.
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and Barakamon
- Barakamon follows an artist with anger issues that is sent to a rural island to sort his shit out. So, not so much “depression and brain tumor” like Sasaki, but he still is someone who lost his zest for life.
- Barakamon is often a comedy series as the main character who is besieged by cheerful neighborhood children that show him to enjoy simple pleasures.
- Barakmon fully embraces its peaceful rural setting while Negative Positive Angler is very urban.
- While Barakamon is about a calligraphy artist, it isn’t so educational on the topic like Negative Positive Angler is with fishing.
Super Cub
Koguma is a student who has nothing. She lives alone, has no hobbies, and no friends. However, one day she stops by a vehicle shop in hopes of getting a motor scooter for her commute.
Disheartened by price tags initially, she is sold on an old pre-owned Super Cub. However, what she didn’t know is the many different ways that the scooter would open up her world.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and Super Cub
- Depressed, isolated, adrift main character finds a hobby and makes meaningful connections with others.
- Surprisingly educational on technical subjects (fishing, mopeds)
- Interesting, subtle character stories that are explored lightly while the focus is on the activity.
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and Super Cub
- Super Cub is about a lonely high school girl that starts to bond with others after she gets a moped to speed up her commute.
- Super Cub sometimes seems like an advertisement for mopeds more so than an educational exploration of an activity like Negative Positive Angler
- The character stories in Super Cub are more realistic high school problems and not quite as heavy as Negative Positive Angler can get.
The Aquatope of White Sand
After abandoning her career and dream as an idol, Fuuka Miyazawa flees to Okinawa and wanders until she ends up at the Gama Gama Aquarium.
She finds that this small aquarium is on the verge of closing down, meaning the granddaughter of the owner, Kukuru Misakino, is going to lose her dream. Seeing the magic and having nowhere else to go, Fuuka gets a job at the aquarium and she and Kukuru work tirelessly to bring it back from the brink.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and The Aquatope of White Sand
- Adrift adult characters start working a new job they just kind of wandered into while living their rudderless existence.
- Water/fish-themed
- The main character finds meaning in their own life by bonding with other characters with their own problems trying their best to live their lives.
- Large cast with realistic, interesting character drama
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and The Aquatope of White Sand
- Aquatope of White Sand enjoys yuri baiting romance a bit between its two female leads.
- Aquatope of White Sand is about working at a failing aquarium, which is obviously not the same as being about fishing. It also isn’t especially educational on the topic like Negative Positive Angler is.
- Aquatope of White Sand is rural and beachy, not urban like Negative Positive Angler.
Run With The Wind
Once an elite runner, Kakeru is now only running to escape those accusing him of stealing food.
While fleeing, he meets another runner, Haiji, who persuades him to live in his old apartment complex.
There, Kakeru finds it is full of fellow residents who all have one goal – to enter the Hakone Ekiden Marathon. Unfortunately, aside from he and Haiji, they are all pretty novice.
Similarities Between Negative Positive Angler and Run With The Wind
- Character drama explored through characters doing a specific thing (running, fishing)
- Adrift, depressed main characters discovering, or re-igniting, their passion for the thing.
- Educational about the topic at times
- Large cast of interesting adult characters whose various stories are slowly explored as they do the thing.
Differences Between Negative Positive Angler and Run With The Wind
- Run With the Wind is about training for a marathon, so it does place a little more focus on the “sport/competitive nature” of its subject matter.
- Run With The Wind follows an almost all-male cast of college men rather than the more mixed gendered cast of Negative Positive Angler.
- Run With The Wind is about rediscovering passion for running after a traumatic incident rather than a rookie getting into a new hobby like Sasaki in Negative Positive Angler.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Negative Positive Angler? Let fans know in the comments section below.
