English Dub Review: Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish

 

Overview:

Tsuneo Suzukawa is a college student who has dreams of studying abroad. To try and make this dream happen he works multiple part-time jobs. While on the way home one night he catches a girl who lost control of her wheelchair. Enter Kumiko Yamamura, or as she prefers to be called, Josee. This is a story of love, chasing your dreams, and never giving up.

Our Take:

I have been wanting to see Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish since it was announced. I wanted to see it so bad that I drove 167 miles to the nearest theater that was showing it. Was it worth it? For me, it’s a resounding yes but I’ll discuss as much as I can without spoiling much.

I want to talk about the voice acting first. The titular Josee is played by Suzie Yeung, Tsuneo Suzukawa is voiced by Howard Wang, Mai Ninomiya is voiced by Dani Chambers, and Hayato Matsura is voiced by Zeno Robinson. I want to start by saying that no one did a bad job, everyone was solid. Howard Wang gave a great performance and I hope he gets some main character roles soon. Zeno Robinson is a stand-out voice actor and in this, he is voicing a relatively minor character. Having said that he steals every scene he’s in with his delivery and presence as Hayato.

Suzie Yeung and Dani Chambers did amazing though. I loved their performances through and through. Dani’s character like Zeon’s was a supporting character but man did she move the plot along. There were times I hated her character but I will delve into that a bit more later. The main reason I want to bring attention to Dani is that I have heard her a lot and this might be her most powerful role. It’s so different from her normal character and she brought out so much raw emotion. I was really impressed.

Before Netflix’s High-Rise Invasion I hadn’t really heard of Suzie Yeung. That is no longer the case, I know by her profile that she isn’t new. But this year she has a gotten a lot of major roles and she really deserves it. Josee could have easily been portrayed as your typical tsundere but Suzie kept it fresh. It’s no secret I cry pretty easily but with how Suzie delivered some of the lines I was in tears before she even finished. One scene near the end in particular got me really good. Josee had some of the most quotable lines and that is in no small part to Suzie’s performance.

Studio Bones handles the animation for the film. In typical Bones fashion, it was fantastic. The characters are believable and the typical anime overreactions are kept to a minimum. And I know anime fans are used to characters blushing but good lord did they animate all the blushes well. There were a few times I felt like I was blushing myself just to join in on the fun.

Honestly, the only negative I really have to say is there were some minor pacing issues. There were a couple of times we skipped a few months and there wasn’t a montage or anything it was just told to us. I am not a huge fan of that, but to make it up they did do a bit of flashbacks but still. Other than that the story really shines, all the characters feel real and their motivations make sense.

The character of Mai is an interesting one because she kind of says some awful things and you might not like her. At one point I couldn’t tell if she was being mean to help someone like characters often do or she was just showing her true colors. Still trying to figure that one out but one thing I love about her is she is undoubtedly human. I think if you really think about it we can all relate to her feelings.

Tsuneo isn’t a bad character at all but he is outshone by his co-star in Josee. But it’s their growing relationship and feelings that make the film. I have never related to a character more than I found myself relating to Josee. When she is talking about dreams and why she doesn’t want things she says “It’s scary to reach for something you want”. The implication is if you reach for it and don’t get it, it’s going to hurt. Josee can be rude and sometimes downright mean to Tsuneo, typically referring to him as “caretaker” as opposed to his name. I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t find a place in your heart by the end of the movie though.

Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish is not what I expected and I mean that in the best way possible. I expected a romance that could end either happily or tragically with some fun characters. What I didn’t expect was to come out of it feeling inspired to dream again. That maybe we should be “reaching” for things even if it means we might get hurt. After all, to hurt is to be human and there’s nothing wrong with that. Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish had a very limited theater release so I doubt you will get a chance to see it in theaters but Funimation did license it. I am hoping that means it will be on their streaming platform in a couple of months. If that is the case, please watch it, I promise you won’t be disappointed. You might even find the wings in your heart and with those you can fly anywhere.