Josee The Tiger and the Fish: Dreams and Fighting Fears

“Don’t let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.” The words said by Babe Ruth deeply resonate for me and for many other people as well. Reaching for dreams is every person’s wish, but what happens when the daily struggles or conditions in our lives keep us from reaching for the stars. What happens when our wishes are halted by conditions that we cannot control? Do we give up, or do we keep going? 

Maybe the answer for many may seem unclear, but for me, there was a movie that made my overall perspective and looks on life, dreams, and struggles as well as the answer to my own question quite clear. This movie is Josee, the Tiger and the Fish or known in Japanese as Joze to Tora to Sakanatachi, an anime film produced by Bones Studio and Directed by Kotaro Tamura which was based on the story of the same name by Seiko Tanabe. The story focuses on Tsuneo, a university student whose dream is to study abroad in Mexico and fulfill his dream of diving in the sea of Mexico in order to witness the beautiful marine life.

To achieve this dream, Tsuneo works hard to obtain sufficient money to make this dream become a reality and ends up becoming the unexpected caretaker to wheelchair-bound Josee, a disabled but very talented artist. As the story progresses, the two develop a very strong bond but of course, the struggles of each other begin to take a deep effect on the relationship. On one hand, Josee’s view on life and dreams has been concluded to be an impossibility due to her condition. While she sees Tsuneo being free to chase the dream he’s been running after for so long, Josee has a different view on dreams. To her, dreams and the things she loves are unattainable, unreachable to her, life and the world itself are full of tigers, while she herself can be paralleled to a fish who just wants to swim free in a world full of beasts.

There is a certain scene in the film that really captured my attention and my heart. In this scene, Josee is seen breaking after learning that Tsuneo has been granted a scholarship to study abroad in Mexico and feels as though she is only holding him back. She explains to Tsuneo that everything she dreams of is always out of her reach, and even though she wishes to accomplish her dream, she refuses to try anymore, as she thinks there is no point in trying.. despite how much she wants to make her dream of becoming an artist a reality, she refuses to even reach out for it anymore. To this, Tsuneo reacts in a surprised manner. He sees the tears in her eyes and says something quite powerful to her… if she was so sure of not wanting to reach for what means to her anymore, then why did she look as though she was breaking. These words really struck out me. Many people, especially during the pandemic have become very hopeless and helpless. At some point, I believe this feeling to be very universal.

At least I know I felt this certain way. The situation that the world is in, and the chaos that faces each and every one of us every day can certainly have a deep effect on how we view life. After being in lockdown for a year and more.. many of us may believe that the outside world can be full of tigers.. beasts, while many of us are like fishes who want to swim free into fresh and new waters. However, seeing that the difficulties seem unending, many may have given up on the dreams they had because of the circumstances that clouded our everyday life I know that I felt as though my dreams were being consumed by a tiger a similar one that Josee faces in the film, the biggest tiger called fear. Fear of failing, fear of losing what we hold dear to, fear of trying, fear of even being happy, and fear of reaching for what we want because it feels out of our reach. 

Raised Catholic, I knew that there is no situation no tiger big enough to ruin God’s plans for me. But sometimes; while the world is in a constant struggle and where the battle between a fish and a tiger seems unfair and at a disadvantage for the fish, I have learned that there will always be a light at the bottom of the ocean and that a fish can swim free to their dream. To me, my faith as a believer in God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and Holy Mary is firm but that doesn’t mean that tigers are not on the hunt for me. Sometimes fear can shake us deeply, but I am certain that God works for a better outcome. Coming across Josee, the tiger and the fish was a blessing and a direction pointing towards God and Jesus. For I was assured that despite how big a tiger may seem, it won’t be strong enough to keep me from dreaming and from reaching for what seems unreachable.

In some ways, I could feel Josee’s struggles deeply but another scene that caught my attention was Tsuneo’s accident. His accident leaves him unable to fulfill his dream and chooses to abandon his dreams, this moment in the plot is very powerful because he is not only in a similar situation like Josee, but he begins to feel a dark cloud raining in his life whether he gets to fulfill his dream or not is all up to him. Many times, life leaves us feeling a sense of despair and with many questions about how our dreams will be accomplished, it even makes us question if they are even accomplishable. However, as the film reaches its final conclusion, the viewer is taught that even if hard and scary circumstances cloud over us, it will never become so unbearable, there is always light at the bottom of an ocean, there is always hope. The film teaches us that in order to break free, we must face our fears and be brave to continue living and experiencing new things. It also teaches that it can take one miracle to make our lives better and that there will always be someone to help us pursue our dreams. To live is to dream, but to feel alive means to push away every tiger we face in life and reach for our dreams so that one day, we can make them come true.