Grander Musashi



Grander Musashi follows the story of a young boy, Musashi, moving from his home in Tokyo to country-side. There, he makes friend with Mio and Suguru, who are the fellow students, among other fishermen, and learns to master the art of fishing. Musashi finds out later that there's an evil organization which uses dirty and cruel tricks in fishing, and ends up having to duel with its members in order to stop them. Began with a manga which ran from 1996 to 2000. Had a short-lived anime which lasted for about 25 episodes. There was a sequel series called Grander Musashi RV, which ran for 39 episodes. The sequel tells the story of "Legenders", the legendary lures that is believeed one who get ahold of them will be the greatest grander in the world. Musashi and his friends set out their journey to find them while having to battle with other skillful rivals who are also looking for the Legenders.

These works provide examples of:
 * Art Evolution: Arts in original series and RV are slightly different and improved. And then there's some people who say Musashi in RV looks like Pokémon's Ash Ketchum.
 * Companion Cube: The fishers are all very attached to their fishing rods and lures.
 * Everything's Better With Spinning: Spiral Cast sometimes goes Up to Eleven.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: The "Legender" lures.
 * Green Aesop: Release the fish after catching it, etc...
 * Heel Face Turn: BB,
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Kojiro, who Musashi claims to have met during his training with Big Bad, appears as a rival in Grander Musashi RV.
 * The Messiah: Musashi, especially in RV.
 * Missing Mom
 * No Hugging, No Kissing: There is some Ship Tease in Grander Musashi RV, but there's never any confirmed official couples. Though the first series and manga were, IIRC, more obvious about Musashi x Mio ship teasing.
 * Power Trio: Musashi, Mio, and Suguru, although most of the work and spotlight goes to The Hero.
 * Overshadowed By Awesome: Mio and Suguru in RV, due to loads of awesome rivals and their custom lures.
 * Serious Business: Sports fishing is often a matter of life or death, especially in RV. There's even an academy that trains would-be anglers in the dark arts of fishing. In the sequel, seven divine lures that everybody is after created by Poseidon are the reason for the sinking of Atlantis.
 * So Last Season: In the first series, Musashi's fishing rod and his Orcaizer lure were special. In the next season, his friends Mio and Suguru get similar rods and Orcaizers, while Musashi's rod is mystically changed when his Orcaizer becomes the King Orcaizer.
 * Time Skip: The sequel series is set a few years after the first.
 * Tournament Arc: Happens in China.
 * Training From Hell: When Musashi's undergo a training under a Big Bad. Advancing Wall of Doom included.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Running naked scene, in the middle of the rain, to boot.