Business Fish

Business Fish (ビジネスフィッシュ, Bijinesu Fisshu) is a fictional character created by Yuichiro Ohno and produced by the Japanese company Quan, Inc. Featuring a salaryman with the head of a fish, the character has been featured in a web comic series by Quan, Inc., as well as being known for its stickers on Facebook and Line.^[1][2] A 3D motion-capture anime series aired on Tokyo MX from July 7 to August 11, 2019.^[3]

Business Fish
ビジネスフィッシュ
Anime television series
Directed by	Takashi Sumida
Written by	Ohkura
Studio	IANDA
Original network	Tokyo MX, BS11, Hulu
Original run	July 7, 2019 – August 11, 2019
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)

Background and creation

Business Fish was created by Yuichiro Ohno and published by Quan, Inc.^[4] Ohno posted several web comics with Quan, Inc. featuring Business Fish. A sticker sets featuring the character were released in 2015 on Facebook and Line.^[2] The Facebook sticker set was downloaded 250,000,000 times worldwide.^[5]

Characters

The original creation concept and web comic focused on Business Fish, a white-collared salaryman who often skips work but uses his abilities to help people in need. Other characters who appeared in the web comic include Craig,^[a] Business Fish's colleague; Chairman, Business Fish's best friend; Octopus CEO, the CEO of the company; Dog, Business Fish's pet dog; Manager, Business Fish's manager; Amuro, a colleague from the R&D section of the company; and Lady Fish, Business Fish's older sister.^[7]

Anime adaptation

Tai Uowaki (魚脇 タイ, Uowaki Tai)

Voiced by: Takuya Nagaoka^[3]

Tai is a salaryman with the head of a fish, working at Sea Vision. He feels inadequate about his life.

Mai Otohime (乙姫 舞, Otohime Mai)

Voiced by: Rena Takeda^[3]

Otohime is Tai's high school classmate who was popular when they were students. She and Tai begin dating.

Fudō Umino (海野 ぶどう, Umino Fudō)

Voiced by: Motoki Ochiai^[3]

Fudō is Tai's junior colleague, who Tai feels is irresponsible.

Hachio Takoyama (蛸山 八男, Takoyama Hachio)

Voiced by: Ryosuke Takei^[3]

Hachio is Tai's colleague and confidant.

Ebika Ise (伊勢 えびか, Ise Ebika)

Voiced by: Takemi Fujii^[3]

Ebika is Tai's colleague with the head of a shrimp.

Asase (浅瀬課長, Asase-kachō)

Voiced by: Hiroki Ōtsu^[3]

Asase is the chief of Tai's department.

Mosugu Isono (磯野 もずく, Isono Mosugu)

Voiced by: Yua Shiraishi^[3]

Mosugu is Tai's colleague.

Ika (IKAちゃん, Ika-chan)

Voiced by: Kenshō Ono^[3]

Ika is a fashionable employee of a café with the head of a squid.

Media

Anime

In June 2019, Quan, Inc. announced that a joint partnership had been formed with Toho to create and distribute a 3D CG anime adaptation based on the original Business Fish character.^[8] The series began airing on Tokyo MX, BS11, and Hulu from July 7 to August 11, 2019.^[b] The series is directed by Takashi Sumida, who created the drama Kakū OL Nikki, with animation provided by IANDA. The voice cast features a variety of Japanese actors, television personalities, and voice actors, who were selected out of 100 applicants and provided the motion capture for their characters.^[2][9] The ending theme song is "Don't Stop Moving" by Sarah Kelly, and the animation featured in the ending sequence was motion captured by dance group Shit Kingz.^[3][10]

Episode list

No.	Title	Writer	Original release date
1	"The Supporting Character Elite" Transliteration: "Wakiyaku no Toppu" (Japanese: 脇役のトップ)	Unknown	July 7, 2019 (2019-07-07)
2	"Tai-me to Break Up" Transliteration: "Wakaretai" (Japanese: 別れタイ)
Tai, who desperately wants to be seen as the main character instead of a supporting character, runs into Otohime, a popular classmate from his high school, and decides to ask her out as he consults Hachio for advice. However, his feelings of inadequacy get in the way of their relationship.
3	"Uowaki's Harassment" Transliteration: "Uowaki no Harasumento" (Japanese: 魚脇のハラスメント)	Unknown	July 14, 2019 (2019-07-14)
4	"Ika's Concerns" Transliteration: "Ika-chan no Nayami" (Japanese: IKAちゃんの悩み)
5	"Nobody Compliments Me, So I'm Not Complimenting Anyone" Transliteration: "Ore ga Hito Kara Homerarenai no wa Dare no Koto mo Homenai Kara da" (Japanese: 俺が人から褒められないのは誰のことも褒めないからだ)	Unknown	July 21, 2019 (2019-07-21)
6	"Tai-me To Call Me By My First Name!" Transliteration: "Tai tte Yobaretai!" (Japanese: タイって呼ばれタイ！)
7	"Chief Asase's Challenge" Transliteration: "Asase-kachō no Chōsen" (Japanese: 浅瀬課長の挑戦)	Unknown	July 28, 2019 (2019-07-28)
8	"What's Otohime's First Name?" Transliteration: "Otohime-san no Na wa?" (Japanese: 乙姫さんの名は？)
9	Transliteration: "Uowaki, Oyogase Oyogasare" (Japanese: 魚脇、泳がせ泳がされ)	Unknown	August 4, 2019 (2019-08-04)
10	"Otohime and Tai's Relationship" Transliteration: "Otohime-san to Tai na Kankei" (Japanese: 乙姫さんとタイな関係)
11	"Tai Uowaki, Viral on Social Media!" Transliteration: "Uowaki Tai, SNS de Dai Bazuri!" (Japanese: 魚脇タイ、SNSで大バズリ！)	Unknown	August 11, 2019 (2019-08-11)
12	"Responsibility of the Lead Actor" Transliteration: "Shuyaku no Sekinin" (Japanese: 主役の責任)

Notes

1. The character's name is Craig (クレッグ, Kureggu) in Japanese,^[6] but the English version of the comic lists his name as "Colleague."^[7]
2. Tokyo MX lists the air date as July 7, 2019 at 24:00, which is July 8, 2019 at 12 AM.^[3]