Episode 01 – (Chapter 109 – 115)
It looks like good ol’ Arakawa under the Bridge is back again, just a few months after the end of its successful first season. As the show faithfully follows the storyline of the manga, this week’s episode did not even feel like a part of the second season, but rather a straight continuation from the last season with a short break in-between.
On the other hand, there was a significant change, or rather an upgrade, with the OP theme “COSMOS vs ALIEN” as it seems even more quirky, colorful, and dynamic than the first OP theme. Even though I’m not a big fan of Etsuko Yakushimaru, who did the singing for the OP theme, the music seemed to be in good synchronization with the background animation, thanks to SHAFT’s effort. 🙂
Also, we’re introduced with a new character in this episode, such as a mysterious viking-warrior-like blonde woman, also known as Amazoness (voiced by Kobayashi Yuu, who is famous for not only her masculine voice, but also her drawing skills). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to learn much about her secret powers (like the rest of the our super-hero villagers whom each possess one) in this episode, so we’ll probably have to wait for the next one. Finally, at the end, it was quite wonderful to see Nino’s dream of riding a rocket to Venus with her parents, which was hinted at the beginning. I guess that was probably the most memorable and awww-she’s-so-cute moment there. 🙂
There were some pretty funny gags, such as the one where Hoshi turned into an “invincible” star, which is a parody of the invincibility star from the Mario game series. As usual, this show was filled with a ton of funny moments, yet at the same time, just as many plain weird moments. The main charm to this show, however, would be that exact quirkiness that others might find a little odd. That has remained mostly the same, thankfully. Though there are potential pitfalls with such a format to the episodes, as of now they’re plenty entertaining.
After watching this, I’m curious to see how SHAFT will handle the other show for this fall season, a.k.a “Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru”. Since the studio had a big break in the last season, I hope they will be able to keep up with the production quality with two shows this season. 🙂
First Impressions: 8.0/10
Screenshots and OP theme are later in the post.
OP01 – COSMOS vs ALIEN by Etsuko Yakushimaru Download here
Next Episode’s Preview
This Episode’s Illustration
Distant Paradise 