Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 02

Episode 02 – 2BRIDGE*2

With the introduction of two new characters, it seems like Arakawa Under the Bridge is heading towards pure chaos with the quirkiest and most ridiculous jokes you can imagine. I think the credit for all that should go to the author of the original manga, Hikaru Nakamura, though SHAFT also has done a pretty good job of creating the new ED theme that was revealed in this episode.

The first one is an Amazon warrior, Amazoness (voiced by Yuu Kobayashi); she made a brief appearance in the first episode of Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge, but she wasn’t fully detailed at that time. Riku gets to learn that she is a crazy delinquent high school girl fierce warrior with three delinquent high school guys female(?) tengu monsters under her control and she possesses a refrigerator treasure chest(?) filled with ice cream bars ancient treasures.

The second character is the Captain (voiced by Tomokazu Seki), who claims to be the Commander of the Earth Defense Force and vows to protect the Earth from Venusian invaders like the transformed Nino or the giant Nino riding on a horse shooting laser beams. It was very smart of Riku to claim that he was the behind-the-scenes controller of the Super Nino residing inside her nose, so he can scare the heck out of the Captain.

Unfortunately, his plan backfires and motivates the Star, the Sister, and the Tencho to help out the Captain’s cause, so it becomes Nino herself who takes care of the Captain with her take-as-much-as-fish-as-you-want skill. Lastly, the show ends with Riku’s hilarious facial expression of “a pigeon that just got hit by bunches of soy beans.” (It’s really hard to describe it with words, so please watch the show if you want to know what I meant there.)

Overall Enjoyment: 4.1/5

Screenshots and the ED theme are later in the post

First Impression – Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge 01

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.

Arakawa Under the Bridge – 13 Final

Episode 13 Final – 13BRIDGE

Arakawa Under the Bridge’s 2nd Season Official Announcement!

I’m not sure whether the second season will be aired immediately after the end of the first season, but it is certainly a welcome news for me!
It would also mean that Shinbo Akiyuki and his SHAFT crews will not be producing any brand new series in the near future. (at least until this fall season)

Arakawa Under the Bridge – 12

Episode 12 – 12BRIDGE

Maria’s sadistic tendencies provides all of the humor this episode, with her constantly kicking both Hoshi and Kou off of the bridge. It was pretty funny seeing how Maria kept “hurting” Sister’s feelings, as well as Stella’s wishes for world domination (funnier than it sounds).

Gags aside, when the threat to the residents under the bridge is adverted (by a “mysterious” man that the voice actor totally gives away), Kou’s father decides to take a look at the situation in person.

Which made it pretty ironic that Kou’s father ended up exactly how Kou did when he first got there; pantless, and refusing to be indebted to Nino.

It was nice how seeing the more subtle, somewhat romantic elements of this show come together in the latter half of this episode. The catalyst for all of this would was the presence of Kou’s father. His presence at the bridge sparked a series of little events, which lead into a nice little finale for the episode. The way in which Nino heard a confession from Kou was a nice touch, even if you could practically hear from his voice how afraid Kou is of his father.

This episode had an “end of series” feeling to it, but there’s still 13BRIDGE that airs next week, which is the final episode. With the main conflict out of the way, I’m guessing this show will return to it’s gag filled, carefree format from earlier episodes.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.8/5

Arakawa Under the Bridge – 11

Episode 11 – 11 Bridge

This episode, as all the others, was filled with gags every few minutes. Sister’s disguise in a cute bear suit, Whitey’s “magical words”, Stella’s reward therapy (aka knock him unconsious) and all the other gags were hilarious.

What differentiates this episode from the rest is the more serious, subtle parts to this episode. Recruit’s week long leave from under the bridge to set things straight, and Nino’s subsequent reaction to his leave just shows how much they care for one another. Although I feel that their relationship is lacking in the character development department, this episode is probably the only one that shows how much they rely on each other.

Recruit’s development as a character, which is a stark change from what he was in the first episode, also shows itself this episode; the effort and care he puts into trying to save his new home shows just how much he has come to value his new home under the bridge.

How everyone living under the bridge views Recruit is also distinctly seen in this episode. Their concern for Recruit (although in odd ways… lol) along with their distinct sense of community serves to reflect just how much the characters have changed and grown to respect Recruit in their own crazy unique way.

Shinbo’s development of all the character’s relationships this episode are both subtle, yet help flesh out the relationships immensely. The comedy works as a guise to hide all of that, but that just adds to the entertainment value of this episode as a whole.

Overall Enjoyment: 4/5

Arakawa Under the Bridge – 10

Episode 10

Arakawa this week was more quite a bit more serious than the previous gag ridden episodes. This time, Recruit is worried over how his father plans on taking over the riverbank, and kicking out all of the residents that live there. Of course, most of the blissful residents pretty much ignored Recruit, instead poking fun at him and his worries.

I’m pleasantly surprised by how they’ve shown Recruit’s character progression throughout the series. Recruit during the beginning of this series was quite logical, and extremely practical. The natural progression of his characterization, from a stoic businessman to a guy who simply lives life to it’s fullest, is exemplified by this particular episode. The lifestyle he’s been living under the bridge has had quite an impact on him, and his reactions to the hostile actions by his father reflects this trend. Although this series serves primarily as a comedy, the more serious undertones also provides a nice overarching story.

On a different note, the lifestyle of everyone under the bridge is a definite contrast to how normal people lead lives; carefree and with no worries. This could be a message from the original authors, pretty much saying that life without all the complications of modern day life is quite fun and something that is missing from today’s world. That’s why, when I saw the surveyors and government officials checking out the land under the bridge, it felt a little surreal. The trappings of modern day society don’t exactly fit in this particular setting, and the resulting tension is a result of this. Of course, I could be looking too far into things 😛

A peculiar little thing to note is that Nino mentioned how she doesn’t want to be chased away or kicked out again. By saying “again”, Nino is implying that it has happened to her before, and has definitely got me more curious about Nino’s past. Hopefully the creators will try to explore Nino’s past a little.

Although this episode was more serious and tense than the previous episodes, the mayor and his gags proved to be quite entertaining.

Overall Enjoyment: 4/5

Arakawa Under the Bridge – 09

Last episode poor Star was thrown into shock from Nino kissing Ric. This episode, Stella attempts to cook the poor guy. Well, more specifically, Stella is trying to cook up a dish for her beloved Sister, and Star just happens to be on the menu.

Stella’s angry rampage (and transformation, shown above) against Maria was the highlight this episode, with all the weird hilarious situations that Arakawa is known for (at least, in my book) keeping me laughing throughout the entire episode.