Anime: Arakawa Under the Bridge

Arakawa Under The Bridge foge do senso comum em todos os sentidos. Muito engraçado, pena que é uma serie tão curta!

A trama gira em torno de Ichinomiya Kou, um jovem empresario bem sucedido com um futuro brilhante e uma doutrina rigida, "Nunca fique em débito com alguem", a vida de Kou sempre girou em torno desse lema. Até certo dia enquanto andava por uma ponte ele sofreu um acidente e teve sua vida salva por uma garota desconhecida, e então alguem que nunca precisou retribuir nada para ninguem percebe que tudo que viver apartir daquele momento será graças à aquela pessoa (Nino-san).

Mas como pagar a dívida para com aquela menina que vive embaixo da ponte, uma casa? alguma coisa que Kou possa comprar com dinheiro? Não... Nino-san aparentemente vive um vida tranquila debaixo da ponte e não tem outra ambições além disso... a não ser... "Você poderia se apaixonar por mim?", ao dizer isso ela surpreende Kou, e apartir daquele momento ele passa a ser um dos excentricos moradores da Ponte de Arakawa.

Devo dizer que esse anime me pegou de surpresa muitas vezes e me faz cair na gargalhada do nada. Afinal de contas todos os moradores da ponte são um tanto excentricos e parece que o único persogem no anime inteiro que tem bom senso é o própio Kou. Entretanto aos poucos Kou percebe que nem todas as coisas são feitas esperando algo em troca, Nino-san mostra para ele que se sente realizada por fazer ele feliz e aos poucos esse sentimento se torna reciproco e assim nasce um dos casais mais estranhos de todos os tempos!

Agora aos quesitos tecnicos. A animação de Arakawa Under The Bridge foi impecavel, ele trabalha com elementos de contraste e mudanças de cameras rapidas, brinca com as cores, simplismente fantastico; adorei a historia também e como ela se desenvolve, só senti que no final fica a "ponta solta" em relação ao Kou e o pai, apesar de ficar bem claro o amor que eles sentem é reciproco, mas praticamente não há dialogo entre eles... Acho que eh um mal que muitas pessoas sofrem hj em dia.

Pensamento: Pq essas pessoas que vivem felizes embaixo da ponte são malucas e nós que temos vidas controladas por rotinas e obrigações somos normais?

Enfim... Gostei muito desse anime...definitivamente recomendado!

Will you like this show?
This is a seinen show, which means it's not targeted at the same 13 year old audience as Naruto, Bleach, etc. Arakawa... wears its seinen badge on it's sleeve, not pandering to the usual anime audience with harems, cliched characters that fit in neat classifications such as tsundere, moe, etc. or following the usual memes of parental abandonment, high school setting or harems. What it is, however, is a unique, quirky show that uses parody and metaphor to deal with coming-of-age issues of figuring out your self-identity, figuring out what you want to do with your life, figuring out what's most important to you and who your family really is. That's a lot of figuring out, but this is not a serious show, in fact, it is anything but - this is a comedy, a parody, and it has an excessively light touch.

Plot
To finally get to the plot, which is not the main point of this show, our leading character (who isn't called Arakawa very often after the first show, calling into question the show's title) is a very straitlaced, focused young man who is (I presume) in his early twenties. He grew up under the parental guidance of only his father, who is the head of a wealthy corporation (a japanese zaibatsu - or wealthy, dynastic conglomerate), which our young protagonist will someday inherit. Being hardworking and brilliant (presumably), one of the major guiding principles of his life is to never depend on anyone or owe anyone any favors. This was (rather brutally) drilled into him throughout childhood by his father.

Due to an incident that takes place on a bridge, he now owes his life to beautiful young woman, who turns out to be a member of a loose-knit tribe of non-conformists who have decided (or deluded themselves?) into believing various patently impossible scenarios regarding themselves or the reality of the world. The femme fatale here beleives herself to be an alien. The leader of the under-bridge tribe thinks he's a kappa (a japanese turtle-like water-gnome creature), complete with 24/7 costume. Our 'hero' here decides the only thing to be done, given his philosophy of never leave a favor un-repaid, is to leave his elite status in society behind, and join this schizo under-bridge tribe, who give him a new name - Recruit (or Ric for short).
If this is starting to sound like the typical fantastical anime show, it's not - because no one is really a kappa, alien, and so on. Our protagonist, on the face of it, seems to be the only one who is not delusional, or... is he really?

Payoff
This is where you may like this show or hate it. Things are so ridiculous on the surface, that if you watch this in slapstick, turn your brain off mode - i.e. purely as a gag show, you may or may not like it. If you treat it as metaphor and see how it may relate to your own life experiences and the experiences of those you know, maybe you will enjoy it more. It's not a purely intellectual show, there are plenty of puns, sight gags, slapstick, bizarre situations and over the top expressions to convey the humor. This is not, however, a meditation on mental illness. The structure of the show itself, with multiple 3-5 minute mini episodes (complete with titles) within each episode, takes some getting used to as well.

So take from this what you will.. it's not for everyone, but for those sick of the usual shows, this can be an interesting alternative. Full disclosure - the first season is not the end of the show, I've made it to the second season, and the backstory on the two main characters is expanding, albeit slowly.

Characters
Since every denizen of this strange, almost alternate reality under-bridge town has a particular delusion (and often accompanying full-time costume), from the previously mentioned alien, to stars (full pun intended), to ex-military male nuns - part of the fun is in learning how they got to where they are, learning to navigate their alternate reality world-view, and then thinking about what the underlying societal stereotype is, that is being parodied. Of course, you usually have to fill in some of the blanks yourself, and unless you are very familiar with japanese society, not all parodies and jokes are decipherable immediately. The characters are unique, quirky and continue to evolve through the show (mostly), with important reveals coming late in the show (or not yet - I'm still mid 2nd season).

Animation and Quality
The animation is fluid and the backgrounds are simple (when set in the real world) or otherworldly when illustrating the delusions of the characters, but the production values are high. The character designs are fantastic, IMHO. There is an ending and then one or two post-ending segments, including live-action versions of the show, in some episodes, so make sure you don't skip immediately to the next episode! A final missive - don't try watching the episodes back to back. This is best enjoyed in small doses over a period of time - say once a week or so. Give it time to roll around in your subconscious before watching another episode.

Note: This review is based on RAWs.



Originally drawn as manga by Nakamura Hikaru and later adapted to anime form by Shinbou Akiyuki (Bakemonogatari) Arakawa Under the Bridge[/b] is a gag anime picturing Ichinomiya Kou, a young prodigy as well as a director of one of the most wealthy companies in the world, attempting to start a new life under a bridge together with a bunch of really eccentric (on a mental level) people. As far as I could tell the show doesn't have a consecutive storyline and though there are a few attempts to make the series more serious they are rendered completely futile by the fact that the show is in essence unfinished (though it appears part 2 is on its way). However, at least I can guarantee one thing - it's funny.

Arakawa Under the Bridge, while not a particularly exceptional show, is still one of the best things that aired this season. It's certainly too bad that none of the otherwise original and interesting characters get a backdrop. As it is that the serious potential of the story is never fulfilled. However still, the show is still genuinely funny. Animation is quirky due to the Shaft'ish direction. Music, while not outstanding, is fit well offering plenty of audio pleasure. Overall it really depends on what you want to see in your shows, if you are alright with barely advancing plot and a lot of relatively high level original gags - Arakawa Under the Bridge is what you want to see. If you want a solid, thought-provoking storyline - go search elsewhere. There are actually some thought-provoking prose like sequences at the beginning of each of the later episodes, but, frankly, I have no idea whatsoever what any of these had to do with the actual plot or characters of the show. They are expressed in a very cool way though, as it's, well, Shaft, you know.

Animation: 7/10

I must say that the animation of Arakawa Under the Bridge is surprisingly simple for a show made by Shaft. Of course, it still offers plenty of these.. artistic details, Shaft is usually full off, but still, they are certainly toned down when compared to, let's say, Bakemonogatari. Nonetheless, Arakawa Under the Bridge might as well possess the best visual direction of the season, but given it has Shaft's name on it, it was a given. Since the whole show kind of happens under the bridge, the number of backgrounds isn't that varied, not to mention that detail is really unstable. Sometimes you get a few short shots at some really breathtaking well detailed greenery under the bridge and the next moment all you see is green color for lawn and blue color for sky with barely anything painted on them. Nonetheless, the overall feel of instability is, again, used in an artistic way by Shaft, so rather than making looking at things uncomfortable it actually works for the betterment of the atmosphere. Anyway, the detailed backgrounds are really nice, and the less detailed ones don't even matter because you'll be looking elsewhere anyway during those moments.

While Shaft can't brag about careful detail in their character designs, everyone in the cast still looks plenty distinctive (likely because some of them have stars or metal blocks for heads) and quite attractive.. at least the ones that have human form that is. The only thing, which is really done well in this part of animation department is the expressions, as they are used very well to express various comedy elements. Otherwise, you'll probably wont be either impressed or disappointed with your character shapes... Nonetheless, they blend in the backgrounds considerably well and look relatively nice in the combined affair of things. That being said, the show has barely any action in it so movement animation isn't particularly important, and given it's Shaft, it isn't particularly impressive either. You can notice choppy movements everywhere and inbetweens are considerably scarce in number as more than half of the episodes usually pass jumping from one still frame to another. Nonetheless, the show never feels distorted or anything, and still frames only help to imbue Shaft's peculiar style. So while you might not be particularly impressed by Arakawa no Bridge's animation, it certainly wont interfere with your watching pleasure and will probably even help you get immersed in the show most of the time.

Sound: 7/10

While OP has a lot of quirky things in its animation, the song itself is hardly worth a mention. It kind of gets old after you listen to it for a few times and I was kind of getting urges to skip it around getting past episode six. ED Sakasama Bridge by Suneohair on the other hand while offering no particularly exceptional animation is simply a nice relaxing song to listen to after the show passes through. So, yeah, ED's nice, if not impressive. Background music composed by Yokoyama Masaru (KimiKiss Pure Rouge), on the other hand, is plenty impressive. Or rather, a few tracks, which usually play on the previously mentioned prose-like sequences of the show are OST getting level outstanding. Given the anime's gag nature, however, it couldn't use its serious sounding themes for too much, so most of the time you'll actually be hearing funny one-rhythm music which helps with the jokes, but is kind of useless acoustic wise. There are a few nice themes mixed in it, but none of them really achieve the level of the serious ones which play through these, hardly having anything to do with the actual scenario, skits. Anyway, the overall stage of the music, after you sum all the pluses and minuses, ends up quite nice. It's unlikely you'll be particularly impressed, but you'll definitely find one or two songs to like.

Arakawa Under the Bridge's voice scene is completely dominated by Kamiya Hiroshi, as his performance of Kou is likely the best role he had this season (out of the four that I know of). Nonetheless, other stars like Koyasu Takehito, Sugita Tomokazu and Koyama Rikiya support the stage very well as well, giving the show a really memorable feel voice-work wise. Female cast doesn't stand out as much, but none of the performances are half bad. Newcomer Omigawa Chiaki, particularly, has a really distinctive and fresh voice. Sakamoto Maaya doesn't sound half-bad as Nino either.

Story: 6/10

Arakawa Under the Bridge is set in your everyday Japan... but most of the story actually happens under the bridge of some rural place where a lot of weirdos gather. While about nine-tenths of the show is pure slapstick comedy and absurd situations (made possible by the really quirky cast) Arakawa has a serious side as well, which depicts Kou's and his father's relationship. Anyway, while the serious part is kind of left hanging in the air with the end of this season, funny side of the show is certainly expressed well.

I was hooked by the jokes from episode one and hardly got tired of them until the very end of the show (though I might if this show will repeat the same pattern in the second season). Nonetheless, even though I indeed liked the jokes I found it unfortunate that the only serious part of the show was Kou's story. I mean, the cast under the bridge is full of such eccentric weirdos... Most of them could have had one hell of a backdrop and mental problems... It's really too bad that the show as well as discards all of their serious potential and only jumps from one gag to another. Anyway, if you are up for a some episodic comedy which very slightly advances hardly visible romance story and also works as a coming of age story of sorts, you have your show. Arakawa, though a slightly silly anime, is still one of the best works of the season, and likely the funniest.

Characters: 7/10

Kou is a young and successful genius who lived all of his life relying on his family's saying "one shouldn't make debts to others". He is so obsessed with not making any debts that he actually goes at extreme lengths to evade something as simple as having his eraser picked up by someone; and even if his life depends on it, he will never ask for anyone's help. Oh yeah, and it appears he has a strong allergy to making debts as well, having troubles breathing if fallen into a situation where he is indebted and can't think of a way to return it. Nonetheless, apart from this quite extraordinary condition he is still the most ordinary person under the bridge; and about the only one to ever raise a weak voice of reason when conversations start bordering insanity.

Apart from Kou, we have Nina, his supposed lover, who thinks she actually came to earth from the planet of Venus. And to tell the truth, I wouldn't be surprised if that was true, as not only she has absolutely no common sense or knowledge of human society, she hardly ever shows any human emotion through the whole show. We also have a self-proclaimed "Kappa" in the show who for some reason is the elder of that weirdo society. It seems he genuinely believes he is not human and he, kind of, reacts to all of the most craziest of stuff as if it was a common occurrence, making him quite freaky to say the least. Hoshi is a person who, kind of, wears a star mask on his head all of the time and is just, well, abnormal in every single thing he does. He appears to be in love with Nino and thinks of himself as Kou's love rival. You will also meet an illegal immigrant expert of combat who works as a nun under the bridge and also his step-daughter who has monster strength and megalomaniac tendencies despite being less than ten years old. Let's not forget the sadistic Maria, all of whose words end up completely raping the head of one of the listening parties, and Shiro who couldn't come back home for over four years because he can only walk on white lines... and there were none leading to where he lives. There are even more weirdos under the bridge, even some who appear only once or twice through the whole show, but there is little point in introducing them all.

Anyway, while characters certainly exceed both in charm and comedic potential, none of them (apart from Kou) ever get any sort of backdrop or development. Even after watching this first season of the show, all you will ever know is their attitude... which is indeed an interesting thing to know, but you will certainly end up urging for more. As a whole, characteristics of the characters work perfectly to develop many absurdly funny situations, but it's kind of hard to feel anything for them when you, in essence, barely know them. And, damn, Nino, Hoshi and many others could have had one of a hell of backdrop given their set up... I mean, unless they are really aliens, they must have had one hell of a past to become the way they ended being now.

Myers Briggs personality type indicator:

Shiro - ISFJ (D)
Nino - ISTP (D)
Sister - ISTJ (D)
Maria - ENTJ (D)
Stella - ESFJ (D)
Hoshi - ESTP (D)
Sonchou - INTP (D)
Ichinomiya Kou - INTJ (C)
Ichinomiya Seki - INTJ (C)

Show Spoiler

Value: 7/10

The jokes in the show are pretty nice and I wouldn't mind reliving some of them. Particularly the first episode and some scenes with Kou's father are damn hilarious. Though I wouldn't want to re-watch anything in this show for its serious value, both its gag and premise are plenty original for an anime of this type so I'm certainly keeping it in my collection. It's unlikely, however, that I'm going to re-watch it as a whole one day.

1. Conclusion: Rated for 13 year olds and older Arakawa Under the Bridge is a genuinely funny gag show which might stay in your head for a few months before fading away as all of the other works of art which while being good, are not particularly outstanding do. We might expect to see the serious part of the story developed better in the season two, but I wouldn't bet on that. Either way, if you want something funny - watch Arakawa Under the Bridge. While it's not really a must-watch, it's at least a pleasurable ride from the beginning to an end. If you are interested in comedy you might as well check Fullmetal Panic? Fumoffu! and Bobobo out, both of which I deem as being funnier than Arakawa. Oh yeah, and Gintama's relatively nice too.

'Arakawa Under the Bridge' is about Ichinomiya Kou, an elite (someone who holds a high ranking position or works in a blue-chip company. A "winner" in Japanese society) who's been taught to never get indebted to anyone, gets careless one day over Arakawa and gets saved by a girl. The girl's name is Nino, who turns out to be a denpa-kei (people with "overactive imagination" or nutcase, e.g. Nodame) who claims to be from Venus, and doesn't want anything in return. After a long debate, she tells Ichinomiya that there is one thing that he can do for her: "Let me fall in love." And so, Ichinomiya starts living under the bridge in Arakawa as Nino's boyfriend in order to repay his debt.

Arakawa ("Rough River" in kanji) is a major river that runs through Tokyo. This is the river you have to cross to get to Saitama, and I can tell you it's very wide river that you do not want to fall into.

Animation: 7/10
General animation by Shaft, there are lots of eye zoom-ins, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. The peaceful atmosphere of Arakawa riverside with vivid, light colors was visually pleasing.

Animation quality was very inconsistent though. Episode 1 and some slow, dramatic scenes have movie-grade background detail and attractive characters, but the rest is super-simple (difference especially noticeable in sky and grass texture).

The two main characters seem somewhat realistic despite simplicity. The character design for the leads are really similar to 'Nodame Cantabile' series, but I actually liked 'Arakawa' ones better. The side characters, while they are supposed to look out of place... never grew on me. It just seemed like a cosplay contest in a really unlikely place.

Sound: 7/10
Ridiculous number of big-name and experienced cast, even for the minor characters. Overall, voice acting is pretty good, but it doesn't really sound like any of them put in too much effort.

BGM is pretty average, but used in all the right places.

Theme songs, on the other hand, were excellent. OP was cute and fun with retro graphics that worked really well to boost Nino's character. ED is a really good song that makes you reflect back on the episode.

Story/Character: 5/10
I must admit that my expectation for this show after the first episode was really high because the setting of an elite suddenly living the poor man's lifestyle, and the general atmosphere was really similar to 'Koi ni Ochitara', a dorama series that's very dear to me. I found 'Arakawa's setting to be very intriguing with both Ichinomiya and Nino having interesting personality, and a funny encounter.

The story and character setting had a great potential. This show could've gone three directions:

1. 1. Focus on Ichinomiya and Nino's relationship as a romance anime.
   2. Focus on Ichinomiya alone for discovery of small joys in life and gradual change of character belief, slice of life.
   3. Focus on side characters for pure comedy.
   

Instead, they went for no focus or central theme. Just a bunch of weirdos doing random things in the riverbank with very limited story or character development. Humor in this show was mostly physical, unintelligent slapstick, but wasn't really funny because the pacing is too slow for that. The side characters were a ridiculous bunch that had no distinct personalities that made them particularly lovable. They were all cardboard characters who received zero character developments. In the end, it seemed like the author was trying too hard to make unique characters just to make this show different.

I have to say episodes 1, 4, 8, 12 where they focused on romance (#1) or slice of life (#2) were very strong and moving episodes, but otherwise all fillers. Story and character development was way too slow to be interesting.

Value/Enjoyment: 5.5/10
'Arakawa Under the Bridge' had the potential to become a really touching and inspiring show if only they just focused on romance or slice of life. Instead, it became something I can't exactly describe, in a bad way.
Something went really wrong with series composition that ruined a good original work.

Pretty much only 4 episodes of material was in the first season, dragging on to the next. This is one of a rare non-prime-time anime series that I actually wished was shorter. I will be watching the next season in hope of a major turnaround.