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Perhaps a reflection of a troubled production or the lack of faith placed in the source material, but the opening episodes of Arakwa Under the Bridge are supremely underwhelming. Individual components of the prototypical SHAFT show are all present — the reliance on abstract close ups and over-coloured backgrounds, the ponderous and [...]
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Speak for yourself Riku… When you have to live in a squad bay you’d wish you could be alone. Poverty isn’t a funny thing but SHAFT seems to have side stepped the problem by just making them all weirdos that live by the river. Riku might be the richest guy there but [...]
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Is it not natural for a Venusian to wear such clothes? So we have two equally funny plots: Riku’s confessional with Hoshi and Sister, and his pre-date with Nino. The confessional had Hoshi interrogating Riku about Nino and her “habit” of going to his room, and Sister was present as the “lie detector” of the whole thing. [...] Related posts:When Were We Normal? Arakawa Under the Bridge 2 Guy Oughta Cool Down. Arakawa Under the Bridge 1 If Only the Parents Said it Like Akira Had. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu 13 END
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Not a whole lot happened in this episode. It could be divided into 2 parts. The 1st had Star get a lot of face time (yeah, not the most imaginative of names for a guy with a star for a head) as he interrogated Riku on his relationship with Nino. The 2nd [...]
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This week Kou needs to deal with the fall-out of his announcement that he’s Nino’s lover. Kou notes that when its cold Nino sleep-walks (climbs?) to his room where its more comfortable to sleep, and that this has been going on for a while.  One morning Hoshi happens to see Nino climbing down from Kou’s room [...]
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Now that Arakawa Under the Bridge has introduced us to what appears to be pretty much its full suite of characters, we're already started to see a little friction between Recruit and some of the others on account of his apparently close relationship with Nino.This becomes even more of an issue due to Nino's habit of sleepwalking into Recruit's room in the night to sleep before leaving in the
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I wasn’t too thrilled with the opening when I first heard it because I felt the singing was lackluster but [...]
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  Q: "Do you ever have no idea what to title a post?" A: Yes. Impressions: I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with Sundays, but this episode didn’t make much of a case for sticking with Arakawa. The first ten minutes may just as well have been called "Star-head makes a [...]
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This guy’s worse that Kou Uraki… Also don’t assume that assaulting a bridge means you sexually assault it… While it seems that not much is clicking with me immediately this season Arakawa Under the Bridge is proving to be unexpectedly enjoyable, not because that SHAFT sucks or anything but for their productions just [...]
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It’s that time of the year again–time for Mike to bring out some quick first impressions about the new season. What in the world is he thinking? Arakawa Under the Bridge Fractured: if there was one word that describes most of the oeuvre of Akiyuki Shinbo and his proteges and SHAFT, that would be it. Shinbo is [...]
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Summary: Kou has begun living under the bridge and it appears that one of the things he went home to pick up last episode was a construction crew, as the vacation home has been fully renovated and now features tile floors, modest window treatments, and a comfortable couch. Nino comes by for a visit and offers [...]
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It's bath time with Nino!
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Shaft are such a hit or miss studio that predicting the upcoming quality of their upcoming anime is like playing [...]
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OP: Venus to Jesus by Etsuko Yakushimaru. A most ransdom short featuring Kou, Nino, and lotsa lotsa fish. Everything came out just like a comic book. It wasn’t good quality, but the use of the animation was the best I’ve seen so far. We’ve got Riku (then Kou) eating a fish that I doubt was even cooked, [...] Related posts:Guy Oughta Cool Down. Arakawa Under the Bridge 1 Nemuru = Enma Ai in Secular-Traditional Clothing. Ookami Kakushi 6
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The episode continues the first episode’s series of episode titles. There are 8 this time: 10. A New Life 11. After the Bath 12. Sea Urchin 13. Riku’s Remembrance 14. Welcoming Party 15. Battle Sister 16. Mass 17. Teachings The mini-episode titles made a lot more sense this time, as they were actually at points that divided the show in a way [...]
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Studio SHAFT does one thing better than any other anime studio, and that is make weird anime. It’s newest show, Arakawa Under the Bridge will make you, once again, question SHAFT’s use of performance enhancing drugs (or drugs in general). Kou is a man who has accomplished many things in his life, all because he does not depend on anyone. His family’s number one rule is to “Never be indebted to anyone”, a rule that is soon broken when a girl named Nino saves his life. The only thing Kou has to do to pay back this debt is fall in love with Nino. This isn’t as amazing as it sounds for he now has to live under a bridge, in a society of strange people who dress up in weird costumes with mental disorders. Much like Bakemonogatari and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, this anime has tons of visual “noise” splattered through it, making the art direction as zany as the story itself. Other than that the art is bright and vibrant, making the world under the bridge look more like heaven than a polluted cesspool. However, unlike Zetsubo Sensei, Arakawa has a bit of a romantic subplot, under the insanity that exists on the surface. I personally did not laugh when watching this show, but I found it funny and entertaining; as crazy as that sounds. What’s great about Arakawa is that it actually has plot (unlike Zetsubo), while also being random and unexpected. It’s like walking home drunk, you might stop to kick a cat or piss in the bushes, but eventually you will make it home. If you are a fan of comedy, surreal, and bizarre anime you must give Arakawa a shot.  <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gPXmvqZIn8Q&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gPXmvqZIn8Q&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385" wmode="transparent"></embed></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param></object>
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So the 2nd episode of Arakawa Under the Bridge managed to amuse me sufficiently to interest me in blogging it (the fact it comes out on a Sunday/Monday also was a major contributing factor ). First off the OP – ‘Venus to Jesus’ by Yakushimaru Etsuko, amused me greatly with all the fish imagery and [...]
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After introducing us to the fast-changing world of Kou Ichinomiya... sorry, Recruit... last episode, this second episode of Arakawa Under the Bridge sees Ric beginning to settle into his new and unique home.Indeed, it has to be said that Kou has made a pretty nice home for himself already, but this all becomes rather immaterial as his thoughts turn to sheer panic when he finds himself left alone
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  The eyes have it. Impressions: Well, this was certainly more enjoyable than last week’s episode (outside of the horribly sung OP), but by the same token, the visuals took a bit of a hit. Kou’s screaming was shuned off in a different direction for the first half of the episode (mostly freaking out about what [...]
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