(For the record, I’ve swapped from the Nutbladder subs I’ve used for the past 12 episodes to God Speed subs, for the simple reason that it came out earlier. Scamp = impatient)

Episode 101: The Last Samurai

Nino’s bed hair is like surfer-dudes hair in extreme mode. Salt water does that to your hair, but the Arakawa river doesn’t look big enough to be a salt water river. It must have something else crazy in it though because that’s some wild hair right there. It’s like it’s made out of ahoge’s. Since I made Nino and her awesome hair my avatar, I’ve found I have a soft spot for it now. In fact, I think it’s given me a soft spot for Arakawa in general. The reverse has happened too though. Now that I no longer have Hare as my avatar I’ve found myself wondering what it was about the show I loved anyway.

Seriously, that hair! It’s what Tokuchi Toua’s hair would look like if he didn’t cut it for several years. Nino’s hair has gone down as one of the most awesome hairdo’s ever. Or is it? I must verify this fact! *runs off to my MAL account*

OK, for anime characters most awesome hair, remembering that crazy does not nessesarilly equal awesome (so no Yugioh) I came up with some contenders. Lyuze from Casshern Sins, Eureka from Eureka Seven, Tessa from Full Metal Panic (the ponytail twirl in front of the mouth. Got me every time), The Count from Gankutsuou and Rakka from Haibane Remnei (remember the static from the halo?). You know, I’d probably still give Nino the award for most awesome hair.

(I just spent half an hour on MAL searching for characters with awesome hair. No wonder these posts take forever to write)

Episode 102: Haircut

I suppose he has to be a pretty skilled hairdresser to get that cute little bow effect on the top of P-ko’s head like that, along with the sun-kissed gradient effect it has. It looks like someone has lit a bulb under her head.  Maybe her scalp glows? It’s a pretty awesome hairdo in it’s own right. Not quite at the level of those I mentioned earlier, but around the same level as Minami Chiaki. Oh what am I saying? The only reason I took this screenshot was to marvel at Nino’s hair once again. It looks like a thistle.

I feel a little bit relieved Last Samurai wasn’t in the regular show. The best he can honestly do is a reference to Samurai Blue? Which, BTW, is the nickname the Japanese Government gave to their football team for the world cup. Yah really. Spend all that money on people to promote their national football team and the most imaginative they could come up with is ‘Samurai Blue’? Bleh, almost as lame as this character.

However, introduce lame character A to Sister and suddenly he becomes hilarious. Ah Sister~! What would the minor characters of this show do without you?

Episode 103: Billy and Jaqueline

OK, I approve of this character already. Besides lady, I’m pretty sure they’ll be OK with your forbidden romance. If a man can share his wife with 9999 others, I’m pretty sure he’ll be OK with another one, even if it is a parrot. I wonder why she’s not with her family though. Did she elope with Billy to under the bridge? If you go by the general theme of Arakawa residents, then she’s hiding something under that Queen Bee facade. I guess we’ll find out in the second sea–ssshhhhhhh Scamp, don’t mention that yet! Quick, show them a hot picture of Jaqueline.

Yup, this show needs more Jaqueline and Billy. Also, I just got the whole crown thing. She’s a Queen Bee. Geddit? Queen wearing a Crown? Yes yes, I’m a slowpoke.

Episode 104: Arakawa Dreamland

Main characters in anime quite often suffer from being extremely bland so you can insert yourself in their situations. They might have character attributes but often they are things that don’t effect their everyday thought. What I like about Recruit is that he a very defined personality. He’s a bit of a dick, slightly full of himself who struggles when it comes to being nice to people because he wasn’t brought up that way. He’s kept the pompous part of himself as he lives under the bridge but he’s been making a noticeable effort to be less of a dick to everyone who isn’t the Mayor or Hoshi. There’s a clear character here who you can’t just project yourself into. So good job there Ms. Author. You’ve made a proper main character with Recruit.

This had me in stitches though, if only because this isn’t entirely unbelievable. Imagine if there was a Twilight theme park. It wouldn’t have to stretch your suspension of disbelief too far to see that a version with Edward or whatever his name is as a chair for you to clamber into could exist.

Me after writing a typical Arakawa Under the Bridge post. Seriously, never before has blogging a series taken me so much time. I love doing it but argh, takes bloody forever! Plus judging by the hitcounter, not very many people read these posts. Ah well, I like reading them so bleh to you guys. Well, not bleh to you guys reading this because you are the actual few people who do read these posts.Good job guys. Here’s a happy picture of Nino and P-ko for you.

OK, I know the picture isn’t perfect because Nino doesn’t have any sort of bed hair, but frankly I think we got enough of that at the start of the episode to last us for the rest of our lives.

Episode 105: Rides

Why oh why do horses hold such appeal over girls? This is a pretty accurate depiction of horses you know. They’re far from being the nicest creatures around you know. Think about how excited they get when they go to a horse stud. You know what a horse stud is, right? It’s wear one dude horse fucks all the women horses that come to him because he ran fast in a few races. It’s like the world cup winning team were then all transported off to separate brothels. You are visiting that brothel. Lovely stuff. Aren’t those horses cute~?

Each crazy part of Arakawa had a formula. Something crazy looks like it’s about to happen. Recruit gets all panicky and turns into his mean self. Then the characters reveal something that’s actually rather nice, which leaves Recruit feeling a bit guilty for being prejudice against the residents. Then, just as he’s won over, they reveal that they are nutters after all and he goes straight back to his doubting self once again, starting with a deadpan reaction face, followed by yelling loudly.

When I put it like that, Arakawa sounds like a rather uninspired series. I wonder why I like it so much then?

Thanks Sister. I’ll be seeing this in my nightmares.

Episode 106: Unforgettable Parade

I know this is the last episode, but I don’t have a whole lot more to say. I did all my praising of the series overall in the last episode post because that was the true end to the season. But not the end of the series overall. Yup, for those of you who haven’t already found out, a new season of Arakawa Under the Bridge has been announced. Judging how the series was announced instantly after this one ended, I’d say it will air this upcoming Autumn season although don’t quote me on that. I’ll admit, I’m a little bit wary of a second season. Yes, I love the show, but a large part of what I love about it is how well structured it was from start to finish. I don’t feel like it needed another season, although I suppose we won’t know until we actually see it. But yeah, I am wary, especially when the next season preview included this.

Episode 107: Treasure

WTF? A rejected Cobra character design has decided to join Arakawa Under the Bridge? Oh well, I suppose it’s time to say goodbye to Recruit and Nino for now. Look forward to seeing you all fight Wonderwomen next season. Or fly off to Venus with her. Whichever makes more less sense at the time. What’s common sense anyway?

Don’t hide inside that cloud. Come down and strike me. I’m perfectly happy if you’re loud about it. I want a bolt of lightning to open my eyes, to pierce my heart. I’m the one who’s afraid. On this plain without a single tree, I have nowhere to hide.

Best opening sequence of Arakawa since episode 6. I’d love it even more if I knew exactly what it meant. It does strike me hugely as thought Nino is saying that her Venus shtick is all a barrier she’s put up, which we knew already, but more importantly that she’s desperately looking for someone to tear it down for her. She wants someone to question her Venusian roots, which is a hell of a lot different to what we’ve been given so far in the series. Maybe I’ve got it wrong though. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into it. I tend to do that a lot with this series.

Episode 95: When you wish upon a star

Was there a time in the series that Recruit expressed his fear of ghosts? To me that just looks like he’s looked up the ghosts nightie to whatever unimaginable horrors lie between that ghosts legs. Nah, I bet Nino just added in the two things she’s afraid of along with Recruit’s two of Dad and peppers. Wait no, that doesn’t make sense. Nino is a fisher-women so she quite obviously isn’t afraid of bugs. I guess she just tossed in two things people are afraid of in general.

(As for the other’s under the bridge, Sister’s big fear is nukes, the Mayor is afraid of dehidration and the Iron Head brothers are afraid of lab coats.)

When Maria suggested this option, my mind first went to a shoot out between Hoshi and Recruit, cowboy style. Hoshi would look pretty darn cool in a cowboy hat and boots. However I would bet a considerable amount of money that Recruit has had arms training in his life at one point. Hoshi would try to be cool and hold the guns gansta style. Or possibly Death the Kid style. Meh, the debate is irrelevant anyway because Sister would gun them both down as they drew there weapons anyway.

Stella’s excited squeek as Hoshi and Recruit were kicked off the bridge was the highlight of the episode. As in the highlight of episode 95, not the full 24 minutes. Sorry, but the full 24 minutes were packed full of so many highlights I don’t think I can pick out one.

(One part of the episode that baffled me for a while was Recruit’s declaration that he had already jumped off the bridge twice. There was the time after Nino kissed him when he was convinced he was a bluebird, but it took me forever to remember the other time. Of course, it was episode 1 when he was after his trousers! Funny how they gae us a reminder of that first scene before what happened later on in the episode. It’s almost as though they had planned this all out beforehand! Yes, Arakawa has been perfectly planned from the start. I’ll get more onto that point later on.)

Episode 96: Phenomenon

There was a neat piece of animation here. As Daddy’s plans seem to be falling apart, the building he’s in seems to gradually fall down compared to those buildings outside the window. Not sure if that was intentional though. You never really know with Shinbo whether half the stuff he does is intentional or just him being a nutter, but it worked this time. If I’m going to call him out on his oddities, I might as well be fair and praise him when he gets something right. Besides, after marathoning my way through Tatami Galaxy, I think I’ve finally found a director who has surpassed Shinbo in the area of needless animation quirks.

The mysterious funder. Now I’m the type of guy who probably wouldn’t recognise my own voice if it was played to me, let alone someone else’s. Hence when the mysterious funder said his bit, at first I thought it sounded like Hoshi. If the guy really did top the Oricon charts then he must have a bit of money, right? However the MAL forums said it was the Mayor, which I suppose fits the traditional Japanese clothing better. Plus, he’s Mayor for a reason right. There’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. After all Recruit said, it was the Mayor who ended up saving them. The one guy Recruit could never figure out is the one guy who saves them all without them knowing. It just fits the story better, doesn’t it.

Maria kicking Hoshi and Recruit off the bridge over and over was the highlight of the episode. As in the highlight of episode 96, not the full 24 minutes. Sorry, but the full 24 minutes were packed full of so many highlights I don’t think I can pick out one.

(When they were rolling through each of the characters wishes, my mind instantly went to that famous Gundam 00 scene where each character repeats one after the other what they love most in the world, finishing on Setsuna saying ‘Gundam’. If Arakawa had done a parody of that scene with Sister repeating ‘Gundam’ then I might as well have stopped watching anime altogether. Nothing would ever top that.)

Episode 97: The man who never relies on anyone’s father

Brilliant. This is brilliant. Seriously, there was no better way to have Dad visit the bridge than for him to repeat the events from episode 1. He could have arrived with an army of bunny girls to try coax Recruit back and it wouldn’t have beaten this.

(BTW do those kids spend there time hanging around on the bridge, only to occasionally tear the trousers off random passerby’s? No wonder Nino has developed that skill with the fishing rod to retrieve the trousers from up there so efficiently. Practice makes perfect.)

I love this face-0ff. Only one of the characters realise how significant a meeting this is. The other is just her usual spacer self. Daddy is pretty intimidating and I dare say Recruit was too when he was in the real world. In a way, that’s what makes this scene work so well. They were both trying to keep there intimidation up in their ridiculous state, daring Nino to challenge them, but Nino couldn’t care less what state they were in which leaves the two Ichinomiya’s in an uncomfortable position that they aren’t used to dealing with.

That’s what she said.

Nino is understanding of the randomers strange sexual preferences. I’m so using that last screencap at another date though, possibly in one of my Hetalia posts as a reply to one of the commenters.

(Nino~<3 You are fantastic. I go on about Sister a lot in these posts but it’s Nino who really makes the show tick. She’s the poster girl, the one who makes things happen. Recruit may be the main character, but it’s Nino that makes the story. She’s the one who’s changing him. She’s the one who has drove Recruit to devote him time to staying under the bridge. She’s such a unique character…well, there is no character in this show who isn’t really unique. If there’s one thing you can’t level against Arakawa, it’s unoriginality)

Daddy realises it too, although he doesn’t truly understand until he meets her. He knows that it’s not any of the other nutters under the bridge that changed Recruit. While his relationships with them have changed over time, it’s Nino that brought all that about. Seems to me like Daddy is running away from the problem as much as Recruit was running away from him. It’s all brought about in a circle. Like this scene, like this whole series. It’s just so well worked and this episode in particular brought that all to light.

But Nino has changed as well. It’s obviously a lot more subtle than Recruit’s change, but now she has something she cares about. With this scene in episode 1, she was pretty indifferent to everything that was going on around her. Now she’s become more grounded (in relative terms obviously. Compared to the rest of the world she’s as grounded as a dandelion seed). She’s changed Recruit and Recruit changed her. Corny stuff, but done subtly enough to never actually feel corny.

Episode 98: A father’s feelings

Next time you watch some weird fetish dominatrix porn, think about this: What about the poor Mr.Whip. Is that what he really wants to do with his life? Back in the good old days, whips were respected. They were used in prisons and feared by the inmates. They were a symbol of power. It may have been a lonely life but at least it had meaning. Now all they are used for is shady porn movies. The whips want to regain their respect. To stop selling their bodies and return to the good old days. Led by the great rope sympathiser Maria, there will be a revolution. Ropes and Whips Banzai!!!

Windmill Hair Nino makes a return! That must be why Recruit’s plans to build a power plant under the bridge were instantly dismissed. Nino’s hair could power a town with a population of 500 people, providing the population turn off their computers at night. Seriously people, turn off your computers at night time. Is it such a pain to have to wait for it to boot up in the morning?

Recruit’s mum? I did ask way earlier on in the series why there was no mention of his mum. I thought it was just the typical anime character syndrome of characters parents always living away from home, but clearly Arakawa is too smart for that. But this is great isn’t it? The dad saying that his son isn’t capable of living up to him the whole way through the series. The son constantly living in the shadow of his father’s great success, trying to mimic what he does but not being able to directly confront him. And yet, at the end of the series, without the son even realising it, he had surpassed his dad in the one place the dad was not able to succeed.

Episode 99: Conclusion

Nino running around, unable to answer the phone was the highlight of the episode. As in the highlight of episode 99, not the full 24 minutes. Sorry, but the full 24 minutes were packed full of so many highlights I don’t think I can pick out one.

(Also, definitive proof that Nino isn’t Japanese. What Japanese person doesn’t know how to use a phone?)

He’s got approval from his dad without realising it. He’s told Nino that he’s going to stay with Nino forever without realising it, although he does realise it a few seconds later. For me, that’s the perfect end to this series. Recruit has manned up. Dad approves but is too caught up in his old ways so has to leave Recruit to find his own way from now on. And Nino and Recruit have done the closest this series would ever get to a marriage proposal. In fact, can you imagine how awesome a scene this would have been if he was telling his dad he planned to propose to Nino and for Nino to reply yes while she was standing behind him?

That episode was titled ‘conclusion’ and is effectively the end of the series. The plot points were cleared up and I bet the last episode will just be a gag episode (I’ll still blog it though). So to wrap things up, while I was excited about the prospect of watching this series, no way in hell did I think it would end up quite as fantastic as it did. This episode really wrapped up things brilliantly and showed how perfectly constructed a series it was. Genuinely and frequently funny. One of the most memorable cast of nutters ever. I loved this series far more than I ever thought I would. Shaft, you deserve your break next season. You’ve won me over with Nino and co.

Episode 87: Oath

Interesting how the people under the bridge now look to Recruit for advice. Sister is more for emotional support than decision making, which is probably why he hasn’t been given the job of the Mayor. While the Mayor’s advice may be absolute nonsense, his deliverance and reputation under the bridge makes him a perfect leader. However turning to Recruit when there is genuine, tangible trouble is because he actually has plans that makes sense.

Well, sort of make sense. What’s common sense anyway?

Episode 88: Command Aura

I wonder what Ric was worried about when he told Sister to dress up. I mean, obviously he doesn’t look like a grizzled war veteran under that nun costume until he draws something from his vast arsenal under his robes. But surely he knew that if he told Sister to camouflage that he’d go and do something crazy. Maybe he thought Sister would put on the suit again. I’m more surprised he’s not dressed in proper camo gear, complete with the helmet with leaves on and camo paint drawing leopard stripes on his face. He surely has the equipment lying somewhere in that church of his.

If Recruit is truly going to beat his daddy then he might just need to dabble in some possibly illegal activities. But dealing with the mafia would not suit someone like Recruit. Nope, he would be the type of person to dabble in the occult. The untouchable technology. The Geoss.

“Lelouch vi Ichinomiya commands you all, to stop working and go home!”

(OK, I know it was Whitey who sent the blokes home, but give me this moment of photoshopping extravaganza. I gotta hold up my geass end of this website somehow)

Episode 89: Under the Bridge without Ric

At first I thought this was Recruit who just had a fight with a permanent marker. The permanent marker constantly attempting to end the fight with one quick jab to the eye but Recruit took a lesson he learned from Sister and deflected each shot onto his cheekbones where the only result would be aesthetic damage. Hence the following minute or so baffled me because I genuinely thought this was Recruit in disguise and I was trying to work out what reason he had to be in disguise amongst the workers.

Fist of the North Stella make a re-appearence, this time to offer fake-Recruit her skilled support. Quite a useful skill if you think about it. Remember all those times you’ve sat in bed, totally incapable of falling asleep. The wouldn’t you love a Fist of the North Stella of your own to put you asleep with a relatively small amount of mental and physical scarring.

Maybe it’s because I now have Nino as my avatar, but I’ve found myself feeling for Nino a lot more this episode. The enthusiasm at which she greeted fake-Recruit along with the disappointment oozing out of her as she tried to recall his face, starting from the tie up, managed to get to me just a bit. It’s an episode notabley low on laughs and much stronger on the sense of community under the bridge. To be perfectly honest I prefer the other Arakawa. When they were able to use the comedic moments to put together the image of community under the bridge.

Episode 90: Father and Son

I should probably stop with all this photoshopping.

Now this was interesting. I probably should have expected it, but learning that all poor daddy Recruit wanted was a bit of love in return. Well, maybe not love. He’s afraid directly talking to his son, but for what reason? Is it because he feels he wasn’t a good father, or is he just naturally incapable of confronting people. Both seem extremely unlikely, you don’t become that successful without being able to manipulate and confront other people and as far as he’s concerned, he’s raised his son in the best way in order to be successful. Wonder what it is then.

Episode 91: Plan

Let me ask you this ladies. Would you really like to welcome back a man who, upon seeing you, sends his beads of sweat hurtling in your direction? Yeah, I thought not. No wonder everyone went to Takei instead.

What a loving relationship~! Well, I suppose it is Nino’s way of showing her affection. She’s been holding that fish in preperation for when her lover finally returns. I’m sure Recruit would love a kiss instead of a fish shoved in his mouth but beggars can’t be choosers. At least she knows it’s him now.

(I’ve been desperately trying to think of a sexual innuendo for having a fish shoved in your mouth but my perverted side is hopelessly off form today)

So that means they currently do have a psychokinesis barrier up? Maybe that’s what those bottles fluttering in the wind are. Nothing to do with telling the wind direction (although I suppose it would help with Sister’s sniping). Or maybe it’s just one of those nonsensical plans by the Mayor involving cucumbers and kappa semen mixed with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice buried under a full moon. Yeah, notice how each one of the members under the bridge wants something built that isn’t there already? Recruit’s right, bunch of moaners.

Episode 92: The Power of Ichinomiya

The only real laugh out loud moment of the episode and, surprise surprise, it comes from Sister. Look at his, sparkling from sheer innocence. Or course he thinks he’s done nothing wrong. He knows nothing else. Probably a good thing Recruit never saw him in his bear costume.

Episode 93: TEL

Leaving aside Recruit’s beautiful phone wallpaper for a second, I’m sure we all want to know exactly how scary Recruit’s dad can be. For this valuable information we shall ask our resident expert for his opinion on the frightening level of this much feared man.

And with that, this post comes to an end. It wasn’t really the greatest of Arakawa episodes I suppose. With the end in sight it’s quite easy to guess how it will shape out but apparently the manga keeps going so a second season is on the cards. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose~

A ‘wish’.

It isn’t a shimmering glass ball which will shatter if grasped firmly. It is a darkly lustrous ball of mud which only firms up when one squeezes it. Its form may be uneven, but it’s the form of one’s own fingers. Not to make it a beautiful gem someday, but to make it the world’s most beautiful ball of mud.

Aww, that’s quite the imaginative metaphor. Will admit I’m at a bit of a loss as to what it has to do with Arakawa Under the Bridge though. Still, the world is always in need of more quality metaphors…I’ll think up of a good metaphor for how much the world needs a good metaphor later. For now, onto this fabulous episode which, according to some forums I read, has LOTS OF DRAMA!!! Yeah, sometimes I wonder if I’m watching the same episode as everyone else.

Episode 77 Fire Drill

This is such an awesome shot. Sister doing that typical badass shot of turning his back to disaster because he’s seen it all before. Better yet, it’s a fire he created. Turning your back on destruction you caused yourself is even better. It does become significantly less badass when you realise this is a ‘simulated’ fire where the most valuable thing destroyed might be some grass and an unsuspecting ladybird.

(Also, it only only occured to me after the episode, but the joke here is that fire drills shouldn’t actually have a fire…right? There’s not some weird custom in Japan to create a fire when doing a fire drill, is there?)

(Semi-related note: Fire drills in Ireland are hilarious. You could be in a house made out of Christmas trees and petrol, beside a fireworks factory and a detention centre for juvenile delinquents and nobody would move an inch if the fire alarm went off. Well, they’d move their heads to see if there was any smoke, but that’s about it)

I know the rest of the episode poo-pooed this deep debt of Sisters, but I wonder what it actually is? Sister wouldn’t say he owes the Mayor a debt unless there genuinely was something. This goes beyond just respect for being the dependable (lol) mayor. There’s something more to this that both we and Recruit are missing to the Mayor’s leadership qualities. Until we get sufficient evidence that the Mayor really is suitable for leading the platoon by the Arakawa River, then I stand by my statement that Sister should be the Mayor under the Bridge.

Episode 78: Teamwork

Your leader catches fire and all you’re worried about is your nostrils? Recruit, I expected better from you. Actually I lie, I expected no better from you whatsoever. Can you not see what he puts himself through? Did you not witness as he drilled the team into the perfect bucket-chain team around with his sumo stomping? And how he used the water for the benefit of the people?

Totally predictable, still hilarious. Well, no, I only knew this would happen once Recruit was passed the bucket. Until then, I was convinced P-ko would take it, trip up over an unsuspecting speck of dirt and spill the water all over herself, drenching her top and turning it totally see-through. OK, I didn’t think that last part would happen. It’s just what I hoped would happen. Still would have been funny though.

Episode 79: Mayor under the bridge

Clearly a reference to halfadeckshort.

Oh look. More yaoi pairings. I honestly thought the character designs for the men in Arakawa were far too bizarre to attract any slash fiction. A quick browse on pixiv told otherwise. Seeing numerous amounts of HoshiXRecruit pictures was really weird. I mean, I suppose they fit the yaoi stereotype of two rivals who are actually ~in wuv~ but seeing Hoshi depicted in bishounen manner really threw me off. Then again, it’s not like it’s that far away from headless porn that’s resulted from Durarara. Who knows, maybe there’s women out there with a fetish for dudes who’s head looks like a star.

(No, I wasn’t on pixiv looking for yaoi pictures, despite what my tastes in anime might inform you. I was looking for a new avatar, seeing as I’ve had my Hare one for 2 years now. I eventually settled on one, tell me what ya think in the comments)

Episode 80: Enlightenment

Really? If in Ichinomiya land, fool=handsome and youthful then yes, Recruit does look like a fool. I mean, holy crap, look at him in that picture. He’s fucking gorgeous! If living under a river can do that to you attractiveness level then I’m moving now. Besides, he does have internet access there so I can still blog. Now I’ve just got to nearly drown and have a space-case girl with an epic ahoge ask me to be her lover. Yup, sounds like a pretty achievable life goal if you ask me.

I love the way Recruit’s own lines are coming back to haunt him. He used to say this quite frequently at the start of the series. Now here he is, staring at someone saying that very line, about to ruin his happiness. Stranger still is that he now considers living under the bridge his happiness. Not once over the course of the rest of the episode does he consider that it might be better if he moves away from under the bridge. I can’t even recall him mentioning the deal with Nino for the past few episode. That kiss must have totally won him over.

Sister, you are awesome. I think all you need is one more absolutely hilarious one-liner for you to cement your place as one of my favourite anime characters of all time.

This was one of those classic moments where I had to pause the video because I was laughing so much. Sister, congratulations for that. Not only have you cemented your place as one of my all-time favourite characters, but Arakawa has also almost certainly earned a place in my top 30 anime list. That list needs updating at the end of the season because DRRR will probably take a spot as well. Although DRRR has been pretty weak lately. Heck, Arakawa is way better than Durarara at the moment.

Episode 81: Emergency situation

I’m not going to be pretend to be an expert on law or anything, but don’t they have squatting rights now? No, this is not another pointless off-topic debate. This is quite relevant to the plot. Nino has been here at least 4 years, seeing as that’s when she met Hoshi, and I’m pretty sure the Mayor must have been here longer than that. Don’t you own land once you’ve been on it for 5 years? Even if Recruit’s dad bought the land, he didn’t effectively buy it off the people who now own it. I’m sure Recruit is smart enough to know these laws better than me. Then again, he’s up against his dad, who will almost certainly be able to hire the best lawyers to take them down. There must be plenty of illegal activity under the bridge. As Recruit said, Sister is illegal by his very existence.

This was so lulz worthy. You can just imagine Sister standing over some diminutive Japanese policemen saying ‘Nihongo Wakarimasen’ and watching them cower in fear at the sight of this massive, cross-dressing gaijin.

Episode 82: No need to worry

The Mayor gets straight to the heart of what I was talking about earlier. Recruit instantly finds himself worrying about the people under the bridge, even if they do think that burying cucumbers will result in awesome kappa magic. I wonder when Recruit will come to realise how he’s changed himself. He’s not the most self-aware person around now, is he.

Episode 83: Official

“Hey Shinbo. What should we put in between these two scenes?”

“How about a close up of Recruit’s eye?”

“Err, we’ve done that 12 times already this episode Mr.Shinbo”

“Really? OK, how about do some quick cuts to pictures of the bridge”

“Sir, we’ve done that several times this episode too”

“I know! Let’s make the pictures go by even faster to simulate dramatic stuff happening!”

“Err…ok Mr.Shinbo”

“Why yes, I am a genious”

lolshaft

Episode 84: Pig

Now I haven’t been that mad about Maria so far because I’m not exactly one for the whole S&M thing. However Maria coming out dressed in that black top, in all-out sadist mode would have made my day if this episode wasn’t already packed full of so much win otherwise. Working for the government does have its perks. Also, did you guys notice the footprints on his back afterwards?

Episode 85: Here

Any more? A hint into Nino’s past? A dramatic ending to the series? An end that has some sort of resolution to the main plot? The possibility of seeing Nino stand up to Recruit’s dad? I am looking forward to this!

Episode 70: Present

And I’m bloody freaked out.

Hoshi without his Star head. His mask is made up of two parts. The Star and the potato. The potato layer must be for insular reasons, to let the air breath around his head. Otherwise his face would end up all horrible and wrinkly. He’s clearly put effort into this design of his. Wonder if he made it himself or bought it off a mask enthusiast. Why am I even asking this question? Why must I analyse the most random and insignificant of aspects of Arakawa in my posts?

No Arakawa! Please please please don’t turn down the path of the pedophiles. Surely Shaft got that out of their system with Vampire Bund. In fact, anime fandom got more than enough underage wank material out of that shitty anime.

P.S. Vampire Bund is a terrible anime. Arakawa is awesome. This shall be the last time I mention these two anime in the same sentence.

Aaaand the world is back to normal. Well, normal for Arakawa Under the Bridge. Which is pretty far from what you’d normally consider normal I suppose. At least there weren’t rockets firing out from those pads. For some reason I was expecting that to happen. Hey, it makes more sense then what happens later on in this episode.

Episode 71: Embers

That’s a strangely cute image. Sister makes his cookies for Maria like a high school girl does to offer to the boy she likes. However he can never summon up the courage to give her the cookies himself so instead he hands them out at mass. Or maybe handing cookies out at mass is a ruse so he can give cookies to Maria. I wonder if Maria attends mass? I don’t remember seeing her there in the earlier episodes. Then again, they blacked out all the characters that we didn’t already know.

And it was here that Arakawa stopped making any sense whatsoever. The mangaka must have picked up an old copy of Fist of the North Star while halfway through writing this chapter and modified his character designs to fit his newfound obsession. It could have been worse I suppose. He could have become obsessed with Strike Witches.

(For the uninitiated, Fist of the North Star is an old manga and anime series aimed at children. Therefore it has extremely manly men who have six packs on their six packs and biceps on their biceps. It involves exploding heads, amongst other things)

(For the uninitiated, Strike Witches is a relatively recent anime aimed at bachelors. Therefore it has underage girls flying around in a world with no pants. 12 months later the studio who created it, Gonzo, stopped making anime)

Episode 72: MDS (Mad Shot-down Brothers)

Look at that. This is a disgrace. Remember at how lovely her eyebrows used to be? They were all small and curved and cute. Now they’re these ugly, bushy looking caterpillars that look like they’re running away from each other. Where can we go now to get our doses of lovely eyebrows. You’ve ruined it now Arakawa.

It’s like Street Fighter, Tekken or whatever one-on-one fighter game you grew up with. You’ve just unlocked a difficulty level beyond legendary by entering a cheat code you found online. In this difficulty level your character is Mr.Potato Head. Your first match is against Fist of the North Stella. Who then proceeds to serve you a slice of your own face.

Episode 73: Tyrant

With my two-year anniversary coming up soon, I’ve been looking for a new avatar to celebrate the occasion. I could use Fist of the North Stella I suppose. However she has the unfortunate flaw of ever having driven a cart. As a blog called The Cart Driver, I feel my character should have a certain degree of cart driving capabilities. At least Recruit pushed a trolley with Sister on. That’s kinda like driving a cart.

(Have Stella’s eyebrows gotten ever worse? Now they look like caterpillars on fire)

Maria in ‘P-ko-gazing-upon-the-Mayor’ vision. Out of the women under the bridge she’s probably my least favourite. First would be Nino, followed by P-ko then Maria. Stella doesn’t count. At this point in the episode, Stella is no longer classified as a female. She is now a freak of nature caused upon by the author reading too many manly manga. Case point: this picture.

What is this I don’t even

This could just be an honest assessment of the strength of Stella’s character (who is no longer Fist of the North Stella). It could just be a well thought out method of making Stella feel better about herself. However, my shipping swaying ways likes to think that this is a call-out to Sister to actually admit that he likes her. Or even better, an admittance that she likes Sister but can’t bring herself to be honest about her feelings, while being jealous that Stella has the endless power of youth to drive her passion forward. Sister and Maria. I wonder if any of these couples will get together before the end of the show.

Episode 74: True Form

Oh no, a normal person is going under the bridge! I better warn him not to go any further or else he might meet some extremely strange people. I’m the most normal person here so I’ll lead him away. Yup, totally normal person with plenty of common sense. make sure he doesn’t go near Man-eating starfishes that only exist in my warped imagination. Or Fist of the North Stella. I’m not sure which one is scarier.

(Stop it Arakawa. Your irony is beginning to hurt my insides more than Halfadeckshort’s horrible puns in his poetry)

Episode 75: First Magnitude Star

One thing that I like about Arakawa is that it’s still grounded in reality.For the most part, these characters are real people who could really exist. Hoshi, the Mayor, Nino and Whitey all work like that. They’re just stuck under the bridge due to personality defects. Sister is probably on the run or something, or at least thinks he is. P-ko feels that under the bridge is the only society she fits into. People like the Iron Head brothers live under there because nobody is willing to question why they aren’t somewhere else. These are all normal people with certain personality defects. Which is why Fist of the North Stella bugged me. It was just a bit too much.

That’s no moon. It’s a space station.

(Actually it’s a banana. Looking like a banana is never cool. I’ve discussed this before)

Nino with short hair is surprisingly better than long-haired Nino, and this is coming from someone who generally prefers long hair. Also, this is Nino when she was 5 years younger. To my surprise, she’s already living under the bridge, which blows my theory that she only started living there roughly two years ago. But it confirm my idea that she’s roughly 20 years old, around the same age as Recruit. She’s definitely a high-schooler in that picture. Old enough to interest Star but still relatively young. I wonder if she went to school. In fact, I’m still wondering about pretty much everything in her past. I really, really want to know.

And so Hoshi’s story was all a lie. Well no, but certainly a fabrecated version of the truth. It’s like those strawberry tasting sweets. They probably had a trace of strawberry in them once, but it’s been beaten down by all the artificial crap.

I’ll be blunt: This wasn’t the greatest installment of Arakawa. Every episode until now felt like it had advanced the plot. Recruit’s attitude to people under the bridge would evolve, as would his relationship with Nino. This felt like a filler episode more than anything, to flesh out a few side characters before the ending. It still made me grin a lot but it lacked the punch of a real episode of Arakawa. Ah well, maybe the next episode will return to form once again.

Episode 62: Lie

What a way to start an episode! Put Sister in a suit. I don’t remember seeing that in the next episode preview. All I remember was a real life kappa chasing some kids (no really, that was what the last episode’s preview was).  It took me a few seconds to figure out who it was. Mind you, I’m not so sure that’s the best type of suit he could be in. It is a Dol and Gaba suit (you know someone’s loaded when they shorten the name of designer brands. I’m a student. I don’t even shorten the name of McDonald’s). I just think Sister would look better in an all black suit with the black bow-tie, James Bond style (well, he is English). Alternatively, he could go for one of those all white suits. Still, what he’s wearing there suits him well enough.

If I was Recruit, I would have used the fact that there’s some monstrous fish in that river as what he’s making this company out of. That way he has proof if either of these two go asking questions. Then again, what’s the bet that Nino has caught all the monstrous fish by now. Or maybe the fish go by season, when they all go upstream to lay their eggs and stuff.…hey, stop looking at this text with that disbelieving, condescending gaze. I watched a documentary on it once. I’m an anime blogger, not a marine life blogger.

Episode 63: Employess Under the Bridge

Ah, so Franz is his real name. Were we told that before? Or is that his real name? If it is, then maybe I was wrong about him being English and it’s only Stella who’s from the land of tea and crumpets. Franz is a German name, which suits the profile of Sister quite well. He’s tall, blonde hair, blue eyes and generally typical Aryan. Or central European in general. Since he speaks 6 languages, that suits central Europe as well because they’re typically multilingual, especially compared to the English who know next to nothing beyond their native tongue.

Aha~! I have a vague theory. This lady did a little blush when Whitey did his whole ‘polite employee’ routine, hinting that she might just have fallen for the guy just a little. After what happened at the end of the episode, she’ll almost certainly come back into the picture, perhaps taking Whitey’s fascination away from this chicken of his. Or better yet, she’ll learn to live with his fear of marrying a chicken as yet another person is drawn to life under the bridge away from Recruits evil daddy.

(Damnit, every single time I think of Recruit’s dad I can’t get the image of him doing the himo~ dance out of my head)

Hi everybody. My name is Recruit and I live under a bridge. This is my blissful state of bewilderment face. I use it a lot.

Episode 64: Secratary

Well kids. Would you buy these cucumbers if this guy was the mascot? Wait, wasn’t Recruit selling electricity? Or at least pretending he was. A kappa as a mascot for your electrical company. Maybe those green and yellow orderly dots in the background a grid lines showing how Recruit will deliver electricity to the country? Or maybe I’m just looking into everything way too much yet again. Yes, I do that a lot.

Oh Nino~<3. You’re so wonderfully carefree. Well no, she does care about stuff. How would you describe her in one adjective? It’s not unaware or blissful. Neither is she naive…well, she is naive but that’s not the word I’m looking for. She has few worries to her, but unworried isn’t the word I’m looking for either. Besides, she does have worries. Otherwise she wouldn’t use the Venus lines when she feels uncomfortable. She’s a spacer I suppose, at yet stays alert to certain things. It’s like she has a certain set of things she cares about and beyond that doesn’t matter to her.

Because they have, yet again, found someone even weirder than those who do live under the bridge. When you get down to it, how many people out there wouldn’t fit into society under the bridge in some form or another? Well, probably most people, it’s why they’re considered ‘normal’. However who wants to be normal anyway? The less normal you are, the more interesting you are. Although you can push it though. Do you really want to be as harsh as Maria just to try be different from everyone else? I suppose some people are into that sort of stuff though. Like Sister, apparently.

Episode 65: A Deep Relationship

Yaoi doujins fukken whar?

(I wonder what yaoi pairings they’d make for doujins with Arakawa? I doubt there’s that many artists interested in balding dude X Recruit. Sister X Recruit seems like an obvious one. I doubt there’d be Hoshi X Recruit either, or anything to do with the Mayor either. Or maybe there’d just be straight ones with Nino X Recruit. I wonder how many fujioshi actually read the straight doujins? I should try find some of those female-orientated straight doujins sometime. Strictly from an educational perspective you must understand)

(Yuri doujins are obvious. P-ko X Nino. Cucumbers anyone? OK, I’ll shut up now…)

First he gave us Student Fucker. Now he gives us butt buddies. What other poetic terms will escape from the mouth of this wonderful poet? You can just tell he writes his own music.

Yaoi doujins fukk…note to kids: This is not how you kiss someone. If someone I was about to kiss decided to re-arrange their face to look like they wanted me to inspect their mouth for cavities, I’d probably run away. Actually I wouldn’t, because I’d be too busy being shocked that someone wanted to kiss a big nerd like myself. But I’d still point out any potential cavities they might have.

Episode 66: My First…

Yes! Yes! Go for it! Push him and see what happens!

(It’s strange how big a deal the kiss scene is. You find yourself gunning for the scene to happen, crying for the characters to go for it, being constantly cockblocked or pussyfooting around. Sometimes it’s tossed out like it’s nothing. Sometimes it’s been built up for ages so that you get an explosion of relief when they finally get to it. Sometimes it’s shocking when it does happen that you’re like ‘woah, they kissed!’. Sex scenes though…well, they don’t happen very much and when they do, it’s almost always been between a married couple. Anime needs more sex in general)

It’s strange to realise that this is the case. No matter how many chocolates he got, no matter how much research he did for his and Nino’s date, no matter how many romances he’s seen go past him in his life, if you don’t actually engage in the romance yourself then you’re not going to learn anything very fast. So go ahead and kiss her damnit!

Come on Recruit, you have to kiss her! If you don’t, she may never regrow her nose ever again!

Hoshi’s facial expression is so epic in this picture. It’s the face of a troll. He’s definately the type of guy who posts one word comments like ‘faggot’ on Youtube videos then grins as he watches the ensuing carnage. Yup, Hoshi is definitely a troll. And just like any troll, he hasn’t got a chance with women, despite thinking he’s cool because he plays the guitar badly. Sorry Hoshi, but you stand no chance against the Recruit. Now hurry up and KIIISSSSSS HHHEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR!!!!

YYYEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!

That’s a proper kiss as well. Mouths properly connected, a good old grab of the tie to add that extra bit of feistyness. Obviously it doesn’t rank up there with those epic kisses that have been building up for ages, but I’d still give this a solid 7/10. Loses points for Nino not having a clue what it really meant, but the buildup in this episode to it was great stuff. It made me grin like a maniac anyway.

Hey look, there must have been a cut-scene we missed where Nino styled Recruit’s hair like she did in episode 2 and then proceeded to paint his face with tomato juice.

(I predicted a few episodes back that Recruit was about 22 years old. Looks like I was almost right and I’d say Nino is a year or two younger. We’ll have to wait and see for that information)

Episode 67: Alone

I wonder if he still thinks that? Nino in a wedding dress. Sister performing the marriage ceremony. P-ko the bridesmaid. Whitey the best man. Hoshi would be playing the wedding music if he wasn’t too busy floating down the river pretending he was a starfish. The Mayor would act like the guy handing over Nino to him in the father’s position. Marriage under the Bridge. I wonder how far this season will go with their relationship anyway?

This scene was very touching when it was happening but looking back it’s kinda weird. Mainly because of that scene later on with him hugging a Recruit body pillow. I’d like to think my dad doesn’t hug a body pillow of me. I’ve never actually asked him if he does. I don’t think I ever will ask him either because if he does I’d prefer not to know.

Episode 68: Bluebird

You know when I said earlier than anime needed more sex? Yeah…I doubt that’s what happened here. It’s just Recruit being an idiot. A lovable idiot but an idiot nonetheless. Although his reaction is better than Hoshi’s would ever be. If Nino’s mouth touched his, Hoshi would probably explode.

I’m sorely tempted to go back to the earlier episodes and check if those scenes of Recruit in the house by himself have Sister lurking ominously in the background somewhere. If Shaft actually did that, they’d get a brofist of respect from me. In fact, Shaft get a brofist of respect from me for this entire show. If the nonsensical length of these posts weren’t clue enough, I’ve totally fallen in love with Arakawa Under the Bridge.

Why yes Sister, it does. Arakawa Under the Bridge makes me smile so much my face hurts. It’s not so much the laugh out loud moments that make this anime for me, although those are plentiful and enjoyable. It’s the constant feel-good factor and general grinniable mood the entire show puts me in. Arakawa is my favourite show of the spring season and has taken that spot by quite a considerable margin. It’s also given me new-found respect for Shaft that previously only existed after Bakemonogatari, something which was gradually worn away by the ridicoulous delay for those final episodes. Of course, the real hero behind this series is the original mangaka and I can’t wait to see if he more popular Saint Young Men also gets animated, but Shaft deserve some real respect for adapting it this well. Thank you Shaft and thank you Shinbo. You deserve this break you’re taking next season.

But for now, let’s all sit in anticipation and wait for the hilarity that will be Recruit’s dad under the bridge!

(himo himo himo himo~~~)

Episode 52: Teacher Under the Bridge

And so starts a long and grueling day as a teacher for poor old Recruit. I love his ‘trial and error’ method of teaching he uses later on, but here he starts his journey down the path of losing his originally enthusiastic audience. Because, as usual, Recruit is still making mistakes by trying to apply his previous lifes’ logic to the world under the bridge.

Man I wish they taught me this when I was in school. It would have avoided so many embarrassing incidents.

(Nino is the smart kid who always sits at the front of the class, which should theoretically be social suicide in the scary world of classroom politics, and yet is still an influential figure in the classroom because of her seemingly unending knowledge of useful facts. It’s like the nerdy kid in school who showed the messers (or Jocks, as they call them in America) how to use proxy sites to look at naughty stuff on the school computers. You know, important information of the likes they don’t teach you in class)

Episode 53: Interest

(or the lack thereof, judging by this picture)

Soooo, that’s Nino’s interested face? Why yes, I can see it now! She looks almost as absorbed in Recruit’s lessons as she did in his music!

That really looks like Hoshi is school uniform. Well, not the usual Japanese high school uniform, more the English school uniform (for the uninitiated out there, English/Irish school uniform looks like those in Harry Potter except without the robes and wands). What this picture sorely needs now is for Hoshi to be running to school with toast in his mouth, although that’s more of a schoolgirl thing.

(Hey yeah, genderswapping Arakawa! Imagine what that would be like. Well, now that I think about it I don’t think it would work that well. Sister becomes Brother, which totally loses the appeal. A female Mayor dressed as a kappa wouldn’t be quite the same either. P-ko wouldn’t work either. Yeah, I think this a case where genderswapping doesn’t throw up amusing situations)

Oh come on Mayor, we’ve all heard that one before. That’s right up there with ‘the kappa ate my homework’. Now if you said something believable like ‘Sister blew it up with a hand grenade’ then maybe your story would be more believable. However the prospect of seeing the Mayor taking on people under the bridge in a sumo is amusing. I wonder who out of the men under the bridge would win in a sumo bout (discounting Sister). Recruit probably studied it as part of his plans for world domination so my money’s on him.

(Random thought: One of the things that bothered me about anime in general was the total lack of sumo wrestling. When you consider that it’s what many people think of when they’re asked about Japanese culture, its absence in anime felt awfully strange to me. After some digging it turns out that sumo wrestling is so plagued by match fixing that the younger generations don’t care about it anymore and it’s now considered something only old people watch. Anime is generally for people between the ages of 12–25 so it makes sense for it not to be present. The mayor referencing sumo just after he stated he was centuries of years old only re-enforces that fact.)

Actually it’s just a cover of a certain Pink Floyd song. Although you can’t fault his taste in music. I found myself humming himo himo himo himo~~~~ the other day.

Teacher/Student forbidden romance? As unbelievably cute as this scene was, this probably isn’t the best reason for Nino to come to school. What Recruit really needs is people interested in learning. Then again, Nino has frequently shown that she takes a lot of what Recruit says to heart as life lessons. Recruit is a fountain of fascinating wisdom and knowledge to her, which is why she’s so interested in him. However there is still that glimmer of romantic interest between them. Remember episode 5 and Nino blushing? I wonder if they’ll get any further than first date before the series ends. Recruit needs Hoshi to goad him into making the next move again.

I have nothing to say about this picture. I just happen to like it =)

Episode 54: Starting Class

Totally predictable. Still hilarious. And doesn’t that magnet look like a nose?

(This is the only picture I have something to say about in this ‘episode’ of Arakawa. I wrote over 500 words about the last episode. Congratulations Scamp, you win the bloggers award for consistency!)

Episode 55: Turf

Ah Nino, we love you no matter how strange you are. No wait, we love you because of how strange you are. As for Recruit, he’s gotten used to your quirks by now and is capable of responding to them in a controlled manner. There’s still a few things that throw him under the bridge but for the most part he’s learned to adapt. We see him overreact to random shit far less often now, with only the craziest stuff throwing him from now on. A big change from the start when people were saying ‘oh, it’s just an anime whose humour is based off random stuff happening and the main character yelling a reaction’. Hah, whose laughing now, bitches!

So awesome~! I wasn’t that fond of Stella before this episode (badass loli’s have been done before) but dressed up like that makes the whole thing so much better. The sunglasses, the trench coat, the teeth clench, the popped collar. Stella doesn’t just go to the school of the badass loli’s, she got expelled for bullying the other badass lolis!

Episode 56: Not quite forthright

You know, when I was talking about Stella going to the school for badass lolis, I’d totally forgotten that she actually did. And yes, she did get kicked out of the school for badass lolis. Sister must have decided she was too dangerous for the poor little kids back in Western Europe so deported her to Japan, keeping a close eye on her at all times. Putting her in the care of the Iron Head Brothers is probably a good thing because all they have to do is take off their helmets to keep her under control.

(Villainous orphanage in Western Europe? I could make a Kinderheim 511 from Monster reference right about now but for some reason I feel that making jokes about that place just isn’t kosher)

If you could just divert your attention away from Nino’s epic windmill hair for just a second, this is what I was talking about earlier. Recruit’s method of teaching is a trial and error method. Change if the kids are getting bored but if they seem interested in something then just let them do it. If it aint broke, don’t fix it.

Episode 57: A completely different person to everyone else

Hoooh, I have a devious plan involving photshop with this picture. I’m competing against Sea Slugs in the next round of the aniblog tourney where I’ll likely get my ass handed to me. However apparently you’re meant to draw fanart of their mascot when you lose. My artist skillz are around the same level as Stella’s so I think I should be able to rustle something up of similar levels of artistic brilliance.

There are many reasons why Sister is my favourite character under the bridge. One of the big drawing factors is how he was the first person, apart from Nino, for Recruit to warm up to. Now he’s the only person he can have a reasonable argument with without being frightened for his life, which is strange considering Sister’s habit of withdrawing weapons of minor destruction out from under his robes at regular intervals.

Ah love things like this! No, not the sparkly bubbles that floated in from the nearest shojo series. The idea that this picture makes perfect sense in context but looks so totally bizarre to anyone who has never seen the anime before. It’s a similar appeal to those Hetalia discussions talking about how France would react if England tried to cut his hair. It makes perfect sense in the context of Hetalia but baffles those outside.

Episode 58: When winter comes

Hey guiz, I think we need more reasons why Sister is the best character in Arakawa Under the Bridge. How about the efficiency at which he dispatched vegetable and the occasional rouge trowel? Yup, I think we can all agree on the awesomeness of Sister right about now.

Episode 59: Transformation

At first I was all like ‘P-ko on a motorbike? Yargh, disaster in the making!’. But then it dawned on me. P-ko is a moe of the dojiko variety, right? There’s another character in a current airing anime who has also been described in series as a dojiko who also rides a motorbike (which has also been compared to an animal. In that case a horse, in Arakawa’s case, an iron boar. Thank you Mayor for that image). Haven’t you all realised it by now? Motorbikes were considered the ultimate in rebelling from society after Akira. Now, thanks to Durarara, they are considered moe!

It’s hard to pick a stranger couple between P-ko X Kappa and Sister X Maria. Compared to those two pairings, Nino and Recruit look like a positively normal couple with a house,  a dog and 2.4 kids (the iron brothers super powers count for 0.2 each). I’m trying to imagine what it would be like if P-ko confessed to the Mayor. How physical would their relationship be able to be. Although I can predict the Mayor’s first reaction. “But I’m a yokai. I’ll stay alive long after you die”. So heartbreaking~! Oh that reminds me. When’s that third season of Spice and Wolf coming Brains Base?

Episode 60: What’s common sense?

When I was a bit younger I was a huge fan of Top Trumps cards. These were cards each with 5–6 different stats. Each person draws a card and takes it in turn to pick a stat and whoever has the highest gets both cards. I was such a nerd in my younger days that I made top trumps out of anime characters. They’re still lying around on the computer at home somewhere. One of the stats evaluated the attractiveness of the characters. Of course as we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While I might have rated the Mayor’s looks at around a 2, P-ko would argue that they should be over 9000!

(yep, that entire paragraph was just leading up to an over 9000 joke. Hurrah Scamp, you get the bloggers award for originality)

What’s a lack of common sense anyway? Being different from other people? I guess he really doesn’t have any then.…

But even if he has no common sense, he lives an unwavering life. After all, that’s his real way of living. Finally coming to understand your true self. Pretty cool isn’t it?

You know what else is a lack of common sense? Spending over 4 hours on an episodic blog post. Or is it..what’s common sense anyway?

First, we are born in the same galaxy. Born of the same species. Our lifetimes overlap. The meetings between humans are so unlikely as to be miraculous. To laugh, to cy, and to fall in love. Everyone is made up of a collection of 1% chances. Thus, I am dazzled by the fact that there are so many miracles in this world.

I really should have started taking down these opening lines since they started. They, in a strange way, are the perfect sign to someone that this anime is far more than just bizarreness for the sake of it. This anime has a heart. I actually got shivers writing that quoted line, although that may have been because it’s bloody cold in my room. brb, shutting the window.

Episode 43: Ah, what wonderful music

The guitar vs the violin. Which would you go for guys and girls? Let me give you a hint: it’s like Nodame Cantabile vs K-ON. Yeah, no contest there folks. Well actually, since Hoshi isn’t playing a bass guitar, then I guess it’s more like Nodame vs Beck, which I’d still give to Nodame easily but it’s more of a respectable defeat for the guitar. I didn’t think Recruit was actually that good at the violin myself, mainly because it was hard to hear the beautiful music over the sound of his evil cackles and the cries of despair from the fallen star.

I’ve tried to use that excuse for blogging as well. ‘Hey look Scamp, that guy fell asleep while reading your latest Durarara post.’ ‘No, he’s just closing his eyes to focus on my wonderful writing…or something…’

Episode 44: Last Song

Himo himo himo himo~~~~

Himo himo himo himo~~~~

Himo himo himo himo~~~~

*chorus*

Himo himo himo himo~~~~

Himo himo himo himo~~~~

Himo himo himo himo~~~~

*second verse to be decided later*

(Whenever anyone sings that song I always get the picture of Recruits dad boogying away, since he was the first guy to sing this song. OK, it was in Recruit’s dream but still.)

Episode 45: You splash my back, I’ll splash yours

Oh you lot may laugh at Recruit now. I, however, sympathise with the poor guy. I remember making a similar expression while I was job hunting. At least Recruit had a laptop at the time from which to search for jobs. I had to use the family computer which would overheat if you tried to open more than one page at once. Or, alternatively, when the episode of anime you were watching had reached its most climactic point. Like in Code Geass episode 23 where it would shut down just as Lelouch was saying ‘I could tell you to kill all the  *bwwrrrrrr…*’.

Would that famous scene from James bond have worked better if the girl was wearing a Japanese school-girl swimsuit? Probably not, I’d have preferred Nino in a bikini myself. But eh, Shaft are unusually (for them) light on the fanservice in Arakawa. Some may call it a good thing while others are desperate for some service. I’m pretty indifferent to be honest. Arakawa is too intelligent to result to dumb fan pandering. However there is such a thing as clever use of fan service, it’s just really rare to find.

Episode 46: Ric’s Teachings

They look just like a married couple there, teaching their kids how to swim. Like nearly everything else in this show, there’s an odd charm to watching the two of them teaching the iron-head brothers to swim. Seeing Recruit being so up front and harsh of Nino’s teaching methods was a bit surprising to see seeing as he’s been increasingly lenient with her weirdness in recent episodes, saving his freak outs for the many other oddities that reside under the bridge, although I suppose it was for the best that he did.

There’s one shot every episode that cracks me up. This was it in episode 6. So predictable and yet so hilarious. They were going to have to mention those iron heads at some point, same way they’ll have to mention Hoshi having a star as a head at some point too. Or the guy with a chicken for a head and his bumblebee girlfriend. I wonder if they’ll ever have their own episode.

Episode 47: Chance

Lol yeah right, and the mayors a real life kappa. There’s nothing supernatural about anyone under the bridge. I bet these kids are the same as Nino and the Mayor. They know full well that they can’t transcend time and space, the same way Nino knows she isn’t actually from Venus. They just use it as an excuse to cover up whatever it is they want to hide. Which gets me back to wondering what Nino’s past actually is and why she wants to hide it behind Venus. I have my doubts that we’ll ever get an answer. It just wouldn’t suit the mood of the series, although we are only halfway through. Wait, already halfway through? Argh!

Oh what Hoshi would pay to get Nino to look at him like that. Recruit is, slowly but surely, working his way up in Nino’s estimation and everyone under the bridge’s estimation as well. OK, maybe Hoshi is too busy singing himo himo himo himo~~~ but everyone else is slowly being won over. P-ko trusted him enough to give him those Styrofoam boxes (you know you’re in there when a women gives you her styrofoam) and Sister has been on his side since the very beginning when Recruit expressed his desire to be the best lover he could be. Besides, Recruit is one up on Sister anyway in that he’s actually quite close to his crush. Sister is too busy blowing holes for himself to crawl into.

Episode 48: Polypropylene

One day you decide to stretch your legs and head out on a brisk stroll. It’s a nice day so you decide to walk along the river. You glance into a nearby oil can only to see…that!

(I’ve said it before, but the kappa sucks at being a mayor. People are much more likely to go to Sister or Nino for advice. I suppose if you’re going to keep the kappa out of the way of everyone you might as well make him the mayor. There’s not a whole lot for him to rule over. You wouldn’t trust the mayor with the important jobs, like producing vegetable or fish or eggs or cookies.

Episode 49: Hint

This is so like Recruit. Taking care of yourself so you’re always in top condition if you ever need to pay someone back. You don’t want to have someone take care of you when you’re ill because then he’d have intense asthma attacks until the other person was ill. He’d be better off breaking the guys leg and then taking care of him then just waiting for him to catch a cold. Hey, I wonder what happens to Recruit if he does injure someone? Does that fall under his debt repayment policy? I don’t think it does myself, which explains why he’s free to be a big a dick to anyone as he can. It’s just other people being nice to him that he can’t take.

Episode 50: Work Selection

Oh Recruit~ Aren’t you forgetting a little something? Oh well, I guess I’ll leave that to the little kid with her mum on the bridge to point that out to you. Best of all was that he still never noticed the irony of the whole situation. As it’s been said before, Recruit fits in amongst these people all too well. Even better now that he’s decided to get himself a job.

A close second for the most lol-worthy image of the episode. Strangley, dressed as a priest doesn’t make him look any less badass than he did as a nun. Instead of looking like someone from the Church of Violence from Black Lagoon, he looks like a random Hellsing character. I’d like to think that his reference to fighting Dracula is a Hellsing reference but it probably isn’t. Speaking of references, don’t you just know that now Recruit has become a teacher he’s going to throw out a ‘Zetsuboshita’. Speaking of even better references…

Keikakudoori~

Hiatus? What hiatus?

New opening this week, which originally disappointed me because the normal opening had really grown on me. But once I got over that original disappointment this new opening is pretty damn cool. Definitely has a touch of the Maria Holic opening about it what with Maria carrying round Sister mannequins. For all the problems with Maria Holic, the opening was not amongst them. This also continues Shafts trend of changing the opening just once randomly in the middle of the series, something I highly approve of when it can brings songs like Renai Circulation. Hanamaru Kindergarden changed its ending song with every episode and for many people that was the highlight of the anime. There’s obvious cost reasons for why it’s not done often but the reason I like it is it gives the animation studios a chance to much about with different animation styles. I would certainly like it to become more of a trend, although I’d hardly be devastated if we’re stuck with the usual opening from here on in.

(you know, my posts should only take about 40 minutes to write. What happens is I keep getting sidetracked and they take two hours. This time it was watching random Hanamaru endings.)

Episode 33: Can’t hide his feelings

I so saw this coming. They went to buy eggs and milk, neither of which is exactly that heavy. What were they going to put on a trolley, a cow? Obviously we’re living under the bridge so doubting the intensity of these characters nonsensical ways is never advisable. The person running the farm could, for instance, refuse to sell milk in any packages smaller than 5 gallons. However I doubt there was any size that would fit on the trolley that Sister wouldn’t be able to carry himself. Along with the fact that he brought Recruit along allowed me to connect the dots and come to this conclusion.

This is totally did not see coming though, and yet it’s strangely fitting for life under the bridge. These people may be odd but it’s just strange habits more so than being totally inhuman so why wouldn’t they fall in love? I guess the wound opening up for Sister is simply his version of the anime nosebleed. Much more manly. People get nosebleeds from doing stupid things like walking into lamposts because they saw a hot girl across street and weren’t paying attention to where they were looking (not that I’m talking from personal experience or anything…). Besides, I’ve always felt that the atypical asexual badass character isn’t quite a badass as the man who does fall in love. A robot doing badass deeds in not a cool as a human doing badass deeds.

Episode 34: Hello in the Vegetable Garden

Tell me, have you ever tried to get someone to slip on a banana peel? Or tried to slip on a banana peel yourself? I’ve tried both and neither worked. People just don’t slip on banana peels, although it’s something I refuse to believe isn’t true. I won’t feel like I’ve lived my life to the fullest until I see someone slip on a banana peel in real life (and no, a youtube video doesn’t count).

Episode 35: I guess Paprika’s…

I guess P-ko is the closest we’ll get to a moe stereotype in Arakawa Under the Bridge. Here we have our classic clumsy dojiko, like Celty from Durarara. Yup, thanks to Shingen I will forever associate the dojiko character archetype with a headless biker. It’s probably just as well P-ko isn’t headless herself. I think one headless dojiko in my diet is enough for me. Besides, if she was headless she wouldn’t be able to have that awesome bow hair. What points Celty gets with headless moe she loses out on ahoge moe points.

Full points for originality. Even if Recruit sat there all day taking insults from Maria he would never come across an insult of the blighted eggplant variety. I don’t doubt Maria has this insult in her arsenal though. She probably has an insult detector that pulls in all the insults anyone has ever used into into her head. So remember, whenever you insult someone, Sister gets an erection…or something along those lines anyway.

Episode 36: For your sake

What were you guys thinking she needed cucumbers for? Don’t lie, what were you really thinking? Really? Well then you guys are really cute and innocent and should probably never visit the deep dark corners of the internet. I’m a university student. The joy at searching for a perverted angle to anything has only increased from my teenage years. I wonder when they die down. Judging by some of the jokes my grandparents make, they will never go away.

But no, the real reason is that there’s even more love in the air under the bridge. It’s such a strangely charming atmosphere under there. Who do the characters look up to for shining examples? That would be Sister and Nino. Sister is totally incapable of admitting his love for Maria so no luck there in getting romantic advice. Nino had to actually save a drowning man to get herself a lover so again, not much luck there in the romance department. Maybe that can be Recruits job. Cupid under the Bridge.

Episode 37: Familia

Not much to say about this episode. Stella is kind of a boring character if I’m being honest. I’ve seen far too many ‘cute looking but badass and deadly’ characters come out of Japan in my time to really care about Stella. Instead I’m going to point you all to Whitey and his little space he’s given himself. He probably stands in the same spot at every meal. It would be so easy for someone who doesn’t like Whitey to fuck with him. Stick all the lovely chicken wings to the opposite side of the table to him and give him the icky stuff, like Guacamole.

Episode 38: Leech

I just love the image this gives. Consider Nino. She’s about the same age as Recruit so that means she’s probably no older than 22. How long has she lived under the bridge? I’d say not a whole lot longer than 2 years either (In fact, I generally think the gang under the bridge haven’t been there for all that long and I doubt we’ll ever get an answer either). So she comes to live under the bridge, sees this monster fish one day and decides there and then that her job will be as a fisherwomen. She will never retire until she catches this monster. Now her life has evolved above and beyond that but it’s still nice to return to her youth when catching this one guy was everything.

Sounds worryingly like my parents…(I’m not a NEET because I’m in education but I really should search harder for employment), which only enhances my belief that Sister is the one who trully runs life under the bridge. What does that kappa do anyway? First thing he does with Recruit is try pick a fight. Sister, on the other hand, teaches him valuable life lessons and offers him cookies. Who do you think is a better role model?

Episode 39: Gonna kick your ass

I was right, Star does earn his way by selling his music on itunes! I bet he gets about 6 downloads, one of them being himself. Oh, and he plays live concerts in Second Life as well. To an audience of about 5 people, one of them who has left his computer running while he goes to have dinner and the other person is a horse.

(I’ve never actually gone on Second Life in my life. However my dad is bloody obsessed with the thing so I’d be able to blag my way through a conversion about it. From his stories it sounds like he spends most of his time arguing with people in role-playing games who claimed to have lock picks inside their ears. Apparently this is the future.)

Shot. Of. The. Episode. There’s always one scene that gets me. Out of all the guys to be compared to, there’s something even more demeaning about being compared to Whitey. The others have genuinely crazy styles that have their own strange appeal. Whitey is just a hobo who is afraid of having a relationship with a chicken.

Episode 40: Music Battle

Gotta love Recruits ‘We are not amused’ face. Hoshi challenges his pride and his way with the ladies. It’s strange that the way to get to Recruit is to challenge his attraction. Out of all the things for Recruit to get touchy about, I wouldn’t have guessed that. We men are strange creatures. I’d get touchy about somone attacking my attractiveness as well. Well, maybe not my attractiveness because I don’t have a whole lot to defend there.

Episode 41: Wonderful Music

Saved for future imagespam use. I wonder if I’m popular enough for people to read all the way to the end of this episodic post? It’s far too long for a single episodic and I’ve spent way longer than I should have, although that’s probably because I spent so much of my time looking up Hanamaru ending songs and searching for the definition of words like ‘libido’. Thankfully the episode ended now so I can finally stop typing. phew~

Episode 25: First Date

Best part about Recruit’s panicky first date plans? How enthusiastically Nino took the whole thing. As amusing as the idea of Nino doing this all for shits and giggles is, I can’t help feel she’s also feeling nervous about the date. As much of a space-case as she is, I bet she’s trying her best to make this first date a success. I dare say her enthusiastic leaping behind rocks was just her way of trying to show Recruit she was ready to enjoy this first date for him. As much as Recruit probably feels like he’s doing this for Nino, Nino is probably trying her best on this date for Recruit. Recruit seemed really pumped for the whole thing and I bet Nino is doing this because she wants him to have a good time. Both of them trying to convince the other they’re having a good time results in leaping behind rocks and hedges.

I was going to make a joke about hur hur porn but thinking about it logically for a second, would Recruit really ever buy porn? Everytime he pleasures himself using pictures of naked women, he would then have to go to the model in questions house and pose naked on her bed for her enjoyment. Women, this isn’t as bad as it sounds. Remember that Recruit is a dashingly handsome man, although I doubt you’d want him on your bed with his shlong on the duvet. It’s not like he could just send the model pictures of himself nude either. I mean, how would he ever know that she got sufficient enjoyment from these pictures? He’d have to be there in person. Or send one of his bodyguards to inspect…ok, I’m getting off this train of thought now.

Episode 26: Relations between Planets/The Sexes

I’ll admit, I was far too exciting to see this happening. Arakawa has already proven itself to tickle the romantic side of me to the point that I get excited at the prospect of seeing them in anything remotely romantic. Which makes my total dislike of Shojo series a bit hypocritical. Of course, the proceeding scene was the funniest since Sister’s original introduction in episode 2. It’s the continued seriousness of the two of them that makes the whole thing so funny. Both of them know what they are doing is stupid but they’re so intent on having a proper date that you end up with that princess carrying scene.

Noooo, Nino! Come on Recruit, save the day here. Prove yourself to the audience. Have you learned enough about Nino? Can you make her happy? You know what a harsh critic anime audiences can be when it comes to our female leads. Only the most perfect of men are allowed near our goddesses. Just look at how many people hate Shinra from Durarara because of how we perceive his actions towards everyones favourite headless moeblob. We are harsher critics than Simon Cowell and the ANNCast hosts combined. Did he prove himself? Did he ever!

What was best about Recruits whole scene was it wasn’t the perfect response, it just showed his intent to do his best for Nino. We, the judges of Recruits actions, don’t necessarily love a man who’s perfect. In fact, it makes us feel inadequate. What we want is a man who gives nothing more than his best honest effort. You know why, don’t you? We can’t emulate a perfect man because we aren’t perfect. We can, however, give our best honest effort. The cynic inside me says that it’s because we want to believe that just by giving our honest best effort, we will get the girl. It’s not strictly true, the harsh reality is that women want the bad boy who ignores the most of the time, but it makes for a romantic picture that’s great to watch. It made Nino blush and that’s enough to make me smile widely.

Episode 27: Stella

This is such a great picture. All it needs now is a very simple white background with the four characters just being black silhouettes. The characters of Arakawa are such an oddly dressed bunch that any lineup of them would look great. There’s many parodies I’m waiting to see with the Arakawa cast. One would be a Durarara ending parody (the first one, not this crappy second one). Another would be the Ghost in the Shell 2nd opening parody where they all stand in the trench coats. Or the Yotsuba& trio picture with Sister, Recruit and Stella. Where are you anime artists?

Possibly even better than the last picture. The white line off into the sunset just makes the whole thing priceless. Ah Arakawa~, the nutter cast and costumes makes any lineup hilarious. I repeat, where are you anime fanartists? Stop drawing Vocaloid and Touhou!

Episode 28: Let’s Play Together

Wait what? Recruit doesn’t have a mum? How did I miss that until now! It explains a hell of a lot about Recruit if the only person raising him was his dad. I’ve said this before, but I can’t wait for daddy Recruit to come back into the story. I’d love to see his reaction to the likes of Nino and Sister.

(you know, I probably take Arakawa too seriously in these posts. But hey, that’s my job as a blogger! I’ve got to over-analyse everything, it’s how I earn my living. Well, when I say earn my living, I’ve earned less than 3 euro from blogging in my life. You guys need to be more helpful and click on these google ads!)

Episode 29: Qualifications for a Big Brother

Actually I didn’t, I just got my ass handed to m-, I mean, yes, I did lose on purpose…sorta.

Anyone here watching Rainbow? Imagine a fight between An-chan and Stella, the two big brothers duking it out. An-chan could probably take a lot of punishment before delivering the final blow. On the other hand, if Stella was limited to three combo strikes, it makes you wonder how far she can go. And these are proper combo attacks. None of your too-fast-for-the-eye Clannad kick combos, these were all shown is full detail, slow-motion. An-chan is pretty freaking manly though, I’d say the fight would be pretty even.

Episode 30: Maria

Mina Tepes pose? Shaft, do you really want to draw more attention to that series. It’s not quite as bad as Brains Base making an Akikan reference in Denpa, but at least they’ve yet to make a reference to it in Durarara. Argh, getting sidetracked yet again. It’s not like any of my readers care whether they referenced Akikan in Denpa!

Makes sense I suppose. I wonder if the group under the bridge work the same way as an Israeli kibbutz. They are generally self-sufficient but also have to sell stuff to the outside world in order to buy things that they couldn’t otherwise make themselves. Maybe that’s what Star-heads job is. He’s actually a famous indi singer and his sales on itunes is what helps them buy things they can’t make themselves.

Episode 23: Would anyone notice if I named the episode incorrectly

That does it, Sister is now my favourite character without doubt. While Stella is the abusive Big Brother, Sister is a true Aniki. He stands up for Recruit and yet teaches him lifes harsh lessons. He is, in a strange way, one of the most sane people who live under the bridge. Well, most mature and responsible anyway. I can see why people go to him for confession, he does have this aura about him that you could trust him with anything. Definately the An-chan under the bridge.