Arakawa Under the Bridge

Kou Ichinomiya is the son of a wealthy businessman who holds a firm belief in his elite status. As such, he is determined to avoid becoming indebted to anyone; but one day, after a run-in with some mischievous kids on Arakawa Bridge, he ends up falling into the river running underneath. Luckily for him, a passerby is there to save him—but now, he owes his life to this stranger!

Angered by this, Kou insists on paying her back, but this may just be the worst deal the arrogant businessman has ever made. The stranger—a stoic, tracksuit-wearing homeless girl known only as Nino—lives in a cardboard box under the bridge and wants only one thing: to fall in love. Asking Kou to be her boyfriend, he has no choice but to accept, forcing him to move out of his comfortable home and start a new life under the bridge!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nino Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Ichinomiya, Kou Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Hoshi Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Sister Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Maria Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Village Chief Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

P-ko Supporting

Omigawa, Chiaki Japanese

Billy Supporting

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Stella Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Amazoness Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Kubota, Mitsutoshi Producer

Kohara, Makoto Producer

Ooshima, Miku Assistant Producer

Shinbou, Akiyuki Director

Reviews

Jul 1, 2010

cowart72

Recommended

From the time we are young, are parents all/ teach us certain things. No matter what these deal with, there will usually be a very common theme: what society wants us to do.

Yes, from a very young age, most of us will be told to continue the flow of society's ideas, and to never question them. But, what makes these ideas right?

This is the question that we are faced with while watching Arakawa Under the Bridge, a story about, well, living under a bridge. A bridge under which almost no laws will ever reach you, with the possible exception of public indecency...

We see a romance ... that blossoms under this bridge, as Ko, a man whose parents who have installed far beyond just the rule that society is always correct, is pulled into entering a relationship with Nino, a person who claims to be a Venusian, on his belief that anything that anyone does is solely for gain and must be repaid. This belief that his father installed in him, however, quickly begins to fade as he subconsciously begins to reject the notion that society is always correct, and slowly embraces his new life under the bridge.

Our story continues, with him continuing to meet more people under the bridge, and slowly coming to realize, yet again, that he can't really know what exactly is "right" and "wrong". Indeed, our story continues to progress in this vein, with Ko growing to accept the actions of the others all living under the bridge.

All of the residents of this area also have to have a job (with the acceptation of a couple), and they all help each other in whatever sane ways they can, before their actions degrade into insanity, one of the real main sources for comedy in Arakawa Under the Bridge. Indeed, one of the most enjoyable elements of the show was all of our unique characters interacting in unique ways.

All of these unique characters served to bring something special to the show; they all served a function for the community, while also bringing interesting elements the the show. They all have some kind of eccentricity that is very much ingrained in their character, or at least something that would render them unable to live in a regular society. These eccentricities were again, the source of nearly 100% of the comedy for the show, and the main thing that kept it interesting.

However, what really disappoints is how often the characters are left completely untouched in terms of development. We don't get any back story on some of the characters, and on others, we only get tantalizing hints. This is, for some, the most irritating element in the entire show; we can almost never figure out the pasts of some of the most unique characters that we have ever seen. It is truly disappointing.

If lack of characters development holds down the show the most, the next most irritating element is the art style. As it's shaft, we can really expect to see insanity in the rat as well, and so we do. It's really quite irritating to those who don't enjoy the Shaft animation style to b subjected to these incredibly well drawn scenes being forced down to mediocrity by terrible illustrations, which can really limit and interfere with the show for those who are not true connoisseurs of the Shaft art style.

Sound also was only a slight break from the weaker elements of this show. It was really fair: there wasn't anything that really weighed it down , but there wasn't anything that really aided it in this department either. The voice actors were average, the sound effects were average; everything really failed to go beyond the average bound. Our opening and ending were also really, well, average, leaving the anime with average sound.

While sound did not contribute to my enjoyment of the show, it certainly didn't hurt it. This show was highly enjoyable to anyone who liked the style of comedy, wasn't valued away by Shaft's art, and in general likes comedies and romances. I had a great deal of enjoyment from this show.

So, now the question is, will you enjoy it? The best way to determine that is, especially if it sounds interesting, watch a couple of episodes. By that point, you will have gotten a good taste of the random art interferences and random characters that contribute to the general eccentricity of the show. You will have also seen the types of jokes told; if they seem like they'll get old, then you should leave. The jokes will often repeat, especially if the are part of a character's intrinsic personality. In other words, you will like this show if you like the first couple of episodes, aren't thrown off by the random art you see there, like the characters, and don't mind the general premise of the show in this regard. If it sounds interesting, give it a try.

So long Arakawa Under the Bridge. It's been awesome!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 28, 2010

8thSin

Mixed Feelings

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

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


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

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

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


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

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


ANIMATION: 6/10
General animation by Shaft, there are lots of eye zoom-ins, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. The peaceful atmosphere of Arakawa riverside with vivid, light colors was visually pleasing.

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

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


SOUND: 8/10
Ridiculous number of big-name and experienced cast, even for the minor characters. Overall, voice acting is pretty good, but it doesn't really sound like any of them really put in too much effort.

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

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


ENJOYMENT: 5/10
'Arakawa Under the Bridge' had the potential to become a really touching and inspiring show if only they just focused on romance or slice of life. Instead, it became something I can't exactly describe, in a bad way.
Something went really wrong with series composition that ruined a good original work.

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

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 10, 2023

MeanEYE

Not Recommended

Preliminary (4/13 eps)

This show is not going to be liked by everyone. It's based on the idea that constantly screaming and overreacting is funny, which it is not. Most of the story is nonsensical, which is completely fine if that's the goal of it. But characters are not well written or acted. In general we are suppose to observe this egoistical character grow up and change into more reasonable and down to earth one. Problem is, he keeps screaming non-stop. Well, everyone is screaming non-stop.

I tried watching it because I kind of like the premise but it's taking a real effort not to close tab every time ... main character opens his mouth. He's simply not likeable, nor are others but to a lesser degree of annoyance. On the other hand we can't really say if the story makes sense or follows logic, because there's no sense or logic. It's about obviously crazy people living in a community and everyone wants to spread Nino's cheeks. That about sums it up. The question is the self-imposed, why if she wanted to experience love didn't she accept any of the crazy people but went for one guy without his pants climbing a bridge? Mystery I tell you. Call it love at first sight but she's showing zero emotion so far.

Nonsense approach to this story is not the troubling part for me. I have watched and enjoyed similar ideas in the past. However I can not abide by constant screaming coming from very poorly written characters. If you don't mind this screaming and weird type of random humor give it a shot, you might end up liking it. I, on the other hand, was close to shoving a hot poker into my ears just to make it stop.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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