Arakawa Under the Bridge / First Impressions

「6 BRIDGE 」

With the way the musical showdown to win Nino’s heart concluded, Riku may have won the battle but definitely lost the war with the birth of the loser’s war cry song, better known as the “Himo Song”. Having that one word song catch on is probably maddening enough, but the Tetsujin siblings just had to add insult to injury by referring to Riku as “brother Himo” too. I was kind of expecting Riku to sort of lose it well before it came to this, but apparently being perceived as a leech when he’s actually filthy rich is one of the biggest kicks to his ego is.

In comparison, he didn’t even react that badly when Tetsuo and Tetsuro were trying to learn to swim with the only thing holding them back being their deadweight helmets. It was pretty close though, which is why it was pretty funny seeing Riku try to block out hearing any more nonsense when they added how removing their helmets would also allow them to fly and travel between space/time. It was nothing short of a face palm moment, so I was surprised to see Riku give teaching them how to swim another go by using Styrofoam packing as kick boards. I thought they were a lost cause after they insisted they can’t remove their helmets because of some research facility’s involvement, but he stuck with it and made Nino praise him for working as a teacher.

As for his run-in with Sonchou at the Tetsujin bath, the gag revolving around “you must be that” got a lot funnier as it went on, with the village chief thinking it was in reference to being a mythical spirit when Riku was thinking he’s a huge dumbass. When the discussion on getting sick came up and Riku taught them how to take care of themselves, I found the “Made in Me” Kappa Broth that’s supposed to cure everything pretty gross simply because it was nothing more than Sonchou’s bath water. However, I got a laugh out of it when Riku subtly added that it must taste like polypropylene (due to his suit), before seeing that the Tetsujin brothers were still sold on it.

Given the way things concluded here with Riku thinking about working as a teacher who teaches common sense and deviously looking forward to the prospect of doing so, it looks like the next episode may focus on that. I can’t imagine trying to educate this delusional bunch going well at all though, so I think Riku will pop just as many veins in his forehead this way. Good face palming times!

 

Preview

20 Comments

  4. The moment Riku shared with Nino after teaching the brothers was very sweet. As was the revelation he had that he had just “done work,” despite having enjoyed it. Hopefully there will be more scenes like that in the future.

    lvlln
    Reply

  7. Divine is it possible to revoke the posting abilities of first posters?

    The show itself is still good, though last couple of episodes seem very short to me. It leaves me unsatisfied. I wish every episode had a sweet OTP moment.

    outcast
    Reply

  12. I enjoyed last week episode more,I need moar Maria MOooar. The thing I liked this time is the music battle at the beginning then I found the 2 little brothers really annoying.And the Kappa decoction grossed me out too.At the end I laughed again when Ric imagined everyone with common sense that was funny.I think his education plan will fail too.

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  13. There is really something that is bothering me about the ending song. It’s good and all but it kind of leaves me a bit depressed. maybe it’s because the episode ends that’ all.
    Lol trying to teach to common sense to people under the bridge should be fun!!!

    justsomerandomguy
    Reply

  14. I never really liked school swimsuits, or understood why school they were so popular. I mean they aren’t even very attractive and kind of plain… but now, I see. I see it ALL VERY WELL. Nino >> Last.

    xHoneythief
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *