Arakawa Under the Bridge / First Impressions

「8 BRIDGE」

Tanaka Rie makes her entrance to the series as Kou’s secretarial assistant Shimazaki alongside his actual secretary Takai Terumasa (Cho), forcing the Ichinomiya heir to go along with the pretense that he’s running a nuclear power business under the bridge. His biggest mistake: Asking Maria for help. I realize he doesn’t have many options when there’s one guy who wears a kappa suit and another that wears a star mask as alternative choices, but with Sister and Shiro looking the company employee parts well enough, he probably could have done without Maria. I mean, not only does she think she’s much higher up the pyramid of life than Riku (i.e. at the top), she wasn’t content with the three million yen Dolce & Gabbana suits he was offering to let them keep for helping out. Talk about a difficult woman to please. Aside from having Sawashiro Miyuki‘s sultry voice backing her, I really don’t know what Sister sees in her and continues to react to — even when it’s just a comment about changing her hairstyle.

That’s not to say I didn’t get a good laugh out of how each employee Riku introduced to Takai was far from believable, which includes Sister (Franz) pulling out his gun in response to Takai reaching for his business card. Of all the people, Shiro ended up being the most convincing out of the bunch, so much that even the cool and quiet Shimazaki took notice to. With everything going so well, the sight of Hoshi, Sonchou, and Nino come prancing along to see what was happening was just too damn funny. Mascot character explanations aside, Nino unexpectedly turned out to be the most difficult one with her refusal to pose as Riku’s secretary and insistence that she’s his lover. The subsequent over-the-top reaction from Takai may just win an award for one of the best reactions this season, but the follow-up “homo” jokes by Hoshi only to wind up completely traumatized by Takai and Riku’s simultaneous cavity check was even better. Hoshi is always quick to dish out the Riku insults left and right, so it was awesome to see him get burned even though it was unintentional. That moment was only eclipsed by Takai putting Riku on the spot about kissing Nino if she is indeed his girlfriend, with the latter eventually taking control of the situation and giving 21 year old Ichinomiya Kou his very first kiss.

Needless to say, Hoshi may never be the same again, having become an absolute recluse who’s delusional about being a starfish for real. Just when I thought Riku would be living it up in his triumphant victory over Hoshi however, he showed just how much his first kiss has gone to his head. Surprisingly, Sister seems to somewhat approve of his relationship with Nino since he didn’t kill Riku during a one week 24/7 observation period when he first arrived (…or even shoot him in the leg like he claims he would have). All in all, it’s looking like the whole Riku x Nino thing is turning out pretty well. As such, it’ll be interesting to see what his father has to say in all this, after Shimazaki reported her findings to him. He’s made it clear to Kou that Ichinomiyas must never be in debt, but having their face smeared in mud isn’t acceptable either. Also, much like us, he could do without the explicit footage on how Takai took losing a son-like figure to adulthood.

 

Preview

22 Comments

  6. Lol, I can’t believe Maria wasn’t satisfied with Dolce&Gabbana. If you walk in there and try to buy a T-Shirt, I hope you have a couple thousand bucks. I can’t believe that Sister’s so head of over heels for her xD. Btw, I almost wet myself when I saw the 24/7 surveillance by Sister lol.

    Click
    Reply

    1. D&G isn’t that expensive (not 1000$ for a T-shirt), it goes from 100-230$ for a T-Shirt, depending on the stores and design. Dress shirts are more expensive from 180-500$. Suits are expensive, but yet again, nowhere close to 1 million. The most expensive D&G suit I saw was 3,400$ Canadian dollars a kid wore during my gf’s prom, its about 2,200$ in the US. (Which I think he exaggerated the price a little). I’m no rich boy so I’m not claiming that it is cheap, just saying that it isn’t that costly, you can get some D&G shirts and blazers at Winners at a very affordable price. I got myself a few dress shirts for around 85-150$. I’ve never seen a suit worth more than 10 000$, having it fitted would only cost you around 10%-15% more at Holt Renfrew. I do not think there is a suit worth more than 25 000$ I presume.

      Sin1505
      Reply

  7. I loved how Nino’s attention was immediately taken away by that dragonfly, even as Riku was trying to whisper to her. Having Riku pick her up on his shoulders to help her was icing on the cake.

    lvlln
    Reply

  17. This week each joke topped the one before.
    We need moooar Maria i hope she’ll get to wear others clothes again.
    Both Takai and Hoshi ended up broken at the end lol.
    Would you buy a Kou dakimakura?

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  19. everything this show throws at me is hilarious.
    the mascot part was really was funny especially when riku knocked him out latter.
    hoshi really got it this time, traumatized by the dental check up and the couple’s kiss then turn into a starfish.
    maria making him bow so she can see her reflection on his glasses and sister thinking he was gonna pull a weapon.

    this show is one of the best this season.

    amado
    Reply

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