Arakawa Under the Bridge / First Impressions

「7 BRIDGE」

You don’t have to be a psychic to figure that educating people living under a bridge with common sense wouldn’t go well. Surprisingly though, it wasn’t that bad until Stella showed up and demanded 100 trillion yen for running a school on her turf. Despite how much Riku tried to ignore her initially, she was clearly going to have none of that as she barged in on their bottle rocket science experiment. While Riku was busy fearing for his life, a lot of the humor came from Stella’s gangster talk as she demanded payment and told him to make sure his school produces the evilest armed crops like at her orphanage. Given her shady upbringing by Sister, it was pretty clear that Stella was serious about all that, but it was still all a ruse to hide the fact that she was lonely without the Testujin brothers.

Despite her dishonest self eventually coming around and joining in on Riku’s class, it still didn’t change how creepy Stella was for writing bottle rocket good luck charms such as “world domination”, “self-greatness”, and “unrivaled”. Even the things she taught Tetsuo and Tetsuro would make anyone think as much, with her opting to tell them that “kejime” means to “take responsibility” (the colloquial yakuza usage) rather than “make a clear distinction”. There were some positive outcomes from Riku’s new job though, which include chasing off Sonchou after he asked for Riku’s shirikodama (i.e. a mythical ball contained in the anus) and getting back at Hoshi by having Nino say she’d rather attend Riku’s classes than his concerts. In the latter case, it actually made for a sweet couple-like moment between Riku and Nino too, before teaching the Testujin brother’s of magnetism made them believe that Riku also has super-human powers that need to be suppressed.

Anyway, the gags are plentiful as always, but I find that they’re pretty hit and miss on me at the same time. P-ko’s infatuation with Sonchou’s green pepper-like color and long-flowing wild hair that he can adjust the length of on a whim would be an example of a disturbing miss, since it’s so wrong for so many reasons. After seeing that, I’m actually grateful we’ll get to see some normal people for a change, since Ichinomiya Kou’s people have finally come looking for him. However, judging from the dialogue he had with P-ko at the end, it seems like Riku/Kou has lost his own grasp on what common sense is from the time he’s spent under the bridge. *Insert dramatic music*

 

Preview

30 Comments

  1. I swear to god Saito Chiwa voice changes every anime. I wonder if she wakes up with different voices everyday. How can she voice such I high voice like Stella?

    Also Divine, you “getting back” link in second paragraph is wrong again.

    Pw3age
    Reply

    2. Ah, I just love her. Her cutesy voice is pretty similar across her roles, like Taokaka, Becky, and the cute version of Stella, but she really impresses with her ability to play more sarcastic roles like Hitagi, serious narration like Yuki in Dance in the Vampire Bund, or the gang boss version of Stella.

      Her opening stories in Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei really showcase how high and fast her voice can go.

      lvlln
      Reply

      1. I disagree. It’s certainly a gag comedy, but it has a definite progression of story and the characters that receive ample attention. Most scenes that have gags also serve a purpose in pushing the central story forward.

        lvlln
        Reply

      2. yeah, if you examine closely, youll see that one of the moral lessons in the story is that its not that everyone has no common sense, they are just diff(or something like that)

        anyway theres a bit of romance her but its pretty much gag comedy thats very good it almost made me laugh hard(and I barely even laugh in real life)

        amado
        Reply

    2. In terms of what it resembles the most, then no doubt. Same studio, director, and male lead suggest as much. In terms of genre though, Lucky Star’s aimless storyline is fairly similar.

      On another note, I can’t speak for SZS, but this adaptation has been pulling material directly from the manga with little to no changes for all seven episodes thus far. (Aside from the order of things that is.) It’s basically scene for scene with little influence from Shinbou Akiyuki, which I’m actually pleased about.

      divine
      Reply

      1. Lucky Star is certainly aimless, but Arakawa Under the Bridge really isn’t. There is a clear direction the story is going, as well as a central message the show us trying to convey through the story.

        lvlln
        Reply

    2. I just wanted to add that Omigawa Chiaki is a relatively new seiyuu who only debuted in SOUL EATER two years ago. While I personally feel she’s a lot better now, Japanese fans actually ragged on her poor acting ability at the beginning. It got to the point where some petty ones even went and defiled her Japanese wiki page because they felt she was so terrible. That was pretty extreme, but I wonder if casting directors still see her as a so-so seiyuu.

      divine
      Reply

  9. i love this show!! if only the subs came a bit faster, then id die happy. Also i havent read the manga but, could this all be in ric’s head? Becuz in that one scene when his people look at him from the bridge, p-ko isnt there and neither is the garden. just a guess tho

    shiryoenbou
    Reply

  12. Stella’s really funny.And P-ko is cute.Best moment for me was Sister bullet timing vegetables in mid-air.Once they start making me laugh like that even the misses jokes get more funny.And again Sanchou gets even more weirder with his hair lol. You’re right Divine it’s so wrong.
    Chiwa Saito also voiced Izumi Kaori in gokujou seitokai a so-so slice of life anime that I like a lot.
    We need mooooar Maria.Hope she’ll be back next episode.
    End pic of P-ko was hot.

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

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