I’m not an Akiyuki Shinbo completist as I am with some other directors. As dazzled as I was by Petite Cossette and Bakemonogatari I was never tempted to watch Maria+Holic or Dance in the Vampire Bund for instance but his signature style has led me to respect him enormously. Following the two seasons of ef, in which his influence crept in quite noticeably, I realised how those wonderful ‘Shinbo-isms’ are as immediately recognisable as the trademark quirks of Hideaki Anno.
Arakawa Under The Bridge is very much in Shinbo’s comfort zone: it reminds me a lot of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei with its pun-riddled wordplay, sketch-based storyline, zany characters and of course that artistic obsession with colours, composition and geometry. The source material of the two shows doesn’t share the same writer so I wonder whether the production team are being selective with the projects they take on. The similarities go even further, and mostly in a good way too.
The staff list unsurprisingly features Studio SHAFT’s usual suspects, right down to Hiroshi Kamiya and his Ararararagi-esque yelps of incredulity (which, by the way, he performs with great regularity) from the hapless Kou. How other viewers have taken this decision I don’t know, but I reckon it was quite a coup in landing Maaya Sakamoto in the other lead role as his would-be love interest Nino.
Thanks to Chaostangent’s recent reminder I’ve realised how I’ve been a subconscious fan of hers for ages; it wasn’t until her turn in Kara no Kyoukai however that I noticed that other dimension to her voice-acting skills. Before then I had her down as the sprightly girl-next-door figure what with her clear and bright singing voice but she also pulls of this fantastic husky deadpan delivery that’s so damned sexy it’s positively lethal with the right calibre of script in front of her. I melted.
Ouch. But yeah, this. <3
To my delight, more the same thing is going on here. Bakemonogatari had some delicious verbal sparring thanks to Chiwa Saito’s turn as Senjougahara but Nino’s peculiarities also give many moments where I’m grinning inwardly every time our hero is verbally knocked off balance. I’m finding this aspect of the show most enjoyable actually since Kou’s culture-shock is fascinating and Nino’s background is a mystery; it wouldn’t surprise me if the writers do the dirty by completely holding back on explaining her but this whole affair is so far too unpredictable for me to say for sure.
Unpredictability is one thing this show has in spades but that doesn’t always work in its favour. There’s a certain brand of Japanese comedy that must lose its impact in translation or something because it often leaves me bemused and bored rather than creased up or in admiration of its cleverness. SZS usually avoided this pitfall somehow, perhaps because the weird bits felt in context, but here it feels like oddness for oddness’ own sake. Perhaps there’s particular meaning in dressing one character up as a kappa and giving another bloke a star-shaped head but I can’t help feeling it’s the art department just messing around.
That gratuitous quirkiness and the gags that fall flat hold the show back at times, even more so than the frangmented sketch-based plotline (again, something that didn’t hinder SZS). Sometimes, they do work – Sister (who reminds me of the nuns of the Rip-Off Church from Black Lagoon) and Maria, the world’s most insulting farm girl, crack me up with every minute of screen time they occupy. I suspect all this could be an attempt at storytelling sleight of hand because, like SZS before it, Arakawa Under The Bridge carries a lot of dry satire and social commentary too.
This remedies some of the apathy I feel towards the supporting cast because they’re placing a strong emphasis on the differences between their community and the outside world, behind a façade of strangeness in an apparent act of self-deception. Certainly, being amongst this bunch of oddballs is bound to make you question your stance on a lot of things: they place little value on status or material wealth so are in stark contrast to the ‘normal’ conformist, consumer-driven Japanese society.
Much of the entertainment value I get out of this show is moving someone from the mainstream corporate world – is it a coincidence this series is being broadcast during a financial recession? – and seeing everything he stands by being mercilessly discarded. Interestingly, the flashbacks in which he recalls his own life, such as his childhood and dating ideas, are shown as being equally ridiculous as aspects of his life by the river. The clear message I’m getting is that, if the river folk are peculiar then normal society is just as absurd.
I’m also appreciating how the lead characters are somewhat older than the norm for romantic comedy anime shows: this means that many of Kou’s dilemmas are easy for me to relate to. His determination to be independent and never owe anyone got me thinking – in my time of life (in my 20s, out of education and on the lower rungs of the career ladder as Kou is) I’m also averse to relying on other people; it’s like some macho show of being grown-up, despite the fact that life would be a bit easier if I allowed myself to, say, borrow money now and then or accept people’s help when I’m in a jam.
Kou’s surprise at Nino washing his hair with – shock, horror! – no intention of asking for anything in return said a lot about his values but also a lot about the society that drummed them into him. Sometimes, people want to do things for their own personal reasons that have nothing to do with material exchange or personal gain. I doubt Nino is a real Venusian in the literal sense but perhaps it’s her roundabout way of highlighting how difficult men and women find it to communicate; many of us feel that members of the opposite sex might as well be from another planet at times…
Arakawa Under The Bridge is proving to be thought-provoking but more importantly one hell of a refreshing change, both in terms of having Shinbo-isms aplenty and in kicking sharp, dry satire out between the cartoonish eccentricities. If nothing else, I can quite happily sit back and listen to Maaya all damn day.
I dunno. I think Recruit’s background simply shows that he really belongs there under the bridge with the other oddballs. I have no way to test this, because I don’t think we’re ever going to encounter a true “normal” person in this show.
And I’m finding the endless scenes of Recruit freaking when something unexpected happens tire me out. I like it a lot more when he’s simply interacting with the characters and trying to live on their level, like on Recruit and Nino’s lovely “date,” or the hair-washing scene you mention.
I don’t follow voice actors that much but googled Hiroshi Kamiya. Wow! He’s a busy man! I love his work on Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei.
I really do like this series. I enjoy the Shaft/Shinbo treatment that some consider excessive, and I think it has led to an occasional shot or scene that was astoundingly beautiful. The social commentary was unexpected, but very welcome. I agree with Peter, however, that the meaningful interactions between Kou and Nino are the most interesting. Well, with the exception of Sister, who manages to make any scene immensely enjoyable.
I love the Mayor. The combination of that serious voice coming out of a guy in a kappa suit just works for me, somehow. Ditto Sister, although Koyasu Takehito isn’t one of my favorites (he usually does serious, mysterious glasses-wearing characters, a type I rather dislike).
This show also feeds into a bit of a fantasy I used to have sometimes, when school was getting to be too much and the stress was building: I’d run away to a foreign country as soon as I could, forget everything and live a new life. Well, that’s exactly what I ended up doing, but what nobody told me is that even the strangest circumstances will become “regular old life” after a while.
That seems to be what’s happening to Ichinomiya Kou, so I can relate. Glad you like the show. :)
For the first couple of episodes, while I liked Arakawa Under The Bridge I felt like I wasn’t getting as much out of it as others I’d spoken to, but the last couple of instalments have drawn me into loving the series so far. At its best, it’s outright hilarious, but it’s also rich in social commentary as mentioned – Kou thinks he’s the voice of sanity in the midst of crazy people, but his hang-ups actually make him just as unhinged as the next person while his inability to simply “be himself” marks him out as the least comfortable in his own skin under the bridge…
…or does it? It’s already becoming clear that Nino is using her “I’m from Venus” line as a deflection from talking about subjects or doing things which make her uncomfortable, while you can’t help but presume the same about Kappa, Star and maybe even Sister and Maria – Are these all people who were once like Kou, but using their new life under the bridge as an escape from their personal realities? I have no idea if the show is going in this direction or whether it’s just thrown together a bunch of “crazy” people in the name of comedy, but there’s some intriguing stuff to think about underneath the surface if they want to delve into it.
@Peter S: interesting theory about how Kou wound up under the bridge…if he’s as normal as he’d like to think, wouldn’t he have just walked away from it and returned to his old life? As for the VA side of it, I’m starting to pay attention to the staff lists now I’m recognising familiar voices and *occasionally* getting the gist of what they’re saying without subtitles (still a long way off following the dialogue proper, I hasten to add!).
@Joojoobees: absolutely. Every now and then you get this camera pan or scene that’s utterly brilliant…but, like the wonderful Kou/Nino interactions, they’re punctuated by the crazyness that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Sister is awesome though!
@2DT: I had a quick look into the mythos behind the kappa, which is really interesting – apparently they’re cheeky jokers and occasionally randomly challenge people to wrestling matches, as what happened in this show! 0_o I’ve toyed with the idea of upping sticks and moving to a foreign country but assumed that it was a common daydream, but only carried out by a few. I’ve bottled out of it so far I guess, so I admire the resolve of people such as you who’ve taken the plunge.
@Hanners: I must say that I wasn’t convinced for the first couple of episodes…around the third or fourth things fell into place and I started to appreciate what I found when I read between the lines. Whether it’ll deliver on this potential I’ve no idea, and in a similar vein we may or may not learn the backgrounds to all the characters. I must say your theory’s a solid one, so I hope its resolution turns out to be of a similar standard. The fact that we *want* to know about them, even the more eccentric ones, proves it’s doing something right!
Everything between the lines as mentioned kept me watching this series. Also, I see the series as a persons’ learning process of the world. The world has lot of different lines of thought, which I don’t think Recruit really took time to realize. It’s a more shallow interpretation, but I see that. Plus, this is pretty much the only romantic comedy I love.
Heh, this may be my favourite show of the new season. It isn’t always as funny as it would like to be and it’s strangeness can occasionally be quite alienating, but it’s so weird and offbeat at the same time I found myself inevitably interested. Not to mention having Maaya Sakamoto – who was awesome as Shiki in KnK – as Nino.
Reckon my favourite oddball so far has got to be Stella: I was practically rolling around laughing during the brawl with Kou where she kept switching over to her menacing ‘boss’ alter ego.
I’m rather partial to Sakamoto’s huskier delivery myself. And we have two shows this season where she’s using that voice, both Arakawa Under the Bridge and Tatami Galaxy. Glorious!
One thing that may help is the names of the characters themselves – “Hoshi”, referring to the star-head, literally means “star” in Japanese. Most of the characters seem to operate on lame puns like that – perhaps as a result of the Mayor naming them.
@Viga the Otagal: your train of thought comes across as really important actually. Looking at Recruit’s view of the world and the way he reacts to those around him, he’s really quite naive. As a romcom it also works wonderfully!
@Wildcard: yeah, sometimes it doesn’t work but when it does it’s brilliant. Stella is so damn scary…in the best possible way! Hardly an English stereotype though. :p
@vendredi: ‘glorious’ is the right word for Sakamoto’s performance here – when someone’s able to put on a completely different inflection and persona through their voice, that to me is truly ‘acting’. Point taken with the name puns too – Hoshi==star, has star for a head, wants to be a music ‘star’…yeah, gotta love the cheesy wordplay!
I medically need to start watching Tatami Galaxy now…