Arakawa Under the Bridge – 02

This kind of sealed the deal for me 😛

So the 2nd episode of Arakawa Under the Bridge managed to amuse me sufficiently to interest me in blogging it (the fact it comes out on a Sunday/Monday also was a major contributing factor :P).

First off the OP – ‘Venus to Jesus’ by Yakushimaru Etsuko, amused me greatly with all the fish imagery and the colour-scheme.  It was very classically SHAFT, and I loved the song lyrics! 😆

The 1st ‘chapter’ of the show has ‘Ric’ AKA Kou, settling into his new accommodation – a pretty nice room until you remember its under a bridge!  Nino calls by bringing some freshly caught and cooked fish as she’s concerned that Kou hasn’t eaten since the previous day.  Kou then turns into a neurotic mess when he realises that he’s alone with Nino in his room – evidently Kou doesn’t have much experience with women 😀

Window, door and some nice looking flooring - pity about the location and heating issues

While sitting in that familiar awkward silence, Kou scrambles about for something to talk about.  Knowing next to nothing about Nino and not really having any common ground with her, this is not an easy task.  The Venus angle is all he can think of – it’s not really a great conversation starter.

The next chapter deals with the issue of bathing while living under a bridge – there’s no indoor plumbing after all.  The answer is of course, an oil drum bath.  Nino demonstrates great skill in managing to have a bath, get out and get dressed without violating public exposure laws (apparently she had a run in with the police before :lol:).  Kou then takes his turn and Nino surprises him by washing his hair (with household cleaner!).

The simple act move’s Kou to tears, but also makes him panic slightly about owing Nino something again.  She quickly cuts that off by thanking him for allowing her to do it.  Apparently the one time Kou’s father washed his hair for him, he expected the favour to be returned.  This was actually kind of sad – Kou’s completely starved for affection, it’s rather telling that the simplest of acts can make him blush and cry……I sort of feel sorry for him.

Next we move onto ‘Recruit’s’ welcoming party were a few more of the random characters that inhabit the Bridge are introduced.  First off there is Shiro, who can only walk on white lines, so he has his own personal chalker.  Then there’s Hoshi – a man with a star for a head voiced by Tomokazu Sugita; and two siblings with buckets for heads 😆

When it comes to introductions, Kou first does the usual introduction as ‘Kou Ichinomiya’ boasting of his family’s position…….but a quick ‘Kappa Kick’ from the mayor gently reminds him that he is now ‘Recruit’ and that they want to know about him not his achievements.  So ‘Ric’ then introduces himself as Nino’s lover…….which doesnt go over well with everyone!

The final chapter in this episode finds the residents at the Bridge’s church.  Yes there is a church under the Bridge – with a Sister who conducts Mass on Sundays.  Now if Mass was like this in my chapel I might actually go from time to time!  The Sister turns out to be a huge, blond, cross-dressing man with a machine gun, and  his version of Mass involves firing a gun into the air and asking if anyone has done anything bad in the past week! 😆  To make things even better Sister is voiced by Takehito Koyasu– who is just so unbelievably perfect for this role that it’s actually scary!

Sister hands out cookies to the congregation and then has a chat with Kou – which is basically just warning him that certain residents of the Bridge are after his blood, and that Kou better treat Nino well…….or else 😀

The episode ends with Kou back in his room reflecting on the insanity unaware of the fact Hoshi and the twins are lurking outside his window.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this episode, it’s not the most brilliant series to ever grace our screens, but the combination of short gags, witty dialogue and some nice moral jabs make Arakawa a fun and interesting watch.  Kou is actually a very good main character – he’s the only sane man in one sense and in another the kooky residents of the Bridge have a lot to teach him.  Kou’s bizarre upbringing have made him very sheltered and quite bad at dealing with people on a personal level; his interactions with Nino and the other characters may be very beneficial for him.  I’m looking forward to seeing if he develops over the run of the series.  Although character development isn’t the main draw of this series, I’m also interested to see what other nutty characters come out of the woodwork!