Arakawa Under the Bridge – 09

So this week shunts Ric’s family issues and his budding relationship with Nino off to the side in favour of more Stella, Maria and Hoshi action – hilarity ensues!

Stella’s infatuation with Sister is amusing – I love the fact he bought her a bullet-proof vest that she insists on calling a bra!  Being a young girl in love Stella of course wants to cook the object of her affection something – that something being starfish…..that starfish being a broken Hoshi!  Ric notices that Stella doesn’t seem to know about Sister’s infatuation with Maria and attempts to keep that kernel of knowledge from her.  However, Hoshi is looking for someone to commiserate with about being broken-hearted and spills the beans.  But Stella being Stella does not come over all weepy – oh no!  Stella swears bloody vengeance and goes on a murderous rampage!  Ric is her 1st victim and Hoshi is quickly drafted as Stella’s newest underling, before she sets out for Maria’s farm.

Learning that Sister actually met Maria on the battlefield (where she scalped him!) was surprising – I knew Maria was awesome, but her knife skills put Izaya’s to shame!  I wonder what Maria’s past was like and why the hell she’s now running a farm under a Bridge in Tokyo.  Now since Stella respects strength, and Maria soundly beat her in a straight fight, Stella now sees Maria as a role model – how scary is that!  God love the Bridge residents with these two pairing up and Sister unwilling to lift a finger against them! 😆

The 2nd half of the episode dealt with Hoshi’s past.  I loved Ric’s theory about Hoshi’s star-head being some sort of alien that eats peoples heads!  Ric’s shock at Hoshi admitting that obviously his star-head is a mask was amusing – Ric got so used to the Mayor’s insistence that he’s a real Kappa that Ric automatically puts Hoshi on the same level.  Hoshi is surprisingly down to earth and sensible – although just how much of his story of past Oricon Chart glory is true is a mystery. It does seem to ring true that he was a pretty successful singer, but relied completely on other peoples songwriting abilities.  I really liked the whole scene with Hoshi and a short-haired Nino under the Bridge.  Hoshi’s frustration that he’s only a mouthpiece for other’s talent, like the moon reflects the light of the sun, made him much more likeable all of a sudden; and Nino’s insistence that Hoshi was a star in his own right was pretty touching.  It’s understandable how Hoshi latched onto Nino from that point on – she’s probably the first person to ever say she liked his self-penned music.  Again this highlights the fact that Under the Bridge people are encouraged to just be themselves regardless of that the rest of the world thinks – it’s a pretty positive message.

And finally, for a change the Arakawa Gag segment at the end succeeded in making me giggle – the idea of Sister teaching Nino Aikido in her sleep is just hilarious.  Poor Ric!

Apologies for the pretty sub par writing and image spam this week – I’m in a ridiculous amount of pain and my medication is hindering my ability to think clearly 😆  Hopefully I’ll be somewhat recovered soon – Drrr!! 21 post will be late as I need to watch it again but I’ll be away at a concert all day tomorrow.