Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 04
So in typical Arakawa style, this weeks episode completely ignored the plot progression of last week in favour of some classic Under Bridge antics. In the first half P-Ko enlists Ric & everyone else’s help to film her self-penned movie, and in the 2nd half the Under Bridge residents put together a haunted house – with an Arakawa spin of course.
Short post this time, I don’t really have much to say about this episode.
Ric is such a tsundere for his life under the bridge. When P-Ko asks him to help her film her film, he acts all irritated and reluctant, when he’s really very pleased and excited about the prospect of putting his perfectionist organisational qualities to good use. Of course any hope Ric has of taking control is completely derailed by the fact the cast consists of P-Ko, Nino, Sister, Stella, Hoshi, The Last Samurai and The Mayor, who basically just do their own thing as usual.
Sister in a schoolgirl uniform was all kinds of genius – Sister seems to have a penchant for women’s clothing. It was also cute to see Ric get so wrapped up in filming Nino in the best light possible – Nino is pretty no matter what, but it’s always nice to see her in different costumes.
P-Ko’s romantic visions go completely over the heads of the most of the cast and The Mayor and Last Samurai end up turning the film into some sort of historical epic. Clever editing could have saved the day……unfortunately Ric gave that job to Takei, who completely ignored the original intent of the movie and turned it into a Ric tribute film with himself as the romantic interest! Poor P-Ko, I did feel sorry for her since she was so caught up in the idea of starring in a grand romance with The Mayor!
The second half of the episode was nicely timed for Halloween as the residents put together a haunted house. This is apparently an annual tradition for the community, but this is the first year they have a proper victim – Ric. I found it hilarious that the only thing that caused Ric to truly freak out was the sight of his father……even if it was just his own reflection! After all one of the scariest things is the thought that one day we’ll turn into our parents (especially if your parent is as a twisted as Ric’s Dad!).
This episode was really just an excuse to get the residents into various costumes – and it was a lot of fun; I especially liked the Halloween flavoured eyecatches of Sister & Maria. I’m surprised that Hoshi felt the need to add to his already freaky star head, but hey this is Hoshi we’re talking about!
So a fun episode, not much to actually say about it. I enjoyed the various cosplay opportunities, and P-Ko’s romantic tendencies but overall it was a pretty fillery episode. Hope we get back to the ‘plot’ next week and get a bit more on Nino.
Caraniel's Ramblings 
I thought the extra wind on Nino during filming was a nice touch.
Nino’s long hair demands a windmachine at all times
Very fillery, but fun.
Yeap, lots of fun even if it was fillery – gotta love Arakawa
This is off subject but why are so many female characters in both manga and anime, Arakawa included, at least semi-retarded if not fully so. Smart female characters do exist but they are few and far between and the the few who are around usually have some other large character flaw. Is this a japanese culture thing or just too many nerdy otaku male writers?
It seems to be very difficult to write a strong, smart female character and still make her appealing/likeable. If you don’t give a female character a softer side she comes across as cold and bitchy regardless of whether that was the intention or not,. The easiest way to make a female character softer is to give her flaws or ‘moe’ points – be that clumsiness, moments of stupidity, fanservicey clothing etc.
Women writers are every bit as guilty of this as their male counterparts, since we know that women are never ‘perfect’. Also arguably overly smart, strong female characters can come across as a bit masculine if they’re not given some ‘feminine faults’. Its sexist stereotyping, but its become the accepted norm.
I don’t have issue with this for the most part, its only when a character is soley defined by her stupid, airheaded ways that I get pissed off – I fecking hate ‘retarded moe’.
finally shiro is there again! But only for a short while.