Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 05
We’re definitely back in normal waters for Arakawa – this week once again puts the plot on the back-burner and instead focuses on giving us more on Captain and Billy & Jacqueline.
So the Captain ends up being a burned out moe manga-ka trying to escape his editor and indulge his inner sci-fi geek – a much too normal background to warrant being awarded Under Bridge residency……not that that stops Captain from attempting to bribe his way into the residents good books by drawing them in their own personal manga!
I was amused that Ric was so dead set against Captain joining the Under Bridge community, but then again Ric did have the crushing disappointment of discovering it was Captain and not Nino who had snuck into this bed, a personal vendetta is to be somewhat expected.
It was interesting to note that once the Under Bridge residents discover that Captain has a ‘place where he belongs’ that they deny his request to live in their community and urge him to return home with his editor. The Under Bridge community truly is a haven for those who have no real place in society; Ric may have had a place carved out for him in the real world, but his life under the bridge has given him some invaluable social skills and introduced some true love into his life – it’s an emotional haven for him.
Captain is undoubtably an oddball, and his personality would have fit very well with the other residents, but the fact remains that he does not need the community the way the other residents do – his editor is willing to let him write what he wants (however misguided that turned out to be) and thus the pressure is pretty much lifted from him as a mangaka. I doubt it’s the last we’ve seen of Captain though – he appears to be completely fascinated by the residents.
The second half of the episode was all about Jacqueline & Billy, which was pretty entertaining if not all that interesting. I got the most value out of how Hoshi & Ric seem to be on the same wavelength at times, and from P-Ko’s hyper shoujo romance mode. It was also amusing to see P-Ko and Ric berate Hoshi for his samey songs and ridiculous excuses for spending time with Nino.
Billy & Jacqueline’s back story itself was weird and wonderful – basically just what I had expected from this Queen Bee & bird-headed couple. I find it amazing how Billy can be so cool and manly with that ridiculous bird mask on (tis probably entirely down to Fumihiko ‘Gendo Ikari’ Tachiki’s voice acting), and I liked the idea of Jacqueline being a rival yakuza boss’ woman before the two eloped – its ridiculous and basically just what I wanted as a back story for these two!
So not the most thrilling episode of Arakawa ever, and no actual plot progression, but its nice to get a bit of development for the side cast I suppose. Looking forward to next week!
(This weeks eyecatch was hilarious!)
Caraniel's Ramblings 
Once we get into the mid season I struggle with finding something to say. Either we’re exploring side characters (as in this week on Arakawa) or we’re doing something fillerish that in no way affects the main plot (e.g. last week on Arakawa). This is where it really helps to like the characters — not a problem with Arakawa.
I hope that, in the future, it becomes possible to indicate shows as being essential to the main plot or not. I think more people would try out shows that had a much smaller viewing requirement. These extra episodes seem to be padding to produce in line with the 13/26 Japanese broadcast convention. I don’t mind them, but I would prefer them to be presented as bonus episodes (DVD extras and omake). Say 6 strong plot episodes instead of 12. 6 * 20 (minutes) = 2 hours. Then, if you want to watch some extra episodes, you could watch only those in which you were most interested.
Personally I prefer stories that are full of plot, so much they don’t have time to include the side stories, as well as those that take their time to give a rich depiction of the environment (recently House of 5 Leaves). But I understand that some people enjoy character-based and gag humor. As I said, I only like it if I really like the characters.
I wouldn’t like such short series of pure intense plot, thats what I watch movies for – I like the character developing padding most shows have, its the advantage that TV has over OVA’s and movies.
But then again I have a weakness for long running shounen which seem to consist of 80% character development padding & filler, and 20% plot – its a personal preference I suppose 😛
This would be the second best episode ever, after the P-k0 movie episode.
It was hilarious, Queen of Milennia, Captian Harlock( but taisho looks like another captian from another old anime, i cant remember which one, help me?) and Scarface,lol
I wish they did a whole episode of the P-ko love movie, sepia toned and with the same characterizations.
I prefer Arakawa when its dealing with Nino X Ric – some really heartwarming scenes between those two. Other than that, anything with Sister is awesome 😛