Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 13 [END]

Round 2. FIGHT!

Kyokai: First tag team post of this New Year! Lol, I wish that 1.1.11 was still around but our site’s clock is even faster than my local time so we are at 2.1.11. Hope you all had a good time last night and enjoyed it with your friends and family. What a treat the New Year’s Even been; with Kuragehime and Arakawa ending, it’s like I’m saying goodbye to a lot of anime I loved dearly. Anyway, before getting nostalgic, let me cue Overcooled to take you away with the highlights of the last episode.

Overcooled: Sister is hooked up to an IV for a second in order to restore his life force (and draining Ric of his) and get back into the fight. The zero rules, zero restriction fight begins with a bang…literally. Sister pulls out a missile launcher out of nowhere and goes ballistic. Leave it to Maria to strike down each and every one of them before they even come close to her.

Maria retaliates with the Sazae’s father shearing technique, which has struck Sister once before in the past. Things don’t look good, but God intervenes. Yes, God. He tells Sister to drop his weapon…and use a knife instead. I’d become religious in an instant if this is the kind of God I get to have XD And so begins Sister getting into serious mode, really giving Maria a run for her money. To top it all off – he’d been wearing weights as a handicap the entire time.

Although it looks like they’re not moving, they’re apparently fighting faster than the naked eye can see. Or at least, that’s what the Mayor says, and that’s not exactly the most reliable source. Upon closer inspection, Maria is just insulting Sister until he can’t take it anymore. Moral of the story? LOVE MAKES YOU WEAK.

Maria won, and it seems all hell will break loose. I was expecting the very worst until Ric read her decree…”to make clothes for all her sheep.” Just when Maria seems to look like an okay person for liking animals and being so considerate to the girls, she turns around and hands dog collars to the men and tells them to grovel. Just what kind of past did this woman have?!

There’s nothing like watching a group of fully-grown men be completely degraded. :3 The boys have to don collars and herd all the sheep back into the pen. It’s the lowest of the low, but Sister does a really, really good job of it. The others don’t join in until one of the sheep dogs smirks at them as if they’re garbage. That’s all it takes for everyone to go on all fours and really get into the spirit of things. Like…really. Their enthusiasm is frightening.

The clothes are done! The girls made a bunch of little capes for the sheep, which I suppose keeps them warm. Just when I thought Maria’s reign of terror was done, she asks Sister to count her sheep. It sounds innocent enough, until she says they’re all named after men she’s loved. He spurts a fountain of blood once he gets to ‘Shiro.’ BAWWW SISTER T.T I was half-expecting his name to pop up just to give him a break…

Just in time for Christmas 2011!

Whitey suddenly appears with everyone’s wishes in hand, suggesting they float them all down the river. It’s all poetic until they see wishes like “I want to go on a date with Nino.” Also, this is littering. Nino stands away from the crowd, staring at one of her wishes that got caught on a branch. She seems….off. Ric approaches her, telling her that everyone will always be together and that she doesn’t have to be lonely. It’s a touching end to an otherwise lol-worthy episode, and the whole Bridge x Bridge series as well.

Bonus Screenshots:

WHY DOES EVERYONE IN ANIME AUTOMATICALLY KNOW HOW TO USE I.V.’s?

…We are disappoint

No. JUST NO. Even Nino can’t rock this look.

Every girl has their fetish…

Final Thoughts:

Overcooled: It’s a bit jarring to watch the ending to Shiki and then THIS. XD Still, it was a hilarious episode with a bit of drama at the end (I’ve been missing the sprinkling of touching scenes between Ric and Nino) to cater to everyone. Except the people who want them to GET THE HELL TO VENUS. I think they introduced the “we’re going to Venus!” plot to keep everyone watching under the guise of soon revealing a very interesting plotline. Instead, it made it harder to enjoy episodes that weren’t related to Venus, anxiously waiting for a hint of a rocket, spacesuits, SOMETHING! I can’t say for sure, but I’d have been better off if they had said “we’re going to venus!” when they were ACTUALLY GOING TO VENUS.

Aside form having a carrot dangled in front of our noses for the entire show and then having it taken away, Arakawa S2 has been a good ride. The hilarity from season 1 was pretty much consistent aside from some useless side characters. Did Captain do ANYTHING this season? Even Jacqueline did more than him. I’m willing to ignore the few average episodes and say S2 was a success. Does it succeed season 1? No. I’d probably rank this as about an 8.5/10 on my scale…I’m not sure if I’d round up though (lulz 8.4?)

I love Arakawa. I love the WTF humour, the characters, the music, and animation…it’s really a force to be reckoned with. Think of all the amazing moments we had. Kameari? Nino being mad and climbing up a pole? Wabisabi? So many happy memories! (If you remind me of the muscle episode, and I will kill you. I WILL DO IT THROUGH THE SCREEN, I WILL.) It’s been a fun ride, and hey, maybe we’ll get an Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge x Bridge? XD I can only dream~

Kyokai: I was sooo glad that we finally had a Maria/Sister episode because she just has been in the background most of the second season. Also, I so knew she would win because well, Sister loves her; it’s as simple as that. How would he even fight fairly with her and the weights he was using under his habit was the proof. Though, I had the same thoughts as Ric of Maria’s evilness and see her traps everywhere. Still, being a part of the Arakawa Residents, it’s clear she is home and loves it there. That is what this series has been about, a bunch of misfits getting together and having an amazingly good time.

The last episode was nostalgic of everything that is awesome about Arakawa and then some. It had the usual laughs and idiocies, making it fun as usual. I think I read someone’s tweet about it ending abruptly and saw the whole thing bated breath of any slip of quality or bungling of the storyline. It didn’t happen. At all. It flowed with its own pace and even if most of the episode was given to Maria and Sister the conclusion was amazingly well put.

Ric can be a douche but the only voice of reason on Arakawa but with many months with the residents, he knows almost everything about them and has come to understand Nino as she is. His understanding of her urge to always stay together is hella endearing and quite conclusive. The last few scenes were just brilliant! Kou Ichinomiya actually put to words every thought that a true fan of the series had in their mind: whatever we have seen deserves more than thundering applause and we only wish to never see them leave and keep on enjoying their performance. And I take hope from the “Let’s Meet Again!” and wish that we get a season three. At least, there’s enough material for them and they still have to go to Venus! Here’s hoping for some more awesome.

Thank you for following Overcooled and my fangirly blabbering on the show that we, oh so love! See you all next season! Oh wait, we are already there. Ja ne~ xD

Take a bow~ This curtain is closed.