Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 06

Nino and Ric have a little talk…

Time flies! It’s already time for another Arakawa episode! While last week was full of a bunch of craziness (well, when is Arakawa NOT full of crazy?) this week takes a much more serious approach. It’s probably the most serious episode of Arakawa, in fact. But is that necessarily a good thing? Well, let’s see. (Don’t cheat and just skip down to the end thoughts, I’m trying to build tension here!)

I miss my opening “philosophy of the week” segment D= Instead of that, it cuts right to the chase. Shimazaki (Ric’s assistant) is researching information about Nino at Ric’s father’s request…and for her own interests. The mayor shows up in her office, whispering death threats into her ear before vanishing. The next time he appears is before Nino, handing back the tape Shimazaki stole to her (even though it’s the “leech” tape…). What could he possibly mean by “It’s almost time”???

One day, I will crawl under a table in the middle of a meeting and just flip it over. I won’t even work at the company, I’m just going to do it so I can be like Nino. I’ll get all pissed too when someone tries to yell at me, like “Y U SO MAD FOR??!?” and then make THEM feel bad. Let’s not forget putting a shoe on their head. That’s the best part. The meeting will have to wait, because *gasp* Nino has something she needs to tell Ric about the cassettes!

Shimazaki naturally tries to follow them to get more information, but ends up springing Maria’s humiliating death trap. The death trap consists of rope, pie, a panda, and a poo hat. Afterwards, Shiro helps her, erm, “recover” from it. The act of kindess melts all tsun away, leaving her as a puddle of bubbling dere. Her “prince on a white line”….lawl…XD

Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for…Nino’s talk with Ric. She spends a lot of time beating around the bush, looking absolutely miserable, while Ric is trying to prepare himself for whatever occurs. When Nino starts off saying she lied to him, he instantly starts assuming the Venusian thing was a lie, like any normal person would. However, the lie is that she has to leave the riverbank, and she knew this even before she asked him to be her lover.

Ric’s reaction is nothing short of heartbreak and desperation, the Mayor’s words haunting him all the while. He desperately asks her dozens of questions, to which Nino gives sad, quiet responses. She knows she has to leave, but she wants to stay with him. It’s safe to say that I’m still astounded by how deep their relationship has become.

Nino drops the BIG news: she has to return to Venus. Now it’s time to deviate from the seriousness a bit. Ric is naturally WTF about it at first, but he presses on to try to convince her to stay. That’s when Nino starts to cry, saying she HAS to go home because she misses Venus and her parents. But she always wants to stay here with Ric and everyone else. Yet another BIG statement from Nino: she asks Ric to come with her to Venus.

This time Ric reacts like a true crazy person, imagining a bunch of scenarios of what it could be like if he went along with it. The overall verdict? Nino’s parents may be jellyfish who stick things into his ears, but he will go with her, because he LOVES her. He comes around pretty quickly, actually, which makes Nino ecstatic. So ecstatic, she starts punching Ric…which is what I do when I’m happy too, oddly enough.

After having all these propositions thrown at him, Ric feels a bit…feminine. He’s practically saturated with estrogen. He even starts babbling about marriage! Now, if Ric is happy, Hoshi should be nearby to ruin it, right? It’s a law of the universe by now. He steps in, slips a grass ring on her finger, and claims her as his own. Hoshi, you buttface. =__=

That’s when EVERYONE reveals themselves and offers to go to Venus with her. Ric is appalled, but Nino is sooo happpy!!! Awww!! *PUNCH PUNCH* 8D Even Captain is here, drawing his moe, stalker storyboard about Nino. Most alarmingly, he uses scuba gear to watch her. Yes…scuba gear. As everyone all huddles together for that fluffy ending, Captain taps his pencil against a very curious drawing of Nino. She does some rather interesting things under the surface of the water, hmm?

Girly Ric Spam:

Ric, why are you so pretttty??

HOW CAN YOU EVEN SEE WITH THAT MANY SPARKLES IN YOUR EYES?

Nino-san, be gentle~

Fangirling: Nothing can stop it’s spread

End Thoughts: Gag contest was just Hoshi being a jerk, I’m not wasting my screencap count on that. <_< More importantly, there’s a new ending animation! And a gorgeous one at that! WATCH IT!!

I may not watch a lot (i.e. any) romance anime, but NinoxRic is probably one of the best anime couples out there. Not THE best, but it’s definitely up there. It’s not forced, and their development is very natural…considering the nature of the show, especially. A lot of the gag episodes make you forget that they’re lovers..you take for granted that the whole reason this rich, genius boy is living in hobo nation is for this one girl. It’s amazing how quickly you can forget that, but it’s there, in every episode. Their love and dedication for one another is just a fact, something that feels like it’s been there forever. I need episodes like this to remind me. Great episode, great development, and a great couple.

I always asks myself: what does this episode mean for the next episode coming up? It’s great that each person can speculate something entirely different, and that’s what makes it so fun (well, this mostly applies to shows like Shiki as opposed to comedy like Arakawa, but still!). For example, is Nino really an alien? Are they REALLY going to Venus? The Captain gave us a hint that Nino isn’t human…who stays under water so long you need more than  tank of oxygen just to keep up? Everything about that sketch is suspicious. I doubt they will actually go to Venus, it will probably just be some weird location. I mean, where are they going to get a ROCKET? <_< I’ll bet you anything we never really find out if Nino is Venusian or not. Even with a serious episode like this, we learned next to nothing about Nino’s past. Nonetheless, I’ll be waiting for episode 7 eagerly. :3