Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge – 09

Where is my fabulous suicide, damn it!?

Kyokai: Yo all, I’m quite fashionably late as us Asians like to say. Though on principal I’m quite a punctual person but hey, juggling a full time job that actually bleeds onto personal/social time, I amaze myself to even find time for aniblogging. But I love it and I’m no way quitting this. I’ll be covering the current episode of Arakawa hitori bochi~ Well, not technically a tag team but still counting as Overcooled did spend time in giving her thoughts before getting temporarily kidnapped, heavily sedated and on her way to coma…. QUICK, SAVE HER! Kidding. It’s just the final exam craziness and even when she wishes to be free watching anime, still has to slug it through.

C’mon now Bridge weirdoes that I love so much. Line up and entertain me today because you sure have made me wait more than a week for my Arakawa fix! Yes, it’s almost like that enthusiasm crack which Moritaka and Takagi deal in the streets of Toshima. Dodgy place, I tell you. Before you go, I have mixed up my anime because I’m still catching up to some titles; I was just testing you to know your bearings. This is Arakawa review after all.

So, the episode was complimented by that dream sequence that is so Arakawa. It philosophically compares a girl’s dream of the love of sweets and tea, which she could enjoys to infinity if only with the right ingredients. Though the prince she sought after, left more of a bitter taste than the sweetness she expected. Let me tell you, a girl’s mind is a puzzling place and if you are guy, I don’t think I can make you understand, even if I try my hardest.

Coming to the theaters near you, Paint the World WHITE~

Coming to what actually happened. Whitey got his big break in the movies due to his bishie-ossan looks. I mean, he actually did something more than painting white lines for once. Though as puzzling it was for Ric to see a package arrive for him, even I started when the White Line Australia was mentioned. Pffft. Please do not google it!

So as it happens, Whitey is Koshiro while Shimazaki is young Nanoka. They are ready for a journey that is filled with many obstacles but they decide to take the leap together. Before I could mentally sniff, the force took over and I almost facepalmed when the delightful looking suicide attempt changed into a training session between Obi-wan and Luke. The power of force is not so strong in this one because Shimazaki is taking classes for white lining from Whitey twice a week. *groans*

Not to mention she has more than a thing for him. The old sly dog doesn’t even know but has strung her heartstrings, making her assume that his response is same as hers, when he actually meant participating in the doubles together. Even in my very judgmental heart, I felt a slight bit of pity for Shimazaki. On the other hand, Whitey has an exemplary family, a wife who supports his lining shenanigans and a daughter who loves her father to send him a cute memento. Yeah, a normal happy family until you realize the guy in question did flamingo while presenting to a board full of clients/personnel. =.=;;

The next part is pretty much of a clash between east and west. Some like it hot with cream and scones while another like it simply boiled and brewed properly. Yep, I’m talking about the many ways you can drink tea and interestingly the weird me likes both versions. But of course, how can you expect the same for the Bridge denizens? The tea party akin to the dream sequence was arranged by P-ko, calling on all the usual residents. I think Billy was not present just so the Last Samurai can throw a fit on not serving tea the traditional way and give a small heart attack to P-ko, breaking her china. Here’s a tip for you, if your mother/ aunt/ grandma like to store their china, do not go near/ don’t even touch them because when it breaks (bound to), you will never hear the end of it. >.>

The big boys and the fanboys

Anyway, moving on to the boys, led by Chief and Last Samurai to enjoy green tea in the natural environment and tagged along by two fanboys: Hoshi and Ric. They are to be introduced to the wabisabi way and the fine art of tea drinking as traditional Japanese men. Tough for them to always say that they know what they are doing. An unlikely pair surfaces, yes indeed, Hoshi and Ric actually team up to blabber on tea-drinking nonsense.

Wabisabi Weeabooness~

If I wasn’t too bored out of my mind, I would actually enjoy some of the hysterical octaves of Kamiyaan~.  I thought I would never see the day but Chief and Last Samurai (I would call him LS but that’s one nasty disease and he’s not that pesky for me to use this term), actually weeaboo over wabisabi…. =.=;;

As the gag platform was blown into smithereens by Chief aided by Sister, the last segment was actually a class by Nino instructing how to not-breathe on Venus. Poor Sister though, he always gets a rough bargain, while Maria enjoys her M tendencies.

EXTRA!

Giving Sebastian a run for his money?

Pour me some tea, SISTAH~ <3

AAAHHH MY EYES HURT! So much sparkle! 0.0

There is no black Friday where you live! T_T

End Thoughts:

Overcooled: Postponing Venus yet again? *sigh* I guess the Venus trip will be our finale, so we have to deal with pointless tea parties in the mean time. I don’t mind waiting for the Venus finale as long as the “filler” episodes are good. This filler episode…well, it was just average. The sort of episode you give a B, but not really a B+ or an A.

Shimazaki really is hopeless, falling so desperately in love with Whitey that she’s taken up “lining.” I like that an outsider has fallen for one of the whacky Bridge denizens, especially since it’s completely twisting her normal sensibilities out of shape. Give it a while and she’ll be totally bonkers like the rest of them. The Bridge tends to have that effect on people. As for Whitey…I have no idea how his wife could be so understanding. <_< It took a while for the ball to get rolling for this part, but once things were set up, the jokes finally hit a regular rhythm.

The second part is delightfully weird. Again, it’s not until the latter part of the episode that things get crazy and funny, but it’s worth the wait. Hoshi and Ric teaming up was a pleasant surprise too. I loved seeing them struggle so hard to fit in XD I was feeling those “Kameari!” level vibes of despair by the end of the episode from those two. I’m going to have to work wabisabi into everything I say now and see what happens. Don’t you think Metanorn gives off a wabisabi feel? Right? No? Well, I tried.

Kyokai: Wow, I think I have done a lot of dodging around this review, a good 1,400+ words too. I am of the habit of not hating something I love and this series is something that I adore BUT I have to say that it was seriously meh. Since, the whole Venus angle was introduced, which can actually just be something made-up (see Ric laughing hysterically in the background for this), no progress whatsoever has happened unless you call some new character introductions as development. Captain was alright, while Amazoness couldn’t even stand up straight in front of the Bridge denizens, on comic sense that is.

I planned to breeze through this one because well, the raws of episode ten are already out while I’m writing this. Though the fangirl me, who goes silly after Hirsohi Kamiya and Maaya Sakamoto’s voice couldn’t help herself and writing is a big stress reliever. So, I might or might not have mucked up something big but who cares?! I can write all I want and with gusto. Which reminds me, I want a Maria-centric episode and you know she deserves it! Shaft even cut the awesome Akai Coat this episode end because their meh episode went over the usual time limit. Still, I have been loving the Suneohair ED with the flowing sequence (my twitter avatar proves this). As a compensation to slug through this episode: a treat of Akai Coat’s full version.

Anything useful that came out of the whole episode is one line by Shimazaki; the fact that she has been keeping an eye on the bridge for a year to snatch something most important to Nino. Does she report to Seki only or there’s someone else as well? Who are Nino’s parents really and how come she’s related to the underworld (referencing to Chief); why he continues to protect her to such an extreme degree? Four more episodes to go so SHAFT better fess up.

Isn’t Nino better than a Chief/Hoshi live action preview?

Preview: What preview except for Chief and Hoshi in live action. So, wait for another Arakawa episode (not long this time because I expect Nutbladder to sub this quickly), just because you are a fangirl like me and squee in delight if it remotely talks about the big trip to Venus or some more information about Nino.

I swear I started with a very heavy heart and meaning to only write a page but whoa, I’m on the third. Arakawa, you are definitely something, making me write so much for an average episode. Anyway, till next time, Ja ne~