Arakawa Under the Bridge - The 2010 anime and manga series
Arakawa Under the Bridge (in the Japanese original: 荒 川 ア ン ダ ー ザ ブ リ ッ ジ, Hepburn: Arakawa Andā za Burijji) is a Japanese manga written and drawn by Hikaru Nakamura. The manga was first published in the Japanese manga magazine seinen Young GanGan starting December 3, 2004. An adaptation of the anime television series aired in Japan between April 4, 2010 and June 27, 2010 on TV Tokyo. A second season, titled Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge, aired in Japan between October 3, 2010 and December 26, 2010.
History
Set in Arakawa, Tokyo, the series tells the story of Kou Ichinomiya, a man who made it all by himself. From an early age, his father taught him a rule: never be in debt to another person. One day, by chance, he falls into the Arakawa River and nearly drowns. A girl named Nino saves him and, in return, he owes her life. Unable to accept the fact that he is in her debt, he asks her for a way to repay her. Eventually, she tells him she loves her, starting Kou's life of living under a bridge. However, as Kou begins to learn, Arakawa is a place full of weirdos and all the people who live under the bridge are what society would call "denpasan" or marginalized.
Characters
Kou Ichinomiya
Kou is the future owner of the Ichinomiya company. He is 22 and a college student before living under the bridge. All his life, he lived under the family rule of never being in debt to anyone. After nearly drowning in the river, he began a relationship with his savior, Nino, because it was the only way to cancel his debt to save his life. He is called "Recruit" (リ ク ル ー ト, Rikurūto) by the village chief, but the villagers usually call him "Ric" ("Riku") for short. If he becomes indebted to someone but cannot pay him back, he will start having an asthma attack. From an early age he received the best education, learning to play more instruments and earning a black belt in karate. Kou took the option of staying in the "mansion" rather than Nino's house when he moved into the village, not knowing that the "mansion" was the empty top of a pillar under the bridge. He quickly resolves the situation by building a suitable apartment in the place. His job in the village is to be the teacher for the children of the village. Due to his upbringing and his sudden intrusion into life under the bridge, he is exasperated by meaningless events that others would consider normal.
Nino
A mysterious girl who lives in Arakawa. She is a self-styled Venusian and later Kou's fiancée. The origin of his name derives from the suit he always wears and with the label “Class 2-3” (Ni-no-san). She is an incredible swimmer and can stay submerged for several minutes. With this skill, Nino commonly goes fishing in the river and it is his job in the village to provide fish to the residents. She often forgets important information and often needs Kou to remember it. His house is built of cardboard, with the entrance sealed by a large curtain. Her sumptuous bed is made of velvet, although she chooses to sleep in the drawer under the bed. If he gets scared or angry, he puts his suit over his head and climbs to the top of a lamppost.
Chief of the village
The village chief is a self-proclaimed kappa. 620 years old (although he obviously wears a green kappa costume). As a leader, anyone who wants to live in the village must get his approval and have him give the person a new name. His face changes when he runs very fast, as shown in the annual village run. It is not known whether he is faster than Shiro, as he always loses interest in the race every year and quits by default. Using the excuse of preparing for the voyage to Venus, he induced the villagers to build him a villa under the river. He seems to have some secrets and is protecting Nino. He realizes that he is not really a kappa and, in moments of seriousness, he will stop wearing his suit. He has great influence with the local government, as shown when he single-handedly stopped Ric's father's plan to destroy Arakawa. He is very protective of Nino,
Hoshi
A 24-year-old singer and self-proclaimed superstar. He is in love with Nino and is always jealous of Kou for their relationship. Under his star mask is a moon mask and under that is his real face, which has red hair. When he becomes depressed, he will begin to call himself a starfish and wear his star mask in reverse. He likes to go to the nearby shop and buy cigarettes. Four years earlier, he was a top notch singer and allegedly had consistently surpassed Oricongrafici. But he was annoyed that he could never come up with his own songs. As he struggled with this feeling, he met Nino and realized that what he wanted was the music he himself created. His job is to provide music for special events in the village, but the lyrics of his songs are mostly weird and completely nonsense. Its name literally means "Star".
Sister
A strong man who dresses like a nun. Twenty-nine and British, Sister is a war veteran with an affinity for artillery and always has a gun with her. He has a scar on the right side of his face, the origin of which is unknown. He worries about Nino's well-being and asks Kou if his love for Nino was real. Every Sunday, in the church under the bridge, he holds a mass which usually lasts only a few seconds. This involves running his congregation to line up, shooting his machine gun in the air, and asking if anyone has done something wrong. If there is no reply, the service ends and everyone present receives a bag of cookies. It is not known what would have happened if someone had done something wrong. Oddly, while her sister is dressed as a Catholic nun, her church is adorned with an Orthodox cross. Under his robe is a military dress from his soldier days. He may still believe he is in the midst of a war, as he continually sets booby traps and has proven to always think in terms of military strategy. He is in love with Maria, whom he met during the last war he was in, whose insults are the only thing that can make him nervous, causing him to open his scar. Surprisingly, he is good at making cookies and other sweets.
Shiro
A friendly 43-year-old man who is obsessed with always stepping on a white line (as he believes his wife will turn into a Cornish white if he doesn't, which he fears more than anything else), so he always goes around pushing a line designer so that he always has something white to walk on. According to him, he had this obsession six years before the series began and hasn't seen his family since. His real name is Toru Shirai (白 井 通) and he was a clerk in a large corporation before he started living under the bridge. However, he doesn't have a job for the village. He is married to a wife who understands his obsession and has a high school-age daughter. Despite being strangers to his family, they still seem to be very close, with his wife lining up and sending him forms to step on white line tournaments. Although he is usually polite to everyone in the village, he is fiercely competitive; he spends the whole year training for the annual village competition, because "it's the only time [he] gets the spotlight." It is suggested that he may be the strongest person in the village. During the village's sumo wrestling competition, Sister and Maria, both war veterans and highly experienced fighters, and the chief, a self-proclaimed kappa and reigning master of Sumo Wrestling at the village, all lost when they saw Shiro obsessively singing the his determination to remain in the shikiri-sen, the two white lines in the center of a Sumo wrestling ring. Its name literally means "White".
Metal Brothers
Tetsuo (鉄 雄) and Tetsuro (鉄 郎) are a couple of boys in sailor suits wearing metal helmets. Like Hoshi, they are jealous of Kou's relationship with Nino. They are self-proclaimed espers, who claim to have psychic powers and that their helmets are made so that they cannot fly away or be discovered by the military, with the unfortunate side effect of not being able to use their powers. The only powers they have claimed to have so far are flight and the ability to travel through time and space. Their duties are to take care of hot baths in oil barrels. Oddly, at first they are shown as teenagers and later they seem to regress to children.
P-ko
A young red-haired girl who grows vegetables for the village. The epitome of a clumsy girl, she is literally dangerously clumsy, often turning what should be a simple accident into a massive disaster. Despite an allusion to setbacks, P-ko is still intent on getting a driver's license so she can travel further during the winter to collect seeds. Kou is strongly opposed to this and in their discussion he learns with horror that she already has a driving license. She has a crush on the village chief, but he is unaware of her feelings. Her hair grows very fast and she needs a haircut every week.
Maria
Maria is a pink-haired woman who runs a nearby farm from which all Arakawa residents get dairy and produce. While looking good, he casually distributes incredibly harsh insults to other people and is a sadist who can't stand a week without insulting someone. He despises males and only acts badly towards them. He met his sister during the last war they had and was an opposing spy who tried to get information from him.
Stella
Stella is a blonde girl from an orphanage in England that her sister ran. Although initially meant to be small and cute, she is a powerful fighter and sometimes speaks in a threatening tone to show her superiority. When angry, she has the ability to transform into a giant and look extremely masculine, very closely resembling (and often even parodying) Raoh from Fist of the North Star. She has a crush on Sister, which initially made her hostile to Maria. But after meeting and fighting Maria, he grows fond of her and admires her. He considers himself the leader of Arakawa and sees the twins as his subordinates.
Seki Ichinomiya
Kou's stern father, who adheres to his family's rules and despises Kou. As shown, after Kou was a child, he asked Kou to raise him as a child, just as he had raised Kou. Despite being very cold, he loves his son. Nino seems to remind him of his wife.
Terumasa Takai
Kou's secretary. After his wife left him, Takai became Kou's secretary in one of his companies. He was inspired by Kou and his words and became fond of him. It is also strongly implied that he has a romantic infatuation with Kou, and becomes very jealous or sad when Kou is with Nino.
shimazaki
Takai's personal assistant. Although he is Takai's assistant, he takes orders directly from Seki Ichinomiya without Takai's knowledge. He has a crush on Shiro.
Last Samurai
Last Samurai is a typical samurai character who runs a barber shop under the bridge, capable of cutting everyone's hair in seconds. He comes from a samurai family and the sword he possesses was a legacy passed down from his ancestors. Before he started living under the bridge, he was a famous hairdresser who captured the hearts of all his clients. At that time, to prevent them from turning and looking at him, he needed to cover them with his eyes. He listened to all the comments from his female clients and felt he had lost his way as a hairdresser. One night, he went to the bridge to swing his sword and suddenly met the chief. After a brief conversation, his samurai blood boiled and he regained his confidence. He seems to be in love with P-KO.
Billy
A man with a parrot's head. He was previously a member of a yakuza group and was highly respected among the people. However, he fell in love with his boss's wife. From time to time he said very interesting things, which usually makes Kou and Hoshi scream "aniki". It seems to believe that it really is a bird.
jacqueline
A woman dressed as a bee that implies that she has thousands of husbands and children, as she thinks she really is a queen bee, although she also has a "forbidden" relationship with Billy. Before she started living under the bridge, she was the wife of a yakuza chief. He was having an affair with one of the group members, who was Billy. It owns the village hall. He can't stand not being with Billy for more than a few seconds, saying he will die. As shown on their anniversary, she went crazy after being away from Billy.
Captain of the Earth Defense Troops
A self-styled defender of the Earth who believes she is threatened by the Venusians. It is actually a mangaka under the pseudonym of Potechi Kuwabara. He wanted to do science fiction manga but was forced to draw moe manga by his publishers. He later lives in Arakawa for a while, before Kou found his publisher. He later made a weird sci-fi manga with its characters based on Arakawa residents and with artwork similar to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, it wasn't very popular.
Amazoness
An Amazon warrior living in the Saitama district who, along with her henchmen wearing tengu masks, defend the secret treasure of the Amazon, who are actually sweet Saitama. She wears very heavy makeup and is considered not very attractive, but if she has a clean face, she is very beautiful, shocking Kou. Sometimes she will change her personality between a grumpy Amazon and an annoying teenage student. He falls in love with Kou, as he was able to get a prize from their sweets. His henchmen hypnotize him, to fall in love with her. But Hoshi helps Kou. He later realizes that in the end, whatever he does, Kou only has eyes for Nino. She later falls in love with Hoshi when he encourages her to keep trying.
Manga
The manga, written and illustrated by Hikaru Nakamura, was serialized in Square Enix's biweekly magazine Young Gangan between 2004 and July 2015. Three special chapters were published in Young Gangan between October and November 2015. Fifteen volumes were collected in tankōbon format, with the first published on August 25, 2005, and the fifteenth on November 20, 2015. All volumes have been translated into English and published online by Crunchyroll Manga. Vertical announced during their Katsucon panel that they have licensed the manga.
Anime
The original manga was adapted into a 13-episode series by the Shaft studio and is directed by Yukihiro Miyamoto with the main direction of Akiyuki Shinbo. The anime adaptation was announced in August 2009, aired on TV Tokyo between April 4, 2010 and June 27, 2010. A second season, titled Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge (荒 川 ア ン ダ ー ザ ブ リ ッ ジ * 2, Arakawa Andā za Burijji x Burijji), which airs in Japan between October 3, 2010 and December 26, 2010. NIS America has announced that it has licensed the first season. The first season was released on a combined Blu-ray / DVD set in July 2011. In November 2011, NIS America announced that it had licensed the second season, setting the release date for February 7, 2012. MVM Films have announced that they will release both seasons on DVD only subtitles in the UK at the end of 2013.
Technical data
Gender comedy, sentimental
Manga
Author Hikaru Nakamura
Editor Square Enix
Magazine Young gangan
Target seinen
1 edition December 2004 - July 3, 2015
Periodicity fortnightly (chapters in journal)
Tankōbon 15 (complete)
Anime TV series
Author Hikaru Nakamura
Regia Akiyuki Shinbo
Film script Akao Deko
Char. design Nobuhiro Sugiyama
Artistic Dir Kohji Azuma
Music Masaru Yokoyama
Studio Shaft
TV network Tokyo, AT-X
1st TV April 4 - June 27, 2010
Episodes 13 (complete)
Anime TV series
Arakawa under the Bridge × Bridge
Author Hikaru Nakamura
Regia Akiyuki Shinbo
Film script Akao Deko
Char. design Nobuhiro Sugiyama
Artistic Dir Kohji Azuma
Music Masaru Yokoyama
Studio Shaft
Network TV Tokyo, AT-X
1st TV 3 October - 26 December 2010
Episodes 13 (complete)
Source: es.wikipedia.org/
