dtillman - 2017-01-29 05:23:41

The first season Arakawa Under The Bridge is no where near as in depth as season two. But! Season 1 thickens the character’s depth, the main character Ko a.k.a “Rec.” short for “Recruiter”, is a strict, responsible top of the food chain business man. He owns one of the largest companies in Japan. He ends up getting chased by some delinquent teenagers and gets his pants taken off by them, hung up on the bridge and stands there in his boxers, re-thinking a lot of things. As this happens, he meets a strange girl. She retrieves his pants for him but, “Rec” who is really Ko, refuses to be in debt to anyone. As he lives by his family motto, “Never be in debt to anyone.” It’s written all over his tie. Literally. But, the girl does it anyway and he somehow ends up being in debt to her. But what does she want? She simply as for him to be her lover and live under the bridge with her. Now, Ko cannot refuse this, he refuses to never be in debt so therefor he reluctantly accepts. Now, this girl “Nino” is his lover. As he lives under the bridge he discovers many, many, many odd people and things about it. The Chief of under the bridge, is a Kappa. ((Or so he thinks he is.). “Rec” Is so sure of himself that Chief is wearing a Kappa suit, but, not everything seems to be what he thinks. As he learns more and more about the people and “things” under the bridge he becomes attatched, especially to Nino. She’s not just an ordinary girl either, like Chief, she is from “Venus” and calls herself a Venusian. “Rec” doesn’t believe this of course but accepts that’s just how she is, odd. He teaches her many different things, as she wants to experience what it’s like to have a lover since she IS an “alien”, from Venus. She’s very kind though, always feeding Rec, sleepwalking to his house up top near the bridge, popping out of nowhere and making literally no sense what so ever. “Rec”, naturally falls for her. Naturally there is a rival character, “Hoshi” As they call him. A guitarist who is in love with Nino. Why you ask? You’ll have to find out! But, he causes problems all the time, no matter what the situation may be, sad, dark, happy, ect. Rec bickers back and forth with him on the daily, as Nino stays oblivious to Hoshi’s feelings, like wise. The other people of Arakawa Under the Bridge remains a true mystery to Rec. New ones would pop up almost every other day or so. New challenges face him, mostly due to Nino and he has trouble with family, his job, his sanity. But, what happens to Nino and Rec? Do they stay together? Do they break up? Does Hoshi get with Nino? Find out, in Arakawa Under The Bridge and have fun because when you think what’s about to happen, is the opposite of what you’re thinking. Think outside the box!

olarkin - 2017-01-26 20:22:18

It was very cute and funny

tamara.hirthe - 2015-12-27 12:41:35

Ichinomiya Kou is a elite in japanese society. He has been taught from an early age that he should not be in debt to anyone. One day he is careless and gets into a lifethreatening situation. His life is saved by the homeless girl Nino and Kou understandably wants to pay her back for saving his life. Nino at first doesnt want anything but after a debate with Kou she tells him that there is one thing he can do for her. Let me fall in love is the thing she wants him to help her with. Therefor Kou starts living under the bridge as Ninos boyfriend. Life under the bridge is strange though with many weird people living there. Nino herself claims to be a alien from Venus. There is a "Church Sister" who acts like a terminator. A man in a kappa costume that claims to be a real kappa. A rock star that goes around with a actual star on his head and many more interesting and strange people. 
The art can be considered standard for the time but since it is made by Shaft you can expect some over the top artwork once in a while. The show is also full of vivid colours and beatiful scenery. Especially the opening is a prime example of Shafts artwork. 
The background music didnt stand out that much and I cant really remember much of it. The opening and endings were something I really liked though. I rarely listen to the op and ed in every episode but this was one of the shows that I liked to listen and watch the whole thing in. 
Arakawa Under the Bridge got 13episodes that make for a very fun experience. It is a must watch for the characters only and the other aspects of this anime only serves to increase the enjoyment. The show also got a second season of 13episodes if you want more of the same fun. 

conn.otto - 2014-06-23 21:02:55

This review will be focused on the first season. I'll try to make a review for the second one.

Arakawa under the bridgedoes well on using already proven comedic methods such as parody. Altough it tries to do outstanding on the irreverent and crazy side of comedy, it fails on this sometimes. This show doesn't seek already proven and told jokes, it goes beyond that, sometimes creating situations where not even deus-ex-machina would come in handy, to land a joke that has two possibilities: 

1. it's funny as hell; 

2. it's not funny at all.

On another note, in the animation department, since its was made by digital@shaft or better known only as shaft (and if you already have seen something made by them, you know what you will get) there's nothing new here, although, you can expect less poetical frames than the monogatari series. In here, you'll see more of the characters, but less background goodiness. It's set under a bridge... what more can you expect?? The animation quality is unique to shaft, so the motion of the drawings and colors are all splendid. I can't compare it with anything other than another shaft show, and what better than monogatari??. Well, it has more colorful and vivid backgrounds and characters, they have less artistic movements or stands, and more natural mechanics.

The OST is good enough. I don't remember any music of it by now, but the openings and endings are good enough to watch it everytime. 

Character development is kind of low-paced. Supposedly the show is about a romance story, but you'll get to see more of the slice-of-lice side of it. I think that those wanting to see the love grow will feel dissapointed, because its not the center of each episode. Its more about gettin' used to the condition under the bridge more than lovin'. 

Anyhow, I think you should give it a try. Why?? Because is crazy, well animated, well scripted and overall, funny. 

Not satisfied with my review?? You can direct your complaint to the review departament of reviews after you watch arakawa under the bridge, if you fail to do so, your complaint won't be admited. 

hilton.rowe - 2013-07-11 08:23:51

Comedy is a tough aspect to grade, since it is largely subjective in nature. Just because I find Kramer and Jerry arguing about the trajectory of someones spit on Seinfeld hilarious, doesn't mean others will. Likewise, just because someone else finds a guy walking into a woman's bath by incident and getting knocked into the stratosphere for it amusing, certainly doesn't mean I do. But, and I think most other people will agree, some of the best comedy is stuff that actually has an underlying message to it. When humor can actively facilitate an overall message that the work in question has, then it all works on multiple fronts. And, well, this is something that Arakawa Under The Bridge does well.Arakawa starts with the protagonist, Ichinomiya Kou, standing on a bridge completely pants-less. It is here when he meets a rather strange girl known as Nino and it is also here where we learn of his fear of owing anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to anyone what so ever. It is readily apparent from the on set that Kou has some rather deep sitting issues with his father, almost a sort of phobia if you will.Now, don't get me wrong. Arakawa is most definitely a comedy first and foremost, but themes such as running away from problems, parental issues, and so on are lightly, and rather effectively, touched upon during the course of the series. But, it certainly never becomes heavy handed in this matter at all.Visually, Arakawa is a treat with very well done character design, particularly Nino and the other female characters, and just overall interesting visual touches here and there. Shaft has the usual visual touch, but not quite as heavily as Sayanora Sensei, EF, or their other works. Sound wise, the musics generally pretty good. But, the voice work in particular is striking with some very big names in the series particularly Sugita Tomokazu (Haruhi, Gintama), Fujiwara Keiji (Baccano, FMA), and many more. The characters are very likable, with pretty much every one of them having some sort of..personality quirk. Whether you have the cross dressing "Sister", The Kappa costume wearing Village Chief, The rockstar wanna be Star shaped mask wearing Hoshi, the insult throwing Maria, and so on..it's almost guaranteed that you'll find something to amuse you in some form.Which brings me to my biggest issue with the series, the characters don't change and we just don't learn anything at all about the vast majority of them. Not that Kou doesn't try to learn, it's just that the other characters either avoid his questions or outright lie to him. It's arguable, of course, whether or not this is an actual fault or not...it's just the way these people live their lives and it effectively ties into the central plot point. But, it still hurt my enjoyment a little bit.Story: 7At it's heart Arakawa Under The Bridge is a sort of coming of age story in which Kou tries to come out from under his fathers shadow and live his own life under the bridge. Some of the comedy is random in nature, but most of it seems to hit on the underlying message. It isn't deep stuff, but this series did very effectively what it intended to.Art: 9Well done character designs, good background art, and very consistent animation. The Shaft "style" isn't quite as glaringly obvious as most of the shows from the company, except for the OP, ED, and a few other instances. It has to be said that Nino is probably one of the most obviously beautiful female characters I've seen. The other female characters are well designed as well.Sound: 7Solid music, with well know voice actors doing the same great work they always do. Not much to complain about here. Though, there also isn't anything particularly amazing in this compartment, either.Character: 8The characters are likable, memorable, funny, and just overall well done. Unfortunately, they go out of their way not to talk about themselves and Kou is pretty much the only character to go through some form of change. Still, nothing to complain about.Enjoyment: 9Consistently funny unlike most comedy series I've seen and the characters are very likable. I enjoyed the message this series brought to the table as well. An easy series to marathon.Overall: 8Memorable, funny, and many other things. Arakawa is a great comedy series up there with stuff such as FMP: Fumofu, Minami-ke, and a few others. Definitely recommended for those looking for a good time.