Our blog was not around for the first Arakawa Under the Bridge, but now that the second series has started, I will be blogging this as my third and final show. This season starts off with a very interesting sequence from Nino, but what made it even more interesting was waiting till after the credits and watching it in its entirety. I love the back ground music and lack of speech, it really added great ambiance to it and gave us a more detailed look into Nino’s psyche. It was a good way to start the series and a better way to end the episode. Made me really pumped up for the new season. Last season really had a few stale moments toward the middle and end of the series, thus I am hoping this show can do a better job of keeping the jokes fresher and hopefully eliminating the stupid after credit jokes, which were rarely funny. liked the opening, both the animation and song were really good, although I did like the song from season one more, but both songs are by the same artist, so I liked the new one too. The ending hasn’t aired yet, but I looked it up and it will be another Suneohair ending, which is great since I really like Suneohair, one of my favorite Japanese artists.
Nothing is more shocking than when Nino shows emotion.
The episode started with Riku asking Nino to move in with him. I liked how he was all nervous and dreamy about it, especially the toothbrush kissing. However, the punchline really got me laughing, I didn’t even seen the fact that Nino would take it as trading places. Although, even though Riku kind of pictured her as a cat, when she showed up that night, you could tell that she obviously likes Riku and wants to be with him. One thing I loved about season one was when we saw their relationship grow and this episode gave us more of a look into them. I know Arakawa is a comedy, but it still has great romantic moments that can even be seen through their actions. Like I couldn’t help but feel Nino shoving Riku into her drawer was a subconscious way of her saying that Riku is hers.
The most disturbing moment in Arakawa history..
Hoshi’s first appearance in season 2 was fantastic and it was even more so because Riku just sat there listening to him instead of telling him from the get go. Also, the first appearance of the Mayor proved that even after all the “he’s in a Kappa costume” jokes from season one, it still is insanely funny. The next big thing to happen was the introduction of a new character, some Amazon woman. At the end of season 1 they introduced several characters, which I hope they get into more this season, but all of them got trumped by that woman. I can’t wait to see episode 116 and find out what happens to Riku.
Rule #1 when in a competition, never pose untill after you win.
The last part of this episode was about the marathon race and it was great. I loved how Whitey was all hardcore about the race and his comeback victory at the end made my day. Also, Riku should know by now that nothing is normal under the bridge especially when it comes from Sister. Anyway, this episode was great and proved to me that Arakawa Under the Bridge has still got it and we should expect some great comedy from it this season. I just hope that some of the other characters get more face time. It seems like we see a lot of the same 4 characters: Mayor, Sister, Stella, and Hoshi. Personally, I would like to see some more moments from Maria and P-ko, it is always a lot of fun when they are around.
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