Can you guess what that is!? Arakawa Under the Bridge episode 01 popped up recently and I thought it looked pretty promising.Arakawa Under the Bridge
Who is making it?Arakawa Under the Bridge is done by the animation group "Shaft". Shaft tends to do a lot of slice of life but, with a slight twist. The animation studio is responsible for the creation of Rec, Tale of Memories, Bakemonogatari, Zetsubou Sensei and many many more. On a personal note, I really enjoy slice of life anime and Shaft does them right.
Who's in it? (I'll add them ass they Appear)
Kamiya Hiroshi as Ichinomiya Kou, this man is Zetsubou sensei and Koyomi in Bakemonogatari. This guy rules, He is up there with Sugita Tomokazu IMO.
Sakamoto Maaya as Nino, this woman is Ryougi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai and is probably most famous for her role as Kanzaki Hitomi in Escaflowne.
What is "Arakawa Under the Bridge" all about?
Kou, from the age of 3, has learned to never be in debt to anyone and strives to do everything on his own. Whether it be nurturing his father like a baby or simply making it so people return things to you. Hence, the eraser on a string. However, all of that drastically changes...
After falling off a bridge, a girl, who is claiming to be from Venus, saves Kou. Kou realizes he is eternally indebted to her. His whole philosophy in life is shattered instantly and the only thing he can think of is how to repay her.
He asks what he needs to do to repay her and Nino responds curiously with, "People, here, only help if they can get something in return?" I really thought about the significance of what she says because this opens up the path in which the main character will grow in but, I'll discuss that later.
Kou begs and pleads to Nino so, he can remove his debt from her. Finally, she says there is one thing that she wants and that is for him to love her. Kou, being 100% prideful over his "never being in debt to anyone motto", agrees and says he will be back tomorrow. However! Nino makes him stay by saying if he leaves, she'll forget who he is.
Nino takes Kou to meet the chief of the riverbed. Turns out is a man in a kappa suit. The kappa gave Nino her name, which comes from her gym uniform class number 2-3 (ni #2 no san #3). Kou is given the name "Recruit" and the two of them leave. Nino gets him to spend the night at the riverbed and no they two of them weren't together.
The next morning, Kou wakes up sore from sleeping on the concrete floor and having the a piece of cloth Nimo gave him. It turned out that piece of cloth was Nino's only blanket and Kou feels he has fallen even further into debt. He also finally gets to go inside of Nino's room where he discovers an epic velvet bed. He goes a bit crazy but, Nino doesn't even use the bed or the blanket...
Turns out she just sleeps in the drawer underneath the bed.Themes?
Well, I was really pulled to the comment by Nino where she questioned people having to receive something for doing something for another. I imagine Kou will very discretely realize how people can simply do things without expecting anything back. I think this theme is pretty engaging because I'm sure we all know someone who might have this mentality and when you really think about it, at most you would at least expect a "thank you" right?
Final Remarks
I'll be watching this series and I will bloody enjoy it. Series is pretty comical and it actually can grow into something pretty meaningful. I recommend it. It really does give off that Honey and Clover vibe so, if you liked that series definitely give this one a shot.
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