Friday, September 4, 2009

Abenobashi Mahoh Shotengai


Imamiya Satoshi, "Sasshi" to his friends, has grown up in the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade in Osaka, along with his childhood friend, Asahina Arumi. Now, all that was stable in his life is in ruins. His family's bath house has closed and been torn down, and Arumi's family is moving to Hokkaido - and taking her with them. In the midst of all this, something happens to the framework of reality, and Sasshi and Arumi slip into a weird parallel world. It's still Abenobashi, but not their Abenobashi. Strange things are afoot, and Sasshi must find out their meaning, in order to reach a goal that he barely understands.
Source: AnimeNewsNetwork



This show is a freaking riot! I was laughing so loud I woke my sister in the next room in some episodes.

Dynamic drawing makes sure you never get bored. And when I say dynamic, I actually mean characters with a million faces and a whole bunch of animation style which just keeps coming and coming. The parodies of other animes or movies in Abenobashi were strong, plentiful and pure laughter. Abenobashi practically defines randomness, from robot themes to Kenshiro the Nine-star-North-fist guy to Dungeons and Dragons, this anime has it all.



I love Arumi’s voice, especially her slang. While every now and then, the narrations felt like they did it freestyle; full of vibrant energy.

Although there are some naked butt scenes of Arumi and a whole lot of “boings” from other characters, this is by no means hentai. Heck! I even thought it was a children’s show at some point when I started this series. Of course, that thought changed when I notice more and more of Arumi's flashes.





I’m very surprised at the fact that I’ve never came across or heard of this anime before, seeing how hilarious this series is. But then again, this is from 2002.

Sasshi and Arumi is now among the top comedy duo/group anime characters in my book. Somewhere just above the Hyakko gang.



Watch the green diagram of the robot's autonomy or something. Notice anything? Lol!


1st episode was a great opener, with really random scenes and charater built up. The first half of episode 1 definitely had me fooled as it brought about a serious atmosphere to the series. Really didn't expect it to be a comedy initially. And just to let you know beforehand, characters are only introduced in the first episode (with the exception of Mune-Mune-san and Goblin). By the end of episode 1, character development had completely stop and the plot starts rolling as Sasshi and Arumi are teleported to weird worlds one after another.

Things slowed down quite a bit in episode 5 and 6. Then episode 7 came and finally viewers get to explore the history and the reasons behind all the teleportation. From then on it was one part comedy, one part explanation. It’s supposed to have explained everything by the end of the series, but I still haven’t piece it together yet. -.-"




No Pandas were harmed in the making of this anime


If Detroit Metal City rocked for you, then Abenobashi is definitely not far from the pond. Despite Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai having a super start, it did get a little boring midway and the ending way overplayed on parodies. So much so that I decided to drop it from a full 5 to a very satisfying 4-Stars.




If I was an anime character, this would probably be it


Abenobashi Mahoh Shotengai
Rating: 4-Stars
Torrents: KAA

8 comments:

  1. you got me at this: http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d133/blurscrib/a3r01/abenobashimahoshotensai02.jpg

    going to download this ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heheh, this is one of those animes that I keep telling myself to watch, but haven't gotten to yet.

    Hopefully once I'm done with my massive backlog, I can get onto Abenobashi -_-

    ReplyDelete
  3. @klux
    Cool. Always good to know my reviews are working. Lol!
    Might take a while for you to complete though. This is an old anime. And when I was testing out the torrent to post with this review. Seemed like it only had 2 seeds or something. Should try looking around to see if there are anything better seeded...

    @Snark
    Well at anytime you need some comedy to your variety. Feel free to watch this. :)

    "I'm done with my massive backlog"
    You do know that's never gonna happen right? Lol!

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMG!!!! This was one of my favorite series! I loved it! Great review on it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. the torrent is fine. at 22% progress. LOL this makes me wonder when will I get to watch this considering the other anime that's piling up on my list

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Cag!

    @klux
    Lol. Backlog is a scary thing. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just a small question: where's the spot to get the torrent for this series? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Actually. I posted a link at the end of the review. But here it is again. http://www.mininova.org/get/1074082
    :p

    ReplyDelete