Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi



Gainax has done well here. When not gazing at their life-size Asuka dolls, they take the time to make something as unique as Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. I must say, the ability to spoof your own works is what really has my attention here. A bizarre (and the narrator claims this as well) set of worlds provides an amaziingly unique anime. While searching to describe this series, it is difficult to specify a single genre it fits into. Abenobashi is...special.

ADV does their typical AD Vid-Notes to pass on tidbits about cultural references as well as pointing out many of Abenobashi's references to other pop-culture icons. While Gainax was the main producer of this series, they farmed out the animation to Madhouse. Madhouse, known for Trigun, dives right in, creating a very vivid world. The artwork and animation for this show mixes in a lot of different styles, working their way through the various worlds that the main characters find themselves in. What's fascinating about the entire visual look is how the character designs and animation style are constantly changing depending on the situation and action on the screen. Madhouse does a great job of keeping the transitions smooth, helping to add to the overall comedic affect the show is trying to achieve.

Abenobashi starts off slow, very slow, establishing the world Sasshi and Arumi live in, then drops any chance of normalcy with a night filled with dragons and a group of exercising mushrooms. From there, things really go insane as Sasshi and Arumi find themselves trapped in different versions of the shopping arcade they both grew up in. Don't mind the word Arcade, it's not what you think. The show quickly moves from its rather dramatic start of a doomed way of life to a series of continuous parodies on RPG video games, Big Robot and Sci-Fi stories and a bit of Hong Kong action flick to round out the disc. Abenobashi relies on a simple premise, but it's what happens on the way to the end of each episode that makes the trip enjoyable.



Abenobashi contains some adult material and is not suitable for children. Such material includes partial nudity, profanity, giant mechs, large-breasted women, boys smothered in said breasts, dinosaurs, space ships, Voltron, panty-thieves, and other glorious greatness.




It can be found here on Amazon for $45 if you want the set.

I give it two Ryo-Ohki's up!



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I'm sorry but I really disliked watching Abenobashi because it made no sense at all to me, much like Excel Saga. I actually fell asleep while attempting to watch the first dvd and I woke up to some giant robot fighting scene and the kid is in cowboy gear. It was pretty random and I was so lost the whole time.

How ya doing, buddy?

Nice Review, but it seems more like it should be in a anime review/recommendation thread rather than having its own thread. I don't know how much discussion you can get out of a four-year-old, not too popular series.

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Originally Posted by RockgamerXIII

Nice Review, but it seems more like it should be in a anime review/recommendation thread rather than having its own thread. I don't know how much discussion you can get out of a four-year-old, not too popular series.

Ehh, I enjoyed it. Perhaps I should have not deleted the part where I noted favorite spoofs and such.

The EVA episode (2), and the Dragon Ball take-off was nice. I worried that the series may not have been worth the money, but I seemed to have enjoyed it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, the series was definitely good to me, if not a tad bit repetitive (the whole "we're going home but instead wind up in another world" thing). I would buy it had I not seen it all already (on Anime Unleashed), but I have, and there are other things that I haven't seen (I'm one of probably two losers on the planet who hasn't seen all of Evangelion) that I want to get more.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Its okay if you don't finish EVA. Drinking Bleach (no anime pun intended) sounds more alluring than watching it a second time. Actually I love it.

But I was impressed with the randomness in it that allowed for a dozen different worlds to basically have the same concept.

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It did however, allow its unique concept of entering other dimensions of the said world, which I haven't seen in recent animes.But I still like their self-parody which is pulled off in most of their releases. Don't worry I haven't see all of Eva either.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by CLOudkiller

But I still like their self-parody which is pulled off in most of their releases.

I found the ability to use the music exactly as-is to be completely awesome. What was with it turning into Voltron though? :\

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I guess its a tribute to one of the better mechas that started the Series, but hey, I could be wrong all together.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Lukage

Its okay if you don't finish EVA. Drinking Bleach (no anime pun intended) sounds more alluring than watching it a second time. Actually I love it.

No pun intended? I have to call BS on that. You capitalized "Bleach".

Not finishing Eva may be a good idea. I've watched it multiple times now, and I grow more and more exasperated each time. It was a clever concept and the production values were very high (for the era), but the execution was weak. The fanboy support for the show also seems to be based around the fact that all the symbolism initially confuses them and appears high-brow which makes the show automatically "great".

As for the topic starter, I have to agree it seems more like a recommendation than a discussion opener. I read it and instantly thought "viral marketing".

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The initial impression that came to me when I watched the first episode was that this anime was serious to start off with but then pulled out enough comedy to make me laugh for a good few months afterwards.

The replay value is worth it when watching with friends since its great to watch their expressions if they haven't seen this anime yet. Each time an episode finished, my friends would always request the next episode to start straight away (sometimes at 3am).

With the constantly changing drawing style of each episode, my friends could never keep track of what was really happening which kept them on their toes.

This anime whilst serious in some instances can be a really great show if you don't take everything that happens too seriously. It's an anime that is great for watching with others since the comedy never stops the entire way through. Granted there are some episodes that appear to slow the plot of the story a little but if you can sit through a few serious episodes then this anime is worth watching.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Spoiler:

There was that part when Grandpa(arumi's dad's father) was still young amd was very in love with Mune Asahina.

Man, I thought it really spoiled the good laughter I had in me. But netherless, I still thoroughly enjoyed the series.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?