Customer Reviews

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Perfect Collection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If I had to describe "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi," it would be simple: "Fooly Cooly" as written by Lewis Carroll.

That's only a glimpse of the explosive weirdness and insanely cracked-out madness that fills every episode of this wacky anime series. And while "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Perfect Collection" starts off a bit slowly, this brilliant series soon blossom into an acid-tripping flower filled with constant spoofs, genre cliches, and lots of fanservicey breasts.

Sasshi is unhappy -- the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade is being bought out for demolition, and his friend Arumi is going to be moving away. Fortunately they are distracted from their impending separation by a series of mysterious animal statues all throughout the Arcade.

But when Arumi's grandfather is badly injured and the bird statue is smashed, Arumi and Sasshi find themselves sucked into a freaky D&D-video-game-esque fantasy land, where they are called upon to defeat the stereotypically Evil Lord. Unfortunately, Arumi spends all their money on a mysterious charm by a blue-haired sorcerer, and Sasshi keeps getting killed by the insane, scantily-clad Mune Mune.

Each attempt to get back home sends Sasshi and Arumi to another cracked-out variant of Abenobashi -- a mecha space station with a hulking mecha, a Chinese martial-arts competition, a Flintstonesy dinosaur age, a noir gangster story, a dating sim, the ultimate girl fantasy land (or so Sasshi thinks!), a deranged warzone, and a frenetic mishmash of every movie Sasshi has ever seen.

But where did all these crazy worlds come from? Who are Mune Mune and the grumpy sorcerer Eutus, and what is their connection to Sasshi? The secrets of the shopping arcade are revealed even as Sasshi comes face-to-face with a tragedy that keeps him from letting Arumi go home...

"Neon Genesis Evangelion," martial-arts, "Dragonball Z," medieval S&S fantasy, hard-boiled noir, "Monty Python" ("My old wound from the WAR!"), war movies, "Indiana Jones," and even "2001: A Space Odyssey." All of these get spoofed and/or lovingly homaged -- not to mention minor tropes such as shouting anime attack names, or the little details ("But it's standard BGM").

The first half or so of the series is pretty much a steady stream of wacky spoof mayhem, peppered with endless fanservice (Mune Mune's mostly-nude getups), repeated deaths ("I saw the beginnin' and the end of the UNIVERSE!"), and plots full of random and inexplicable twists ("I don't understand! Why am I a dumpling?" Sasshi moans after getting encased in a dumpling and sent off the top of a skyscraper).

But about halfway through, the insanity is threaded with an elaborate and rather sad subplot, involving the death of a much-loved family member, a legendary Omnyoji, and a centuries-old love triangle.

Sasshi makes a good hero for this series -- he's a die-hard geek who enjoys all the weirdness (including repeated deaths) and acquires some world-changing new powers. But the core of his personality turns out to be his desire to save Arumi from heartbreak. Arumi herself is a good counterpoint -- down to earth, steady, and a bit crazy by the end ("Let Sasshi know the torments of HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLL...").

And it has a pretty fun supporting cast, with the same family members playing out different roles in every world. The only exceptions are Mune-Mune (a loopy half-naked redhead whose true identity is a shock) and Eutus (a sorcerer having a midlife crisis).

"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" is a wild, tripped-out ride that mingles a fantastical coming-of-age story with chaotic spoofery. Delightful.

As the main characters bounce from reality to reality, you'll see every anime cliche spoofed in outrageous fashion.

From huge robots to dinosaurs to princesses and dragons to 1940s film noir detectives. It's all here and it all gets skewered. Meanwhile there is a serious story developing behind the scenes that is engaging in it's own right.

I recommend this series to anyone that loves a good story and likes to laugh at themselves.

it is a great anime fun and funny yet there are some downsides to this collection,

1. the pop up video that is on the single release is missing (similer to ch1 pop up video) that shows the facts about the shows being teased

2. no blu ray yet :(

3. each dvd is a single case not one massive case

oh well these are just grips it does not take away from the overal package

I loved watching this show. I have watched it several times which is rare for me. The art styles change throughout the show and the characters are some of the most lively. My favorite comedic episode was 12 because of all the american parodies that went into the title. I only have one disappointment with the series. At the end it seemed to end really quick. Though called the final episode it was extremely good and then after the credits there is a preview for a new episode called mystery. I looked everywhere for the episode, but no luck. I will say that if you like parodies and wacky slap stick comedies. You will love to watch this show.

If you don't like really silly anime, stay away.... but anyone who has watched Evangelion, Gurren Lagann(or any giant robot with transformations or combining in it show), and lots of other animes will probably appreciate this show. It makes fun of a lot of pop culture kind of stuff. Very funny to watch... made me laugh. :D

For all you otaku out there, see this series. It episode after episode of every stereotype and reference to anime/manga/Japanese culture (plus a few others thrown in for good measure) in one show. I highly recoomend this series. There are some who claim it to be an FLCL wanna-be, however, I don't believe that (though Gainax, makers of FLCL, made this as well). For those who want the full effect, there is a two-volume manga of this series as well.

After opening the metal tin the show comes in I realized just how funny it would be. The show is about two best friends, the boys' dad, his grandpa, and some weird french guy who I think is suppose to be his uncle or something. Anyway, the grandpa falls off a building and the kids wind up in a different world but still in the "shopping arcade" that they grew up in. They have to defeat a goblin in each world so it will send them "home" but it always seems to go wrong and they wind up in another world. Very funny show with some serious points too.

This is a great series for anyway who feels like having a good laugh at themselves or things they enjoy. In this series, Sasshi and Arumi are constantly being taken to mysterious worlds where the rules seem to be slightly off. From RPG and Sci-Fi worlds to war films, this series parodies and pokes fun at the various genres many of us hold dear. While we are going through these odd situations, there is a serious story being developed in the background that puts this above many other parody anime. As for the extras, I found the AD Vid-Notes to be helpful in getting some of the more obscure references made in the series and some of the notes are funny on their own. The outtakes for this series are amazing. They feature the voice actors re-recording lines over events that actually occur in the show. If you want to laugh I would highly recommend this series (1 warning, they use the Osaka accent = southern accent convention).