Customer Reviews

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (Vol. 1)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gainax does it again with another dizzying comedy very much in the spirit of FLCL. However, Gainax is not the type of studio to simply repeat the same thing over and over, and as such Abenobashi clearly stands on its own two legs.

First off, I'll speak of the art. Abenobashi is done in a bright, visually pleasing style very similar to the animation of FLCL, Gainax's other recent comedy series. It is high quality, and the dizzying animation style keeps pace with the equally dizzying storyline to leave your head spinning.

Second, the characters. Sasshi and Arumi, the two main characters, make for a cute couple, and their constantly-at-odds personalities provide a great deal of the humor of the series. In general, the characters are all quirky, bizarre, and interesting, from the town transvestite to the improbably-busty Mune-Mune.

Third, the music. I'm not sure I'd really call it quality music, but the quirky tunes fit well with the show. It's not as outstanding a match as the Pillows with FLCL, but it's far from bad. I found the opening song rather endearing, despite its preponderance of badly-pronounced English.

Fourth, the voice acting. Someone at Gainax seems to have a thing for regional dialects and odd pronunciations. The vast majority of the characters in the series speak in Osaka-ben, which is part of its charm. I wouldn't recommend watching this series dubbed, as the Osaka dialect is transfigured into an irritatingly fake-sounding Texas accent. Again, I can't say that the voice acting in the series quite lives up to the wonder that was FLCL, but it's definitely a cut above average.

Lastly, some general comments. The overall trend of the series seems to be that each episode the two main characters -- Sasshi and Arumi -- find themselves in a new alternate universe version of their home, the Abenobashi shopping arcade. The alternate universes are not so much alternate in the sense of Sliders, as each is a representation of a particular genre or cliche -- with its own 'rules' of reality based upon that. For example, the second episode is based upon fantasy rpgs (such as the older Final Fantasy games), while the second is a mish-mash of science fiction and mecha anime.

The stabs at the convention of each genre are witty and genuinely funny, and this is one of many shows that makes many of its jokes by parodying other anime. Interestingly, Abenobashi unabashedly parodies other anime by Gainax, at one point going so far as to play one of the songs from the show Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think it was at this point that I fell in love with the series. It takes a great sense of humor to be able to make fun of oneself so completely and effectively.

The one serious drawback I can see with this series is that I'm not sure that the conventions and pace that it has set itself can last thirteen episodes without becoming tired and boring. Hopefully at some point the series will break the format which it has presented itself in in order to remain fresh and interesting. If the problem isn't addressed, however, I can see how the latter end of the series could be rather disappointing.

Over all, I must say that I was very impressed with this series. Every time Gainax steps up to the plate, they hit the ball.

ADV does some of the best American releases of anime these days, and Abenobashi is right up there with the best. Naturally, this is a very off beat anime done by the Gainax crew who basically did FLCL, His and Her Circumstances, and Evanglion. So it might not be for everyone, and probably isn't for anyone because this has been a sadly under publicised series.

Basic story : Osaka shopping district kid duo gets swept into alternate usiverses of their block where they deal with condensed, stereotypical worlds based on their shopping district home.

It is a 13 episode series released in 2002 in Japan as a kids show. While it is off beat, it is very enjoyable. The show uses every bit of information and energy they can muster to keep these silly, fantastic and post modern affairs tangible or at least enjoyable. Littered through out are tons of sci-fi, anime, manga, hollywood, video game and literature references. As the father of Harumi says at one point 'No matter how much GEEK knowledge you have, you are no match for me.'

Great animation, wonderful backgrounds and a very offbeat idea. While these first stories are indeed Gainax, later episodes on fuirther disks are done heavily in Korea and look cheap. ADV keeps good picture quality, but not always as nice as the original Japanese releases. Fun fun fun. Nice acting and posing. I can't imagine anyone except prudes regretting this purchase. Some sexual/odd erotic situations/imagery. Guns occassionally. No tangible death.

Abenobashi is just plain weird. Essentially, it is the story of two 12 year olds (a boy and a girl) from Osaka who keep teleporting from one alternate reality to the next, where each is a version of their home, a run-down shopping center. Each episode, after the first, is a parody of a classic anime genre--e.g., sword and sorcery, giant robots. What makes this work, where many parody shows do not, is that our heroes are in on it--they spend time trying to figure out the rules of this weird version of their home so they can make progress toward getting to their real home.

The show has its faults, however. The first episode, which sets up the initial relationships, is painfully slow--so slow, I almost gave up on the show itself right there. I'm glad I kept watching--episode 2 had me laughing out loud in a few seconds. Also, the show is marked for ages 17+, and this isn't an exaggeration. While everything is played to be ridiculous, there is a lot of innuendo and a whole heck of a lot of bouncy, underdressed, over-endowed girls, as well as a fair share of crude humor (but less crude than Hollywood has been getting the last few years). Also, if you're watching the English dub, Sasshi, the main boy, is very obviously voiced by a woman. The acting is fine, just the voice is somewhat jarring, particularly in the first episode.

Finally, the box. This version comes with a box to hold all four discs in the series. While this box is sturdier than some of ADV's paper-thin ones (e.g., Neo Ranga, Najica), it is still just folded, fairly-thin cardboard. It also has a weird curvature on the bottom, preventing it from sitting flat. It is fairly attractive, though, and suits the show well.

Gainax does it again with another dizzying comedy very much in the spirit of FLCL. However, Gainax is not the type of studio to simply repeat the same thing over and over, and as such Abenobashi clearly stands on its own two legs.

First off, I'll speak of the art. Abenobashi is done in a bright, visually pleasing style very similar to the animation of FLCL, Gainax's other recent comedy series. It is high quality, and the dizzying animation style keeps pace with the equally dizzying storyline to leave your head spinning.

Second, the characters. Sasshi and Arumi, the two main characters, make for a cute couple, and their constantly-at-odds personalities provide a great deal of the humor of the series. In general, the characters are all quirky, bizarre, and interesting, from the town transvestite to the improbably-busty Mune-Mune.

Third, the music. I'm not sure I'd really call it quality music, but the quirky tunes fit well with the show. It's not as outstanding a match as the Pillows with FLCL, but it's far from bad. I found the opening song rather endearing, despite its preponderance of badly-pronounced English.

Fourth, the voice acting. Someone at Gainax seems to have a thing for regional dialects and odd pronunciations. The vast majority of the characters in the series speak in Osaka-ben, which is part of its charm. I wouldn't recommend watching this series dubbed, as the Osaka dialect is transfigured into an irritatingly fake-sounding Texas accent. Again, I can't say that the voice acting in the series quite lives up to the wonder that was FLCL, but it's definitely a cut above average.

Lastly, some general comments. The overall trend of the series seems to be that each episode the two main characters -- Sasshi and Arumi -- find themselves in a new alternate universe version of their home, the Abenobashi shopping arcade. The alternate universes are not so much alternate in the sense of Sliders, as each is a representation of a particular genre or cliche -- with its own 'rules' of reality based upon that. For example, the second episode is based upon fantasy rpgs (such as the older Final Fantasy games), while the second is a mish-mash of science fiction and mecha anime.

The stabs at the convention of each genre are witty and genuinely funny, and this is one of many shows that makes many of its jokes by parodying other anime. Interestingly, Abenobashi unabashedly parodies other anime by Gainax, at one point going so far as to play one of the songs from the show Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think it was at this point that I fell in love with the series. It takes a great sense of humor to be able to make fun of oneself so completely and effectively.

The one serious drawback I can see with this series is that I'm not sure that the conventions and pace that it has set itself can last thirteen episodes without becoming tired and boring. Hopefully at some point the series will break the format which it has presented itself in in order to remain fresh and interesting. If the problem isn't addressed, however, I can see how the latter end of the series could be rather disappointing.

Over all, I must say that I was very impressed with this series. Every time Gainax steps up to the plate, they hit the ball.

Arumi Asahina and her childhood friend Sasshi Imamyia find their lives interrupted by the inexorable forces of progress. Arumi's family have moved from a house to a condominium, leaving his toys and baseball cards behind. And now Arumi's father, a chef, has taken a job far away, threatening to part the two friends in the cruelest possible manner. Worse, the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade that was the center of their social lives is giving away to progress. Soon it will be completely deserted.

When one of the magical figures that make Abenobashi a comfortable place to hang around is accidentally destroyed, Arumi and Sasshi discover that all was not as it seemed. The Arcade is just a place to shop, but a portal to other realities. They are catapulted headlong into a series of wacky adventures filled with unexpectedly twisted characters. Don't be surprised to find hostile mushrooms, buxom pirates, dizzy transvestites, rude noises, and a host of the equally peculiar.

This is a 13 episode series that achieved a cult status in Japan for its rather daring story line. Not that it is a particularly explicit series, but it crosses some taboos in its irreverence and deserves its 15+ rating. Even though it is about two 11-year-old children, it sometimes sounds like Benny Hill. And the English language acting that tries to smooth some of this rudeness over winds up making it even worse.

For some reason, the dubbing crew decided to play the folk of the Shopping Arcade with heavy Southern accents - making the English dialog sound like Beverly Hillbillies meet Godzilla. I assume this was meant to convey something about the class or culture of the characters, but I found its effect was either tedious of irritating. They also managed to butcher the translation. The subtitling is much better, and the Japanese acting captures more of the spirit of what is going on. I you don't like dealing with subtitles you probably will not like this series.

I subscirbe to a magazine called "Play", which deals mostly with video games, but also offers reviews and stuff on anime. A bit more than a year ago I read a review by them in their anime section for "Abenobashi". They spoke so highly about this anime that they really got my interest going. So, based on their high praise of this anime, I purchased it through Amazon.com. I have since become a huge fan of anime, and it all started with this anime which is among the best.
It takes alot to make me laugh hysterically and genuinely, but this anime did it and did it well! The series follows two early-teenage friends and thir adventures into a strange, fun, alternative world. In pretty much every episode, the two friends, Sasshi and Arami, end up going to a different world. These worlds are based upon a certain theme; for example, video games, science fiction, anime, martial arts, etc. The two then end up getting into hysterical situations while trying to escape back into the real world, only to end up in another alternative world.
Much of the comedy derives from cultural references. Not to worry, however, because you will recognize most of them if you are a young man or teenager! But even if you don't, you don't have to! For example, in the video game themed world, even though the humour reference comes from generic, Japanese RPGs(Role Playing Games), you will still be able to laugh at Sasshi as he is being attacked by Miss Mune-Mune, a woman with gigantic nuclear boobs dressed in the most ridiculous of costumes!
Essentially, Abenobashi is a comedy, although there are a few dramatic episodes. These few dramamtic episodes serve to bring you into a closer emotional attachment with the characters. It is these dramamtic episodes, and the character development in general, which turns Abenobashi into a work of genious!
Buy this anime series! After episode 1 you'll be saying 'this is entertaining!', but by the end of episode 2 you'll be laughing and fumbling for the remote to get on to episode 3! Enjoy!

This anime is definitely Unique. I'll admit that with Gainax's repuation for great animes, that was a big deciding factor as to whether or not to purchase this anime, (and the sample dvd in Newtype was a giant push as well).

The interesting thing about Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, is all the interesting American and Japanese entertainment references and parodies. It actually reminded me of Excel Saga since each episode tends to focus on a particular genre and setting to make parodies of (more or less).

The first episode starts off about the lives of two kids, living in a small city and I found it quite charming, seeing how they went about their daily lives. The characters are all interesting and unique with quirky personalities. However, tragedy strikes and the world gets flipped and screwed up and and the two kids find themselves in a wierded out, parallel version of their own town, with the parallel versions of the people they know.

The second episode seems to be parodying RPG games and the fantasy, knights in shining armor and monsters genre. Its pretty darn funny and I enjoyed it a lot. However, it seems that no matter how they try to go back to their own world. They keep getting sent to someplace strange.

The third episode is a sci fi, mecha, outter space type deal and started out quite funny. However, I'm afraid the writer's went a bit too far with this episode and it turns into rambling, insane mess that doesn't make much sense and is so perverted its disgusting. Yes, this may be a parody of shows that are like this but the problem with parodies is that there is a fine line between parodying something and becoming that which is being parodied. And that big ... woman runs around practically naked, ... swinging around and bouncing in ridiculous cicles which was a major turn off as well.

The last episode was quite enjoyable. Truthfully, after episode three, I began to reconsider whether or not this show was all that great. However, episode four was great and so I've decided to stick with the show a little longer with future volumes. This one takes place in China and is a fighting anime kind of episode. It makes references to shows such as DBZ and Fist of the North Star. Pretty darn funny stuff ^_^

Well, I dont want to give too much away, but I really like this show a lot. The kids are so cute and funny and its hilarious seeing how they react to each new situation. I definitely recommend this dvd, but be warned. The extreme amounts of fanservice may turn you off.

The plot's been described here so many times already, so I'll just say what I thought about the show. It's been compaired to EXCELL SAGA. While this show, like that one, is a parody of many different animes (and American movies,) I enjoy this one a lot more, partially because the story here is much easier to follow than EXCELL SAGA, and partially because, where E.S. was the kind of show where it's completly chaotic and just about anything can happen, here there's an explanation: these are two kids from our world who wind up in a series of alternate worlds things work differntly and pretty much anything goes, and even death (for some people at least,) isn't permenant.

The humor is on the same outrageous level as EXCELL, however there is the occasional episode that takes place in our world. The one at the beginning, of course, but then a few episodes in when we've seen Sasshi and Arumi bounce around a few worlds we go back to the ordinary world in the episode "Flashback" and see how Sasshi's grandpa first met the guy who came up with the building plans for the shopping arcade. These episodes are quite slow paced. Some may not mind so much, and may say it's how the writers wanted it (and they'd be right,) but it was still a bit of a let down for me. This is what knocks my rating down one star.

Now I seem to be in the minority here, but I like the dub voices just fine. The fact that almost everyone speaks with a Southern American accent just adds to the charm of the show for me and makes for quite a unique viewing experience.

Finally, there's an optional commentary track that's a blast to listen to in and of itself. The two main English voice actors Jessica Boone and Luci Christian, who play Arumi and Sasshi, watch the sci-fi/space opera episode and share their thoughts on the whole thing.

This one is definetly worth buying.

Studio Gainax, the creator of such classics as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "FLCL" (a.k.a. "Fooly Cooly") has done it again with this wonderful series that blends lowbrow comedy with heartfelt family drama -- and somehow manages to pull it off.

"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" ("Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai," in Japanese) is only half the length of a typical anime series -- my only real complaint about this series is that I wish it had been longer -- the Gainax team managed to pack enough character development into 13 episodes to draw you into the series and keep you there.

The plot revolves around a boy-and-girl pair of prepubescent best friends, Sasshi and Arumi, whose way of life is disappearing. The Osakan shopping arcade (think "outdoor mall") where they grew up, and which their grandparents actually helped found, is slowly going out of business. When the series opens, Sasshi's family business, the Turtle Bath, has already been razed, and Arumi's family business, Grill Pelican, has announced it will close due to the family's impending move to Hokkaido. This series of events, coupled with an unexpected tragedy, leaves Sasshi in a state of denial that causes him and Arumi to jump into multiple versions of their familiar Abenobashi. This gives the series' writers and animators plenty of license to play, and they display their creativity in delightful ways as they send their hapless protagonists through Abenobashis parodying role-playing video games, Hollywood movies, WWII, gangsters, and, of course, other animes (by the dozen). The animation style also changes throughout the series to reflect the environment in which the characters find themselves.

The music in this series is also fantastic. The opening and closing themes are both sung by anime fan favorite Megumi Hayashibara, and the background music within the series is great as well, spoofing well-known tunes such as the "Star Wars" theme. Fans of "Evangelion" will also love the use of the battle music from that series.

The Japanese voice acting is obviously outstanding (my rule of thumb is to always watch anime with the Japanese audio track and English subtitles). This series was licensed in America by ADV, which typically does a good job with the English voiceover. This series is set in Osaka, which has a reputation as being the "backwater" area of Japan. To this end, the ADV team decided to give all the major characters Southern accents, the closest equivalent in American culture. While I understand the reasoning behind this, the Southern accents can be very grating, especially when the voice actors occasionally have a bit of trouble maintaining them. ADV redeemed themselves, however, by adding a great "cultural notes" option under the "extra features" menu. When this option is enabled, notes will pop up throughout each episode (a la the old VH1 show "Pop Up Video") to help American viewers understand some of the aspects that may otherwise be "lost in translation." I recommend watching the show in its original Japanese while simultaneously enabling the English subtitles and the cultural notes. You may have to fiddle around with your DVD setup menus a bit to accomplish this, but it is well worth the effort, because it really helps elucidate things that otherwise would only make sense to someone extremely familiar with Japanese culture. (In other words, while some of the jokes still won't be funny to American audiences, at least you're able to understand that they're supposed to be jokes.)

On the surface, this series revolves around some really lowbrow jokes (the stereotype of busty anime women offering "fanservice" galore is alive and well here), but it soon becomes apparent that the real storyline of "Abenobashi" is a psychological exploration of some key issues with which Sasshi is struggling to come to terms. I've watched a lot of anime, and this one is easily in my top five all-time favorites. Also, since the multiple layers and fast pacing ensure that you'll never catch everything the first time around, it's well worth owning.

I loved this DVD mainly because Sasshi is very funny and Arumi is so mature for her age. The whole story behind this series is about two 12 year old kids who have been best friends for a long time are moving apart. But when someting goes wrong within their shopping area Abenobashi just turns into so wacky virtual reality place.

The whole show to me seems like a video game that they have to learn how to get out of.