Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (アベノ橋魔法☆商店街, Abenobashi Mahō Shōtengai) is a Japanese anime television series created by Gainax. The supernatural comedy drama is directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga.

The series premiered April 4, 2002 on Kids Station. It was licensed in North America by ADV Films. A manga adaptation, authored by Satoru Akahori, was published in English by Tokyopop; the Tokyopop version of the manga is out of print as of August 31, 2009.^[1]

Story

Background

During the Heian Era, Abe no Seimei was a close childhood friend of a noble named Masayuki, and his wife, Mune. While he was away from the palace, Masayuki often asked Seimei to stay by his wife's side, guarding her and keeping her company. However, during the time they spent together, Mune and Seimei fell in love and became increasingly romantically involved. Unbeknownst to them, Masayuki soon learned of the affair, and became overcome with grief and jealousy. One day while Seimei was on a trip to Kyoto, Masayuki snapped, murdered Mune and committed suicide. Guided by a premonition, Seimei rushed back to his hometown only to find that he was too late. Overcome with guilt, he decided to perform a forbidden Onmyō ritual that would allow him to resurrect the dead by transferring himself and the bodies of Masayuki and Mune into a completely different world where they were still alive. In doing so, Seimei soon found himself as "Mr. Abe" in mid-20th-century Osaka, where Mune Imamiya and Masayuki Asahina were pre-existing residents of this alternate world. Now, Masayuki was an ambitious, but largely unsuccessful young man who had enlisted Mr. Abe's permission to build the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. He was also madly in love with Mune (夢音), a local girl whom he tried to woo (with little success) at every possible occasion. It was not long, however, before Mune fell in love with Abe, constantly pursuing him and offering him a home-made lunch. Abe tried for a time to resist her advances, but eventually he was no longer able to contain his feelings, and made love with Mune in his apartment. Unbeknownst to them, an instantly-jealous Masayuki accidentally discovered the truth. The next night he became staggeringly drunk and invited Abe to meet him at the Abeno Shrine, planning to murder him with a hidden butcher knife when he arrived. At first unsuspecting, Abe arrived on the scene, but once he saw the decrepitly drunk Masa he knew what was afoot. He promptly bid Masayuki farewell, then disappeared, going back to his job in the Heian Era, leaving a pregnant Mune behind him; her child is Sasshi's father.

Plot

Childhood friends Arumi and Sasshi are residents of the Abenobashi commercial district in Abeno-ku, Osaka. After an accident, they find themselves transported to an alternate sword and sorcery world. Their attempt to get back to reality finds them traversing a series of nonsensical worlds built on science fiction, war, fantasy, dating sim games and American movies. Each alternate Abenobashi is a surreal manifestation of Sasshi's otaku interests, populated by analogs of the protagonist's relatives and acquaintances and a blue-haired stranger known as Eutus.

Their quest to return home is at core a bildungsroman because the Abenobashi dimensions are mostly hobby worlds of increasing sophistication. Sasshi does not want to go home, and in fact is the sole force propelling them between worlds. While chasing a cat in the first episode, Arumi's grandfather fell off a roof and was hospitalized. With this new trauma pressuring him in addition to his apprehension about the eventual destruction of the shopping arcade and the Asahina's moving away, Sasshi was no longer willing or able to cope with reality, and unbeknownst to even himself, he had caused their dimension to rewrite itself into worlds echoing his escapist obsessions.

Characters

Main characters

Satoshi "Sasshi" Imamiya (今宮 聖志, Imamiya Satoshi)

A precocious, hyperactive, 12-year-old typical Osakan boy. He has a huge passion for collecting, Role-playing games, sci-fi, dinosaurs, guns and visual novels. Sasshi's family used to run the local bathhouse, the Turtle Bath, but was forced to give it up and move out due to redevelopment plans for the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade area. Sasshi spends his lazy days hanging out with his best friend Arumi. While visiting each world, Sasshi is quick to learn the gimmick behind each one, and eventually begins playing by the world's "rules". It is strongly hinted he has feelings for Arumi, and is prevented them from going back due to the fact she will leave for Hokkaido.

Voiced by: Tomo Saeki (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)

Arumi Asahina (朝比奈 あるみ, Asahina Arumi)

Sasshi's best friend and classmate, she is also 12 years old, having practically grown up together with him in the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. A sensible and pragmatic girl who is a foil to Sasshi. Arumi's eccentric father and stubborn grandfather run a French restaurant in the Shopping Arcade known as the Grill Pelican. It appears, however, that the Asahina family will be closing up shop in the near future as part of redevelopment in the area and moving to Hokkaido, forcing Arumi to leave Sasshi behind. She expresses a strong distaste for every world that she and Sasshi visit.

Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese); Jessica Boone (English)

Other Characters

Eutus (ユータス, Yūtasu)

A recurring element of the Abenobashi dimensions who shares a bond with Sasshi, claiming to be doomed to wander dimensions until the cause of this misfortune is rectified. His real identity is the legendary onmyoji Abe no Seimei, ultimately the one who created the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade in the guise of Mr. Abe. This in turn enables the existence of Sasshi and Arumi, with Abe being the former's (illegitimate) paternal grandfather.

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese); Chris Patton (English)

Masayuki Asahina "Grandpa Masa" (雅ジイ, "Masa-jii")

Arumi's stubborn and willful grandfather and the founder of the Grill Pelican restaurant, Masayuki has been around since the creation of the shopping arcade and befriended its head of construction Abe. It reality, Masayuki was originally a friend of Abe in the past, committing the murder of his wife Mune out of jealously towards Abe and taking his own life. Though Abe managed to revive the two in the modern era, history nearly repeated itself and Abe is forced to leave the two to look after Abenobashi. However, Masayuki succumbs to injuries he receives in a fall from the roof of the Grille Pelican and dies. Sasshi's refusal to accept that reality is one of the reasons why he and Arumi are unable to return to their dimension, with Masayuki often depicted as a figure of high authority or importance in each parallel world.

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (Japanese); Andy McAvin (English)

Mune-Mune (ムネムネ)

A voluptuous bespectacled redhead in the assorted Abenobashi dimensions in various roles from antagonist to comedic relief, which are always undertaken with great flair that stand her against even the surreal background of the hobby worlds. Mune-Mune is nearly always searching for Eutus, the reason tied to the fact that she is a parallel version of Sasshi's paternal grandmother Mune Imamiya in her youth, Originally, in Abe's time she was Masayuki's wife and her falling in love with Abe led to her death by her husband's hand. In his attempt to resolve this, Abe managed to revive Mune in the modern age. However, history nearly repeated itself and Abe left with Mune's heart broken. She married and started a family while running the Turtle Bath before she died of natural cases. The name Mune, literally translates to "chest" is a pun upon her parallel self's prominent breasts.

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese); Kaytha Coker (English)

Ms. Aki (アキ姉)

The neighborhood cross-dresser. A lifelong resident of the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade, she is quite knowledgeable about the history of the area and its people. In each parallel world, she is often depicted in various female roles.

Voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese); Jason Douglas (English)

Sayaka Imamiya (今宮 沙也香･小鬼, Imamiya Sayaka)

Sasshi's older sister. A stereotypical teenage girl, she is quite intent on being cool by shying away from the family's Osaka influences. She diets and has an interest in fortune telling. Sayaka shows up within the Abenobashi dimensions accompanying Mune-mune and Ms. Aki.

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)

Kouhei (幸平さん, Kōhei-san)

A shady businessman who runs a stall selling food as well as many different trinkets that may or may not be as helpful as he claims. Kouhei always seems to have a friendly aside for Sasshi and Arumi - especially when he perceives the opportunity to wring them for money. He is depicted in each parallel world as some sort of vendor.

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese); John Gremillion (English)

Arata Imamiya

Sasshi and Sayaka's father.

Voiced by: Naoki Tatsuta (Japanese); John Swasey (English)

Mitsuyo Imamiya

Sasshi and Sayaka's mother.

Voiced by: Kyoko Hikami (Japanese); Kira Vincent-Davis (English)

Tarou Imamiya

Sasshi and Sayaka's grandfather.

Voiced by: Takeshi Watabe (Japanese); Mike MacRae (English)

Tetsu "Papa" Asahina

Arumi's father.

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese); Jay Hickman (English)

Ayako Asahina

Arumi's mother.

Voiced by: Mami Kingetsu (Japanese); Allison Sumrall (English)

Gin Yamamoto

Voiced by: Junko Noda (Japanese); Tiffany Grant (English)

Mune's Mother

Voiced by: Tomoko Naka (Japanese); Allison Sumrall (English)

Banker Kashiwagi

Voiced by: Kiyomitsu Mizuuchi (Japanese); Mike Vance (English)

New Bank Teller

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese); John Swasey (English)

Hobby World characters

Panda

Voiced by: Mike Yantosca (English)

Tri-Spot

Voiced by: Satomi Koorogi (Japanese); Hilary Haag (English)

Amiryun

Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese); Tiffany Grant (English)

Shiotan

Voiced by: Mami Kingetsu (Japanese); Kira Vincent-Davis (English)

Rooster

Henyasuke

Voiced by: Kira Vincent-Davis (English)

Yasuchika

Design

The series is replete with cultural allusions to Japanese media, pop culture, dialects, stereotypes, businesses, games, anime, and even puns and train routes, so much so that the American DVD release includes a special feature which enables pop-up glosses: AD Vid-Notes. The distinctive Osaka dialect is put to comic use throughout the series.

The English dub for the series equates the Osaka dialect with Southern American English. A pamphlet included in the first DVD volume of the series states that a Texan English accent was determined to be the English equivalent of Kansai-ben because of the similarities shared by both districts in terms of cultural significance and portrayal in the media. Further supporting this decision is the "cowboy"-style appearance of Sasshi's hat, as well as the frequent use of banjo music in the soundtrack - all things that Western viewers would, incidentally, associate with Texas.

Adaptations

The manga of the same name was created after the anime was developed, and while the major characters and plot elements remain the same, the overall story arc was (according to the production notes in the first volume) changed to fit the medium better, and a few new characters and subplots are added (i.e. Ochi, a manga only character, is a young landlady who is very taken with Sasshi that receives multiple incarnations throughout the different worlds. Also, Sasshi's feelings for Arumi are much stronger and less ambiguous than they are portrayed in the anime). Furthermore, the manga features more frontal nudity than the anime.

Episodes

Every Abenobashi episode after the first takes place in an alternate Shopping Arcade:

Reception

Magical☆Shopping Arcade Abenobashi received an Excellence Award for animation at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival.^[2]

References

External links

• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi on IMDb
• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi at TV.com
• Abenobashi☆Mahō Shōtengai at GAINAXnet (in Japanese)
• Radio Abenobashi☆Mahō Shōtengai at GAINAXnet (in Japanese)