Studio Gainax sure has produced some crazy shows over the years. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dead Leaves, or FLCL, the folks at Gainax definitely demonstrate a mind or lack thereof for insanity. Another one of those shows is Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, now available here in full as a tin DVD boxset.
In the community of Abenobashi in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, live the two kids, Sasshi and Arumi. Sasshi and Arumi have been friends for a long time. Both come from families who have been connected since the start of the Abenobashi community 50 years earlier. Arumi's family runs a restaurant, and Sasshi's family runs a bath house service. Unfortunately, the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade is about to be redeveloped. The local businesses are folding or leaving town and Arumi's family plans on opening up a gourmet French restaurant in Hokkaido.
Sasshi and Arumi become curious about a mystery surrounding the beginning of Abenobashi. The mystery involves the five "spirits" that connect the community from four points and maintain the balance of chi. But there's a terrible accident involving the owner of Arumi's family restaurant -- her grandfather, Masa -- which ends with the destruction of the "Pelican" spirit that watches over their home. Masa is injured in the accident, but alive in the hospital. Following this, Sasshi and Arumi start noticing very strange odd-ball things.
And then they are transported to an alternate universe. It's still Abenobashi, but it looks like a world out of an 8-bit NES game. Following lots of zaniness and Sasshi constantly dying and having to be brought back to life (just like in a videogame), and encounters from a scantily clad red-headed babe named Mune Mune, Arumi and Sasshi defeat the RPG videogame world's "boss" who is a little goblin that transports them back home, to the real Abenobashi. Well, not really.
Instead, the cycle continues and Arumi and Sasshi continue to be transported to different worlds of some different famous genre of anime be it sci-fi, harem, war, or martial arts. All these worlds seem to be based around Sasshi's geeky, fanboy imagination and his absolute love for his home that is on its last legs, and the fact that his best friend will be moving away. But there is a deeper secret behind the method to the madness of Sasshi, or could it be the enigmatic Seimei Abeno -- the man who appears in each world Sasshi and Arumi travel to as a blue-haired wizard. The same Seimei Abeno who helped create the Abenobashi community in the '50s.
Abenobashi is a wildly surprising, humorous, perverse, and at times a supremely low-brow show. This is a show that likes to break the fourth wall as it were and constantly reference the fact that we as an audience are watching an anime. The series is laden with spoofs of typical genres, conventions, and archetypes of anime as well as is very self-referential to popular western movies later in the series. Sasshi and Arumi carry the show quite well, and the heart of the story focuses on the bond and friendship they've created over many years. And beneath all the craziness, I feel that's what the show is truly about.
Score: 8 out of 10
Video and Presentation
The entire series is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. Gainax maintains a strong quality in the animation throughout the entire series. The animation for the show frequently gets downright crazy and absolutely mental. Colors are very bright and lush. The animation doesn't look to cut corners and stays very fluid with all the craziness going on. The series runs the gamut of different anime styles and genres throughout the episodes. It's like a giant pot of anime chop suey.
Score: 8 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Each disc has English audio in 5.1 surround sound and Japanese in 2.0 stereo sound. The English dub uses a lot of southern dialects for the main characters in the series. For those who wonder why, usually it's done in a dub as a type of appropriation of the "country folk" accents which the Japanese characters possess since they live in Osaka Prefecture. I probably wouldn't have had the main characters use the really thick accents which sound a little forced at times, but overall the work on the dub is very strong and appears pretty faithful to the original translation. A lot of changes are made regarding Japanese puns, select cultural references, and language issues but that's understandable. The Japanese voice acting for the series does fit better, but either way both are very funny and entertaining.
Score: 9 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
This boxset for Abenobashi comes in a metal tin case. Volumes one through four of the series are packed inside the metal box tin with the thin style clamshell cases. The following special features are included on the four discs:
- Clean Closing Animation
I imagine the extras in this set are all the same as those from the original individual releases for the series. ADV distributed the series on DVD in 2003 and 2004. Other than that, there are a decent number of extras here in case you're interested.
The AD Vid-Notes are an informative pop-up video/text commentary feature. ADV has included them on previous releases, usually on really insane comedic anime releases such as this one, including Excel Saga and Nerima Daikon Brothers (wow, two series from anime master Shinichi Watanabe. The vid-notes serve to expand upon the cultural and language references specific to Japan that Americans might not pick up in the series. You know, those little things lost in the translation? The vid-notes also explain other oblique and obscure references throughout the series as well as the more overt ones that even American fans might pick up on -- such as the references to American movies. And there's one time in episode three where they even use one of the main themes from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Audio commentary with the English ADR voice actors is included on discs one and two in this set. Jessica Boone (Arumi) and Luci Christian (Sasshi) meet each other in person for the first time in the commentary on episode three. Be forewarned this is definitely not a PG-rated commentary, but it is very fun to listen to. The second commentary track is for episode 12 on disc four featuring Boone and Christian again, this time with John Gremillion (English voice of Mr. Kouhei and Young Granda Masa).
The Outtakes format is pretty polished and funny here. A take of the actual sequence in the series is played. Then it's played with the voice actors doing a little riff, or a silly take of the dialogue. Series outtakes are included on discs two through four.
Score: 8 out of 10
The Bottom Line
Abenobashi is a fun, irreverent, mad-cap, and at times extremely low-brow show. If you are a fan of such generally insane shows as Excel Saga, Nerima Daikon Brothers, Dead Leaves, and FLCL this show is probably right up your alley.
