![]() ![]() I’ll talk about the spoiler-filled details below. And if you were excited about the coming-of-age story culminating in wisdom and maturity…well I certainly was disappointed. Nor was the bawdy comedy my cup of tea: it’s later revealed that the bawdy comedy stems from a hormone-filled teenage mind…but that doesn’t make it any more palatable for me. The middle episodes repeated the same “visit new worlds, see bawdy comedy, progress no further in plot or character development”, and I found them to be a drag. ![]() Of course, I did have a few problems with the series. Finally, I was pleased to hear all the Kansai accents: it’s not every day you hear these accents in anime, let alone among the main cast. The loose, cartoony animation will impress quite a few fans as well. There are also cool visual and auditory references to other Gainax and non-Gainax properties: the sci-fi episode pays homage to the Star Wars main theme, the Giant Robot episode has references to Evangelion (another episode even has a Rei-look-alike running with toast in her mouth!), the Hollywood episode has the Indiana Jones theme, to name a few. The middle episodes are full of wacky, bawdy adventures, which you’ll like if you’re into that stuff. ![]() The first episode is a nice mood piece, and the last few convincingly depict a child refusing to accept something that upsets him. The last few episodes explore in turn the choices of escaping, accepting, and rebelling against this fate. As Sasshi and Arumi jump from world to world, trying to return home, certain plot points are revealed that force Sasshi to confront the fact that his life is inevitably changing. These are all “versions of their shopping district Abenobashi”, and Sasshi and Arumi meet and interact with characters who resemble the people they know: Arumi’s father and grandfather, Sasshi’s older sister, the neighbourhood cross-dresser, a strange busty lady who is chasing a mysterious shaman-like figure. With this premise set up, the show suddenly transports us into a series of fantasy worlds: a world from a medieval fantasy, a sci-fi space world, a spy movie world, a Hong Kong martial arts world, among others. The shuttered store fronts, the easy banter between the childhood friends, the argument between Arumi’s father and grandfather all draw us into their lived experience and accentuate the melancholy of inevitable change. They are lazily fooling around one day, when Arumi drops the news that her family will be among the many who are closing up shop in the dying shopping district: they will be moving to Hokkaido for her father’s new career ambitions. Sasshi and Arumi are two early adolescents who have been friends since forever, growing up together in a shopping district in the Kansai region of Japan. ![]() The first episode is a fantastic mood piece that paints the melancholy of inevitable change. It is simultaneously a loud, bawdy romp and a coming-of-age story. Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (2002) is a 13 episode series produced by Studio Gainax and directed by Kojima Masayuki ( Monster, Made in Abyss). This year, I was given Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Management: Anime Secret Santa is a project in which bloggers (anonymously) give and are given anime to review. ![]()
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