While others are getting excited at the news of more Code Geass anime, my anticipation is aimed at another, lesser-known series called Arakawa Under The Bridge.
Arakawa Under The Bridge (荒川アンダーザブリッジ) is by Nakamura Hikaru (中村光) published by Young Gangan Comics (‘Young’, in this case, means for older readers). Nakamura-sensei is also the mangaka behind Saint Oniisan, which is the story of Jesus and Buddha sharing an apartment in modern-day Japan.
I originally bought “Arakawa Under The Bridge” because a later volume had a picture of a man in a business suit with no trousers on the cover. It made me laugh long enough to be curious enough to buy it. You may find it a difficult read as it has no furigana and frequently uses long sentences and business terminology. If you’ve been studying hard for your JLPT exams and know this stuff, then you’ll also find plenty of slang. Let’s just say it was difficult.
The main character, Ichinomiya Kou (later renamed ‘Recruit’), has a saying imposed on him by his eccentric father — never owe a stranger. He’s so serious about this, he has it written on his tie. So when he meets Nino while trying to retrieve his trousers from a bridge and she saves his life, he’s willing to do whatever she says.
She tells him she’s an alien from Venus and she wants him to live with her in a community of outcasts and be her lover… which he agrees to do because of his philosophy. First, he needs to be officially welcomed by the village chief, who is a man in a kappa suit. You’ll see him in the teaser trailer for the anime.
The second volume was a bit of a letdown as it didn’t really move forward. None of the characters evolved and it was merely a string of wacky incidents, whereas the first book went way beyond that. It had a good heart and could be read as anti-corporate Japan.
Nothing ever happens in this manga that truly breaks the laws of reality. The most out-there gags take place in dreams and everything is just within the realms of possibility. It exists in a twilight zone between the two and, although it is a gag manga with laughs, the threat of living a normal life in corporate Japan runs underneath it. It celebrates the value of nonsense and working outside the rules. Well, the first volume anyway. It’ll be interesting to see which direction the anime decides to take things and how it will deal with the drop-off in character development later on.
