Anyway, I have returned to watching two anime series that I truly thought I had given up on. I was sitting at my laptop, after finishing the 350 words of my English Extension assignment that I said I would do today, and I though to myself: Gee, I really feel like watching Arakawa Under the Bridge.
For those of you who don't know what it is, yeah, you're sane. Okay, I'll try and make this as simple as possible...
Arakawa Under the Bridge is the weirdest show I have ever watched. In my entire life. And I have watched many shows. Holy gumballs, this anime has some strange crud kicking off. It is about a bunch of homeless people, who live under a bridge in Japan, and think that they are "kappas" from Venus. That's right venus. And they're not kidding, they actually believe that they're not from this world. There is one sane character in the entire show, and that is Rou... and he aint that sane. The son of a very wealthy businessman, Rou believes that you should never ever be indebted to anyone. If you are, you should repay the debt straight away. So, when Rou falls off a brigde, trying to get his pants that some youths stole off him and hung up the top, and the beautiful (but oh, so, so strange) Nino saves him, he flips out something chronic. Feeling that he owes his life to her, he promises Nino that he will do anything to repay her. Her request: for him to live under the bridge with her, and be her lover. Now, when I say lover, I mean 'person who hangs around', because these guys have the weirdest relationship ever.
It's even stranger than it looks... Which is a whole lotta strange.
Not as weird as the other people that live under the bridge. Did I mention, there is a guy who wears a mask that makes him look like he has a star for a head, a guy who looks and acts like a turtle, a military man who is dressed as a nun, called "Sister" and a little girl who looks innocent, but is the most violent and manipulative thing ever born. Ya know, just to name a few. And this isn't even the strangest part. I can't even describe the stuff they actually get up to, it's just crazy. But, oh, it is beyond hilarious. This anime actually gets really good reviews, and is pretty unanimously liked. I would say that it's something that has to be watched along with something else. If you watch this anime and nothing else, your brain will just explode with wtf-ery. But, if watched in conjunction with something else, it's super enjoyable. So please, watch at least one episode and come and talk to me about it. I really need someone else to share the weird with.
You haven't seen weird, til you've seen Arakawa Under the Bridge.
It's true. Oh! The animation is pretty amazeballs. KyoAni, who did CLANNAD as well as many other Visual Arts/Key animes, amongst others, take the cake for best animation, like, ever. But, the animation in Arakawa is pretty darn impressive. Especially the detail in the sky, and river water. Sooo prettyful :3
Moving on! So, I'm really glad that I started watching that anime again. It's full of awesome, in the strangest way possible. Another anime that I re-started today was Princess Tutu. Now, when I say I'm watching this anime, no-one ever takes me seriously. Even my little sister, who is such a kid at heart, laughed at me when I said I was watching such a show. Guyssssss, it's a serious anime! Whoever gave it that title should be sacked because, dude, you just lost half your audience by giving it such a kiddie, silly name. On TVtropes, it's under the trope of Better than it Sounds. And, it really, really, really, really, really, really, really is. Did I say 'really' enough times? It is so much better than it sounds. It even sounds lame when I describe it, but honestly, it's starting to become one of my favourite animes ever.
The characters are all ballet students in a fairytale-esque town, sound kiddie? Their ballet teacher is a cat, who threatens to force his underage students to marry him if they don't perform well, sound beastial and pedo? The main character is actually a duck, who has been granted the gift of being human so she can help a prince find pieces of his heart. Oh, and she turns into the beautiful ballerina Princess Tutu whenever she's doing this, sound lame?
Okay, now that we've established the strangeness. Yes, it is the second weirdest anime I have ever watched. It's pretty obvious what the first is. But, it's incredibly addictive, and just downright good. I'll admit, I watched the first three episodes a few months ago, and I liked it, but I never actually thought that I'd return to watching it. I am so glad that I did. The only reason I even started watching the show was because, well, I was looking through the Beneath the Mask page on TVtropes and I saw this:
Fakir, initially portrayed as a selfish, manipulative jerkass, accidentally reveals himself to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold when Ahiru is briefly stuck as a duck and he falls under the influence of Cuteness Proximity.
... can't breathe. Fangirling. Too. Much.
And I went "Ooooooh. Jerkass to jerk with a heart of gold. I love characters that change like that. I love this guy already." Then, I read somewhere that he was tall, dark and snarky, had a fangirl moment to myself, and decided to watch the show. Yep, Fakir was everything in a character that I had hoped he would be. Eeek! I'm fangirling here just thinking about him. New character crush! Well, I liked him when I first watched the series, but I didn't go super-uber-fangirl until today, so it counts as new.
Anyways, for some reason, watching Arakawa Under the Bridge made me want to watch Princess Tutu. So, I re-looked it up on TVtropes, and I discovered, that FakirxAhiru (the main character duck chick) actually ends up being a canon ship, and I like, jumped for joy. I had shipped these two so hard, beause they were always arguing and pretty much hated each other. I wouldn't call it BST, but it was awesome. Thank goodness Ahiru stops wanting Mytho (dude. Get your heart back and show some emotion) and decided to have a thing for a character who is actually interesting. And oh, their relationship gets so deep! Actually, I discovered that the end of the show is actually incredibly sad. If I hadn't accidentally ruined it for myself by reading spoilers, I think I may have cried. Nevertheless, I can't wait until I get to the sad/intense parts. They are going to be so epic! I just know it. Okay, so I'm only up to episode 7, and there's 38 episodes. But, at the rate I'm watching 'em, I'll get there sometime in the not too distant future.
CANZ THEY BE TOGETHER FOREVER? Argh. This picture is from a trailer for the show, where Fakir whisks Ahiru away from Mytho while he is dancing with her, and kisses her. I watched it and died. For some stupid reason, it never happens in the actual show. Devo.
Thus, I have returned to those unfinished animes. If you take the slightest interest in either, I highly recommend that you watch it. The former is hilarious and weird. The latter is weird, but oh so amazing. And, Fakir. It's worth watching the whole thing just for him. To show that the fan world agrees with me, I shall leave you with a quote from TVtropes:
Estrogen Brigade Bait
With that, I shall run off to watch some more Princess Tutu. Buenos noches, all!
ZOMG, I love the sound of this Fakir guy. I am currently fangirling over a Jerkass who moves to Jerk With A Heart of Gold Too. And I think he's a little Tall, Dark and Snarky. YAY
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