Sabtu, 05 Mei 2012

Arakawa Under the Bridge



Plot
Set in Arakawa, Tokyo, the series tells the story of Kou Ichinomiya, a man who has accomplished everything by himself. Ever since he was little, his father has taught him one rule: to never be indebted to another person. One day by accident, he falls into the Arakawa River and almost drowns. A girl by the name of Nino rescues him and, in return, he owes her his life. Unable to accept the fact that he is indebted to her, he asks her about a way for him to repay her. In the end, she tells him to love her, beginning Kou's life of living under a bridge. However, as Kou starts to learn, Arakawa is a place full of weirdos and all of the people living under the bridge are what society would call "denpasan".
Characters
Kou Ichinomiya (市ノ宮  Ichinomiya Kō?)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya 
Kou is the future owner of the Ichinomiya corporation. He is 22 years old and a university student before living under the bridge. Throughout his life, he has been living under the family rule of never being indebted to anyone. After nearly drowning in the river, he started a relationship with his savior, Nino, because it was the only way to remove the debt of saving his life. He is named "Recruit" (リクルート Rikurūto?) by the village chief, but the villagers usually call him "Ric" ("Riku") for short. If he becomes indebted to someone but cannot repay them, he'll start having an asthma attack. Even since he was little, he has received the best education, learning how to play multiple instruments and earning a black belt in karate. Kou took the option of staying in the "villa" rather than Nino's house when he moved into the village, not knowing that the "villa" was the empty top of a pillar under the bridge. He quickly remedies the situation by building himself a proper apartment at the location. His job in the village is to be the teacher for the village's children. Due to his upbringing and his sudden intrusion into life under the bridge, he is exasperated at the nonsensical happenings that the others would consider normal.
Nino (ニノ Nino?)
Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto 
A mysterious girl who lives in Arakawa. She is a self-claimed Venusian and later Kou's girlfriend. The origin of her name comes from the sweatsuit that she always wears that has the tag "Class 2-3" (Ni-no-san) on it. She is an incredible swimmer and can stay submerged for several minutes. With this skill, Nino commonly goes fishing in the river and it is her job in the village to provide fish for the residents. She often forgets important information and often needs Kou to remind her. Her home is constructed of cardboard, with the entrance sealed by a large curtain. Her lavish bed is made out of velvet, although she chooses to sleep in the drawer under the bed. If she becomes frightened or angry, she'll pull her sweatsuit over her head and climb on top of a streetlamp.
Village Chief (村長 Sonchō?)
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara 
The village chief is a self-proclaimed 620-year-old kappa (despite him obviously wearing a green kappa costume). As chief, anyone who wants to live in the village has to get his approval and have him give the person a new name. His face changes when he is running very fast, as shown in the village's annual race. It is unknown if he is faster than Shiro, since every year, he always loses interest in the race and drops out by default. Using the excuse of preparing for the trip to Venus, he tricked the villagers into building him a villa under the river. He seems to have some secret and is protecting Nino. He does realize that he is not really a kappa, and in times of seriousness, he will stop wearing his suit. He has great influence with the local government, as shown when he single handily stopped Ric's father's plan to destroy Arakawa. He is very protective of Nino, even threatening Shimazaki, who was researching Nino, with death.
Hoshi ( Hoshi?)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita 
A 24-year-old singer and a self-proclaimed superstar. He is in love with Nino and is always jealous of Kou for their relationship. Under his star mask is a moon mask and under that is his real face, which has red hair. When he becomes depressed, he'll start calling himself a starfish, and wears his star mask backwards. He likes to go to the nearby convenience store and buy cigarettes. Four years prior, he was a top-notch singer and supposedly constantly topped the Oricon charts. But he was bothered by the fact that he could never come up with his own songs. While battling with this feeling, he met Nino and realized that what he wanted was music that he created himself. His job is to provide music during special events in the village, but his songs' lyrics are mostly weird and complete nonsense. His name literally means "Star."

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