Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge episode 5: The Return of the Space Captain.

Try the other way around… sort of.

This week, Ric wakes up with another man in his bed, then later goes off to perv on Billy and the bee bimbo celebrating a romantic anniversary. Tut tut, Ric, what possible reasons could there be for such behaviour…?

Episode Summary:

Part one: Ric wakes up in bed with the Space Captain, who has returned to seek refuge in the village and has come bearing gifts of manga starring the villagers. Naturally, the flattered Mayor bestows his blessings on the runaway mangaka, who it turns out (following Ric’s Googol search and subsequent arrival of said mangaka’s editor) wants to flee a life that is being stifled by the cancerous grip of his popular but sickeningly moé manga. Soon, though, he is given free reign by his bosses to draw whatever the hell he likes as long as he returns to work. Only to have his new manga starring a dashing Space Captain, an evil Venusian queen, two fighting iron headed twins and a nun with a gun dropped by his publishers for being too freaking weird and a total flop.

Part two: It’s Billy and the bee bimbo’s something-or-other anniversary, so, naturally, the rest of the bridge village turn up to spy on them. Turns out, though, that Billy is some kind of ex-mobster and the bimbo is his ex-boss’ stolen woman. Cue another bird-brained side-kick to inform Jacqueline of her lover’s probable death, which spurs her to get revenge on her lover’s killer, only to have said lover coolly turn up looking just a little worse for wear but nonetheless victorious and determined to sweep his woman off her feet. Oh, and his imaginary feathers have been clipped as punishment for whatever badass things he’s just done with his still brandished katana.

Thoughts:

…says your beautiful girlfriend – of course you are!

Having made little impression on me the first time ‘round, I must say that I found the Space Captain a lot more entertaining and I enjoyed his back-story and his interactions with the villagers in this epi. Also, as the rest of the first half went on to illustrate its not so thinly veiled critique of moé-moé manga (won’t say much more about that, as Scamp has already done so, so I’ll refer you to his post for more about that), we got to see Nino add a few more awesome new faces to her rapidly expanding repertoire of expressions since epi 3. My favourites include this one:

And this one:

Back to the plot. I enjoyed the crazy doujins that the Captain dishes out, though I sympathised with Nino’s lack of one, and I was impressed with the jealous efficiency with which Ric vetoed the potential new kid on the block’s attempt to infiltrate the bridge village. Never underestimate the power of a simple internet search and a phone call to the right people, eh. Aside from the Nino faces and the doujins, though, the highlight of this half and probably of the whole epi was the captain’s crazyass new manga and the various images of the transformed villagers depicted within it. A little too ahead of its time, methinks.

The second half of the epi was entertaining not so much for the involvement of Billy and his Queen Bee (I like the first, am indifferent to the second character), but for the way Ric and P-Ko dressed down Hoshi over his latest performance of another craptastic song, this time in celebration of some random little anniversary of his and Nino’s, which apparently had something to do with sardines (loved her reaction though, as mentioned). As much as I wish Hoshi would garrotte himself with one of his own guitar strings, he does seem to bring Ric’s most fiery side out of him. Speaking of which, it was certainly also fun seeing them both, who are still pretty clueless in the ways of love and relationships, wanting to learn more about how to woo women from Don Juan de Parrot. The latter, we eventually learn, used to be (and still is?) some kind of uber mobster, which would also explain his bad boy air, in case you were in any doubt after seeing him return with that katana.

In short: more Tomo Seki Space Captain and less bee bimbo in future epies please!

More Pics:

Ah, Tomo Seki hamming it up – more please!

Well, I think it’s lovely, Nino. A* for effort from me, love.

Riiight. ’Course it was, Ric.

More wise words from the Mayor.

So that’s what that bit in the OP is all about.

Apparently, real men wear feathers.

I’m guessing he made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Hey, it’s not the size, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Ickle Ricuuu!! Dawwwww!!!

Daww, they know each other so well.

Three words, Hoshi: You Freaking Wish.