Arakawa Under Bridge

Arakawa Under the Bridge (荒川アンダー ザ ブリッジ, Arakawa Andā za Burijji?) is a Japanese manga series created by Hikaru Nakamura. The manga was first serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Young Gangan starting December 3, 2004. An anime adaptation by Shaft was broadcast in Japan between April 4, 2010 and June 27, 2010 on TV Tokyo. A second season, titled Arakawa Under the Bridge*2, aired in Japan between October 3, 2010 and December 26, 2010.


Set in Arakawa, Tokyo, the series tells the story of Kou Ichinomiya, a man who has accomplished many things all 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. This is the beginning of Kou's life 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 行, Ichinomiya Kō?)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya[1]
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 was 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. Among other things he knows how to play multiple instruments and is 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[1]
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[1]
The village chief is a self-claimed 620-year old kappa. Despite what he says, it is obvious that he is just wearing a green costume. This is evident by seeing regular skin beneath his helmet and numerous zippers on his arms and legs. He is also able to extend or retract his hair by turning the bald spot on top of his head. As chief, anyone who wants to live in the village has to get his approval and have him give the person a new name. Using the excuse of preparing for the trip to Venus, he tricked the villagers into building him a villa under the river. He seem to have some secret and is protecting Nino.

Hoshi (星, Hoshi?)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita[1]
A 24-year old singer and a self-proclaimed superstar. He'll regularly hold concerts in the village but his songs' lyrics are mostly weird and complete nonsense. He is in love with Nino and is always jealous of Kou due to their relationship. Under his star mask is a moon mask and under that is his real face who has red hair. When he becomes depressed he'll start calling himself a seastar. He likes to go to the nearby convenience store and buy cigarettes. Four years prior he was a top-notched 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. His name literally means "Star."

Sister (シスター, Shisutā?)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu[1]
A strong man that dresses like a nun. He is a 29 year-old British. On the right side of his face is a scar. Every Sunday he will hold a mass that usually lasts only a few seconds in the church under the bridge. This involves having his congregation run in place, firing his machine gun in the air, and asking if anyone did anything wrong. If he gets no response, the service ends and everyone present gets a bag of cookies. Strangely, while Sister is dressed as a Catholic sister, his church is adorned with an Orthodox cross. Under his robe is a military suit as he was formerly a soldier and still carries a lot of weapons. He is in love with Maria, who he met during the last war he was in, whose insults are the only things that can unnerve him, causing his scar to open up. Surprisingly, he is good at making cookies and other sweets.

Shiro (シロ, Shiro?)
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka[1]
A cordial, middle-aged man who is obsessed with always stepping on a white line. The reason thus he always walks around pushing a line painter so that he always has something white to walk on. His real name is Toru Shirai (白井 通?) and used to be an office worker before he started living under the bridge. He does not have a job for the village though. His name literally means "White."

Metal Brothers (鉄人兄弟, Tetsujin Kyōdai?)
Voiced by: Ryōko Shintani / Yūko Sanpei[1]
Tetsuo (鉄雄?) and Tetsuro (鉄郎?) are a pair of young boys in sailor suits who wear metal helmets. Like Hoshi, they are jealous of Kou's relationship with Nino. They self-proclaim that they have psychic powers and that their helmets keeps their powers under-control and so that they won't float away or be detected by the military. Their jobs are being in charge of the hot oil barrel baths.

P-ko (P子, Pīko?)
Voiced by: Chiaki Omigawa[1]
A young red-haired girl who grows vegetables for the village. The vision of a klutzy girl, she is literally dangerously clumsy, often turning what should be a simple accident into a massive disaster. Despite an allusion to mishaps, P-ko is still intent on getting a drivers license so that she can travel further during Winter to gather seeds. Kou is strongly against this and in their argument he learns much to his horror that she already possesses a motorcycle license. It is implied she has a crush on the village chief.

Maria (マリア, Maria?)
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro[1]
Maria is a pink haired woman who runs a nearby farm where all the Arakawa residents get their dairy and produce from. Whilst having a beautiful appearance, she casually passes out incredibly harsh insults to other people and is a sadist. She met Sister during the last war that they had and she was an opposing spy that tried to get information from him.

Stella (ステラ, Sutera?)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō[1]
Stella is a little blonde girl from an orphanage in England that Sister ran. Whilst initially thought to be small and cute, she is a powerful fighter and sometimes speaks in a threatening tone to show her superiority. When she is angry she has the ability to turn into a giant and look extremely masculine, very closely resembling (and also often parodying) Raoh from Fist of the North Star. She once had a crush on Sister, which made her hostile towards Maria.

Seki Ichinomiya (市ノ宮 積, Ichinomiya Seki?)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama[1]
Kou's strict father, who adheres to his family's rules and looks down on Kou.

Terumasa Takai (高井 照正, Takai Terumasa?)
Voiced by: Chō[1]
Kou's secretary. After his wife left him, Takai became Kou's secretary in one of his companies. He became inspired by Kou and his words and becomes quite fond of him. It is also heavily implied he has a romantic infactuation with Kou.

Shimazaki (島崎, Shimazaki?)
Voiced by: Rie Tanaka[1]
Takai's personal assistant. Although she is Takai's assistant, she takes orders directly from Seki Ichinomiya without Takai's knowledge. She has a crush on Shiro.

Last Samurai (ラストサムライ, Rasuto samurai?)
Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura[1]
Last Samurai is a typical samurai character who runs a barbershop under the bridge, capable of cutting everyone's hair in a matter of seconds. He comes from a samurai family and the sword that he has was an inheritance passed down from his ancestors. Before he started living under the bridge he was a famous hair-dresser that captured the hearts of all his female customers. At the time in order to prevent them from turning around and look at him he needed to put eye covers on all of them. He listened to all the comments of his female customers and felt that he lost his way as a hair-dresser. One night he went to the bridge to swing his sword around and suddenly met the chief. After a brief conversation his samurai blood boiled up and regained his confidence.

Billy (ビリー, Birī?)
Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki[1]
A man with a parrot head. He was formerly a member of a yakuza group and was well-respected among the people. However, he fell in love with the wife of his boss. He would occasionally say very cool things which usually makes Kou and Hoshi scream "aniki".

Jacqueline (ジャクリーン, Jakurīn?)
Voiced by: Yūko Gotō[1]
A woman in a bee suit who implies she has thousands of husbands and children, though is also in a 'forbidden' relationship with Billy. Before she started living under the bridge she was the wife of a yakuza boss. She had an affair with one of the members in the group who was Billy.

Earth Defense Troop Captain (地球防衛軍隊長, Chikyuu Boueigun Taichō?)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki[1]
A self-proclaimed defender of Earth who believes it is under threat from Venusians. He is actually a manga artist under the penname Potechi Kuwabara. He wanted to do sci-fi manga but was forced to draw moe manga by his editors.

Amazoness (アマゾネス, Amazonesu?)
Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi
An Amazon Warrior who lives in the Saitama district who, along with her henchmen who wear tengu masks, defends the secret Amazonian treasure, which is really some Saitama sweets. She'll sometimes change her personality between a gruff Amazoness and an annoying teenage schoolgirl.