arakawa bridge x bridge four & five

I’d apologize for having missed Episode Four (4), and being sorely late for this past week’s Episode Five (5) – but I don’t really feel like it. Plus I didn’t think anyone would really miss me. …Having spent the last week or so recovering from being in a broken relationship, the last thing I really wanted to do was watch a show about a rather cute (if not just a bit odd) pairing.

Thankfully the antics of Under the Bridge brought more of a smile to my face.

Episode Four wasn’t much to talk about. It was kind of fun to see P-Ko’s fantasy be realized in movie form – even if the end result was more like Takai’s fantasy. Which was really disturbing. It was worth it to see Nino all pretty and sparkly in her school uniform. And more importantly, it was worth it to see Sister all pretty and sparkly in his school uniform (the hair clip was a nice touch; Sister really knows how to accessorize an outfit).

Sister was the best part of the second half too with the vampire get up and this:

Episode Five started out well with the Captain’s return. He wasn’t nearly as much fun as he was the first time around, and that’s just because he’s quite normal. He seemed more suited for the Under the Bridge Community when he was actually pretending to be Earth’s Captain of Defense against the Venusians than drawing random manga for the residents. Plus he forgot about Nino! At first I thought he’d deliberately left Nino out because she was “the Queen of Venus”, but after I thought it was because he had a crush on her. In the end I’m not sure if it was deliberate at all and perhaps he did just forget about her – which seems impossible but that’s only because I love Ninohei.

But back to the Captain being “normal”… I know sometimes the Mayor can be very level-headed and normal, but he also actively “pretends” to be a kappa. Just like how Sister actively wears the nun’s clothes. All normalcy is counter-acted by these actions. With the Captain, he was just running away from his regular life. He wasn’t happy and therefore, wanted to live Under the Bridge, thinking it would make things better. I don’t hold anything against the Captain personally, but I’m glad he doesn’t get to live with them after all. It was nice to see him again though. And who knows: Maybe we’ll see him again.

Second half…

Oh that Billy: he definitely knows how to treat his woman. It was interesting to see his history and just how cool he really is, haha. And, in some ways, how cool Jacqueline is. Sure it was really cheesy and predictable, but out of all the pairings Under the Bridge, Billy and Jacqueline are really strong and are clearly the relationship-example-setters.

It’s been nice seeing so much of P-Ko too. I never thought too much of her the first season because we didn’t see too much of her (or maybe I just don’t remember) but she adds nicely to the dynamics of each scene and often brings Ninohei into the story when she might not otherwise be interested (as was the case with Billy and Jacqueline). And has anyone else noticed that P-Ko’s outfit changes from time to time? So far it’s just P-Ko and Hoshi who get a fresh set of clothes; it’d be nice to see Ninohei and Recruit wear something different too (though I know sometimes we’re treated to seeing Nino in other things like the princess dress, the school uniform, or that very elegant night gown).

Well look at that: Episode Six is out…