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Abenobashi, Volume 1: Magical Shopping Arcade
Sasshi's world is crumbling away. His best gal pal, Arumi, is about to move away, and, adding insult to injury, his neighbourhood is being demolished in the name of urban renewal. However, when the Abenobashi section of the city is levelled, a portal to parallel universes is cracked wide open.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Satoru Akahori
183 books21 followersSatoru Akahori (あかほり さとる Akahori Satoru, Born 赤堀 悟, March 8, 1965 in Handa, Aichi, Japan) is a Japanese scriptwriter, novelist and manga author. He is best known for the Saber Marionette, Sakura Wars and Sorcerer Hunters series, which comes in anime, novel and manga forms.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 10, 2014
Like SAMURAI GIRL: REALBOUT HIGH SCHOOL, I first saw this in its anime form...it was broadcast (edited for TV) on G4. I think it was right after the cable network absorbed Tech TV? Anyway, it was still a while before G4 might as well have committed seppuku and eradicated all the video game-oriented programming that made it unique. Its nightly showcase of anime definitely helped set G4 apart, and that's where I first saw Gainax's MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOBASHI. An epic story of a geek and her gal pal's chaotic voyages through parallel worlds was definitely different, even in my admittedly limited experience with anime. I know I need to see the whole thing without any editing for family viewing, though! As pleasingly crazy and over the top as the anime was, too much of it flew over my head, mostly because the story moved at a pace that makes 'brisk' seem slow! Fortunately, things made more sense -- although one still needs a seatbelt -- for the manga version of ABENOBASHI. Like SAMURAI GIRL, though, it's not meant to be taken seriously! As long as you don't do that, you'll have a blast!
Written by Satoru Akahori and drawn by Ryusei Deguchi, the manga version of ABENOBASHI was created well after its anime incarnation...the story starts out the same, though! No two words have caused more upheaval than 'urban renewal', and it's happening to Osaka in Japan...affected in a negative way are a couple of local kids: an emotional super-geek named Sasshi and his best friend, the comparatively more thoughtful yet prone-to-anger Arumi. Sasshi loves everything from role-playing games to robot models and collector's figurines and, of course, manga; tragically, he just lost his treasure trove of otaku-ness when his family's home got hit by the wrecking ball. He doesn't want anything else to change, but it's an even bigger shock to his system when Arumi tells him her family's business might be closing down soon, and she and her loved ones will have to move away. The entire local shopping arcade is slated for demolition, in fact, in spite of the shinshin -- the charms representing four powerful gods meant to protect it; three are gone and only one, the Pelican, is left. Yeah, isn't urban renewal great?
When a freak accident destroys the Pelican and injures Arumi's grandfather, she and her family moving from Abenobashi seems sealed. But Sasshi has had enough and is in complete denial of what appears inevitable; the LAST thing he wants is to lose Arumi. (Even though she can hit with her paper fan pretty hard when he gets her mad enough!) But as they leave the hospital after visiting her grandpa, Sasshi and Arumi find themselves in...an Abenobashi that's very, VERY different from the one they know! Everyone they know is here too, but in very different roles, and the world is a medieval one of dragons and magic! They also find out they both need to play by a new set of rules in order to get back to the Abenobashi they know, but will they? Or will they find themselves in a shopping arcade even stranger than the last?
The worlds seem connected directly with all the geeky things Sasshi loves (as a geek myself, I defend him!): swords and sorcery, sci-fi, video games, Edo-period samurai adventure, dinosaurs -- including a certain King of the Monsters! -- and more. Why do they keep running into a mysterious man, Eutus, who seems to know exactly what's going on? And why is HE being chased chased across the worlds by an obsessive and, ah, well-endowed lady named Mune-Mune? The story plays out like a condensed version of the TV show SLIDERS, which also involved travel from one parallel Earth to another each episode, each world being very different from the one the cast encountered before. The idea of parallel dimensions has been visited time and again, as you genre fans know, but never quite in a way like this! And like SLIDERS, the question must be asked: how will Sasshi and Arumi find their way back home?
As explained in the postscript by artist Ryusei Deguchi, there are a lot of differences between the anime MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOBASHI and the manga it inspired. The story was shortened to two volumes, but has a lot of changes that make the manga a fresh and different experience compared to the anime! The manga even has a new character, the hopelessly devoted would-be paramour to Sasshi (you'd have to ask her why!), Nenene. A running joke in the story is her name being similar to Hey-Hey-Hey! Satoru's writing is hilarious and Ryusei's art couldn't be better, at times improving on what came before in the anime. *PARENTAL ADVISORY WARNING HERE!* You need to know a lot of the humor can get juvenile...something inevitable to deal with since the main characters are barely teenagers! Boobies, panty shots and more kinds of fan service abound as Sasshi's still-virginal nose bleeds like a fountain as he takes it all in! Uncomfortably, even Arumi-chan isn't immune to being objectified, but at least in her case it's kept to a minimum. There's a LOT more emphasis on Mune-Mune's...ahem, assets! If you're looking for something truly profound here...bad news: you're not gonna get it! But as long as you go into this with an open mind and more importantly, you understand not to take this controlled chaos seriously, MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOBASHI is definitely a wonderfully crazy way to kill some time reading!
Written by Satoru Akahori and drawn by Ryusei Deguchi, the manga version of ABENOBASHI was created well after its anime incarnation...the story starts out the same, though! No two words have caused more upheaval than 'urban renewal', and it's happening to Osaka in Japan...affected in a negative way are a couple of local kids: an emotional super-geek named Sasshi and his best friend, the comparatively more thoughtful yet prone-to-anger Arumi. Sasshi loves everything from role-playing games to robot models and collector's figurines and, of course, manga; tragically, he just lost his treasure trove of otaku-ness when his family's home got hit by the wrecking ball. He doesn't want anything else to change, but it's an even bigger shock to his system when Arumi tells him her family's business might be closing down soon, and she and her loved ones will have to move away. The entire local shopping arcade is slated for demolition, in fact, in spite of the shinshin -- the charms representing four powerful gods meant to protect it; three are gone and only one, the Pelican, is left. Yeah, isn't urban renewal great?
When a freak accident destroys the Pelican and injures Arumi's grandfather, she and her family moving from Abenobashi seems sealed. But Sasshi has had enough and is in complete denial of what appears inevitable; the LAST thing he wants is to lose Arumi. (Even though she can hit with her paper fan pretty hard when he gets her mad enough!) But as they leave the hospital after visiting her grandpa, Sasshi and Arumi find themselves in...an Abenobashi that's very, VERY different from the one they know! Everyone they know is here too, but in very different roles, and the world is a medieval one of dragons and magic! They also find out they both need to play by a new set of rules in order to get back to the Abenobashi they know, but will they? Or will they find themselves in a shopping arcade even stranger than the last?
The worlds seem connected directly with all the geeky things Sasshi loves (as a geek myself, I defend him!): swords and sorcery, sci-fi, video games, Edo-period samurai adventure, dinosaurs -- including a certain King of the Monsters! -- and more. Why do they keep running into a mysterious man, Eutus, who seems to know exactly what's going on? And why is HE being chased chased across the worlds by an obsessive and, ah, well-endowed lady named Mune-Mune? The story plays out like a condensed version of the TV show SLIDERS, which also involved travel from one parallel Earth to another each episode, each world being very different from the one the cast encountered before. The idea of parallel dimensions has been visited time and again, as you genre fans know, but never quite in a way like this! And like SLIDERS, the question must be asked: how will Sasshi and Arumi find their way back home?
As explained in the postscript by artist Ryusei Deguchi, there are a lot of differences between the anime MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOBASHI and the manga it inspired. The story was shortened to two volumes, but has a lot of changes that make the manga a fresh and different experience compared to the anime! The manga even has a new character, the hopelessly devoted would-be paramour to Sasshi (you'd have to ask her why!), Nenene. A running joke in the story is her name being similar to Hey-Hey-Hey! Satoru's writing is hilarious and Ryusei's art couldn't be better, at times improving on what came before in the anime. *PARENTAL ADVISORY WARNING HERE!* You need to know a lot of the humor can get juvenile...something inevitable to deal with since the main characters are barely teenagers! Boobies, panty shots and more kinds of fan service abound as Sasshi's still-virginal nose bleeds like a fountain as he takes it all in! Uncomfortably, even Arumi-chan isn't immune to being objectified, but at least in her case it's kept to a minimum. There's a LOT more emphasis on Mune-Mune's...ahem, assets! If you're looking for something truly profound here...bad news: you're not gonna get it! But as long as you go into this with an open mind and more importantly, you understand not to take this controlled chaos seriously, MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOBASHI is definitely a wonderfully crazy way to kill some time reading!
January 16, 2016
Sasshi is a young boy who returns from camp and finds out that his favorite hot springs has been torn down and some of his belongings are gone. (Why were they there anyhow?) Arimi is a female friend of his along with Ochi-san (who really, really likes him.)
It seems that a shopping district was protected by various totems which have now all been destroyed and for some reason there is a sort of parallel-universe unleashed, trapping Sasshi and Arimi. They end up going from one reality to another, starting off with a sword-and-sorcery type of reality, moving on to an outer-space reality, a dinosaur-age reality, a samurai-time reality, a dating-sim reality and a gangster reality.
The basic idea is very interesting in that they go from reality to reality, meeting other versions of people they know. What the manga ends up being, though, is basically breast-size jokes and sexy poses which have their place but I don't think in a manga about elementary-school children.
There's a lot of wasted potential in this series, in my opinion.
This review is based on both volumes of the manga.
It seems that a shopping district was protected by various totems which have now all been destroyed and for some reason there is a sort of parallel-universe unleashed, trapping Sasshi and Arimi. They end up going from one reality to another, starting off with a sword-and-sorcery type of reality, moving on to an outer-space reality, a dinosaur-age reality, a samurai-time reality, a dating-sim reality and a gangster reality.
The basic idea is very interesting in that they go from reality to reality, meeting other versions of people they know. What the manga ends up being, though, is basically breast-size jokes and sexy poses which have their place but I don't think in a manga about elementary-school children.
There's a lot of wasted potential in this series, in my opinion.
This review is based on both volumes of the manga.
May 14, 2007
a romp with Gainax is always fun. this was just a bit too heavy on the panty-shot-bulging-breasts for me to get into. however, i do think that the parody of these things in this manga is well worth the laughs of reading the first volume.
June 1, 2009
A couple of friends travel through time and have to battle a boss to be able to get home. It's like being trapped in a video game [hence the title:]. The plot was pretty simplified and the characters were amusing, but I won't be hunting down VOL.II.
February 11, 2008
Fun read, if you like Gainax or not, but the manga can't compare to how great the anime is.
August 5, 2009
Hysterical!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews