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The Abenobashi shopping arcade in downtown Osaka is the home of Satoshi Imamiya
(Sasshi), otaku
extraordinaire. His parents work in and around the arcade and the Abenobashi
community is close-knit, but due to redevelopment work in the area, everyone is
being evicted from their homes and places of work. Sasshi returns home from
summer camp to discover firstly that his home has been demolished (and his anime
collection destroyed!), and that his best friend Arumi Asahina is moving away to
Hokkaido.
No one seems happy with the situation, and it becomes apparent that neither is
the arcade itself, when Sasshi and Arumi are propelled into an alternate reality
- an alternative Abenobashi - in order to fight against a very different wave of
redevelopment. Strangely enough, it directly resembles one of Sasshi's favourite
anime series! Aided and hindered in turn by the enigmatic Eutus, the
larger-than-life Mune-Mune and the various other residents of Abenobashi, Sasshi and Arumi are transported from one weird
shopping arcade to the next, battling off enemies and trying desperately to get
back home.
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Abenobashi is quite obvious from the outset as a parody series. If you
don't like slapstick and honestly, quite crude humour you won't like this
series; if you're not widely familiar with anime you won't get a lot of the
jokes. I have mixed feelings about this manga; while the artwork is solid and
attractive and the story reasonably entertaining, most of the characters are
rather two-dimensional and shallow. It is a comedy, however, and this would be
expected - but, I think it's rather overdone. As are the rude jokes.
Another thing that bothers me is that Abenobashi seems to be a flagship
advertisement for Gainax (showcasing all the other series Gainax own) rather
than a manga in its own right. This series is good for a quick light-hearted
read, but I think other series beat it in all areas - if you want to see risqué
humour done right, read Love Hina. If you want
to see a good formulaic storyline, read
Cardcaptor Sakura. And if you want to see corporate advertising done with
style, read Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.
Abenobashi's nice art-style, however, does redeem the series slightly.
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Manga
There are two volumes of Abenobashi in existence; both have been
translated and released in the West.
Anime
This manga series has an anime adaptation, which achieved a reasonable amount of
success and a large fan following. As with comedies such as Azumanga Daioh
and Strawberry Marshmallow, the anime appears to be much more popular
than the manga (though I prefer the manga's art style). The anime, Abenobashi
Magical Shopping District, has been released in several languages, including
English, French, German and Italian.
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