"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" (2002) "Abenobashi mahô shôtengai" (original title), TV series 2002-

Director:

Shirô Ebisu

Writers:

Satoru Akahori (episode)
Hiroyuki Yamaga (episode)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Plot:

Two kids whose families own businesses in a shopping arcade that's scheduled to shut down are thrown into a series of dimensions, each one a parody of some form of anime or video game, and try to find their way home.

Plot Keywords:

Anime | Dying Repeatedly | Comic Violence | Dialect | Spoof

Cast

Hideaki Anno

...

Alien (1 episode, 2002)

Series Directed by
Masayuki Kojima		(13 episodes, 2002)
Hiroyuki Yamaga		(13 episodes, 2002)
Mitsuyuki Masuhara		(2 episodes, 2002)
Hiroyuki Ochi		(2 episodes, 2002)
Atsushi Takahashi		(2 episodes, 2002)
Shirô Ebisu		(1 episode, 2002)

Series Writing credits
Satoru Akahori		(13 episodes, 2002)
Hiroyuki Yamaga		(13 episodes, 2002)
Jukki Hanada		(5 episodes, 2002)

Series Produced by
Masafumi Fukui	....	producer (13 episodes, 2002)
Masao Maruyama	....	animation producer (13 episodes, 2002)
Toshimichi Ohtsuki	....	producer (13 episodes, 2002)
Hiroki Sato	....	animation producer (13 episodes, 2002)
Taiji Suinou	....	producer (13 episodes, 2002)
Hiroyuki Yamaga	....	producer (13 episodes, 2002)
John Ledford	....	executive producer (8 episodes, 2002)
Mark Williams	....	executive producer (8 episodes, 2002)

Series Original Music by
Shirô Sagisu		(13 episodes, 2002)

Series Cinematography by
Hitoshi Yamaguchi		(13 episodes, 2002)

Series Art Direction by
Hiroshi Kato		(13 episodes, 2002)

Series Art Department
Masayuki Kojima	....	storyboard artist (3 episodes, 2002)
Tadashi Hiramatsu	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2002)
Hiroyuki Imaishi	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2002)
Harumi Takahoshi	....	color designer (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Kazuya Tanaka	....	sound director (13 episodes, 2002)

Series Animation Department
Tadashi Hiramatsu	....	animation character designer / animation director (13 episodes, 2002)
Kenji Tsuruta	....	original character designer (13 episodes, 2002)
Hiroyuki Imaishi	....	animation director (2 episodes, 2002)
Ryû Kase	....	animation director (2 episodes, 2002)
Hiroshi Shimizu	....	animation director (2 episodes, 2002)

Series Other crew
Hidefumi Kimura	....	setting (13 episodes, 2002)

Production Companies

• Gainax
• Mad House

Distributors

• ADV Films (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Abenobashi mahô shôtengai" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

24 min (13 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15

Company:

Gainax

Trivia:

The Turtle Bath and the Grill Pelican are based on oriental deities which guarded the four hemispheres - North: Genbu (black tortoise), South: Suzaku (red bird/peasant/peacock/phoenix), East: Seiryu (blue dragon), and West: Byakko (white tiger). Hence the location of the establishments corresponds to their deity counterparts.

Quotes:

[Sasshi has been shot into space and is subsequently reincarnated, 2001-style]
Sasshi:Wow! I just saw the beginning and the end of the universe!

A fabulous anime

I disagree with the comment left by 'garfnerkopin97'. Saying that Gainax started leaving its fingerprints on the series near the end makes it sound like production was taken over by them from another team. But the entire series is made by Gainax, so of course it's going to have it's fingerprints all over it. Saying "This series was ruined by poor characterization and by being a Gainax product" doesn't make any sense. It's IS a Gainax product, it couldn't ever be anything else. It's like saying a mate of mine would have been better off if he'd had different parent's. If he's had different parents, he wouldn't be him. Gainax wrote and produced Abenobashi, if someone else did it, it would be something else like Cold Mountine or whatever.

I also hardly think the ending of this anime was "epic". In fact compared to most of the episodes, the last one is pretty calm and collective. I think the subs are better than the dubs, and that the series is funny and fantastic all round. So yeah, I like this anime, but hay, everyone's entitled to their opinions I guess. What do I know, I'm just some guy on the internet.