Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (2002– ) User Reviews

Funny comedy-parody

[lobosalvaje · 7/10 · 2 September 2020]

Funny comedy-parody of different anime and movies. It is sure to get you a lot of laughs, although sometimes it may seem crazy, it does not lose the charm and originality that characterizes it.

Well, I liked it...

[icehole4 · 9 June 2005]

I think that a lot of people who didn't like this missed the main point of the story: It's a spoof on the various animae conventions out there. Sasshi, our generic likable kid/pervert adds a touch of reality to things. The generic likable kid is always in control of things, and always manages to come out on top with barely a scratch on him. The generic default heroine is always fawning over the generic likable kid. The relationship between Arumi and Sasshi is, at best, and "I-hate-you-and-I-love-you" affair. In episode one, Arumi tells us Sasshi has died no less than 44 times in the past hour and a half. A lot of things that take themselves way too seriously (Dragonball Z, Voltron, etc.) get set up for a healthy dose of reality. Not even the USA is safe, as they take shots at Hollywood as well (there's a spoof of Titanic near the end.)

Well, if you think the series is weird, just read the pocket manga.

A fabulous anime

[tskums · 10/10 · 25 October 2007]

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.

One more hidden masterpiece of GAINAX

[SaikiasCute · 10/10 · 19 August 2023]

This anime is pretty cool, i was looking for something like FLCL (which is also a GAINAX work) to watch, and this one catch my eye, and since the first episode, i knew would be masterpiece, i was not wrong at all, this anime parodies everything, games, other animes, movies. Each episode is one world, so you never get bored, and the animation AND EVERYTHING, don't get boring, because, every episode, is something new to discover, and they are good in that, also is in it production with MADHOUSE, another great studio that produced, animatrix, Monster, perfect blue and wolf children. So again, if you like FLCL, an crazy funny anime with nonsense, you will like this one.

Interesting... a look into generic anime it seems

[Angels_Review · 5/10 · 19 April 2014]

This is one tripped out show. I think Gainax just loves to create some tripped out shows. The first part is like a slice of life show, the second part is really created like a video game like a RPG, the third is a Star Wars Parody… the list goes on and on of what this show seems to do. I watched it mostly to see what the hell they would come up with next. It wasn't boring at all to me because the story line just went a bit crazy for these two children. A lot of this stuff is odd and like Puni Puni Poemi or Excel Saga. It's just pure insanity and that's what makes it funny I think.

Now, just like in FLCL, this show seems to have an underlining story line behind it all… but most of the time, I think it's lost in translation. Where FLCL had an underlining meaning about growing up, this one seems to be about dealing with change. At least… I think it is. The idea is hard to figure out and really makes me feel a bit stupid but as I was watching this in the early morning, I didn't really care. Part of the fun was that I had no sleep and had a moment of what I call 'ask me if I'm a stone' moment. (The reason for this is a very long story. Long story short, it's when things that don't make sense become funny when you're running on very little sleep.) The character designs are rather generic mostly. I can see a lot of similar things between Eutus of this show and Kaze from Final Fantasy Unlimited making feel that they went for stereotypes. A mysterious man with a cape and long hair, chiseled face. Not sure about Mune's character. When they show the history, she was pretty sweet and seemed rather... well, covered up. Now she seems to be rather slutty and show off a lot of skin. Threw the show, I have not seen any reason why that happened although it explains just a little about who Mune and Eutus are in the real world. I'm at least happy they don't give me the middle finger and tell me to read the manga like how FFU does.

The artwork is pretty vintage, but you can see signs of today's crisp looking art. Unfortunately from the start, I could see many things in the artwork that makes me think Gonzo or Gainax right off the bat. I didn't find out till later that Gainax did have a hand in it but I don't understand how Madhouse has a hand in it. Most of Madhouses stuff looks so much better then this stuff. In fact, I could say that this is a lot like Final Fantasy Unlimited and FLCL more. Lots of times, they had a runny eggs approach and I was grasping at straws trying to figure out what I was even seeing. Colors just blend into each other, characters become miss-shapened, and a lot of odd things pop up from the blobs. The opening is very disappointing; looking pretty much like it was just clips from the first episode. The ending is odd as well with old still images. Both of these made it really odd.

The voices… I'm not so sure why the English voices seem to have a southern Texan accent. I guess it would be something to show that it's Osaka like but I don't know about this. But then how the heck is Arumi's dad able to speak so strong French when he is daughter sounds Texan still? I also don't get why every 5 seconds, Arumi has to say her cheesy line. It's annoying. It's not just the English with the saying and the French voice. They say it in the Japanese dub two (Although it is really freaken funny hearing a French accent with Japanese language). This is one of the shows that they seem to of tried to keep it as original to the script as possible but sadly, it makes the characters sound odd.

All The Fun Of Every Anime In One Show

[SilentParadox13 · 9 March 2004]

As pronounced here in America "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" Is the most off the wall Anime I have ever seen. *SLIGHT SPOILER AHEAD*: Main characters Sasshi and Arame go on adventures... Many of them. Most of the adventures make fun of other Anime. This is also about Sasshi and Arame trying to get back to their own dimension. Every dimension is pretty much a different Anime. They get to these dimensions by Pokemon like Goblins [You have to see it to believe it.] And lastly... There is a great story about how The Magical Shopping Arcade came to be. At first it can be slightly confusing, But it's great. I highly recommend this Anime. It's great fun... And you'll barely notice the time passing by.

Your time is worth more than this. Trust me.

[blaicefreeze · 2/10 · 27 July 2015]

For the life of me, I cannot understand why this anime was rated so highly. Out of the over 100 I've watched, this is probably tied for my least favorite. The entire premise was shaky to begin with, but the ending was absolutely terrible. Sometimes even imaginary stories are too delusional. The dub version voices are atrocious as well. The main character whined like a baby almost the ENTIRE SERIES. I would NOT recommend this anime to anyone that I respect. Absolutely terrible. It was at a consistent 2-3 star average for me throughout the entire 12 episodes I watched, but the 13th... The one-star reality really came through.I'm giving it two stars because I managed to stomach it despite is being so awful, mainly so I could give it a true, full review.

If you want a haphazard story with a sappy, unfulfilling, lame ending. Go ahead and give this a go.

Why did it have to be Gainax?...

[garfnerkopin97 · 15 February 2005]

This series was a bit entertaining. Oh, all right, it was quite funny...at first. But near the end of the next-to-last disc Gainax started leaving its fingerprints on the series. See, Gainax, the makers of Neon Genesis Evangelion, has this fixation on ending all their series as though they're all epic sagas. Every series must be brought to a huge conflict, and then after much philosophizing be brought to a sudden end that doesn't solve the conflicts introduced throughout the series. Why this is, I have no idea. Maybe the success of NGE went to their heads and now they have a compulsion to do their series this way. See, the series could have been resolved by the episode I mentioned above (the last one on the next-to-last disc). but, noooo!, Gainax needs its "epci saga" ending! Thus the series was dragged to an ending that seems more tacked on than anything. The dub voice actors helped improve the enjoyment--but not in the usual way. I refer instead to the "outtakes" on the discs: the original scene was kept but better lines were used. These definitely made me laugh--unlike the original script did after a while. (Gee, did Arumi have to remain a shrew throughout the series? After a while I just wanted Sashi to shut her up somehow!) This series could have been better...but ADV can only improve it up to a limit. This series was ruined by poor characterization and by being a Gainax product. Trust me: you can find better and funnier anime out there.