Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Publisher
ADV
Director
Hiroyuki Yamaga
Production
GAINAX, Madhouse
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
25 min x 13 Episodes
Year
2002

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi DVD Volume 04

By noghri
6th Sep 05

Well, here we are, the finale of arguable the most unusual show ever made. Lets see what ADV said.

All the world-hopping, eye-popping, role-swapping, non-stop madness has come down to this—the fantastical final volume of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi! And the action and mystery don’t let up until the last satisfying minute! First, Sasshi and Arumi go to war—both figuratively and literally—as they face off in a contest of wills over the prospect of returning home, all while dodging bombs, bullets and more than a few militaristic bullies. Then, it’s off to a seriously “Holly-weird” episode that lets the crazy Hollywood references fly! Suddenly, our homesick duo runs smack dab into a revelation that could change their lives forever. If our intrepid heroes manage to find their way home, things may never be the same for them again. The magical journey’s end is in your hands—in the oh-so-revealing wrap-up of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi!

Despite the shared journey and time spent together, the relationship between Sasshi and Arumi seems to have seen better days. Even his newfound abilities and training as an Omnyou mystic and the time he has spent with Eutus learning about the shopping arcade are not enough to help him find the way home. He has tried to show Arumi everything he thinks she would like or ever need, but the more he tries it the more it appears she wants to return to the real world. Arumi suspects he is keeping something from her, but she has no idea what and she thinks he just doesn’t want her to go back so he cant be left behind after she moves, little does she suspect that his motives are a little less selfish and he is just desperately trying to keep the secret of grandpa massa’s death in the real world. So instead they travel off through another journey of a world invented by the inner torment of Sasshi’s mind.

The scene opens with an intense battle scene where Sasshi finds himself alone again and this time dodging bullets and explosions. He finds himself dressed in a Japanese military uniform and delivering messages left, right and centre for the turtle bath’s army, but whenever he delivers his message he is sent to another person on the chain of command. He soon finds how easy it is to get killed in this scenario. Arumi on the other hand appears as a much higher rank and on the opposing side the pelican army. Despite the action in this episode this is one of my least favourites. There are a lot of military based jokes, and accent based jokes which are a lot better without the vid-notes option turned on, there are also a few excel saga jokes which were very entertaining.

After Sasshi escapes from this hell of his own creation he appears in my favourite scene of the anime crouched down naked with lightning circling around him he appears and swiftly steals clothes from some bikers. This terminator start is brilliant and made my day. They explore this new world which if full of very strange scenarios, cross dressing Robocop, Elvis hot dog sales man who cant say a sentence without swearing this is quite funny but goes on a little too long in my opinion, although I do like it when the guy is chasing the girls from the show. This doesn’t appear to be a problem if you watch it in Japanese, as the subs don’t appear to have the same issue.
The storyline kicks off again and Sasshi finds himself confronted by his father appearing through a portal to explain that he himself used to know Eutus but that he gave up travelling dimensions, as it was kids stuff. He asks Sasshi to return to the real world and get his tea, and to remind Arumi about the vigil for grandpa Massa. After his dad leaves Sasshi tries to keep all his secrets from Arumi but Arumi hints that she might remember more than he likes. He tries to change the subject by jumping dimensions again and they end up in a works drawn with crayons as Sasshi was just desperate to get away and didn’t plan his new world.

This is when the show starts to reveal its core of the story. It is very matter of factly and in your face. Basically no matter the problem you cannot turn your back and run away, you have to face reality and accept the truth, even if it’s scary. If you think more about this you come to the conclusion that Arumi is just more mature than Sasshi and she can face the truth easier than him. Whereas Sasshi struggles to understand her reaction to the whole thing, his whole world revolves around the arcade but she has plans to explore the world travelling and Hokkaido is just the first step. He was looking for a way to avoid the truth and Omnyou presented him with the possibility to keep things from changing.

Please don’t read any further if you haven’t watched this series I don’t want to spoil it.

This is where the story takes an unusual twist instead of continuing this revelation and allowing Sasshi to accept the problems in his life and grandpa Massa’s death, and getting on with his life, he instead summons Eutus.
I am still conflicted as to whether I like this ending, I really like that everything worked out for Sasshi and Arumi, but the moral of the story is lost, in this ending.
Eutus then recognises Sasshi for who he really is when he allows him to grow up in a few moments, he is an Omnyou master and possibly the origin of the power, this is why it was like second nature to him, even as a child.
Sasshi’s problem has always been that nobody takes him seriously and this held back his potential, now that he is grown up and has mastered his technique but still has the desires of his child self he now has the abilities he needs to make his reality possible.

No Hokkaido, no death for grandpa Massa and regeneration project to improve the arcade headed by no other than Eutus.

Most anime would have ended the story where the child grows up and accepts life is life, but no. This child has mystical abilities and recreates the world how he would like it to be. No mention that with great power comes great responsibility. I still thought when he was aged that he would talk to himself and advise that although it would be possible it would be wrong, but he seamed only happy to change every aspect of the world to suit him. One thing that does not get mentioned is whether he changed Arumi’s dreams of travelling the world, but lets face it he changed the whole world to see his desires work out so it wouldn’t surprise me.

While it may be one of the more unusual of shows to be made, it is still one of my favourites of late. I love the innocent and off the world fun that the series brings, but also the touching story of friendship and love of the mains characters which travel through virtually every dimension imaginable. I found the ending a little disappointed but I was happy to see that everything ended on a happy note, even if I don’t agree it was the best course of action.
Overall the series was a massive hit for me but i'm sure there are many people out there who do not agree with me, this is not surprising though.
The series was quite similar in most respects to excel saga where each episode is told in another form or genre. Although it is quite a short series there are few episodes, which actually tell the story, most are just fun. But this is the beauty of magical shopping arcade it is fun.
As with most series high and lows were experienced. But I watched the 4 volumes back to back and find it hard to dwell on the bad points. And although I don’t agree with the ending I find this doesn’t really disappoint me too much to make it an issue. I loved this series.

-- noghri 6th Sep 05

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi Images