arakawa under the bridge – 05

Gah, I’m late! Need to catch up and see what’s going on in episode five.

Opening theme:

“Title Nante Jibun de Kangaenasai na” (タイトルなんて自分で考えなさいな?) by Miyuki Sawashiro

Instead of another monologue, this episode opens with Maria being featured in the opening theme. Things get off to a start from where the last one ended. Sister takes critical damage from Maria’s insults and Ichinomiya escorts him back to the church. Along the way, they talk and Ichinomiya comes to find out that Sister is actually in love with Maria hence the reason why her words affect him to point of reopening his wound.

Leaving Sister, Ichinomiya goes to retrieve vegetables from where Sister told him to go. Again, he meets with an odd person, a young girl named P-ko. She accuses him of being a ninja on account of not falling for the banana traps she set. Ichinomiya takes the time to explain that people don’t fall for such outdated tricks so she sets out to show the power of banana peels by stepping on one and sets off a chain reaction. Nino appears and introduces P-ko to Ichinomiya. Even though she thinks badly of him, P-ko tries to make a good impression by giving him her favorite peppers. Ichinomiya admits he doesn’t like them and, insulted, P-ko attempts to slap him and ends up hitting Nino. It comes to attention then that she is extremely clumsy.

Afterward, at Stella’s party, Mayor decides to keep Stella’s name and, though Ichinomiya objects, they eventually settle on keeping it the way it is. When everyone starts eating, Nino invites Ichinomiya to try the fish she caught. He turns it down in favor of the normal fish she catches, and Sister makes mention of him not eating the cookies at mass. Ichinomiya explains that he only accepts stuff from Nino because she’s his lover. Accepting something from anyone else would mean he has to pay them back. Nino explains that it is her job to fish. It’s then revealed to Ichinomiya that everyone under the bridge has a job and that some think of him as leeching off of Nino. Pissed because he’s actually an extremely successful businessman, Ichinomiya can’t help but get angry at the notion that he’s a lazy leech and that he’s on the same level as Whitey.

The next day, Ichinomiya wakes from a nightmare concerning his status as a leech and opens his door to find Hoshi singing about him leeching off Nino. Ichinomiya tells Hoshi to move and, in return, he tells him that Nino won’t be returning any time soon because she’s going to his concert. Hoshi says girls are weak to musicians, and thinks little of Ichinomiya when he goes back inside. Before Hoshi leaves, Ichinomiya returns with a violin and the episode ends with Hoshi accepting his challenge.

This was a decent episode. It didn’t really have any touching moments with Nino and Ichinomiya, but it did get more into the other characters. It was nice coming to find out that everyone under the bridge have their respective jobs and tasks they do, though. One thing I have to mention is that, even though I watch the episodes after the credits, I don’t usually make comment on them. I leave the gag contests out because, despite some of them being funny even with the cultural divide, they don’t have much in the way of being a part of the story. Got to start adding stuff in like the chat between Sister and Maria at the end of the previous episode.