close
You've Earned Badges!
you have earned more badges → see all badges
don't want a popup? edit settings here
view your badges any time in your profile
Despite his best attempts, Ric’s unorthodox days under the bridge continue as always. He’s making little progress with his clueless lover, Nino; Hoshi continues to torment him at every turn; and even a simple baseball game leads the hapless heir to make an enemy out of a large Amazonian warrior woman! With bungled attempts to move in with Nino leading to the pair trading rooms and the highly competitive Arakawa Marathon taking place, Ric’s idyllic riverside life seems destined to prove more problematic than ever.
click the 
button above
Naota Nanbada is a boring young boy who leads a boring life in a boring town. His older brother has left for America, and the closest he comes to any excitement is when his deadbeat dad has too much sake. But things change one day when a bizarre girl zooms up to him on a scooter and smacks him in the face with her guitar. What's more, once Naoto returns home he discovers that this strange woman has arrived ahead of him and moved in! Not only does she constantly engage in perverted activities with Naota's father and flirt with the young man himself, but she also claims to be an alien who is searching for the ‘Pirate King.' Now, Naota must learn to live with this new intruder, deal with an odd government agent who sports exceptionally large eyebrows and the mysterious Medical Mechanica, and come to terms with the fact that there are a variety of robots and weapons emerging out of his head - amongst other things. Perhaps boring wasn't so bad after all...
Arakawa Under The Bridge x Bridge and Furi Kuri are quite random shows that often surprise the viewer. However Furi Kuri has a much deeper meaning than Arakawa.
In Gintoki's Japan, the arrival of the various space races known collectively as the Amanto ended the era of the samurai. The Amanto's highly advanced technology resulted in total conquest and a severe economic shift. Now, former samurai such as Gintoki scrape together whatever livelihood they can. Gintoki's profession of choice is that of a yorozuya: he'll complete any job for money. However, he’s unmotivated; and spending most of the day on the couch with the latest issue of Jump and a carton of Strawberry Milk is his preferred pastime. It turns out that his new unpaid employees, Shinpachi and Kagura, are going to interfere with his pastime even more than with his "work"! Of course, none of this means he has really given up on his samurai ideologies!
Gintama and Arakawa Under the Bridge X Bridge are both episodic series that feature the same cast of characters in a zany storyline. Because it is episodic the storylines may not match up from one episode to the next but it also allows the writers to have the characters do some crazy stunts. Both series feature lots of funny moments and lines, and parody a lot topics from Anime to Pop Culture references. If you like one you will like the other.
Tsukimi is an otaku and jellyfish enthusiast whose only means of coping with the world is to reject it: she and her friends live in a house they declare a man-free zone, generally avoid 'stylish people', and spend their days blissfully bonding over geeky rituals. As misfortune would have it, their convenient existence is about to be turned on its head by the arrival of Kuranosuke, a seemingly beautiful young woman who is actually a beautiful young man. While he may be strange even by their standards, Kuranosuke embodies everything Tsukimi secretly dreams of being - a princess as ethereal as a floating jellyfish - and promises the kind of mind-boggling adventures only possible when geek meets chic!
Like I said in my recommendation for Arakawa Under the Bridge, I found both anime very similar just based on the random otaku-ness of the characters. If you're looking for another anime with really quirky characters, then check these out. Also, the intro songs are kind of similar.
It’s been two months since Kanako enrolled at the Ame no Kisaki academy and she is continuing her quest to find her fated lover with even more determination than before. With obstacles in her way such as an abandoned dorm filled with hidden traps, Mariya’s delicious snacks causing her to go on a “desert diet plan”, and blah standing in her way, Kanako must stay positive and keep searching. But in a school where full legal trials are carried out for assault on a dog and hidden study rooms defy the laws of time itself, will the lovestruck teen ever be able to find her one true love?
These are both gag based comedies with a large casts of quirky characters. Both shows feature lots of running jokes and the humor tends to be rapid paced. Maria Holic's humor tends to be a bit more referential so all of the jokes might not hit home the ones that do can be hilarious. Arakawa's humor is a bit more acessible, especially if you're not that familiar with Japanese pop culture. However both shows have a charming quirky casts that are enjoyable even if you don't get all of the references.
Unforutantely both these sequals have a similar probelm in that they focus on more tertiary characters and lose some of the appeal of their first seasons. However they are still enjoyable to watch even if they don't add much new to their respective series.
The brash Hotori Arashiyama is a far from regular girl with the lofty dream of becoming a genius high school detective, but for now she is working at the Seaside maid café to earn some extra money. Unfortunately the establishment itself is deserted and the teen is far from being the epitome of a gracious maid. Enter Toshiko, Hotori’s friend and classmate, whose expertise and passion for maid cafés – as well has her interest in Sanada, one of the few regular customers – leads her take on the quest to turn Seaside into a bistro to be proud of. However, can a cafe owned by an elderly woman whose solution to everything is curry and staffed by a clueless, foolhardy teenager really become a success, or even attract more than the usual four patrons?
Both shows are wacky comedies set in a kind of bent take on the slice of life genre. Both series start with a setting and then throw any sense of plot out the window in favor of odd, side splitting exercises in absurdity. Both series are from the same era and produced by Shaft, which means tons of odd close ups, distorted camera angles, bizarre facial expressions, and other artsy trickery. Arakawa features a larger, and perhaps stranger cast, but if you enjoy the pace and absurdity of one you will definitely like the other.
