Arakawa Under the Bridge (荒川アンダー ザ ブリッジ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hikaru Nakamura. The manga was first serialized in the seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from December 2004 to July 2015. An anime television series adaptation consisting of 26 episodes in total by Shaft was broadcast in Japan from April to December 2010 on TV Tokyo.

Plot

Set in Arakawa, Tokyo, the series tells the story of Kou Ichinomiya, a man who has accomplished everything by himself. Ever since he was little, his father has taught him one rule: to never be indebted to another person. One day he is attacked by child bullies in the bridge, they remove his pants and attach them high up in the bridge archer, in trying to retrieve them, he falls into the Arakawa River and almost drowns. A girl by the name of Nino rescues him and, in return, he owes her his life. Unable to accept the fact that he is indebted to her, he asks her about a way for him to repay her. In the end, she tells him to love her, beginning Kou's life of living under a bridge. However, as Kou starts to learn, Arakawa is a place full of weirdos and all of the people living under the bridge are what society would call "denpa-san".

Characters

Media

Manga

The manga, written and illustrated by Hikaru Nakamura, was serialized in Square Enix bi-weekly seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from December 2004 and July 2015. Three special chapters were published in Young Gangan between October and November 2015. Fifteen volumes were collected in tankōbon format, with the first one released on August 25, 2005, and the fifteenth on November 20, 2015. All volumes have been translated into English and published online by Crunchyroll Manga. Vertical announced during their 2017 Katsucon panel that they have licensed the manga. The manga is licensed in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo.

Volumes

Anime

Arakawa Under the Bridge was adapted into a 13 episodes series by the studio Shaft and was directed by Yukihiro Miyamoto with chief direction by Akiyuki Shinbo. The anime adaptation was announced in August 2009, aired on TV Tokyo from April 4 to June 27, 2010. A second season, titled Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge (荒川アンダー ザ ブリッジ*2), aired in Japan from October 3 to December 26, 2010. NIS America announced that they had licensed the first season. The first season was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo set in July 2011. In November 2011, NIS America announced they had licensed the second season, setting the release date for February 7, 2012. MVM Films announced that they would release both seasons on subtitle-only DVD in the United Kingdom in late 2013.

Television drama

A television drama adaption was released on July 26, 2011, on TBS and July 30 on production company MBS.

Live-action film

A live-action film adaption of the manga, starring Kento Hayashi, Mirei Kiritani, Yu Shirota, Natsumi Abe, and Nana Katase, released in Japanese cinemas on February 4, 2012.