Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (アベノ橋魔法☆商店街) is a Japanese anime television series created by Gainax, with animation produced by Gainax and Madhouse, and directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga. It was broadcast for 13 episodes on Kids Station from April to June 2002. The series was licensed for English release in North America by ADV Films. A manga adaptation, authored by Satoru Akahori and illustrated by Ryūsei Deguchi, was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Magazine Z from September 2001 to August 2002, with its chapters collected in two volumes. It was licensed for English release in North America by Tokyopop. Another manga by Kenji Tsuruta, titled Manga Abenobashi Mahō ☆ Shōtengai, was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon from September 2001 to May 2002.

Story

Background

During the Heian Era (794–1185), Abe no Seimei was a close childhood friend of a noble named Masayuki, and his wife, Mune. While he was away from the palace, Masayuki often asked Seimei to stay by his wife's side, guarding her and keeping her company. However, during the time that they spent together, Mune and Seimei fell in love and became increasingly romantically involved. Unbeknownst to them, Masayuki soon learned of the affair, and became overcome with grief and jealousy. One day while Seimei was on a trip to Kyoto, Masayuki snapped, murdered Mune and committed suicide. Guided by a premonition, Seimei rushed back to his hometown only to find out that he was too late. Overcome with guilt, he decided to perform a forbidden onmyō, ritual to resurrect the dead, by transferring himself and the bodies of Masayuki and Mune into a completely different world in which they were still alive. In doing so, Seimei soon found himself as "Mr. Abe" in mid-20th-century Osaka, where Mune Imamiya and Masayuki Asahina were pre-existing residents of this alternate world. Now, Masayuki was an ambitious, but largely unsuccessful young man who had enlisted Mr. Abe's assistance to build the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. He was also madly in love with Mune, a local girl whom he tried to woo (with little success) at every possible occasion. It was not long, however, before Mune fell in love with Abe, constantly pursuing him and offering him bento. Abe tried for a time to resist her advances, but eventually he was unable to contain his feelings, and had sex with Mune in his apartment. Unbeknownst to them, an instantly-jealous Masayuki accidentally discovered the truth. The next night he became staggeringly drunk and invited Abe to meet him at the Abeno Shrine, planning to murder him with a hidden butcher knife when he arrived. At first unsuspecting, Abe arrived on the scene, but once he saw the decrepitly drunk Masa he knew what was afoot. He promptly bid Masayuki farewell, then disappeared, going back to his job in the Heian Era, leaving a pregnant Mune behind him; her child is Sasshi's father.

Plot

Childhood friends Arumi and Sasshi are residents of the Abenobashi commercial district in Abeno-ku, Osaka. After an accident, they find themselves transported to an alternate sword and sorcery world. Their attempt to get back to reality finds them traversing a series of nonsensical worlds built on science fiction, war, fantasy, dating sim games and American movies. Each alternate Abenobashi is a surreal manifestation of Sasshi's interests, populated by analogs of the protagonist's relatives and acquaintances and a blue-haired stranger known as Eutus. Their quest to return home is at its core a because the Abenobashi dimensions are mostly hobby worlds of increasing sophistication. Sasshi does not want to go home, and in fact is the sole force that is propelling them between worlds. While chasing a cat in the first episode, Arumi's grandfather fell off a roof and was hospitalized. With this new trauma pressuring him in addition to his apprehension about the eventual destruction of the shopping arcade and the Asahina's moving away, Sasshi was no longer willing or able to cope with reality, and unbeknownst to even himself, he had caused their dimension to rewrite itself into worlds echoing his escapist obsessions.

Characters

Main characters

Other characters

Media

Manga

A manga adaptation by Satoru Akahori and illustrated by Ryūsei Deguchi, was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Magazine Z from the September 2001 issue to the August 2002 issue, with its chapters collected in two volumes released on March 19 and July 19, 2002. The manga was licensed for English release in North America by Tokyopop, who published both volumes on August 10 and November 9, 2004, respectively. The manga went out of print in 2009. Another manga adaptation by Kenji Tsuruta, titled Manga Abenobashi Mahō ☆ Shōtengai ― Abeno no Machi ni Inori o Komete ― (まんが アベノ橋魔法☆商店街 ―アベノの街に祈りを込めて―), was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon from the September 2001 issue to the May 2002 issue, with a tankōbon volume released on April 20, 2002.

Anime

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi was produced by Gainax and Madhouse. The series is directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga and Masayuki Kojima, with series composition by Yamaga and Satoru Akahori and screenplay by Jukki Hanada. The original character designs were done by Kenji Tsuruta. The music was composed by Shirō Sagisu. The series run for 13 episodes on Kids Station from April 4 to June 27, 2002. In North America, ADV Films announced the series' acquisition at Anime Boston in April 2003. The series was launched in four DVDs from December 16, 2003 to April 20, 2004. The series aired on G4's anime block Anime Unleashed in 2005. It also aired online on Anime Network in 2009. AEsir Holdings re-released the series on a single DVD volume on December 11, 2012.

Episodes

Reception

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi received an Excellence Award for animation at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival.