Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is based on a real shopping district in Japan. It's the story of a young boy and girl who get swept into alternate universes in which the same shopping arcade exists with the same people in it. Each universe has a theme- RPGs, science fiction, fairy tales- that parodies different aspects of Japanese and American culture. These other worlds are much more than jokes, though, as is revealled later in the series.

Althought Magical Shopping Arcade is not one of my favorite series, I enjoyed watching some of it. It's only 13 episodes, so it's not hard to get through. There are rewards near the end for those who can stand to watch the entire thing.

My Grade
Plot- B- There was very little plot until about half-way through the series. Then, the plot was put aside for a while for more jokes. The last two episodes were extremely plot-heavy, but they were also very good. Unfortunately, though, there is a lot about the plot that you have to find out by looking up Abeno Seimei, for whom the shopping arcade was named.
Characters- B I sometimes liked Sasshi, the main character, but he was often really annoying. Arumi was consistently annoying. I hated her with a passion. My favorite character in the series was Eutus, who appears as a wandering wizard who just doesn't seem to fit into the alternate universes.
Humor- B- Sometimes the humor was hilarious. Often, it was just idiotic, repetitive, and disgusting. Toward the end, the humor got more sophisticated, though, which was a great relief.
Ending- A- It's a good ending but not quite fitting for the series. It also left a lot to be desired as far as story.
Dubbed or Subbed?- I didn't watch any of the dub because I was afraid of how annoying it might be (considering that it was annoying enough in Japanese).

Who would like Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi?
I recommend MSA to guys. It's really a show made for older, immature guys. I enjoyed watching it... most of the time... but I felt like I was watching something far below my level of maturity. There was too much urine, too many boobs, and waaaaaaay too many explosions. There's only so much I can take of that. BUT... I have a very mature friend who really liked the show. I noticed that he hardly ever laughed, though. He kept talking about how interesting the plot was. Eh?

Reviewed by Supergeekgirl

Back