Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Difference between revisions

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Well, none of that really matters, after Arumi's grandfather is hospitalized in an accident that destroys the last of [[The Four Gods|four "guardian" figurines]] that bound the shopping district. Before their eyes, the neighborhood changes. Sasshi and Arumi find themselves trapped in a warped version of Abenobashi as if it were an RPG, with everyone they know recast as NPCs.
 
But once they fight their way through the game's plot in grand slapstick style, thinking they will then return home, they find themselves transported to an outer space version of Abenobashi... then a Hong Kong martial arts movie version... then a [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Dinosaurs|dinosaur-filled]], prehistoric one. And many more. Will Sasshi and Arumi ever get back to the ''real'' Abenobashi? ''Why'' are they "jumping" in the first place? ''Who'' is that blue haired sorcerer who appears to be going through a mid-life crisis?
 
A [[Deconstructive Parody]] of a dozen or more genres of film and anime, ''[[Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai (Anime)|Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai]]'' (''Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi'' in North America) generously trowels thick layers of off-the-wall comedy on top of a surprisingly serious storyline, one you're likely to forget about until it pops back up at the last minute to smack you in the face. Made by [[Studio Gainax|Gainax]], the show makes both subtle and in-your-face [[Shout Out|references]] to [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|various]] [[Sister Princess (Light Novel)|other]] [[Back to The Future (Film)|series.]]
 
There is also a two-volume [[Manga]] version, which is ''even weirder.'' The [[Broad Strokes|basic plot is pretty much the same,]] although different worlds are visited, the ones that ''are'' in the show are different, and there's a character not shown in the anime (with the exception of a "blink and you'll miss her" scene in the twelfth episode.)
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=== This show provides examples of: ===
* [[Accent Adaptation]]: The official dub translates Osakan dialect as Texan and Kouhei's Tokyo dialect as Brooklyn.
* [[Actor Allusion]]: Takeshi Aono, who voiced Grandpa Masa, also did [[Michael Palin (Creator)|Michael Palin]]'s roles in the Japanese dub of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''. Something to keep in mind in Episode 12, when Grandpa goes "lumberjack"!
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* [[Crash Into Hello]]
* [[Cross Dresser]]: "Ms." Aki.
* [[Cross -Popping Veins]]
* [[Cultural Cross -Reference]]: Owing to the show's premise, being [[Reference Overdosed]] is unavoidable. However, it isn't terribly discriminating about from which parts of the globe it lifts its references. Anything that fits the topic of the episode is fair game.
* [[Dating Sim]]: An entire episode dedicated to it, and it doesn't take Sasshi very long to [[Genre Savvy|figure out that he's in one.]] The end of the episode resulted in him seeing an ending that would have made more sense to him if he had achieved the proper relationship flags to develop that character. Arumi was the Goblin of that world. Needless to say, she was angry.
* [[Dead All Along]]: {{spoiler|Mune-Mune}}.
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* [[Humongous Mecha]]
* [[The Idiot From Osaka]]: Sasshi. Subverted by Arumi, who is anything but an idiot.
* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: In the [[Film Noir]] version of the arcade, Sasshi has to compete with Arumi's father to prove which one is the real "legendary sniper [[Golgo 13|Regolgo]]" by shooting a can on the other side of the room. Sasshi manages to hit the can with a pistol ''by complete accident'', while Arumi's father empties an entire M16 clip and hits everything ''but'' the can. Then he walks right up to the can and blows it up with a bundle of TNT. [[What an Idiot!|Arumi's father is declared the winner.]]
* [[Incredibly Conspicuous Drag]]: Crossdresser "Ms." Aki. is never outed, but is rather obvious — so much so that it seems the rest of the cast is aware of it and just treats him/her as a lovable eccentric.
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded by Sasshi]]
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** Episode 6 is a general shout out to [[Film Noir]] style Hard-boiled Detective and Mobster movies.
** Episode 11 is a shout out to war movies in general, including ''[[All Quiet On the Western Front (Literature)|All Quiet On the Western Front]]'', ''[[Patton]]'', and others.
** Episode 12 has dozens of references to American horror, science fiction, and adventure movies, including, but certainly not limited to: ''[[Terminator]], ''[[North By Northwest]]'', ''[[The Shining]]'', ''[[Speed Racer (Film)|Speed Racer]]'', ''[[Knight Rider]]'', ''[[Twister]]'', ''[[Jaws (Film)|Jaws]]'', ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'', ''[[Back to The Future (Film)|Back to The Future]]'', ''[[RobocopRoboCop (Film)|Robocop]]'', ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'', ''[[The Exorcist (Film)|The Exorcist]]'', ''[[Barbarella]]'', ''[[Titanic]]'', ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street (Film)|A Nightmare On Elm Street]]'', ''[[Escape From New York (Film)|Escape From New York]]'', ''[[Friday the 13 th13th (Film)|Friday the 13 th]]'', ''[[Air Force One]]'', and ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (Film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.
** There's also a brief scene where Grandpa Masa says [[Monty Python|he always wanted to be a lumberjack...]] In the same episode, there's also references to [[Monty Python|war wounds.]]
** There's one for the American short cartoon ''The First Bad Man'' during the dinosaur episode, where Mune Mune's dinosaur is slowly chipped away and reduced in size from a dinosaur to a small lizard every time they duck behind a rock.