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from Abenobashi Maho Shotengai (c) Gainax |
Sasshi's world feels like it is falling apart. His best friend, Arumi, is about to move to Hokkaido, where Arumi's father hopes to run a French restaurant. His Osaka neighborhood is being demolished as part of an urban renewal project. But, unbeknownst to contemporary urban planners, Sasshi and Arumi's neighborhood is a magical gateway between parallel worlds. The magic is held in check by animal totems in the four cardinal directions (Arumi's family's Pelican Grille, Sasshi's family's Tiger convenience store, the Turtle bath and the Dragon market). When these are demolished, the magic breaks loose, and Sasshi and Arumi find themselves lost among parallel worlds. This new series from Gainax demonstrates full mastery of the hybrid cel/computer animat that they experimented with in their classic FLCL. The animation is stunning, the action is relentless and manic. Sasshi and Arumi find themselves in worlds that are brilliant parodies of computer games, Hollywood movies, other anime, and even Gainax itself. This series has a wonderful soundtrack from Sagisu Shiro (Evangelion, Kare Kano, Nadia), with a creative mix (and parodies) of jazz, swing, John Williams bombast and Sagisu's own soundtracks. The wonderful OP and ED songs are sung by Hayashibara Megumi. As a cultural footnote, some of Abenobashi Maho Shotengai refers to the doings of Abe no Seimei, a legendary 10th century Onmyouji (practitioner of onmyoudou, a form of magic centered on Yin-Yang and the five elements). Onmyouji are believed to use paper figures (hitogata) as familiars (shikigami). (These same paper figures are used by Zeniba in Miyazaki's Spirited Away.) Abe no Seimei is the Abe for whom Abe's Bridge (Abe no bashi) is named. Voices:
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