Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai

## Manga Abenobashi Mahō ☆ Shōtengai

***Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai*** (アベノ橋 魔法☆商店街, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi) 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 thirteen 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 *tankōbon* 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.

## Synopsis

Sasshi's world is in disarray. His best gal pal, Arumi, is about to move away, and his Osaka neighborhood is being demolished in the name of urban renewal.

However, this little neighborhood has some surprises under its concrete—it's actually a portal to parallel universes. And when this section of the city is leveled, the portal is cracked wide open. Sasshi and Arumi soon find themselves being hurtled from one strange world to the next! Making matters even more surreal, is the fact that these worlds seem to spoof and mock popular movies, video games, manga and anime!

(Source: TokyoPop)

## List of Published Books

### *Light Novel*

Satoru Akahori, GAINAX (Author) / Kenji Tsuruta, Hideyuki Takenami (Illustrator) "Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai" KADOKAWA, 1 volume already published (as of November 30, 2002 only single volume)

1. Released date November 30, 2002 - ISBN 978-4-04-412730-5

LN Vol. 1
### *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 *tankōbon* 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.

Manga Vol. 1Manga Vol. 2
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―, "Manga Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Praying for the city of Abeno"), 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.

1. Released date April 20, 2002 - ISBN 978-4-06-334518-6

Manga Vol. 1

## Ending Theme

### ED Composer:

Megumi Hayashibara

*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.

### Staff

* Planning/Original - GAINAX
* Original Plan/Director - Hiroyuki Yamaga
* Series production - Masayuki Kojima
* Story Composition - Satoru Akahori Hiroyuki Yamaga
* Osaka Dialect Comedy Rewrite - Tetsuya Tanaka
* Character Draft - Kenji Tsuruta
* Animation Character Design - Tadashi Hiramatsu
* Setting Design - Hidefumi Kimura
* Art Director - Hiroshi Kato
* Color Setting - Harumi Takaboshi
* Director of Photography - Hitoshi Yamaguchi
* Music - Sagisu Shiro
* Sound Director - Kazuya Tanaka
* Producers - Shunrin Otsuki, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Masafumi Fukui, Taiji Deno
* Animation Producers - Masao Maruyama, Yuki Sato
* Animation Production - Madhouse, GAINAX
* Production - Abeno Bridge Production Committee (King Records , GAINAX, IMAGICA , Dentsu)

## Origins of the work & Parody Elements

This work is based on the unpublished script "Wizard" written by Hiroyuki Yamaga as an original for a digital novel planned by Takami Akai around 1990, with the theme of the growth of a boy wizard set in Norway in Northern Europe. The script was shelved without being made into a work, but according to Akai, Yamaga obtained Akai's permission to produce this work and diverted it to a TV animation project. As a result of inviting Akahori to restructure the script, the stage and content of the story changed greatly and became a work.

There is a tentative story, but only the first episode and the final episode have a clear storyline, and in many cases, the arrangement of the main characters is fixed and a different world is prepared for each episode. A slapstick play was developed, and a large amount of parodies of works of various genres such as past famous animations, movies, and games were incorporated.

Hiroki Sato , the producer of "Mahoromatic", which was being produced at Gainax at the same time, also directed each episode freely based on the concept of "*fixed characters*" decided by director Yamaga and others, and the producer (animator) .

The quality and quantity of the parodies incorporated into the play were so intense that it could be said that they were excessive, and they aroused internal controversy from the production stage. In particular, in the script of episode 8, "*Tokimeke! Abenobashi ☆ Gakuen Shopping Street*," which is based on a romance simulation game, the character name of the guest heroine played by Mami Kanetsuki (played by Shiori Fujisaki in "*Tokimeki Memorial*") is "Shiorin." And so on, the similarity with the work used as a motif was extremely high.

According to Saeki and Matsuoka, who starred in the film, King Records saw these contents as a problem during dubbing, so the work was interrupted and after long discussions, the character name was corrected to "Shiotan" and recorded. It was decided to fix. In addition, Kanetsuki also appears as a regular in the role of Arumi's mother (Ayako Asahina), but according to Matsuoka who plays Arumi, it is the premise that Kanetsuki will appear in a double role in the guest heroine episode with Shiori Fujisaki as a motif.

## Radio Program

* **Personality**
 **Corner*** *Do not complain!*
	+ A corner where listeners can complain about their daily dissatisfaction and doubts. It ended with the 77th episode (broadcast on March 31, 2004).
* *Kagetsu no Tenki is here!*
	+ Corner of commercials in the program. Notenki Takeda advertises within the time limit. However, it mainly advertises Gainax's works such as "Mahoromatic" and "Petit Puri Yushi".
* *Speak! Abeno Bridge*
	+ Abenobashi magic ☆ A corner where you can share your impressions, questions, and doubts about the shopping street and talk about the world of Abenobashi.
* *Abeno Bridge Magic☆Shopping Street News*
	+ A corner to inform you of the sales promotion information of "Abenobashi Magic ☆ Shopping Street".
* *This week's Bad news*
	+ A corner where Saeki started by saying, "In your heart" that flows in the ending talk, "It's like a song of reflection."
* *Thank you mM family*
	+ A corner that was broadcast from the 34th (broadcast on June 3, 2003) to the 52nd (broadcast on October 8, 2003). We are looking for touching stories that can't be told without tears that happened in the family. There is no connection with "Abenobashi Magic ☆ Shopping Street", and for some reason "From the North Country ~From the Faraway Earth~" flows as BGM.
* *Abeno Love Theater*
	+ A corner that started from the 53rd episode (broadcast on October 15, 2003). We are looking for a love letter written by you or someone else. Keiko Matsuzaka's " Flowers in the Water of Love" flows as BGM.
* *Dream Room*
	+ Corner that started from the 78th (broadcast on April 7, 2004). A corner where Yukki and Tontan, who are dream fairies, or 'wet dreams' for short, fortune-telling about dreams sent by listeners.
* *Sleep Talking Grand Prix!*
	+ “V Station Winter Team 02! "The Special Event. We are looking for sleep talks from listeners.
* *Your Favorite Side Selection*
	+ "V Station Summer Team 03! "The Special Event. We are looking for your favorite side dish in the listener questionnaire. Saeki takes first place.
* *1st Fart Grand Prix*
	+ "V Station Gedo no Jin 03! "The Special Event. A corner where you make a live phone call with the listener and compete with the self-proclaimed “Purincess” Saeki and fart sounds.
* *Heresy! Advent of Abeno Maria!*
 **CM in Charge of the Program*** Notenki Takeda (*Yasuhiro Takeda, Gainax Director*), Yunpyo (*Gainax Employee*)
* Akai (*Takami Akai, Gainax Director*) and Mizumori (*Gainax Employee*) in charge of Petit Puri Ucy
 **The Guests*** Hiroyuki Yamaga and Tetsuya Tanaka appear as guests almost every time.
* 3rd (October 2002, 10) - Tomoko Kaneda (Yuki Matsuoka brought him because Saekitomo said to call)
* 13th (January 12, 2003) - Marian Yamamoto (Promotion of "Petit Puri \* Yushi")
* 14th (January 2003, 1) - Yukari Fukui (Promotion of "Petit Puri \* Yushi")
* 23rd (March 2003, 3) -Ayako Kawasumi (Advertisement of "Mahoromatic")
* 24th (March 30, 2003) - Reformation Corps: Hitomi Mieno, Ryoko Shintani, Sako Chiba Relay delivery: Yuko Miyamura, Rikako Aikawa (Joint live broadcast after the "*BBV Station*" event)
* 29th (April 2003, 4) - Akahori Satoru (series composition)
* 43rd (August 2003, 8) - Tomoko Kaneda (Deputy personality of Yuki Matsuoka) ("*Tokyo Character Show*" public event held at Makuhari Messe on July 2003, 7)
* 49th (September 2003, 9) - Kosuke Toriumi (PKO 's national tour and CD promotion)
* 64th (January 1, 2004) - Satoru Akahori, Yuko Mizutani ( Guest from Polikero Kashimashi )
* 75th (March 2004, 3) - Takuma Wada (Drama CD Chorus)
* 82nd (May 2004, 5) - MIKI (Successful finalist of the Bushiroad audition held on December 2003, 12)
* 88th (June 2004, 6) - Yumi Takada (Promotion of "This ugly and beautiful world")
* 89th (June 2004, 6) - Satoru Akahori, Yuko Mizutani
* 89th (June 2004, 6) - Satoru Akahori, Yuko Mizutani
* 95th (August 2004, 8) - Kozu Yoshizumi, Mai Kadowaki (Promotion of "Grapple Gaia-Queen's Wing Crown-")
* 122nd (February 2005, 2) - Takuma Wada
* 129th (March 2005, 3) - Hiroyuki Yamaga, Takami Akai, Tetsuya Tanaka, Takuma Wada (Final)

## Pachislot

Introduced from Bisty in August 2010, Pachislot machines are equipped with the Pentagram system. In addition, the same production as the Evangelion series (Pachislot) may occur.

## Reception

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

## External Link

* *TV Anime "Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai"* ─ (GAINAX NET) - Wayback Machine (For archived September 9, 2015)
* *Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai RADIO* ─ (GAINAX NET) - Wayback Machine (For archived April 4, 2015)
* *Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai* ─ Starchild: Special Website (in Japanese)
* *Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai* ─ Manga Library Z Official Website (in Japanese)
* *Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai* ─ IMB
* *Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai* ─ Wikipedia **JP**
* *Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai* ─ Wikipedia **EN**