Arakawa Bridge^2 4 – Halloween Special

Whaaaat!?! A Halloween special?

Yep. Episode 4 of Arakawa under the Bridge^2 is specially designed to scare Ric, and put everyone in costumes. Instead of following through on the storyline suggested last week, the village residents take some time out to smell the pumpkins.

Oooh. Spooky.

My real justification for claiming this episode is a Halloween special (besides getting into the holiday spirit) is that this episode features a haunted house — one of the fake kind where people dress in costumes, then try to scare you.

A monster!

Of course with the villagers behind it, this isn’t your typical haunted house. What’s more, they only have Ric to practice on.

Welcome, and enjoy your stay!

We get to see the villagers wearing all kinds of costumes. But the costumes weren’t restricted to the haunted house.

Adventuring party.

In fact the number of costumes in this episode was really quite impressive. I’m only showing half or less.

P-ko is "the Too-lovely Flower of Antoine Academy".

The second reason that there were so many costumes in this episode is that Ric agrees to direct the film that will bring P-ko’s romantic vision to the big screen.

A young girl ... a tragic love.

P-ko’s film is another great excuse for the villagers to screw around, and drive Ric crazy. But you knew that, didn’t you?

Ric directs an important scene.

The role of director is well suited to Ric’s tendency to be a control freak. Despite his constant muttering that everyone is doing it wrong, he obviously is really enjoying his involvement. It is at times like this that one can really believe Ric belongs with the madcaps under the bridge.

The dramatic ending.

There was a lot of P-ko in this episode, which is fine, because I really enjoy her character. P-ko truly is a romantic. Maybe in today’s society that is justification enough to be marginalized. I’m glad she found a community where she is accepted, and I’m glad Arakawa took the time to explore her story in more detail.

Since last episode paid some serious attention to the main storyline (Nino’s past), I expected them to back off this episode. And that is exactly what they did. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess, I suppose. Personally I’m hoping we see another one-off OP, like Maria’s song from season one.