Arakawa Bridge^2 6 – confession

Nino can even make a tux look good.

Episode 6 of Arakawa under the Bridge^2 returns us to the main arc for the season. This is exactly when Arakawa is at its best. All of the funny events that go on under the bridge due to the wacky characters that can be found there are entertaining, but I love this show best when we get to see the surprisingly serious side of these folks.

Another nice eyeball shot.

Nino is acting strange … well, strange for Nino, which means pretty damned strange. She is ready to have a heart to heart with Ric about those tapes.

Looks like Shimazaki got bit by the love-bug.

There were some interesting events at the outset of the episode. Shimazaki is still investigating Nino for Papa Ichinomya. The Mayor’s “alter ego” shows up to threaten her. The Mayor is also shown delivering a new tape to Nino. Hmmm… Why is the Mayor the vehicle by which Nino’s parents are communicating to her?

Daaw!

It’s nice to see that Nino and Ric can now have open conversations about difficult subjects. Nino has a very serious issue. The time has come for her to return to her home planet. She doesn’t want to be parted from her friends, especially Ric, but she really wants to go home to see her parents. Ric has difficulty taking the lead here, but he clearly loves Nino, and is willing to do whatever is required to make her happy.

In my favorite joke of the episode, Ric imagines preparing miso soup for his in-laws. Unfortunately they don’t like his cooking. There were a few things that tickled me about this. First, why would Nino’s parents look like squid creatures? Second, of all the things to be nervous about, upon meeting a space alien, he is concerned about how they’ll react to his cooking? And finally, they don’t freak out that he prepares miso soup (which might not be a popular dish on Venus), but rather are critical of the way he prepares it.

I’ve said several times before that the one thing I want this season is some explanation of what makes Nino Nino. Here we are getting it. Slowly, but surely, this season is tackling the biggest mystery, so I’m just gonna sit back and enjoy it.