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Magical☆Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, also known as Abenobashi Magical Shopping District and as Magical Shopping Street Abenobashi is a 13-episode Japanese TV series and manga from the famous anime studio Gainax; it is directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga. This series has been licensed for North American distribution by ADV Films (initially as a 4 volume set, later repackaged into a smaller 3 DVD thin-pak collection (without many of the extras from the first release). The show aired on G4's Anime Unleashed.

Story

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Friends Arumi and Sasshi are residents of the Abenobashi shopping district. After an accident, they find themselves transported to another Abenobashi, in another world — a world based on RPG-style videogames such as Dragon Quest.

Arumi and Sasshi attempt to get back to their own Abenobashi, but instead find themselves travelling through a series of nonsensical worlds, based on genres including sci-fi, war, fantasy, dating sim games and even American movies, while also having a few somewhat serious scenes centered on the theme of growing up. Each alternate Abenobashi contains analogues of characters from the original Abenobashi, notably Arumi and Sashi's relatives. They also repeatedly encounter a mysterious blue haired stranger, eventually revealed to be the man who planned the shopping arcade: the legendary onmyoji Abe no Seimei.

Some may view it as Gainax's response to Excel Saga, as it is a parody. It features many cultural references to movies, games and anime, amongst other things.

The manga of the same name was created after the anime was developed, and while the major characters and plot elements remain the same, the overall story arc is different as to fit the medium better (based on productin notes in the first volume) and a few new characters are added. The manga is also a bit more graphic (front nudity for the most part) than the anime.

Characters

Satoshi "Sasshi" Imamiya - Sasshi Imamiya is a precocious, hyper 12-year-old boy who speaks with an Osaka accent and can be pretty dorky at times. He has a huge passion for collecting things, such as baseball cards, vending machine toys, and so forth. The loss of his treasured possessions when he moved to a new condo was hard on him, but it'll just motivate him to restore his collections to their former glory. He's also a big fan of RPGs, sci-fi, dinosaurs, guns, and dating simulation games - in the manga he takes pride in being otaku. Sasshi's family used to run the Turtle Bath, which was the local bathhouse, but was forced to give it up and move out due to redevelopment plans for the Abenobashi shopping arcade area. Sasshi spends his lazy days hanging out with his best friend Arumi, having practically grown up together with her in the shopping arcade.

Arumi Asahina - Seemingly the more influential, or, at least, domineering, of the two friends, 12-year-old Arumi Asahina is Sasshi’s best friend and classmate, having practically grown up together with him in the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. A sensible and pragmatic girl, who acts as the more rational counterweight to Sasshi’s oddball antics, Arumi can often be found keeping Sasshi in line by smacking him with her paper fan whenever he makes stupid comments or is up to no good. Arumi’s eccentric father and stubborn grandfather run a French restaurant in the Shopping Arcade known as the Grill Pelican. It appears, however, that the Asahina family will be closing up shop in the near future as part of redevelopment in the area and moving to Hokkaido, forcing Arumi to leave Sasshi behind.

Masayoshi Asahina "Grandpa Masa" - Masayoshi Asahina, or Grandpa Masa as he’s known to the kids, is Arumi’s grandfather and the founder of the family’s restaurant, Grill Pelican. A stubborn and grumpy old man, Grandpa Masa is dead set against the idea of closing the Grill Pelican and leaving Abenobashi, despite his son’s urging to join the family in moving to Hokkaido to work in a high quality French restaurant at a resort hotel there. Having put his life’s work into the Grill Pelican, and his livelihood in Abenobashi, Grandpa Masa remains defiant to the end.

Mune-mune - Sasshi and Arumi encounter this funky young lady in the various other dimensions of the Abenobashi Shopping Arcades. Extremely well endowed, much to Sasshi’s delight, Mune-mune tends to be a very cheerful and bubbly person who makes the kids' lives quite interesting amidst their travels. Sometimes she’s trying to kill the kids, others she’s very nice to them. Mune-mune appears to be searching the various alternate dimensions for the mysterious man wandering Abenobashi in a Wizard-like robe, Eutus, who she seems to be quite fond of.

Sayaka Imamiya - Sayaka Imamiya is Sasshi’s teenage older sister. While a fairly typical teenage girl, trying to act cool by shying away from the family’s Osaka influences, Sayaka is a bit of a gal, so her behavior could be considered a tad outlandish in the eyes of "normal" people. Sayaka is conscious of her weight, thus her dieting, and has an interest in fortune telling. Sayaka also shows up within the various other dimensions of Abenobashi, usually accompanying Mune-mune and Ms. Aki as the Abenobashi Angels.

Ms. Aki - The neighborhood cross-dresser who is obviously a man, but dresses in women’s clothing and wears a thick application of make-up, Ms. Aki has been good friends with the kids for a very long time now. While not much is known concerning Ms. Aki’s background, this peculiar individual has been a resident of the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade for years, and seems quite knowledgeable about the history of the area and those who dwell there. Ms. Aki shows up in the different dimensions of Abenobashi, usually in the company of Sayaka or Mune-mune. Still, regardless of the dimension, Ms. Aki is not pleasing on the eyes.

Eutus - Eutus is a strange and mysterious man that wears a Wizard-like robe who the kids encounter wandering throughout the various dimensions of the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. Eutus comes off as a wise know-it-all, and absolutely hates being called “Mister” due to the implied range in age, and would much rather be referred to as "Bro", or something similar. Eutus has a powerful connection to the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade which remains a secret, but in the meantime, he’s doomed to wander the various dimensions of Abenobashi until the cause of his misfortune is rectified.

Kouhei - Boisterous and friendly, Kouhei is a shopkeeper in the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. Kouhei is always friendly with Sasshi and Arumi when they pass him by, and they appear to be fond of him as well. Kouhei shows up in the alternate Abenobashi dimensions doing pretty much what he does in the original world, but with a slightly bizarre twist depending upon the flavor of the present world.

Worlds they have been to

• RPG World
• Sci-Fi World
• Hong Kong World
• B.C. World
• 30's World
• Dating Sim World
• Fairy-tale World
• War World
• Movie World

External links

• Official US release website
• Template:Ja icon Official website
• Magical☆Shopping Arcade Abenobashi OST: Abenobashi Magical Music Mansion ⚠ "mbid" is missing! at MusicBrainz

• Manga series
• Anime
• Gainax