Abenobashi: Magical Shopping Arcade

Sasshi is a young boy who returns from camp and finds out that his favorite hot springs has been torn down and some of his belongings are gone. (Why were they there anyhow?) Arimi is a female friend of his along with Ochi-san (who really, really likes him.)

It seems that a shopping district was protected by various totems which have now all been destroyed and for some reason there is a sort of parallel-universe unleashed, trapping Sasshi and Arimi. They end up going from one reality to another, starting off with a sword-and-sorcery type of reality, moving on to an outer-space reality, a dinosaur-age reality, a samurai-time reality, a dating-sim reality and a gangster reality.

The basic idea is very interesting in that they go from reality to reality, meeting other versions of people they know. What the manga ends up being, though, is basically breast-size jokes and sexy poses which have their place but I don't think in a manga about elementary-school children.

There's a lot of wasted potential in this series, in my opinion.

This review is based on both volumes of the manga.


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