Review of Arakawa Under the Bridge

The building of a comedy series, whether it is characters, setting, or story, all really depends on its comedic factor. After all, even if everything in a gag anime or manga is great, but it doesn't make me laugh, it doesn't really fulfill its purpose. Really, nothing matters but the way the comedy is executed and presented Arakawa Under the Bridge makes quite a unique take on how to create a comedic series. While the beginning of the story isn't extremely unique, it still draws people in, but also creates a restriction of setting: all of the story basically is under a bridge. This could bebad, as it disallows for a lot of scenarios, or you would think. A whole community, different type of life, and a whole cast of characters come to life right under a bridge. There's a church, farm, homes, beaches, etc. The absurdity of the amount of commodities the bridge brings is one of its charm points, and the characters that are just as equally absurd for living under a bridge also come to life. I myself, many years ago, when I saw the synopsis, thought it was kind of dumb, and so I never gave it a shot. 8 or so years later, I finally tried it out, and it turned out great.
A lot of characters are unique, and even after watching this 10 years from when it was aired, the characters still seem fresh. I'm not going to say all of them aged perfectly. Maria, especially, doesn't bring a lot to the table, and definitely is the character that is most Archetypal. That being said, the characters good, and set up a good premise for comedy.
And while I do feel like this series falls short of "extremely good," it is still a solid series that stands up to the tests of time. And while romance may be important to the series, as this is a comedy, it is sparse throughout the entire series until the end of the manga, which the anime never airs due to a restriction of episodes.
Lastly, the skits or arcs in the story may be a hit or miss. While you do wish for consistency of value, this series, I think, will really bring out something great, or something mediocre, which is why I would not place this series as anything above an 8/10.