Bakemonogatari #02 — Exhibitionism
July 10th, 2009
Yes, Hitagi, we get it. You have a rather nice butt.
Impressions:
It’s a little hard to take any conversation characters are having seriously when one of them spends half the episode continuously getting dressed and undressed in front of the other for a full 50% of the episode. At least Araragi and Hitagi are developing at least something approaching personalities. Unfortunately, while Hitagi is moving towards exhibitionism, Arararararagi is moving towards being a sucky little pantywaist. It’s a naked girl, not Him Who Is Not To Be Named, Hastur. You can look without freaking out. It’s not going to kill you. I could see… say… ToraDora’s Ryuuji freaking out, but only because she was rooting through his clean laundry while still dripping wet and his OCD would be driving him insane. However, vampire boy has no such excuse. I also didn’t like how suddenly Hitagi completely broke down in tears either. After spending 100% of the time as an emotionless rock, sudden open weeping seemed rather contrived.
Direction was more under control this episode, but it was still pretty much just an endless drone of exposition from start to finish, so the pacing could still use a lot of work. Hitagi’s exposition about her past with her mother and the explanation of the crab curse dragged on a bit and stumbled into the pretentious territory more than once. I have no problems admitting that I zoned out more than once while she or Araragi were expounding at length and the visuals were showing assorted Buddhist symbols. At least nobody started spontaneously pouring pasta out of their head this week. I did like the way they showed the crab. See? CG can be used for good.
But really… blah blah blah, crazy mother, bonds between people are heavy, home collapsed, no bonds to anybody means you’re possessed by a crab god in the middle of the road, tap ruby slippers together and say "there’s no place like home," now she’s weighed down by her memories again. It all makes sense. Sort of. If this show could work on polishing up its presentation so that it’s a bit less… well… obtuse, it would improve things immensely. I’m crossing my fingers for that now that we’re shifting gears into the Mayoi story. Come on, Shaft. You can do this.
Bakemonogatari #02 OP
Posted in Anime | 23 Comments »
Well, this show lost me. Seriously, all that narrative makes it nearly impossible to keep up. Couple of questions.
Did Hitagi regain her weight? Is she a recurring character? Araragi seemed out of character a bit. Not sure why he suddenly felt so embarrassed.
Interesting visuals but need subs to really appreciate.