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 »

23 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Irie says:

    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.

  • Anonymous says:

    Re: obtuse presentation… You give the impression that you’re zoning out during the dialog, and so you’re missing out – she didn’t have her “memories” returned but her “thoughts/feelings”. This description and her robotic and alternately weepy behavior is consistent with PTSD. Thinking of the crab as a (supernatural?) PTSD coping mechanism which keeps her from thinking puts a different spin on her character entirely. It wasn’t obtuse at all… in my opinion if you’re not willing to work even a little bit for that payoff, you’re watching the wrong genre/studio/show (I have no exposure to the novels this show is based on). There are plenty of literal, easy-watching shows out there…

    I think Araragi’s WTF is wrong with you? reaction makes perfect sense. Plus, I don’t know what porn flick you come from, but where i come from you have to at least put up a show of decency… your mileage will vary.

    Actually preferred monotone Hitagi – broken is more interesting/entertaining/hotter.

    • Aroduc says:

      Work? Pfft. Clearly you don’t know me.

      Sorry, I didn’t mean to give the impression that she forgot her memories, especially after the 3 minute drone detailing her life story. Just that she no longer felt any connection to them.

      And there’s a level of difference between modesty and looking like somebody is mutilating a dog three feet from you. Araragi falls into the latter category.

      • Anonymous says:

        Well, to each his own.. most of the time I prefer puzzling out innuendo and implications over the *beat me over the head with a hammer* gurren-lagaan school of storytelling. Shows that try to “make you think” often do go wrong, but this series seems to work.
        Although, I will admit freeze-framing and decrypting the odd spelling on the title placards is painful.

        Also, I guess I sit up and pay attention to the exposition because I personally need to listen closely to make sure I’m getting the translation right.

        And I would say Araragi’s reaction is midway between puppy murder and normal propriety. Mitigating factor: she IS kinda psycho… gotta be careful how you treat the Hot Psychos.

  • Westlo says:

    “Is she a recurring character?”

    Yes she is.

  • chad001 says:

    Before the nerds get to you, Ill point out that it is: “He Who Cannot Be Named”, and… wow… that’s just sad…

  • Anonymous says:

    Staples?

  • Irie says:

    Anonymous: I’d very much like to say what you sound like but I will be civil. It’s a forum were everyone is entitled to their opinion. I disagree with your analysis with respect to PTSD. This is an anime based on supernatural conflicts, characters and remedies. Unless you are applying mass hallucination for the presence of the invisable crab, reality based answers may not be applicable. She is traumatized but IMO PTSD isn’t what the writers had in mind.

    Now I don’t know what pre-school you are attending but please return…

    • Anonymous says:

      Thanks for keeping it civil.

      Well, this WAS a first viewing of the ep… of course I don’t believe everything supernatural in the show should be pigeonholed into a real-world equivalent (vampires are sex addicts! etc). I was wrong to say oh! this is exactly like PTSD!

      Yes, it is a glowing god-crab, but that’s not to say that the physical action doesn’t mirror psychological action, and it’s plainly there in the episode and dialogue that the crab has helped her deal with trauma in much the same way some real-world trauma victims cope.

      I’m not trolling, and I don’t mind criticism. You may want to learn japanese/wait for good subs before responding, though. Or coming up with another insult.

  • Anon999 says:

    First off, who the hell goes around parading in their underwear in front of a guest? You might as well be walking around naked.

    Second, Was it really necessary for Araragi freak out just because a girl in her undies is sitting near him? I, for one, would have different thoughts about that kind of situtation.

    • MADAO says:

      ^ This.. is… SPARTAAAA!!! Yeah, I demand naked BUTT Hitagi !!!
      On a serious note, you ask if its necessary for Araragi to freak out? Well, of course it is since the poor guy obvioulsy tried to refrain his hormones from taking over him & created “Hitagi RAEP part 2”, what else? If it was me, I sure as hell will play with her like the crab in this ep ;)

  • Yue says:

    The artistic direction is striking in this show. Although, the plot hasn’t begun yet… Go Shaft!!

    • Irie says:

      I took the chance to read some summaries as well. Seems like a rather interesting juxtaposition between emotions & physical loss. I guess some research would be needed to determine why this particular god was choosen. Assuming it has any hidden meaning.

      Hopefully the next episode will keep us guessing as well. Does anybody find the speed of the relationship between Araragi and Hitagi a little odd?

  • Nellie says:

    So I read the summary of what’s really going on with Hitagi at animesuki and now things make more sense. Wow, obtuse is right.

  • anon says:

    I wish Araragi would act like a man, but I can make that complaint about a lot of anime characters. Overall, this show looks like Mushishi and Natsume Yuujinchou – good, if you’re into that sort of thing.

    • MADAO says:

      Sorry to say this but HELL NO!!! Where the heck can you find lacy panties wearing girl in freaking HD or shameless girl who keep show off her OVER 90 cm!!! butt in Mushishi & Natsume anyway ???! If there is, I sure as heck will take those 2 out of my DROPPED list ASAP, you know?

  • Solaris says:

    I really don’t like this anime.
    If you just close the eyes and let all the flashing and experimental graphics go to hell without confusing your primary sense, you’d discover this serie is made of incomprehensible buddist speech and nothing more. There’s no action, no drama, no mistery, no plot twist, no excitement. All is damn flat and boring speech. So it took 2 full episodes to introduce the girl and a quarter of episode to solve her problem. The most part of this episode was spent in a pointless long useless fanservice. At least we learn the girl has a nice body.

    As a side note who was the girl we saw briefly at the end of the former episode? And these two new girls we saw at the end of this episode? Are they just appearances? Should we expect new appearances each episode? That could be nice, after all …

  • MADAO says:

    Somehow, I think I was bitten by an ELIZBESU and have the clairvoyance ability as I can already predicted Hitagi with emotions will suck compared to robotic, shameless, like-to-walk-in-the-nude Hitagi, oh well, let’s wait and see.

  • Albedo says:

    I enjoyed the show even though Hitagi seems to have lost the awesome craziness that got me interested in the show in the first place. Can’t wait to see what gets stapled next!

  • The Phantom says:

    Looks like the violence went down in this plain average episode. Unless the next episode retakes the violent path I am dropping this anime, it has WAY TOO MUCH fanservice and I can barely stand it.

    • Tina says:

      Well from what I know based on the light novels the fanservices takes a plunge in the next arc. The next arc will be mostly comedy based and then in the arc following that you get your violence.