Bakemonogatari - 03 July 18
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Summary:
It is Mother’s Day, but Koyomi finds himself alone at the park instead of at home. He notices what appears to be a young girl who needs directions, however she runs off before he can do anything. Hitagi then shows up, and Koyomi learns that this is the area she used to live in. Sitting down next to him, she brings up the topic of repaying him for how he helped her so that they can become friends on equal terms afterward. After much discussion of what Hitagi is willing to do, Koyomi brings up how he got into an argument with his sister over celebrating Mother’s Day. Unlike him, his sisters are close to their mother, and since he felt that he didn’t belong in his own home today, he got into an argument with Karen. Koyomi is frustrated with his small-mindedness, yet he doesn’t want to return home, and despite some teasing in regard to this, Hitagi vows not to abandon him. She even offers to help him if he wants a girlfriend, and though he considers it, he turns it all down.
The young girl, whose name tag reads Hachikuji Mayoi, then appears again looking lost, so Koyomi goes to talk to her. Mayoi, however, doesn’t want to talk to him and claims that she hates him. She ignores him when he attempts to talk to her again, so the third time, he smacks her against the wall. This doesn’t make her any more receptive to him, but she at least talks to him again and reiterates that she hates him. Their conversation ends up leading nowhere, and after Mayoi kicks him in the gut, Koyomi gets into a fight with her and briefly knocks her out. He laughs triumphantly until Hitagi shows up, and he tries to explain what’s going on and gets Hitagi to help Mayoi find the place she’s looking for. Since Hitagi doesn’t want to touch anything he’s touched, he reads her the address, and she knows the area well enough to be able to lead them in the right direction. Mayoi by now has regained consciousness, and Koyomi has convinced her that she had a dream that’s opposite of reality. She confuses him, however, by calling herself the lost child of the snail.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Despite being rather dialogue heavy - over sixteen straight minutes worth with no OP in between - this episode had a surprisingly large amount of good character/relationship development for Koyomi and Hitagi. I say “surprisingly” because I assumed that this arc would focus more on Mayoi and not quite so much on Hitagi. Not that what they did is a bad thing: this episode managed to be pretty amusing at times, like with the whole siscon and sorocon thing, and I even chuckled at Hitagi’s Dragonball reference when she was describing what she could do. Hitagi in general is just a lot of fun to watch when she’s driving Koyomi crazy and sort of flirting at the same time.
Admittedly though, the most interesting part of the episode was after all that, when Mayoi appeared the second time. I laughed when Koyomi suddenly smacked her, and their subsequent fight had a bit of a Scooby Doo quality to it, which made the fact that he fought a grade-schooler a little less awkward, but no less absurd. Mayoi herself is pretty cute, and Katou Emiri does a pretty good job with her voice. The question is what the snail has to do with her being lost, and I’m sure there’ll be some sort of wordplay behind it to explain it in the two remaining episodes of this story arc. Hopefully they’ll also show Koyomi using more of his vampire powers like he briefly did this episode with his eyes.
crasher at 4:11 am on July 18th, 2009
Interesting Episode ^^ 1st
Holding at 4:15 am on July 18th, 2009
Wow, no opening?
Not that I care,but I like this episode.^^
Ikkiko at 4:16 am on July 18th, 2009
So, I’ve been looking at the summaries you write up on these and the screencaps… what genre is this anime anyway?
And from the screencaps it doesn’t seem like much happens in the episodes, are they full length or shorter?
It definitely has an interesting visual style, I’ll give it that.
Meery at 4:17 am on July 18th, 2009
“Hitagi in general is just a lot of fun to watch when she’s driving Koyomi crazy and sort of flirting at the same time;” well said, and I’m happy her personality didn’t change dramatically after being helped last episode. The exaggerated facial expressions were amusing, particularly after Koyomi’s kick in the gut.
isteb at 5:54 am on July 18th, 2009
too bad the subs can’t come any sooner.
zincxl at 6:25 am on July 18th, 2009
Damn nice visuals. The playground is really nifty.
Megas at 6:33 am on July 18th, 2009
The latter half of this episode was definitely on the interesting side although I had to keep myself from nodding off during most of it. It was no use during the first half though. I’ll have to re-watch it when I’m at full strength just so their conversation don’t put me to sleep again.
Coxi at 8:29 am on July 18th, 2009
Its turning into a very interesting series, the characters are all intriging and a gelight to watch and the visual styling is fantastic, currently its reminding me slightly of ergo proxy, just that weird style and anythign could happen. I’m still wondering what all that fighting etc was about in the first episode?
bigfire at 10:07 am on July 18th, 2009
Visually, looking from the side, Mayoi looks like a snail, and would probably cast a snail like shadow.
Anonymous at 10:49 am on July 18th, 2009
@Coxi
A prequel.
ajt at 11:09 am on July 18th, 2009
If I remember correctly from the novel its
Show Spoiler ▼
dbreak at 11:26 am on July 18th, 2009
Is it just me or does this art style look like a clash between casshern sins and mariaholic? It’s awesome but it’s bothering me at the same time. Not to mention Hitagi looks like Yomi from GaRei Zero
Black_Magic at 12:05 pm on July 18th, 2009
The fighting in the the start of the first episode was:
Show Spoiler ▼
Eri at 2:29 pm on July 18th, 2009
Loving it…
It started waaaaay weird at first but I adjusted to the visuals and story in no time. This is very intriguing. Hope I won’t be bored with the next episode.
Mark at 3:01 pm on July 18th, 2009
@dbreak, I don’t see the Casshern sins resemblance. It looks more like a mix of Druaga with something else to me, especially this shot: http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/Bakemonogatari/Bakemonogatari%20-%2003%20-%2008.jpg
Panther at 3:09 pm on July 18th, 2009
Ah Senjougahara tease, so much <3 for that.
J 970 at 7:15 pm on July 18th, 2009
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/Bakemonogatari/Bakemonogatari%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
Antenna is straighter than usual. . .
AC? at 7:40 pm on July 18th, 2009
fix this crap
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/Bakemonogatari/Bakemonogatari%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
Nellie at 8:36 pm on July 18th, 2009
@dbreak Well I can’t say it looks like Casshern, but it’s not surprising it looks like Maria Holic since SHAFT produced that as well as this one.
GP at 8:49 pm on July 18th, 2009
I can’t wait to see how the dynamic changes between Koyomi and Hitagi after this arc. I’m not quite sure how much her role expands after this but it changes. Something for everyone to look out for in the future.