Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Bakemonogatari
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aifhak
Posts: 57 |
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yeah I got that. It was mostly about the part where you wrote that you disagree with Nick about that last part he wrote. I also disagree with him on that and tried to explain why I happen to disagree with some parts of it. Got a bit confusing in the end, sry That being said, I think I've mentioned this in here already but keep in mind that Monogatari arcs are stories. And for the most part it's people telling them, with all the flaws that comes with that: not being objective, seeing it from their point of view and how they perceived a situation rather than how a scene "actually" was. In that way I don't think you should take some of those scenes too literal but rather think about it as "that's how I think I must have looked like" etc to use this specific example scene. I don't think for a second that Kanbaru's room is a literal cave of BL books to give an obvious example. That's just how Araragi sees her as well as her room. I don't think that the school in the first episode was literally devoid of people except for Hanekawa, Senjougahara and Araragi, it's just what matters to him and this story. Likewise, her falling down obviously didn't really have her falling down multiple floors for Araragi to be able to have a monologue while it happens until he catches her. Or at the very least that's how I'm looking at things in this series. So in that way I personally think while there are certainly moments that are shady as fudge I don't think they're that extreme in general, especially if Araragi himself seems to regret it and worries about how he's seen by other people. |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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I know it's not entirely literal, and that part of Monogatari's charm is how visually inventive it strives to be. My problem in this episode's last scene is that it was badly crafted in general, which curiously happens when the series tries to be a little too self-aware. For example, Araragi punching out a child is hilarious for how absurdly presented it is. The jokes of Araragi being a pedophile are dull, since the punchline is "Oh, this would be allowed in a Light Novel, glad we're not in one, because this would be illegal!" it just sounds unfunny and forced. It happens similarly when people other than Senjougahara say she is a tsundere; Senjougahara seems to be an otaku and she usually talks about anime tropes, Hanekawa or other people saying it sounds stupid. The same happened here, trying to make a gag out of a middle schooler in bloomers but coping out with "No wait, this is uncomfortable! Whew glad we dodged that bullet after six shots of this girl's body" This sort of anti-joke is relatively hard to pull off, and so far Bake has been incredibly hit and miss. Honestly, I would've laughed my ass off if this was Senjougahara stripping and Kanbaru going "F*** YEAH" with Araragi, in fact, the preview alone with that shot made me laugh at what they could be reacting to. But yeah, enough of that point. |
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ajr
Posts: 465 |
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Hey Nick, just popping in here to thank you for your episode 10 review. I was pretty squicked out (and confused) by the Nadeko Snake arc, so thanks for adding a layer of interpretation that isn't just shallow not-porn exploitation (even if it very possibly mostly done to sell blurays), it's a side I was perhaps too distracted to perceive.
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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I have mixed feelings about this episode. Not because I thought it was bad, rather it was that it didn't feel particularly special except at times. On the other hand, two minutes before ending the episode I had a bit of an underwhelming feeling so I made this.
Rather than as a meta narrative, I took this episode a little more literally. When I thought of what the ritual scene looks like, and what we find out at the moment (the second snake), it made me think of the other boy harboring such hate for this girl that the snake is like his libido invading her. Because the other snake wasn't doing that, instead, it only was slowly killing her. So in that sense, I was mostly okay with the episode in general because the shots felt like serving the purpose of being really uncomfortable, and the tone of the scenes were all serious, compared to the previous episode. The idea of Sengoku sort of being a comment on how harem treats this kind of girl is... It's not wrong, but it doesn't entirely fit for me. I don't know why, perhaps because I felt pretty disappointed on how this arc really didn't progress much of her character, and the meta part of it doesn't feel that much interesting. Other than that, what actually bored me is that we've gone through the same thing as before, beating us over the head with "Araragi you goddamn idiot", except we go a little further today because Araragi even wanted to save the scumbag that wanted to rape Sengoku. I might not have had such a problem with it if Sengoku was a little more interesting to me. Next episode seems like we'll have the foreshadowed cat back in episode 1, and Sengoku will still be there and I'm okay with that. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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On the question of how would we (legally) see the last three episodes considering CR only has the first twelve, I actually stumbled upon the answer. The good news is that Bakemonogatari is legally available in its entirety. Bad news is it is an Anime Strike exclusive (at least for the last three episodes as far as I can tell).
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Burning.Taco
Posts: 1 |
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I'm actually dropping the rewatch after Episode 12 anyway. Isn't this whole affair just a pretext to watch that episode 12? |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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Been having a hard time with Monogatari without Senjougahara, honestly, and most of this episode didn't particularly ring any better for me.
Sengoku was, again, the lowest point. Hamfisted and unfunny Doraemon/Anime references (it was sort of funny when Senjougahara did those because she seems like an otaku, Kanbaru seems to be BL fan too), and, unless Nick and I are watching different shows, we totally had sexualized shots of Sengoku...In Araragi's mind, no less, specifically when he was thinking about holding the swimsuit she was wearing and literally going "YEAAAAAA". So Tsubasa Cat, I was looking forward to this because we finally get back to Araragi's very early thought of Hanekawa going Black Cat form, yet I'm still extremely "eh" to it. Other than being a really cute cat girl, I don't feel that watching Hanekawa is any more fulfilling than watching Hitagi Crab or Suruga Monkey. What I mean by that is that Hanekawa almost has the same dramatic development as Senjougahara, both have been victims of domestic violence (to different degrees) and clearly hard problems to express it, although Hanekawa takes a very "nice girl" stance while Senjougahara would've loped off Araragi's head if she had to keep her secret. Although the oddities strike her differently, it also feels as the same idea used for Kanbaru: violent outbursts and shapeshifting. Sure, there are a lot of nuances to each one, and I do know that we're exploring particular topics throughout all arcs Bakemonogatari, yet I feel like we aren't getting THAT much new juice out of it , or at least it's not trying to so far. Hope Tsubasa cat uses the remaining episodes to good use. It's still visually engaging and inventing as ever though, I like Hanekawa's attack of electrocution and how Shinobu just sucked up the Cat oddity, which I guess will make more sense later down the line. |
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Fhoo
Posts: 23 |
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Well I think you'll be happy with the next episode. Episode 11 is basically just the prologue to the meat of Tsubasa Cat. I'd say that it doesn't really start until episode 13. |
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Parsifal24
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Episode 12 and The Suruga Monkey arc where really the only enjoyable parts of the series. For me having just finished I came away impressed with technical achievement even the writing is not my cup of tea. Episode 12 if anything helped humanize Koyomi the franchise is still not one I enjoy but it has enough good moments to at least not write off completely.
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doubleO7
Posts: 1069 |
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I wouldn't say so. They're almost completely unrelated story-wise. Those three episodes are the conclusion to Hanekawa's arc that was brought to a screeching halt by the (admittedly excellent) TV finale. They're quite good, and personally some of my favorite episodes of the whole first season. Unless someone just hates Hanekawa's character so much that they can't stand to watch more episode that revolve around her, there's no good reason to skip them if you've already made it this far. |
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青白
Posts: 184 |
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That final scene in episode 12 was one of the best romantic scenes that I have seen in ANY anime. Senjougahara was beautifully honest and Araragi was appreciative of that honesty, which made that scene even more beautiful.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4084 |
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And how it blended in with the opener/closer, thus layering climax upon climax to a blistering piano beat.... or a piano being beaten. It's one of those. And then the series goes on for 50 plus episodes destroying all the feeling from this by distancing a final emotional high, possibly, from this initial one. But hey, nice while it lasted. Also, I love this: "Bakemonogatari's twelfth episode rudely interrupts Hanekawa's arc, centering us back on the relationship between Senjougahara and Araragi." Do you think they're trying to tell us something about the romantic aspect of the franchise? My only thoughts about reading ahead to spoilers was "No, really? Who saw that coming?!" Not her, she... wait am I supposed to spoiler this? And if so then why write that? But yes, episode was a+... and it all goes uphill from here. Long, slow, plodding, arduous... |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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Well, it seems that I was right in finishing Bakemonogatari myself, predicting that the reviews would sort of end by this episode. In fact, I went through Nise, KuroNeko and I started Second Season, mostly a great ride so far.
I don't think I can add much to Nick's thoughts this time, this is one of my definitive favorite episodes in Monogatari, highlighting all my favorite aspects of it. Although the end of Hanekawa's arc didn't feel as poignant (I am enjoying the later arcs of her though), I'm very much happy with this "finale". Other than that, I'm glad I dived into Monogatari at last, I was wary of not liking it at all but I'm very much invested in burning through all of it. The weekly slow watch schedule has trained me to be able to watch and digest quicker, I can even read the blinking cards better! |
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CrispyCritter
Posts: 12 |
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Beautiful review of a beautiful episode (12). I completely agree with you; I've watched several hundred anime series, and without hesitation I would say this is the best, most perfect, single episode I've seen. It continually surprised me with what was happening, yet everything was so perfectly in character with both of them. Yes, Senjougahara would be nakedly honest with Araragi, but she went much farther than I was expecting, to her core. And we could see Aragari's objections and committment to her, all non-verbal, while being led by her in the woods.
It tied together everything we knew about the two, even beautifully bringing in the ending song. After recovering from the initial impact of the episode, I immediately started marathoning the previous episodes just to see how nicely set up that episode was. Not only Senjougahara's actions were developed, but Araragi's balance between his desire to help others, and respect and apprecitation of others' own characters. Araragi is a personally wishy-washy character who could never do what Senjougahara did, but they both recognize and accept each other's whole character, including flaws. The story needs to develop not only that Senjougahara can be honest, but that we , and Senjougahara, think Araragi can accept that honesty, at least to the point where Senjougahara can make her gamble on presenting herself fully. I suspect this one episode has meant several hundred dollars have gone from my bank account to Aniplex's! |
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aifhak
Posts: 57 |
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always happy to hear someone else started watching it. And if you're watching 2nd season maybe you'll come to like Nadeko a bit more because like I said earlier, while I do think her arc as well as her character are the low points of Bakemonogatari, I did really like her arc in the second season. One of the better openings to an arc if nothing else. |
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