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EP. REVIEW: Bakemonogatari

aifhak wrote:

I kind of agree with you disagreeing on the last part of it. I don't think Nadeko has a problem with her own body aside from her being ashamed of the marks and people finding out about her issues. I didn't take it as her being uncomfortable with her own body or wanting to be less womanly. There's a fair bit to say about this part for people who've read or seen later seasons of it so I kind of get where he's comming from but I don't think it's the case in this scene. spoiler[My take on it is that there are 2 relevant other scenes, from Nisemonogatari and obviously her entire arc in the 2nd season, that might have influenced Nicks perception of this as he rewatches Bake. While the 2nd season does make a point about her being troubled by being stigmatized as "the cute girl" and she relishes when being called scary, ugly or whatever it was but neither do I think that's something already applicable in this time of the story, nor do I think she has a problem with it as long as it's Araragi who sees her like that. I don't think she has a problem with being cute, womanly, erotic or whatever else. She has a problem with being reduced to that by people and ultimately a sense of guilt over getting away with things because she's cute. As seen in Nisemonogatari for example, the scene that has Araragi comming over, we have that situation in which Nadeko dresses as extravagantly as humanly possible (for her) trying to seduce Koyomi with all her might in that game of twister etc. She clearly has no problem with that at all. At least not yet] But that's just my take on it and why I think Nick thinks that way. I might very well be off the mark here. That being said, I do think Nadeko makes for the weakest character in the series. At least within Bakemonogatari. I love her design and I really think she's cute af but all this introduction does for me is make her look like a trope to pander for people rather than an actual character.

I know I'm a bit in a disadvantage in not knowing the full of the Monogatari franchise and there certainly are a lot of blanks I can't fill just yet. From what you say I can gather I won't even fully understand Nadeko's character by the end of this arc, but in this case I was just taking Nick's words, and what I do understand is that she's troubled for what her body looks like now, not her body or appearence in general.

But my problem with the scene is mostly Araragi and Kanbaru's "funny" reaction. I mean, the parody of the meme made me laugh quite a bit when I saw it in the preview, not so much in context now.

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.

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).

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.

I'm actually dropping the rewatch after Episode 12 anyway. Isn't this whole affair just a pretext to watch that episode 12?

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.

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!