Bakemonogatari - Episode 4

After committing a not inconsiderable act of violence upon young Mayoi Hachikuji in the name of trying to help her, Araragi finally looks to make some proper, solid progress in helping this slightly odd girl find her way this episode - With plenty of help from Senjougahara of course.

While Hitagi should know this area well (as it's where she used to live) even factoring in urban redevelopment, the trio find themselves constantly missing the location of the address that they're searching for - Indeed, it's almost as though the address Mayoi has written down is changing all the time. Looks like Araragi has picked up another bizarre case that goes over and above his head...


So, as Araragi finds out who Mayoi is really trying to visit and why, and hears the whole story as to how this always happens when she visits said person, he then sends Senjougahara off to consult Oshino on the matter. As per the first story arc used in this series, the solution to the problem relies to some extent on a play on words; this time around, Mayoi's snail could actually be interpreted to be a cow. Whether that helps at all with allowing her to find her way thanks to some pending advice from Oshino remains to be seen however, so we're going to have to be patient until the next episode for that one.

I'll be the first to admit that this is arguably the weakest episode of Bakemonogatari so far - Perhaps unsurprisingly given how fantastic the first three episodes all proved to be. Things just seemed to move a little too slowly here somewhat, especially when coupled with the deliberate and dialogue-heavy pace of the last episode, leaving me wishing we'd got a little further into the meat of the story arc this time around. That isn't to say that this episode is a complete loss however - As per usual, Senjougahara has some fabulous lines to go with her killer attitude, Mayoi herself proves to be an amusing character in her own right (I'm not sure why, but her mistaken use of the name Arararagi made me laugh out loud), and there's something uncomfortably hilarious about watching Araragi beating the living the daylights out of Mayoi yet again. I suppose when it comes to the crunch, this particular episode just felt like it had lost a little of its early fizz - Hopefully someone will get hold of the bottle and give it a good shake in time for episode five.