It seems that Mayoi isn't the only one following Araragi however, as he appears to have picked up the interest of another girl - Kanbaru Suruga, an ace basketball player who looks likely to have been following Araragi around for a little while. She finally races up to talk to him, but the conversation is hardly an enlightening one.
Said conversation is cut short due to Araragi making his way to Senjougaraha's place to study for mid-term exams for her, although our male protagonist appears to be studying some different things entirely for at least some of that time. As you would expect of this series, it's the conversations between Senjougarahara and Araragi that stand-out this episode, with the former voicing her usual array of great lines and put-downs, as well as proving to be frighteningly quick -drawing with a pen. The conversation eventually turns to Kanbaru, who it turns out was a former friend of Hitagi, and also someone who offered to help her with her weight problem - A topic which led to her getting "the stapler treatment", and thus putting paid to their relationship in pretty dramatic fashion. If that isn't enough to muse over, the episode ends in both a shocking and surprising fashion, to leave us with plenty ponder for the next episode.
I hate to gush over this series too much, but once again Bakemonogatari seems to have it all - Visually the episode is a treat once again, managing to be both simple yet intriguingly eye-catching, and with a soundtrack to match. The dialogue is also impeccable, from Araragi's discussions with Mayoi through to Senjougahara's frankly quite terrifying love for her new boyfriend which is in equal parts cute and utterly, obsessively stalker-esque. I somehow love the fact that it's all-but impossible to predict where any given story arc is going, forcing you to simply dump any philosophies and pre-conceptions at the door and just go with the flow; a state of affairs which once again allows Bakemonogatari as a little bit of random genius.
You forgot to mention the awesome wordplay on both Kanbaru's and Senjougahara's names. That was a good one. A lot of that throughout the series so far and more to come, most likely.
ReplyDeleteI also felt Hanekawa's monologue was an awesome rendition not just of Hocchan's voice, but also of the revelations it contained about both Hitagi and Araragi, as well as other thoughts it inspired people to think about as she went on in a strong flow.
So far I really love this series.
ReplyDeleteIt's not generic in any way, beautiful art and character design and no predictability (is that a word?) at all. And it's funny without lame jokes. I laughed my ass of seeing Araragi beating Mayoi unconscious twice, "massaging" her breasts and each time commenting his own doings like some observer who isn't relly involved.