As I was rewatching Bakemonogatari (again), I came across a certain interesting point that should’ve been savored in my first watch. But for many reasons, I couldn’t taste it the way it was supposed to be. Delving into it, I found out the reason why and that’s what I’ll be writing about now. Let me inform you beforehand that the point I’m going to make delves into the details and fundamentals and isn’t very significant, but worth mentioning nevertheless. So only read if you believe a big essay on a small matter will not be inherently disappointing to you.

The first arc is entirely set up resembling the exact situation Senjougahara was being cautious of, sex trafficking. A beautiful girl suffering an unusual disease with no cure in sight, a guy (Araragi) who happened to learn of it by chance and despite the harsh warning from her, approached her saying that he knows someone who can help. Him bringing her to an abandoned building where no one’s expected to be around, saying that the person stays there. Not to mention making her leave out the tools she carries around for protection and bringing her to the second floor. Oshino’s shady dialogues and appearances, the misleading conversation between the two guys and the music in the background which is a mix of bebop and indie (probably).

the latter half of this OST, to be precise.

All of these create a situation that is highly suspicious and the anime perfectly nailed it with the last element in the setting, Shinobu. A young girl in uncouth clothes, sitting in a corner on the floor in that position. She appears like an underage victim or ‘plaything’ for these guys. It’s a perfect situation to report to the cops. Araragi makes it even more suspicious saying, “Oh, don’t worry about her” when Senjougahara asked about her.







This being the first arc to air is a perfect tool to create the tension as the viewers don’t have confirmation of its supernatural lore. Every details in the case is executed with care. The characters are aware of the implications this situation has. Senjougahara was constantly being suspicious of what they were doing or telling her to do and Araragi told her how she was being too insecure. Her getting concerned as she didn’t receive satisfying answer after asking about Shinobu is so perfect!

and so much details are well thought out.

But sadly, a viewer new to this anime, regardless of all these, usually don’t notice how it is, which is why nobody has pointed out how ingeniously it’s done. We don’t really consider how shady it can seem from Senjougahara’s perspective in our first watch. We don’t quite feel the tension of Araragi and Oshino suddenly being revealed as a bunch of conmen. The truth is, people don’t really give something much thoughts from the beginning, we only start to really think about it only after we notice something impressive because only then we deem it worth giving more thoughts. This feat being at the beginning in such subtle manner, it didn’t receive the perspective it needed from the viewers.

You could say that the anime lost this specific small battle to traditional viewing perspective. We can only be impressed by how well it’s done but we can’t experience this parody first hand as intended, for we have already learned the outcome. But while that’s true, the viewers are not the only ones at fault here. The anime also shares responsibility in this case. That’s why I’m calling this a criticism rather than a sad happenstance.

Not only does it lack a strong enough attempt to get the viewers anticipated about this aspect, this anime makes it harder to be suspicious of Araragi as well. The beginning of the anime showed Araragi’s experiences during Spring Break, aka Kizumonogatari, while the excerpts from the novel described what happened in short. That’s why when Araragi told Senjougahara about his experience in this field to convince her to let him help her, we found him to be reliable rather than a guy who might be making up the story to lure her into their trap. And then there’s the stapler wound. We directly see Araragi pulling that stapler pin out of the skin inside his mouth.

He used that healed wound as a proof of his supernatural involvement. So we viewers trust Araragi even further. Even if it’s just one proof, it’s still a proof and it’s quite solid. So it weakens the feeling of suspicion we could have from the entire setup of the arc. These are the reason why we viewers were deprived of a firsthand experience of a strong parody.

However, these could’ve been avoided and the anime could’ve made this aspect more approachable. Rather than starting with those quick shots and his monologues from the novel describing the incidents in Kizumonogatari, if the anime started from the moment Senjougahara fell from the sky (she actually didn’t), we could suspect the story Araragi told her. The fractions of Kizumonogatari could’ve been shown anytime after the revelation of the crab. Because in order to make the parody successful, the crab’s appearance should be the moment to confirm supernatural involvements. The anime could avoid showing him pulling the stapler pin out as well and they could show the pin with blood stain after the crab appears.

In fact, doing this after Senjougahara got her weight back would serve the purpose of showing Senjougahara finally realizing that these people are not scammers and they genuinely helped her. This would work because if we don’t see the stapler pin stuck to his mouth and him pulling it out, it’d be entirely possible that it missed the skin inside Araragi’s mouth. Araragi could’ve even said, “I guess I was a bit lucky” in his inner monologue when Senjougahara was surprised to see no wound. It would make sense from both perspectives, firstly, Araragi being lucky that he’s a vampire and so the wound healed and secondly, if he was making things up, the pin missing his mouth does make him lucky. It’s not rare to find a bad pin or already folded pin in a stapler either.

Doing these, the anime could’ve created an uncomfortable atmosphere, and Araragi Koyomi and Oshino Meme could’ve been suspected more. Until the crab appeared, there would’ve been two possible nature of this anime, two possible way the story might’ve turned out and we could’ve experienced the parody the way it was supposed to be. Well, the term, ‘parody’ doesn’t quite describe this feat accurately as it isn’t really comical. To be more precise, it can be deemed a subversion of literary allusion, the feat of referring to a certain thing or topic in literary works. Because it presents its story in its original nature while the implication suggesting a hidden nature, but ended up being what it claimed to be.

This way, the anime wouldn’t have lost the battle against traditional viewing method so horribly. While Monogatari Series thrives with nuances and this very feat showcases many of them, it could’ve done a bit better job to make it stronger. Well, while this rewatch revealed a small thing to criticize, it also revealed a huge thing to praise. I just wish it didn’t make us regret not experiencing the parody first hand. But nothing is perfect so it’s fine





I’ve been posting a lot of Monogatari contents lately. Well, I’m a massive Monogatarifag and I’m rewatching this show that I deem the best thing I’ve come across so far, so this is nothing unnatural. Almost every bit of it makes me want to post something about it in the Facebook group I manage because they all have things worth mentioning and expanding upon. I feel like I can write a whole book with all the things I want to write about Monogatari Series. Anyway, I hope you liked this article, which if you did, give it a like and comment your thoughts regarding it below.