Sunday
Jul122009
Bakemonogarari Ep 1 - The Visual Squid to Your Id of Pathos
Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 08:00AM
Anime is
story visuals
. plot images character
sound life wonder
. voice
...and sometime watching them is like trying to read the above.
In the tradition of Ef, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, and the last few episodes of Evangelion comes Bakemonogarari. Random images, mixed media, lots of text, all mixing together in what promises to be a pretty bizarre story. Just look at their opening inspiration:
Isn't this the opening of Eco?
This nice thing about Bakemonogarari is a somewhat followable story, though it looses none of the bizarreness. We'll start with Araragi, who was on the receiving end of the falling maiden above, who fell rather, well, slowly. Said maiden is Senjōgahara, who doesn't take kindly to being caught, a condition that resulted when she slipped on a banana peel.
I'm not kidding.
What fearsome secret is she protecting?
Kind of sensitive about her weight
I should pause at this point, since it looks like Senjōgahara is doing some unwanted dentistry on him. Here is what is actually going on:
This...would...SUCK!
At this point, I have no idea why the fact that you weight 5 kg is a reason to threaten to widen some one's smile, and to be honest, I don't think we're ever going to find out. Luckily, even after a warning staple to the cheek, Araragi has a reason not to give up and find out more, even with faced with this.
Death by office supply
Araragi now barely avoids the death of 1000 cuts by appealing to that whole dentistry fetish again.
Molars are SEXXY
What we actually see is that the stapler puncture wound has completely healed, a side effect of Araragi previously being a vampire.
I said the story was going to get weird.
Araragi knows this guy who specializes in repairing supernatural damage. Oshino seems smart enough to explain what the hell is going on to Senjōgahara
It's the weightloss god!
That's where we'll leave the plot. Let's talk about style, which this show tries to ooze out of every pore. There is the typical quick cuts, long pans, drawn out scenes, text panels, and mixed media like the example below.
This is a metaphor for something...probably LSD
I should find it cliche, but I find this show fascinating. My brief spoiler free research seems to indicate this is based on a series of novels, and we're kicking it off in the middle of the series. With this kind of show, I fully expect us to bounce around, visiting each story in flashback and exposition. In fact, I think the opening credits summaries an entire novel.
One last note - I will pay much, much monies for a statue of Battle Supplies Senjōgahara.
I'd pee my pants if I saw this coming at me
story visuals
. plot images character
sound life wonder
. voice
...and sometime watching them is like trying to read the above.
In the tradition of Ef, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, and the last few episodes of Evangelion comes Bakemonogarari. Random images, mixed media, lots of text, all mixing together in what promises to be a pretty bizarre story. Just look at their opening inspiration:
Isn't this the opening of Eco?
This nice thing about Bakemonogarari is a somewhat followable story, though it looses none of the bizarreness. We'll start with Araragi, who was on the receiving end of the falling maiden above, who fell rather, well, slowly. Said maiden is Senjōgahara, who doesn't take kindly to being caught, a condition that resulted when she slipped on a banana peel.
I'm not kidding.
What fearsome secret is she protecting?
Kind of sensitive about her weight
I should pause at this point, since it looks like Senjōgahara is doing some unwanted dentistry on him. Here is what is actually going on:
This...would...SUCK!
At this point, I have no idea why the fact that you weight 5 kg is a reason to threaten to widen some one's smile, and to be honest, I don't think we're ever going to find out. Luckily, even after a warning staple to the cheek, Araragi has a reason not to give up and find out more, even with faced with this.
Death by office supply
Araragi now barely avoids the death of 1000 cuts by appealing to that whole dentistry fetish again.
Molars are SEXXY
What we actually see is that the stapler puncture wound has completely healed, a side effect of Araragi previously being a vampire.
I said the story was going to get weird.
Araragi knows this guy who specializes in repairing supernatural damage. Oshino seems smart enough to explain what the hell is going on to Senjōgahara
It's the weightloss god!
That's where we'll leave the plot. Let's talk about style, which this show tries to ooze out of every pore. There is the typical quick cuts, long pans, drawn out scenes, text panels, and mixed media like the example below.
This is a metaphor for something...probably LSD
I should find it cliche, but I find this show fascinating. My brief spoiler free research seems to indicate this is based on a series of novels, and we're kicking it off in the middle of the series. With this kind of show, I fully expect us to bounce around, visiting each story in flashback and exposition. In fact, I think the opening credits summaries an entire novel.
One last note - I will pay much, much monies for a statue of Battle Supplies Senjōgahara.
I'd pee my pants if I saw this coming at me
in Fansub, High School, Reviews, Supernatural
Fansub, High School, Reviews, Supernatural
Reader Comments (2)
Rather interesting. Has few times re-read for this purpose to remember. Thanks for interesting article. Waiting for trackback
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