Rubénerd!

Sometimes you can forgive yourself when you miss a news story, other times you want to hit your head against the wall with a sledgehammer. That sentence made no sense. Her Senjougharaness is now available in figure form!

According to several online news sources online (well that was a redundant sentence, and it hasn't even finished yet), several houses are releasing Senjoughara figures from last years best show Bakemonogatari. I added that bit about it being the best show, I know a lot of people disagree with me but I thought it was awesome on so many levels.

I'm pleased, but...

While I'm pleased Her Senjougharaness is now getting some attention, I don't think I'll get either of these. I don't collect many anime figures (I'm picky and they're expensive even with my friend from Singapore in Japan "helping" me out), so I like the ones I do get to be really awesome.

I can't quite put my finger on it, and I know Hitagi was sneaky with her tsundereness, but to me she looks a little cold and vacant in both her renditions (is that the word?) not her usual awesome (and friendly dere dere) self. Her skirt in the GoodSmile Company version is also much shorter than in the show which also doesn't match her personality. For those not in the know, outcast characters always wear longer skirts, it's like a visual cue. Except for the outcast guys. Wait, virtually all guys in anime are outcasts. Never mind :P

Anyway, by comparison an Alter Hitagi figure would be awesome. And a Koyomi to stand with her with his sentient antenna hair. Just saying.

The O'Pointless Factor

You must understand, under most circumstances I'm the kind of person who must ruthlessly justify everything he buys. If a product doesn't do something functional or fulfill a specific need, I can't bring myself to buy it; I'm flooded with a sense of guilt and I back away.

The only non-productive things I find myself oddly obsessed with are nostalgic computer hardware and software, and anime figures. While the former could be tepidly justified as "learning about computer history" there is absolutely ZERO justification for collecting anime figures. NONE. They just stand there, doing absolutely nothing. And I can't get enough of them. ^_^

My first anime blog (which I lost in that now infamous database wipe) had a whole section on these curious collectibles. I'm seriously considering spinning off my anime posts into a separate blog again, the first one was terrible but it was lots of fun. Come to think of it I even have an epic domain I could use!

It's been almost five months since I last watched an episode of Bakemonogatari, so I figured I'd rectify this situation on this lovely Sunday afternoon.

It's not entirely my fault that I haven't blogged about this epicly awesome series for a while, it's all Shaft. Yeah, that must be it. See the thing was Bakemonogatari's final few episodes were released online instead of being broadcast on television, but there was a delay. Not only that, but I went on holidays in Europe around that time. Developed world problems, they're terrible.

I'm writing up this anime review in nvi

Hey, if you were following my nvi related posts recently you can appreciate that! This was the third episode of the Tsubasa Cat series in which our beloved and super smart meganekko class leader comes out as being possessed by a cat oddity, hence the series being called Tsubasa Cat. Sometimes I worry if I were a journalist or reviewer I'd be too good at it, but the worry subsides when I read my own words.

Using a plot device that would be predictable if it weren't for the fact what happens between it's initiation and conclusion is completely different each time, the crux of the story is Koyomi learns of Tsubasa's cat oddity, so he has to take her to see Epic Hawaiian Shirt Guy with a collar so long it rivals Koyomi's sentient hair antenna. The fact you thought of something else when I was discussing a male character's long... collar is troubling.

You're not the only one

So we all know Koyomi was cast as the typical awkward, under achieving guy that otaku can relate to, other than the fact Tsubasa explained to him he suddenly got charisma and popularity with girls through coming into contact with a female vampire. You know you're in deep when you read a sentence you just wrote describing a plot so ridiculous a regular person would laugh but you find it perfectly normal.

I was going somewhere with this. As it turns out in this episode we're reminded just what a pervert he really is. Hey, he wanted to check Mayoi out, but he was only kidding!!! May he take your coat while you're wearing pajamas? Oooh oooh a buxom young woman is pressing against him while he rides his bike, oooh! Wait, that sounded even worse than I intended, I'll stop now while I'm ahead. Cat ears.

Cap'n, I cannot hold the forth wall much longer!

I'm a huge sucker for writers who break the fourth wall, so when Her Senjougharaness informs Koyomi that her voice actress is very good at her job, I was smacking the table with laughter! Speaking of that scene, that was one TIDY bicycle parking lot! And why was Hitagi even there?

I don't care if a bunch of people don't like this series, the art, the characters and the blunt jokes like this mean this will probably be in my top 10 when I finish, presuming they don't mess up the ending. It was for these reasons why I enjoyed Sayonara Zetsubou Zensei too.

Unanswered questions going unanswered (?)

Will Tsubasa be rid of her cat oddity? Or perhaps a more pertinent question, does Koyomi even want her rid of her cat oddity? Come on, I saw his expression when he saw her cat ears!

I admit it, I blog about anime because it gives me an excuse (along with this entire category) for talking about complete nonsense with lots of innuendo. Hey Koyomi, you can't park your bicycle there, you could get arrested! I'm stopping now.

By the way sorry about the quality of screenshots, I didn't have much internet quota left for this month. To make up for it, here's the best shot from the entire episode!

News stories are spreading like some sort of fire (a wild one I presume) that initial sales of the Bakemonogatari DVDs and BluRay discs have not only outsold the disastrous and missed opportunity that was the second season of Haruhi, but even K-On! In real terms outselling Haruhi didn't surprise me, but beating the K-On with its huge impact on popular culture (sales of musical instruments, shimapan bowls and whatnot) was quite an achievement.

There seems to be two streams of discussion online about this that I would argue are actually the same thing, but people aren't treating them as such. The first is, despite beating the Kyoani war machine, Shaft still didn't sell as many as any series that have super robots. Fair enough, everybody expected that because they're two completely different genres and types of shows. Then the same people turn around and start arbitrarily discussing how much better Bakemonogatari is to both K-On and Haruhi.

Huh?

Let's get one thing straight; I have adored Bakeomonogatari. I think it's been one of the freshest, most interesting series I've seen since I started watching anime again, and Shaft are to be commended for their successful adaptation. I expected no less from the studio that brought us the brilliant Sayonara Setsubou-Sensei!

That said, I'm of the opinion that arbitrarily comparing Bakemonogatari to both Haruhi and K-On is almost as silly and meaningless as comparing Bakemonogatari to shows with super robots. I preface my proposition with almost because I do concede there is perhaps more of an audience overlap between Kyoani's shows and Shaft's, but my point stands. Mostly.

While I admit I adore K-On and thought the first season of Haruhi was far more interesting than anything else coming out at that time, the first is mostly an unabashed moe blob series and Haruhi for all it's time travellers and espers and universe creation was also largely a slice of life show as well. I think it's safe to say both were comedies. Bakemonogatari has it's lighthearted, fun moments, but it'd be quite a stretch to call it a moe blob series or a comedy. The Bakemonogatari universe is also fundamentally different, and aside from anything else comparing the art in it to any other series (perhaps aside from Sayonara Setsubou-Sensei!) is just unfair!

Am I completely wrong? Probably. I just wish people could celebrate the incredible success and achievement Shaft have had with their superb new series without instantly saying it's because it's "just better". A fine bottle of Barossa Valley red is better than a can of Coke, but that doesn't mean the comparison means anything :P.

If I could come up with a witty opening line to discuss an episode of Bakemonogatari where something advertised didn't happen and instead we were treated to a cute date episode, I'd probably put it here. In lieu of this, the above sentence will have to suffice. Forgive me for sounding distracted, I'm wearing a jumper and it's actually quite warm out today.

Despite being titled Tsubasa Cat and the assumption that it would be about Tsubasa and her catlike oddity, we got a drawn out conversation between Koyomi and Her Senjougharaness, I'm sorry Hitagi. If I refer to her as Her Senjougharaness she may construe that to mean I'm discussing matters with her father in the car. Allegedly she's not a fan of that.

This entire episode could be summarised with one word which looking back now seeing as we're in paragraph three should have been put further up the top somewhere. "Awww." After having a troubled childhood and a father who's always away on business (I would have no idea what that's like -__-) Koyomi has changed her life and her father comments that he hasn't seen her that happy in a long time. Awww.

And what does their date consist of? Lying on a tarp looking up at the stars. Awwww. And how does the date get started? By her awkwardly trying to figure out the words. Awwwww. I can imagine a few people were agitated with the lack of action in this episode, I thought it was cute. Awwwwww. There was even some suggestive talking and some Haruhi inspired ear action. Awwwwwww.

As to the title to which I've already discussed, I genuinely thought at the beginning when Koyomi suggested the day was unforgettable "but..." he was referring to the fact a random person who'd morphed into a cat was going to appear and ruin their evening or something of that nature. No, it turns out this episode was about showing Hitagi in various different up close poses pulling different facial expressions. Like episode 02, I lost count after a few dozen times.

Warning: cheesyness alert. Despite the limited number of scenes and the slower pace, I really did like this episode in an overly cheesy fanboy way! I actually thought the scene with the discussion of Hitagi's dad and Koyomi was sweet, and choosing to go on their first date to a place where her parents used to take her to look at the starts -- as cheesy as it sounds -- made me smile. I remember my late mum and I going to Ubud in Bali and looking over this particular spot where you could see the terraced rice fields fade off into the distance and in the evening the flikering candlelight in the soapstone carved lanterns down the streets; one of these days I'll take someone dear to me and show them the same things in the same way :).

As for the graphics, they were still excellent even if some of the same stock road footage was used in several dozen places. What struck me was the fact her father's car wasn't one of those retro modern white two door "vehicle" that up until this point were the only ones we'd seen! Even more shocking: I can never spell "vehicle", and both the Mac OS X and Gnome spell checkers can never figure out what I typed! Thank heavens The Googles suggest spelling.

Because of a combination of not having internet for several hundred years, then assignments all being due at the same time, then work piling up (they always come in threes) I had to push this episode discussion whatnot back for several weeks. Bakemonogatari watches saw this ages ago and are probably already watching and discussing the online episodes. Is that a new thing for a production house to do? Haven't heard of anything else being released in this fashion.

Stars are pretty. Singapore banned the night sky with it's luminescent dense city night light glow, particularly ironic given their flag has five stars on it. Adelaide has pretty night skies. I'll stop now.

Despite the internet only being down at our home for a relatively short period of time, it managed to get me completely out of sync with Bakemonogatari Ghost Storyness. Episode 12 is already out, and I only just finished with episode 11!

We've got a new story arc, this time in the form of Tsubasa Cat which I gathered from the title meant it would be about... Tsubasa. My powers of deduction turned out to be formidable (I always misspell that word), because it turned out most of the episode did centre around her. Genius! It's like I used to say to people in high school, why choose between intelligence, integrity and modesty when you could get all three in me? It seems my wit hasn't developed much at all since then.

Before we got to see our favourite meganekko Class President to End All Class Presidents though in the first deviation from the regular Bakemonogatari story arc format we've come to expect we spent some more time with Nadeko from Nadeko Snake who's now free of the serpent oddities. Snakes are serpents, right? They talk about the supernatural after school and she gives the bloomers and swimwear Suruga had lent her to him for him to return, a real test for a nerdy otaku guy apparently, even if he is a former vampire -___-. She thanks him for all his help but is scared and bolts once she sees Tsubasa. She has that effect on people it seems ^^;.

Before that encounter, Tsubasa and Koyomi are walking and talking about family life. Tsubasa has a bandage on her face and I think it's safe to say we all figured out why, just not whom. Turns out she was adopted and her latest step dad lashed out which she defends but Koyomi isn't convinced. Given the fact he seems determined to solve everyone's problems I was almost expecting him to walk into Tsubaya's house and return the favour for her!

After the impossibly cute Nadeko scatters, the impossibly cute Tsubasa and Koyomi get back to talking. In a second deviation from the regular Bakemonogatari story arc format we've come to expect (did I just unwittingly copy that line verbatim from the third paragraph?) a previous story is introduced in order to establish background. I haven't read any of the Bakemonogatari novels, but if I were to theorise I'd say it could almost have been a separate story that the anime adaptors slipped into this one. I'm probably completely wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time.

It seems even Nadeko has had troubles with oddities, in this case though its not one that attacks her like a snake or morphs her arm like a zombified monkey, but rather changes her completely into... a cat. A nekomimi Tsubasa! The back story regarding Golden Week establishes that Koyomi had once before seen her morph into a blazingly white cat after she'd buried a dead feline friend they'd stumbled across. I can't say stumbled upon because a certain website has wrecked the term for me!

Anyway it turns out the way in which she was able to return to some resemblance of normality after becoming nekomimi, I'm sorry possessed, was to have her excessive energy sapped by... Shinobu! Interesting how there are millions of people in Japan and yet these crafty convenient coincidences coincide to... sorry, I was trying to think of more words that begin with C to keep the fancy alliteration up.

So of course we're left with a few questions. Was Tsubasa's sudden headache (password!) merely the result of stress, or will her new stress be enough to induce a state of catlike readiness (thank you Marge Simpson) again? Was the energy sapping permanent, or will Koyomi have to go back to Epic Hawaiian Shirt guy to get this sorted out again? Will Nadeko and her awesome hair make another appearance? Will Hitagi aka Senjoughara aka Her Senjougharaness make any appearance at all!?

As I've already said, this episode was definitely different from the regular Bakemonogatari story arc format we've come to expect (ah crap, three times) in that it followed on from a previous arc when others were fairly self contained, and that it needed more of a back story to be established.

Oh yeah, and this shot was the best of the entire episode. Suruga is fast, and Nadeko's expression is priceless!

Bakemonogatari continues to be a series that defies all accepted conventions and refuses to be pigeon holed. I don't know how you would literally pigeon hole a series, I assume you'd simply slip the optical disk into a letterbox and be done with it without much trouble at all, in which case the analogy in this example is flawed. I talk myself into corners without anyone else assisting.

This was a continuation of the Nadeko Snake story arc that started with episode 09 where Koyomi has (once again) taken it upon himself to help save a person with a spiritual oddity that's hurting themselves and their very existence. How nice and selfless of him ;).

After consulting with Epic Hawaiian Shirt Guy he realises Nadeko actually made her situation worse by killing snakes near the abandoned shrine, and the only way to free her from their grip that's causing the marks all over her body is to return to said shrine and prey a special incantation. I think that's what it was, feel free to correct me!

We see more of Suruga because he enlisted her help, but for the second episode we don't get to see any of Her Senjougaharaness which as a fanboy I found hard to deal with, but don't worry I'm getting over it :). Suruga stands by with Koyomi during the exorcism but jumps in to help once Koyomi can't take on the spirit by himself any more. Turns out it's hard for him to tackle a real oddity because by being a bit of a vampire himself he's an oddity too.

Oh yeah, and apparently it seems if Koyomi had watched Code Geass he would have liked the superfluous maid cafe episode, ha! :D. Cue a "what I was expecting, what I actually got" comic.

In yet another unexpected twist we got another random new opening credits song and lighter graphics which I thought were lots of fun! I'll come right out and admit the closest I've got to listening to J-pop and Japanese music is Japanese bossa nova like my idol Lisa Ono (start your jeering, I don't care!) but I'll definitely have to get the sound track for this series. Staple Stable!

I know it's getting extremely boring and old to read, but I also have to say the graphics in Bakemonogatari continue to amaze. Honestly, the art is absolutely stunning and sometimes just downright surreal, I really hope they release an artbook or Megami for example releases an issue with art from this series. The character designs are awesome in their own right, but the scenery is on an entirely different level. I said this before, but if this series comes out on BluRay I'll be buying a PS3 slim JUST to watch it and take desktop background screenshots!

I'm really, really happy I was able to start the reincarnation of my lost anime blog here with a series like this. It's not my favourite of all time, but it's in my top 5, and certainly helped with the crushing anguish of season two of Haruhi that had the potential to be earth shattering and awesome but failed on almost every level. Granted I gave up midway through the Endless Eight and didn't watch anything more after that, perhaps I should give it another try.

In the meantime, I'm glad Nadeko is all okay, isn't that a nice ending? :).

You all remember that computer game Lemmings? I'm talking about the original one that was released for the Amiga and DOS. We had the original version and I remember this one level that had dark green trees and spooky music, both of which weren't featured on any other level. In a spooky way (well, it is a Ghost Story!) this episode of Bakemonogatari kept reminding me of it.

It's a new Nadeko Snake story arc with and that means the introduction of a new character, if the previous ones are anything to go by. Quite a laid back, easy going episode until we got to the last five minutes!

I've noticed I've started slipping into old habits again with my reviews here. On my old anime blog I tended to start a review of a series by talking generally about it, but as the story progressed I started slipping into more of a spoiler discussion of just the story for each episode instead. I guess as shows progress it's hard to just keep talking about themes and art without talking about what happened. Can you forgive a computer science student who isn't doing any courses in creative writing or journalism? :)

Epic Hawaiian Shirt guy sent our superhero Koyomi on an errand at an overgrown, abandoned shrine and Suruga tags along with him and is surprisingly chummy. Turns out Her Senjougaharaness is more concerned with Koyomi messing around than Suruga and gave her firm instructions to report back if he tried anything lewd and/or sneaky. She... has... him... under... her... control!

On the way up the trillions of stairs which are in surprisingly good condition and aren't overgrown even though the shrine was in compete ruins, they pass a mysterious girl who Koyomi thinks he recognises. I recognised her clothes: she has a Shihou Matsuri hat! I wrote so much about Sola on my old blog, really wish I still had all those posts. Anyway Koyomi and Suruga are scared sh*tless by a huge dead snake that's been hacked to bits and the scene is abruptly cut, as we've come to expect from this unconventional series.

Zipping forward we're back at the high school after classes and Koyomi has enlisted the help of our super cute and smart meganekko friend Tsubasa to help him pick books to study for his entrance into the same university as Hitagi. After she abruptly leaves with a headache Koyomi notices the same girl he saw before looking up books on the occult. I'll be talking more about the art in a second, but I thought this whole scene was drawn amazingly. To use technical cinematic terminology.

Having seen the girl he recognised from before, Koyomi arranges for Suruga to meet him at the abandoned shrine in the hopes of seeing her again. They find her attacking another snake, to use the Bakemonogatari parlance her "oddity". Her name is Sengoku Nadeko and he knew her from when he'd meet his younger sister's friends back when he was in primary school. The plot thickens.

They take her back to Koyomi's room which looks like the set for an Ikea catalogue and after Suruga tries to look for his... stash... the poor Nadeko shows them some bloomer related fanservice and scars that were inflicted upon her by her oddity, in this case the snake she can't seem to kill. She pleads for help and the credits come up, talk about a damn cliffhanger!

I reckon the art in this episode was some of the best since episode 01, possibly the best so far. The whole scene at the abandoned shrine was stunning. The bookshop was also beautifully detailed and had so much more depth than what you'd typically expect even from a higher end production. If there's ever a BR version of this series I'll be buying it and a PS3 Slim just to take screen captures for desktop backgrounds, they really are that good!

I'm also left with a sense of jealousy over Koyomi's room. Neither my room in Singapore or Adelaide is as swish, and I can certainly say I don't have a giant banana... I think I might end that sentence right there.

Currently I'm watching both K-On and Bakemonogatari at the same time. Both and at the same time, you'd better believe it! If I needed further contrast between the two, Bakemonogatari delivered it yesterday with the closing episode of the Suruga Monkey story arc. This episode was intense!

As we learned in episode 07 the mysterious gym short wearing Suruga who Koyomi bumped into had a possessed arm, but it turns out the problem is far more pervasive than we were led to believe. Despite her assurances that her arm's actions are entirely involuntary on her part, Epic Hawaiian Shirt Guy explains that the opposite is in fact true; the arm carries out exactly what she wants. She perceived Koyomi to be a threat to her relationship with Hitagi, so she had to deal with him. Same with all the people that stood in her way in primary school athletic events and everything in between.

After a long history of her family past and after being amply warned, what ensues is a battle of epic proportions as Koyomi tries to overpower her and force a situation where her evil thoughts could no longer exist. While they're fighting Meme calls Her Senjougaharaess from Koyomi's phone and she enters as a human shield. Long story short, and after a heartfelt confession on the floor Hitagi explains how she can't reciprocate the feelings Sugura has for her... and that if she were to kill Koyomi, she would kill her. I believe that led to a forced situation where Sugura overcame her problems and the three became friends again... maybe? I think? In any event, talk about a dangerous love triangle. Sorry, it had to be said.

One thing that did strike me though was Hitagi's reference to Koyomi where she said they were "going out", which provoked no stereotypical knee jerk reaction or even a blush. Perhaps he had too many broken bones to protest, or he was too wiped out. Despite improving his vampire powers, he was still involuntarily flung into a heck of a lot of tables. What's the collective noun for a sh*tload of tables?

It just shows how the setting and plot of series just keeps getting weirder and more unconventional, and how the story arcs act almost as much as independent stories as two separate series' would. Saying Suruga Monkey was different to the Mayoi Snail would be like having a mummified hand. Don't quite understand why I made that comparison. The opening credits also continue to be downright spooky in their weird abstractness, to lend myself the use of sophisticated movie terms.

Little tip, if you get around to watching this, don't do it late at night unless you've watched enough Elfen Lied that you've become completely desensitised to such stuff!

After the relatively slow pace and harmlessness of the Mayoi Snail story arc of Bakemonogatari, this first episode of the Suruga Monkey arc seemed to return to the more surreal, darker theme of the earlier episodes that I'd expected the entire series to be. Perhaps it's an alternating thing; heck as long as they don't pull an Endless Eight I'll be happy.

The graphics have also returned to their brilliance. I really mean it, the art is amazing. We also had Koyomi's descending the impossibly huge staircase again, we have Hitagi pointing sharp stationary at him, it's as if the last three episodes didn't happen!

Well in fact the last three episodes did happen because in the very first scene Koyomi is walking and talking with Mayoi again, this time while he's on his way to study with Hitagi for his exams which (surprise surprise!) he's not confident about. Of course Mayoi implies a study date with a guy and girl is never that innocent which results in some hasty fighting and resumption of walking within seconds as we've come to expect from their relationship. No biting though this time. Do spirits need to visit dentists?

Of course it turns out a girl we're introduced to in this story arc going by the name of Kanbaru has been tailing them the entire time, and after some mad sprinting that apparently whipped the air in the same way as a turbojet if we were to believe the sounds, she catches up and attempts to strike up a conversation. Turns out she knew Hitagi from middle school, a time of schooling I'm assuming as someone who went to an Aussie school in Singapore which doesn't have it occurs between primary and secondary school. Yes that was a joke by the way ;).

Suffice to say their study date (I'm sorry Koyomi, your study "session") starts out pretty well; Hitagi confesses her love for him a few more times and makes suggestions about living together when they both finish school and start university, assuming Koyomi knows what he wants to do and get good enough grades. Where were the super smart girls who take interest in introverts when I was in school I ask you now!?

Well let's just say the metaphorical crap hits the fan as soon as Koyomi mentions that he met Kanbaru on his way over to study with her. She comes out with stationary blazing and nearly pokes his damn eye out; only a frantic pledge of dedication to only her subdues her. Fortunately they leave on good terms and she asks him to deliver rental payment for her which he obliges, how sweet ^^.

As the sky gets dark The Class President to End All Class Presidents explains to Koyomi over the phone why Hitagi snapped the way she did which was darn decent of her I thought. Turns out they were great friends at one point, but Kanbaru had started developing feelings for Hitagi which just like a steam turbine weren't reciprocated which caused tensions to say the least. Another joke thrown in there, shaddup.

What came next though for Koyomi was insane. If the eye poking incident hadn't set my teeth on edge, this scene did. I know these reviews have basically turned into giant spoilers as they stand, but this really did take me by surprise and I won't be putting it here. Suffice to say, Hitagi manages to help out given she was trying to catch up with him and managed to see it happen and I'm assuming his special ability fixed everything after the scene ended but damn, talk about left field!

Bakemonogatari is back people. The previous three episodes were kind of sweet which I'm all for in regular doses, but this episode was all back to what the show was originally.

Oh and did I tell you the graphics are amazing? I mean, really amazing. I watched an episode of The Simpsons after seeing this and it looked flatter than a pancake with gravy. A pancake with gravy?

Sitting down and reviewing an anime episode I've timed takes the same amount of time as three to four regular posts here, even if they're something obscure like a fun fact nobody cares about. Busy, but back to business. That sentence had some fancy alliteration.

Because the Hitagi Crab story arc only went for two episodes, I had wrongly assumed the Mayori Snail arc of Bakemonogatari would only last two as well, but here we are for a third serving in that gigantically surreal playground with that raised coloured track everywhere. Dang urban renewal!

After the fruitless search efforts in the previous episode desite Hitagi's awesome GPS phone, this one focused on Mayoi's troubled family life and how she ended up looking for her mum on Mothers Day (surprising though it may seem) in the first place. Or in this case the first "house". That sounded wittier in my head.

As someone who lost their own mum to a debilitating illness I can understand how difficult it can be growing up without a mum, but I imagine it must be even harder for someone who knows their mum is alive but due to a divorce and legal proceedings they can't see them. These characters and I have such happy home lives!

So after some spendgags about groping someone far younger than himself by accident and the subsequent bites which quickly healed given his past affliction (lots of thinks they expect you to assume and accept!) Hitagi returns and starts profusely apologising for pretending that she could see Mayoi. It's a coping mechanism because she wanted to appear normal.

We find out why she couldn't see her this episode, along with some funny takes of Koyomi arguing and fighting with himself from Hitagi's point of view. Even J.J. Abrams made a directing appearance:

Now due to Koyomi's desire to help people out of the blue Hitagi tells him in English that she loves him. My first reaction wasn't "awwww", but "what?" After only a few episodes, three of which were in the same day she drops a bombshell like that! Of course as she follows the tsundere personality to a fault, Koyomi is the typical guy who doesn't reciprocate but merely feins surprise and dodges answering directly.

And yes, it turns out they do find Mayoi's mum's house, or at least where it used to be (dang urban renewal) and her "state" is subsequently promoted. I had no idea spirits followed strict ranks and orders, and that by merging with a vacant lot that formerly held a place of residency it could generate an intense glow that apparently nobody else in the neighbourhood saw!

I gotta say, for a series that was so interesting and weird to start off with, having three episodes set in the same scenery with the same graphics was a bit tiring. I'm still liking the story, but here's hoping other things that get "promoted" are the scenes.

And of course an episode of Bakemonogatari wouldn't be complete with some just a bit of blatant fanservice, this time a bizarre angle of Hitagi just before she confessed her feelings. Allegedly you need buns of steel to confront Koyomi's spirit seeing ways!