Bakemonogatari Episode 1

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first blog spot. As you can see, I’m the new guy here, so I will try my best to give you top notch, quality reviews.

CHARACTERS!
Araragi Koyomi- Main
Hitagi Senjogahara-Main
Tsubasa Hanekawa
Oshino Meme

Araragi catching a 1 second glimpse of Tsubasa's panties!

So, to start off the episode the first scenes are Araragi and Tsubasa crossing paths on a fairly empty street. As he looks across to her he manages to get a quick look at her pink, and ever so cute, panties. You ask, “How?”. Well, by the ever so famous Up-Skirt Wind, that has been used in almost every ecchi related anime there is.

Hitagi Senjogahara falling oh-so beautifully down into Araragi's arms.

Ok, so after the intro theme and all that jazz, I spend about 10 minutes asking myself and trying to understand, “Where is he and what’s going on?!?” They first show a girl falling from the top of an unknown tower, (which who we now know as Hitagi), strait into the arms of a boy (Araragi), who until now was racing up an endless set of stairs inside this tower. UGH? Not to mention he had no trouble catching her because, I promise, she was Completely weightless.

Yet in my head I was saying, “Focus! Stay Focused SHAFT, Focus!” Because it all seemed like it was out of focus, if you know what I mean. At least it all calmed down when Araragi appeared in a classroom with just him and the class chairmen/perfect student, Tsubasa Hanekawa. (btw, in case you didn’t know yet, it’s a girl.)

"Curiosity Killed The Cat"

Araragi spends some time asking Tsubasa if she knew anything about Hitagi and her “illness”. Of course, I would be interested too, if I had just found out she weighs NOTHING! But apparently Hitagi wanted to filll in the blanks about herself on her own for Araragi. After he takes one step out of the class room Araragi is halted by Hitagi as she places a razor blade to the inside of his left cheek and a stapler to his right. At this moment i thought to myself…Is SHAFT trying to explain how the Joker got his scars?…lol

At least she will never run out of school supplies.

After Araragi shows her that he has no wounds because of what she did to him with a stapler, he explains that he knows someone called Oshino Meme that may be able to cure her illness. She suddenly drops the 200 or more dangerous school supplies she has in her hands, (hint: She was ready to declare war on him because he insisted on following her after she left him to bleed with a staple in the cheek), leaving a big pile behind her. This scene led me to think, “I think this proves that there is no point in banning weapons from schools, because apparently you can kill someone with just an eraser.”…again, lol.

It may just be laziness kicking in...

As Araragi and Hitagi enter the building where Oshino lives, an unusual yet creepy animation takes place. One might say that it’s very creative, but the only thing creative I saw was Araragi’s face being made out of Craft Macaroni and Cheese. To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure if the animation in those scenes were necessary, other than to make the mood a bit uncomfortable. I could barely concentrate on what the two were saying! ARG!

“So, can you save me?”

The episode ends with Hitagi finally asking Oshino if he can save her. She claims that this Weight Crab took away her weight before she came to high school. But after Oshino explained to her that the Weight Crab/God did Not harm her and she was actually lucky and probably blessed, I only have one question…Save her from What? Perhaps she is one of those rare girls who want to Gain weight instead of Lose it.

Here are some screen shots…

ROUND UP!
I was surprised of how well the quality of the animation is, yet the way they get the storyline across was a bit new to me. It seemed as if something scary was going to pop out at any second, but at the same time their quick-witted jokes would break the mood…once and a while. I, personally, only looked forward to the next episode to know whether Oshino can help her, and how. But other then that, SHAFT has a rather interesting form of animation. It catches the attention, though.