This Is Your Brain On Drugs….Any Questions?
Honestly I went ahead and gave this show a chance and so far it’s giving me a headache….well at least at first….and yet I still want to see more of it just the same. I’m perfectly sure there’s something interesting being developed here with regard to Hitagi’s plight and how Oshino is going to try and help her, but I’ll also say that the first episode with that looping music track over the opening conversation in the classroom (annoying and repetitive beyond description) as well as the randomly flashing text and rapidly shifting camera angles for no discernible reason or effect was just dizzying and disorienting beyond belief. Especially since the parts of the episode that aren’t like that are quite drawn out but also really intense and creepy at the same time with the psycho bitch and well….just the show in general. I know somebody is going to probably tell me that that’s just Shinbo, but I’ll just reply by asking how this necessary and by answering myself with, “probably drugs”. Other than that bit of “guh-huh” it was a more intriguing and eye-catching start than what I’ve seen most series feature these days, but not by much.
Now what I really did like and found most intriguing about this opener was how the one girl with the glasses (sorry her name eludes me and I’ll probably catch shit for this) sold Hitagi as something completely different then what she is portrayed as upon her first introduction, which helped to greatly enhance the atmosphere of her turning out to have a stationery fetish. Here I am expecting a total stereotype of a Mary Sue and then she just turns out to be a nutcase that doesn’t fit any of the traits she was described as having. I cant’ even begin to describe how this struck me as an incredibly good thing. Also Oshino didn’t come across the way I thought he was going to either and ends up being more like a second season Tieria Erde as opposed to the Saji Crossroad I was expecting. Already we are seeing that the characters seem to have more than one side to them, and that’s pretty good stuff that I would definitely call promising for somebody like me who hasn’t watched much of this highly hyped and praised series yet.
Now to get a little more wishy-washy again though, because let’s face it this is just what I do when it comes to raw first impressions. I’m really not sure if I like Hitagi’s voice acting yet though, mostly because I’m more used to Chiwa Saito voicing squeaky, peppy, loud and just generally extroverted characters like first season Louise Halevy, Natsumi Hinata, Lavie Head and Rebecca Miyamoto and I think maybe she is too. Also I can’t say Bakemonogatari is likely to be winning any awards on the BGM front either. I’m probably not going to make many friends for saying this judging by how insanely popular this show is at the moment, but Bakemonogatari probably has some of the most unpleasant BGM I have heard so far this year. The visual style though……..as much as I may have seemed like I was put off by it before, I am more befuddled, and honestly I like being surprised and then just learning to go along with the ride…..if it doesn’t turn out to be totally insulting that is. I think I will probably be getting high when I watch episode 2 just to enhance the experience. It’s the kind of show that seems to warrant it and probably the piece of the puzzle missing in understanding why the points of view and text are so messed up. I figure Shinbo is probably toking up while he’s directing all of this stuff, might as well indulge him. It’s just like….whatever it’s a surface right….might as well through some text in there…..attaboy Shinbo!
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