Bakemonogatari 10

Summary:

Meme explains that Nadeko's curse is a snake constrictor, born of spite. Koyomi was told that she was cursed by a classmate because she rejected a boy that the classmate liked. Because the curse was placed by an amateur, it should not have worked and Nadeko's DIY ritual should have worked. But she was unlucky because the arrival of Shinobu, a vampire of royal blood, in the town had attracted all sorts of bad things to the shrine (the cause of Suruga's early discomfort), further escalation of which has been averted by placing the charm last episode. And it was Nadeko's attempts to lift the curse that activated it. She feels the pain of the constrictions but has been holding it in but Koyomi and Suruga give her the same line that Kokuto Mikiya fed to Asagami Fujino.

They hurry to the shrine that night to carry out the proper ritual as Nadeko will be in real danger once the scales reach her neck. Which involves Nadeko praying on a mat with lights focused on her. While she wears a school swimsuit chosen by Suruga so that they can see whether the scales retreat and also to cater to Koyomi's fetish. Koyomi can't remember much but Nadeko's reminiscence clearly points to him as the person she loves. After some progress, the ritual goes badly wrong; Koyomi realizes that there is another constrictor, placed there by the guy who was rejected. Against Meme's advice, he intervenes and pulls off the snake and is attacked by it just as the exorcist (Mike Oldfield!) told him. Suruga intervenes, reminding him who he is supposed to save and the cowardly snake, who is no Alphard, returns home to roost with the boy who placed the curse. Nadeko is saved but Koyomi is ashamed because he tried to save the one who hurt her too.

Thoughts:

I was plenty surprised that Nadeko's arc was wrapped up so quickly and neatly. Maybe it's the side effect of reading too much Nabokov but I was intensely suspicious of Nadeko's story at the outset and wondered if there would a twist to it to show her in a less than innocent light. But I was wrong and pleasantly surprised as a result, all my foreboding from the first episode has been unfounded. Indeed Koyomi's regrets make no difference to the oddity or to Nadeko. Which is why I am also so very pleased at Koyomi's realization, via the road of regret, of something that Hitagi and Meme have tried to hammer into him, with only partial success - that he can't save all the people all of the time. And, thus, you need to keep your precious ones safe and yourself too for their sake. Good job, Suruga! And good job, Hitagi, for getting her to escort him.

Also loved how the episode looks deeply into the past and the future. We learn more about Shinobu. And how Koyomi is remaining one tenth vampire by allowing her to drink from him. Something that was alluded to in Suruga Monkey 3 where Koyomi remarked that it was not good for either of them for if she drank from him too often. If he does not feed her, he will return to normal. But apparently this act of abandonment will also mean the end of Shinobu. I am just jawdropped about Koyomi's compassion and affection for his attacker but I suppose that's why I don't have my own harem though paying money for it would certainly be cheaper if non-pecuniary considerations were also amortized. Koyomi needs to think of a post-Meme future where his saviour will, one day, leave this town and not be able to help him anymore if he continues to stick his 10% oddity nose into the business of oddities. Meme says he could forget it all like Tsubasa; Koyomi says he can't and, as if to prove a point, the next episode goes back, back to the end of the beginning, post-Koyomi Vampire, the Tsubasa Cat arc.

Related posts:

1. Bakemonogatari 11
2. Bakemonogatari 09
3. Bakemonogatari 07

About Zyl

My life for Lunamaria!