hontou ni Stripey Insists Sisters Cry Oniichan Now

Bakemonogatari 13

Summary:

Koyomi is cycling and reminiscing about his starry starry night date with Hitagi when he spots Mayoi and cops a feel. After she calms down, Mayoi asks him why he picked Hitagi rather than Tsubasa. Taking his answer that he prefers Hitagi at face value, she reports seeing Shinobu outside a donut shop. Wondering if Meme would let her wander around like that, she had been waiting for Koyomi to tell him about what she saw. Arriving in school, Koyomi receives a mail from Tsubasa and is about to skip classes when he's questioned by Hitagi but let off easily. Koyomi rushes to the park where Tsubasa is waiting for him in Nadeko-style hat and PJs. Tsubasa's headaches are gone but she remembers that something happened during last year's Golden Week regarding a cat. She asks him to take her to Meme and he questions her first as preparation, culminating in requesting she remove her hat and explaining that he owes her this duty as he is sure she saved his life over the spring break. She complies, revealing her cat ears.

Tsubasa hitches a ride from Koyomi and she recalls about all his adventures with oddities, highlighting a vampire's power of charisma as an explanation for his recent popularity with girls. They arrive to find Meme tending some ashes, he tells them he doesn't have much time this time but will attend to Tsubasa. Taking them upstairs, he knocks her out and speeds up the takeover by the Meddlesome Cat spirit who taunts Koyomi for lusting after Tsubasa.

Reaction:

Man, it's soooo good to see Hitagi again, even for just a while. Damn right, Chiwa Saitou is exceptional, I can hear her raised eyebrow and smirk in her teasing voice and be reduced to a gibbering salivating idiot by it. Have been saving up this episode for quite a while. It's not just because I'm the type who saves the best for last but also because, unlike some of watch anime to lift their moods, I need to be in a relatively good mood (or at least neutral) to properly enjoy my anime.

The tension causing Tsubasa's relapse seems to have its roots in Koyomi x Tsubasa's latent attraction. Koyomi is definitely finds Tsubasa attractive but, as when he tried to explain it to Mayoi, puts up numerous obstacles- thinking of her more as a friend and saviour than a possible lover, that she'd probably reject him anyway, that (clincher) Senjougahara Fascination simply pwns all challengers. Meddlesome Cat's accusation seems grossly unfair as it takes two to tango and Tsubasa can't absolve herself of tempting Koyomi with a telling off after rather deliberately pressing her more than ample chest against his back.

It seems to me that she has been repressing her own attraction to him by telling herself that he has chosen Hitagi but also runs a Harem counter-narrative which undermines the Koyomi has chosen Hitagi narrative to justify her own continued attraction to him, a previous example being upbraiding him for walking arm-in-arm with Suruga (which I have still no idea how she knew about) and in this very episode by bringing up the vampire's charisma. The latter, while interesting, is hardly a necessary or sufficient reason if she had applied her intelligence to the historical context and current dynamics of each relationship.

The dialogue sparkles as usual and everything has its place, rhyme and reason, like how Koyomi's sincere request for Tsubasa's cap had been set up by his earlier frivolous fetish-driven request for her jacket so he could see her in all her PJ glory. There's definitely something in Meme's "Nobody cares about Araragi-kun" incantations and I am looking forward to learning its purpose and effect in the following episodes.

What Others Are Saying:

• I'm glad to see that Youko also spies Nadeko-style in Tsubasa's cap. Though I didn't notice the similarity in the jacket.
• Shinmaru is also convinced that Koyomi is the source of Tsubasa's stress and had surmised that "Hanekawa has romantic feelings for Araragi and is just playing the 'good girl' in this relationship&quot.
• ghostlightning buys into Tsubasa's assertion that "Araragi suddenly became very attractive to all these girls." O RLY? (anime prosecutor seems to accept this too.) While it might be very gallant of us male viewers to view Koyomi as a Saitou dog, it also unceremoniously presumes to strip the female characters of agency and free will. Anyhow I find the assertion to be unsubtle at best and empirically suspect at worst: with Mayoi they enjoy FRIENDLY bickering, with Suruga a chummy but arms-length Hitagi-mediated camaraderie, Nadeko's attraction to him long predates his vampirism, with Hitagi, it seems that he is more charmed by her than the other way around.
• Less controversially, Kurogane is "so looking forward to hearing evil neko-moe Hocchan next webpisode." Seiyuu famous for voicing sweet bishoujo charas somehow do really well when being evil e.g. Kawasumi Ayako as Yoshida Kazumi in Shana-tan and as Chikane in Kannazuki. MOAR evil roles PLZ!
• divine reports that no scheduled airing date has been revealed yet for the next episode. *goes back to loop the loop on 05:58 - 07:14*

Related posts:

1. Bakemonogatari 05
2. Bakemonogatari 11
3. Bakemonogatari 14