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Bakemonogatari: Hitagi Crab / 化物語: ひたぎクラブ

Now, in this third installation around Bakeomonogatari, let's finally have a look at the Hitagi Crab arc spanning episodes 1 and 2. It is this arc where Hitagi and Koyomi meet and where the key characters are introduced.

I admit — my sequence is a bit bizarre. It is largely dictated by my own interests in the progress of the story and the interaction of its characters rather than the sequence in which the episodes have been aired. That said, the Monogatari saga itself is famous for not following any strict order. Bakemonogatari may be the first series of the saga to have been animated and broadcast, but it is by no means the first one in the chronological sequence of events in its fictional universe. Even more, the episodes are full of cross-references to developments that precede the current point in time.

In the case of Hitagi crab we have just to accept that Koyomi shows traits of a vampire — spectacularly good eyesight, exceptional healing capabilities, among others. First and foremost, though, it is the presence in his life of a vagabond, Meme Oshino, and a seemingly young, taciturn girl with googles on her head, Shinobu Oshino, that confounds the watcher.

During the course of the series we'll learn that neither of them is quite what they seem to be. We also get to meet Tsubasa Hanekawa, the class representative and the school's most brilliant student. Tsubasa appears cheerful, attractive and hard-working, but also she isn't quite what she seems.

That things are not quite what they seem is alluded to in the first minute and a half of episode 1, though this intro remains largely incomprehensible at this stage. It makes clear that the four characters share a past.

To this quartet of actors a fifth one enters the scene, Hitagi Senjougahara.

Strictly — though enters is probably not the best word to describe this. Hitagi literally falls from the sky in the school's staircase, and by instinct Koyomi hurries to catch her in his arms before touching the ground. He thus discovers her secret — she weighs almost nothing.

With the school cultural festival coming up, Tsubasa and Koyomi, who serves as her deputy, meet after lessons to plan what they plan to do. The conversation deviates to Hitagi, and we learn that, while she had been sporty and social in middle school, since high school she seems sick and avoids any contact.

Leaving the room he's ambushed by Hitagi, who pokes him with a cutter into his mouth and a stapler to the cheek. She threatens him to leave her alone and to tell nobody about her abnormally low weight, otherwise... To underline her threats she closes the stapler and thus staples his cheek.

However, she also gives an explanation for her abnormal situation — she had encountered a magical crab that had "cut" 90% of her weight.

Not deterred by her brutal demeanour, Koyomi runs after Hitagi and offers his help. After showing that the wound caused by the stapler has already healed, Koyomi leads her to Meme to analyse the case.

Meme carefully listens to Hitagi's story and explains the myths behind it. The Heavy Stone Grab is an oddity from the Kyushu region that can take away a person's weight. Due to the phonetic similarity of the words "crab" (kani / 蟹) and "god" (kami / 神) it also got reinterpreted as a crab god, and it is in this version that Meme intends to deal with him.

Meme also hints that Hitagi might be less innocent as she pretends, as the Crab only comes to those who seek its presence — but I'll not spoil the resolution of the drama in episode 2.

The first episode of Bakemonogatari shows many of the characteristics for which I appreciate the series. The action often plays out before a highly schematised background, which emphasises aspects of height or danger. The characters are often shown from unusual angles or focusing on certain parts of the body such as the eye. In between scenes Kanji tableaux illustrate and comment on the story itself, adding another layer of meaning.

Even in the first episode alone we already feel that all of them, even taciturn Shinobu, are multidimensional beings with their own history and their own weights to carry. The action is embedded into a mysterious, but ultimately believable world of oddities, monsters, and supernatural beings. And last, but definitively not least, I find the story of most arcs compelling.

Bakemonogatari — Japanese website

Bakemonogatari — English website

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