@Hanners: I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with her character later on, since she already seems to have undergone the dere-dere breakdown already. With SZS’s manga getting released over here, maybe the light novels shouldn’t be ruled out either…?

@Ghostlightning: cheers for the link! Bookmarked for future reference.

@2DT: that’s exactly what I meant about the nature of the fanservice: is it a service to the horny fans, or a test? I love it when a series makes the viewer look back at themselves like that. And yeah, her dress sense is pretty stylish! ^_^’

@Peter S: I guess that’s the problem with the way the light novels are structured (I’m assuming they’re made up of stand-alone chapters). I’m glad you’ve taken personal first impressions into account here – the rift between our expectations and what the show actually is may well be the reason why Shinbo’s work divides opinion in the way it does. Like ef, I think it has plenty of rewatchability.

@ETERNAL: Shibo is a cheeky bugger in terms of fanservice, but he seems to work on a slightly different level to many other directors. It makes me wish he worked outside the constraints of the TV format more often…

While I’m watching it, it’s a continuous point of frustration for me that I can’t understand half of the puns and verbal play that’s going on. Worse, it’s like Ef, in that its visuals keep distracting me so that I can barely even follow the translation. Again, can’t blame the series …

“Given what she’s been through, is it intentional that she’s painted in this light – one in which an apparent shamelessness is a symptom of a loss of self-worth? Is it reiterating how she was perceived by certain people as a sex object, and how that painful experience has skewed her own self-image?”

I’d almost believe it, but the most gratuitous stuff comes before we get that revelation about her past. Granted, it does come RIGHT before, which does makes me wonder if we horny male viewers are supposed to feel guilty when the truth comes out. Unfortunately I’ve been putting off the show, so I can’t comment much further than that. But I enjoyed this entry.

Oh, and I love that stylish bra. Girl knows how to shop, not bad for a not-real person.

I get the feeling that Shinbo is testing the viewers’ integrity in the same way that Hitagi is testing Koyomi

There’s more to this, I feel: http://welovecomments.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/the-inauthenticity-of-senjougahara-fascination/

What I love about this series is (as per Spice and Wolf) the dialogue – Hitagi’s razor-sharp verbal barbs are the obvious pull initially, but Araragi has some great moments of his own, and other characters later in the series also don’t get short-changed by the script writers. At times, it almost is like a coherent, narrative-driven version of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei for its wordplay and knowing winks to the viewer which you’ve summed up so nicely, and that alone is enough to make me fall deeply in love with the show. Couple it to the fabulous visual polish and unique look that SHAFT have pulled off, and I turn into a melting, gushing fanboy almost instantly.

I’m hoping and praying that someone will work on translating (maybe even licensing?) the light novels from which this series is derived – Quite simply, I *have* to read them.

But when they flash these one colored screens I get a headache. Which isn´t the slightest fun.

Senjougahara is pretty fun to be around and her talk about various things is really fun.

So the show is a must see. If they could only stop with those screens I´d be a so much more happy man.