Bakemonogatari/Fridge

• Bakemonogatari features Hitagi Senjogahara, a classmate of the protagonist's whose weight was stolen by a crab deity. While explaining the deity's nature, resident supernatural expert Meme Oshino mentions variant myths where the deity is instead a woman or a rabbit. The crab, rabbit, and woman are all examples of lunar pareidolia from various parts of the world. A crab/woman/rabbit that steals weight? Reduced gravity on the moon, remember?--User:Urutapu
  • The series takes place in Tokyo, the second most densely populated city in the wold. But yet the streets are all empty. This is symbolic of the characters sense of alienation with the world. -- Taelor
  • Hanekawa's headaches are a result of Black Hanekawa, the embodiment of Hanekawa's stress over her unrequited love for Koyomi, taking over her body; they first manifest during a conversation in which Koyomi explains why he loves Senjogahara. In retrospect, it seems so obvious. -- Taelor
  • In the first episode, shortly after Koyomi strips Senjogahara of her various Improvised Weapons, Senjogahara says that "[her] body isn't worth committing a crime over." At first, this made no sense; on reviewing (especially with knowledge of Senjogahara's past), this remark takes on a much darker meaning. -- Taelor
  • After it's been made official Senjogahara tells Araragi that if anyone other than her kills him, she will kill them and die after. At first glance you might think there is no way a 45Kg teenage princess is going to beat something like a Bakeneko, however keep in mind that Araragi has a MASSIVE case of Chronic Hero Syndrome (he, Spider-Man, Touma and Watanuki could form a bridge club), so much so that he will, and in fact has thrown himself to the wolves to save someone else, Senjogahara effecively gave him a will to live by virtue of not getting her hurt. -- GX Next
    • This is further augmented by the last episode where Araragi is willing to die for Hanekawa's sake only to remember Senjogahara's threat. Only then does he actually try to fight back.
• Some have pointed out that the oddities roughly line up with common psychological problems--for example, Hitagi's possession by the heavy crab, which leads to reduced weight and, according to in-universe opinion, better looks, can be easily taken as a parallel to an eating disorder.
• Oshino explains during the Mayoi Snail arc that only those who don't want to go home can see and get led astray by the "snail" - Mayoi - which is why Araragi was able to spot her, reluctant as he was to deal with his family. So wait, why did Hanekawa have no problem interacting with Mayoi if- oh. Oh. Especially effective as something Araragi already would have understood about Hanekawa and not needed to comment upon, but the viewer had little to no clue about.
• Not really Fridge Brilliance, more Fridge Oh-yeah-I-forgot-about-that, but it seems strange that Mayoi and Shinobu seem to be the two of the more mature girls in the cast considering they're both little girls. But then you remember that both are the oldest females on the show, one being a ghost who, should she have survived, would be in her early 20s and the other is a centuries old vampire in Sleep Mode Size. --g 3 m 1 n 1
• Oshino lived in an abandoned cram school. According to Shinobu, he spent his time:

"That sleazy brat spent every hour of every day filling my head with useless stories of ghosts and monsters."

• • He was forcing Shinobu to attend cram lessons on oddities, preparing for when he abandoned Araragi to fend for himself. --cancerlad

---

Back to Bakemonogatari