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Thread on why I liked Bunny Girl Senpai more than BakemonogatariSo, I'm gonna point out things that got me liking Bunny Girl, where Gatari didn't manage to do the same. Have in mind that I have no intention to badmouth Bake, I just liked Bunny Girl more! Enjoy!
Setting:
Both series start at school. Bake sets its foot out of it really quickly and steps onto the rails of cultism, curse and supernatural stuff, which was initially ok. But, school then only becomes the device for characters saying "Oh, yeah, I know you from school".
Both series start at school. Bake sets its foot out of it really quickly and steps onto the rails of cultism, curse and supernatural stuff, which was initially ok. But, school then only becomes the device for characters saying "Oh, yeah, I know you from school".
Bunny Girl, on the other side, had its roots deep into the school and that school atmosphere didn't leave the series for the remainder of it, which was giving off some nice emotions, in a way :) At the end, characters are students and you could see how that blends into the story.
Supernatural things can be great, if you know how to handle them! Bake had a really slow start, full of "in my eyes redundant" dialogues (especially in ep3), so show needed a while to take off and wasn't straight to the point with it's main plot course in the beginning.
Bunny girl was more efficient with mysteries, and it was more involving, as dialogues were used more as a comedy aspect, which didn't interrupt the flow of the story :) Characters with problems were also a bit more involved into solving, rather then waiting for them to be solved.
Finally, I found physics more fitting for explaining the anomalies that were happening, rather than labeling them as a curse or some "ghost" being. Now, one could argue how precise these physics elements have or haven't been, but it fitted so well for me :)
One didn't need a physics dissertation on Schrodinger's cat to understand it's basic concepts and elementary things from the physic theory were mostly correct.
Dialogue:
This one really didn't do good for Bake in my eyes. I watched first three episodes two times and I had that "drop it" devil on my shoulder when the ep3 was on, in both occasions. Initially, I thought that much dialogue just doesn't sit well with me.
This one really didn't do good for Bake in my eyes. I watched first three episodes two times and I had that "drop it" devil on my shoulder when the ep3 was on, in both occasions. Initially, I thought that much dialogue just doesn't sit well with me.
But Oregairu was perfectly fine with me, having a lot of heavy dialogue as well, ending being one of my favourite shows of all time. So, it wasn't due to my taste, but rather how the dialogue blended with initial setting of the story.
If you set up something as supernatural as Bake did,
that expectation of how will one come a solution for a problem that is in front of him or when will another mystery pop up, dies with this much of a dialogue, that is more character than plot relevant.
that expectation of how will one come a solution for a problem that is in front of him or when will another mystery pop up, dies with this much of a dialogue, that is more character than plot relevant.
What contributed to this was Senjougahara's "cynic" character which hugely killed an emotion that this show could have awaken in me. Now as I mentioned before, Bunny Girl's dialogue was used more as a comedic asset, but that didn't kill the seriousness at all.
Ahh, Senjougahara... Still, her cynisism and "lack of emotion", really didn't do her good. Her lack of ability to show affection really took the emotion out of series (she needed 12 episodes to show just a bit of it), but that's just how she is not necessary bad, just not my type
Sakurajima wasn't much better either, but her "classic tsundere trope structure", really benefited to some funny and cute moments of the series and that probably sets
her apart from her "ever comparing superior" Senjougahara :)
her apart from her "ever comparing superior" Senjougahara :)
Art:
This is probably the most subjective segment of the thread, but had a huge impact on my enjoyment of the both series. Starting with Bake, I was intrigued by it's artstyle even before watching it, as it looked pretty minimalistic and something I have never seen before.
This is probably the most subjective segment of the thread, but had a huge impact on my enjoyment of the both series. Starting with Bake, I was intrigued by it's artstyle even before watching it, as it looked pretty minimalistic and something I have never seen before.
But, it seems Shaft wasn't my cup of tea, at least not in this series. What I am going to say will sound weird, but
dialogue scenes were better handled than the action ones. Weird choice of angles, frames and overall dark tone of the Shaft's art really killed it in some moments.
dialogue scenes were better handled than the action ones. Weird choice of angles, frames and overall dark tone of the Shaft's art really killed it in some moments.
Characters could be quite normal and the next you see is going from a cute child face to a old wrinkled and not cute at all face. While it may serve to present the intensity of the moment, it looked repellent more than indulging for me.
And those light novel frames were really annoying... I was thinking of it as something important at the beginning but after finding out that they aren't that important, their purpose became unclear and redundant to me...
Bunny Girl wasn't anything spectacular, but not trying to hard is sometimes better than going over the top. It's artstyle fitted perfectly with the setting and that contributed my overall enjoyment, because it captured youth solving their adolescent problems as it should :)
Conclusion:
A lot can be said about my taste just out of this thread, and I can already count those who wouldn't agree with me, but that is perfectly fine. To be honest, I still have hope that Monogatari will reach me, one way or another.
A lot can be said about my taste just out of this thread, and I can already count those who wouldn't agree with me, but that is perfectly fine. To be honest, I still have hope that Monogatari will reach me, one way or another.
I've only scratched the franchise with Bake, so maybe the day will come when I will be writing the thread about my new favourite franchise of all time :) But, time will tell, for now Bunny Girl is my anime of choice, in this everlasting duel :)
