The car ride in particular brought back the Utena touch, with shots of the car moving, of Hitagi's hand on his leg, of her lips whispering in his ear, and of the back of her Dad's head studiously ignoring them, all set to klezmer music.
Beautifully handled all the way through. This was probably the most memorable section of the second Bakemonogatari volume, so they really needed to nail it, and they went above and beyond.
I just got around to watching this and I'm kind of amazed by the fact that although absolutely nothing whatsoever happened it drew me in and entertained me more than any single anime episode I've watched for... at least this whole season, unless I've managed to forget something brilliant.
ReplyDeleteIn particular I thought Senjougahara's voice actress was absolutely fucking excellent. To be honest even in shows with a lot of talking and voice actors/actresses I know to be considered amongst the best, it's not often I find myself laughing because of the voice acting as much as the joke, or thinking there's some genuine subtlety and depth to the performance, but here I was doing both. Also I had the feeling that with this episode something about her performance and characterization from earlier on really came to together and clicked, and just gave me a much better feeling for the character - though it might just be because Senjougahara hasn't been around much for a while. Maybe I'll have to rewatch and see.