Bakemonogatari...

Last night, I fired up the BD player for the first time in over a year to check out the first episode of Bakemonogatari...

Thanks to Meme Oshino, high school student Koyomi Araragi is able to remain a human after coming across a female vampire. However, since the incident Koyomi seems to meet girls who have apparition-related issues. Hitagi Senjyogahara doesn't weigh anything, Suruga Kanbaru's right arm becomes like that of a monkey's, and a young girl, Mayoi, cannot find her way home no matter how many times she tries. Koyomi, a "Mr. Nice Guy," ends up helping each and every girl solve her problem with the help of Meme Oshino.

At first, I wasn't sure what to expect, but, after Koyomi suddenly takes a staple to the face courtesy of Hitagi, things got a bit more interesting. Bakemonogatari is subtitled only and the heavy sign translations may be a bit overwhelming. I was sorely tempted to use the reverse button on my remote, but, ultimately, I decided to just ignore the sign translations for the first pass.

The pricing strategy for the series is a bit daring, but, not unreasonable and certainly not as outrageous as the $400-$600 price point for Garden Of Sinners -- which, by the way, just got a DVD release at significantly less than $400...