But it is possible, I think, that Araragi needs to help himself. It’s also possible that, after having been helped, he has a thing for helping others at his expense. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Maybe, if it’s causing him to be entrapped by directionally-confused snail-ghosts. It’s possible that what he lacks is balance, and, appropriately, the setting isn’t especially balanced; its most simple elements are quite exaggerated.

Even his younger sister’s argument about him not growing up relies on his insistence to always be out on Mother’s Day. In other words, in order for him to move on, he must break out of this confusing cycle he has been in, one that keeps revolving ever since he became a vampire. The one good point about his character would be the willingness to help anyone regardless of who they are, human or ghost, and that in turn may help him (because he might know he sucks too much; we have seen so many examples of him not even denying his own worthlessness) to get out of this particular funk.

Oh the post is finished and scheduled to publish as part of analysis in conjunction w/ Macross Frontier ep 03 next week lol.

I’ve seen some people complain about how the dialogue is “just abuse,” that Senjogahara wins every exchange. Setting aside, for now, that she doesn’t, I think the tendency in the dialogue for Araragi to be on the defensive might also help illustrate how trapped he is. He can’t respond to what amounts to normal conversation — odd, but normal — because he’s so trapped in his head and the vast emptiness he’s opened up that he can’t claw his way out of it. It’s significant his one caveat to Senjogahara is that she always be truthful: he’s having enough trouble orienting himself without someone skewing his results for him.

Finish that post!

Yes! I went as far as to say that the show is about characters finding the meaning behind their monstrous affliction, to perhaps take away the meaning that makes it consequential, to have less weight in their lives.

…was supposed to link to: http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/monsterstories/

At first glance, then, the show looks like a kind but confused teenager, rescued from his supernatural problem, helping others. But that’s not really what this is about. Araragi isn’t human yet, not entirely. He wants to get back to that world, but all the signs point to him being stuck. Not only little hints like his name, but bigger ones: why did his school performance wilt? It was in the transition between middle and high school. That time also marks his transition from human to vampire and (ostensibly) back again. His life isn’t going forward. It’s stalled. That’s how he got caught by the snail. All the other figures are prey to the confused geography until they work out who they are and what they want: Senjogahara is now able to move through a normal world. Before, she was falling through a weightless abyss.

Yes! I went as far as to say that the show is about characters finding the meaning behind their monstrous affliction, to perhaps take away the meaning that makes it consequential, to have less weight in their lives. []

From a response to a comment to the post, I exemplified my point:

Oho! Here’s a meaning chain (one I construct for Humbert Humbert):

Why do I like Lolita?
<– I fell in love as a 12 year old to a 12 year old.
<– My love is pure.
<– I am not a monster.

The meaning that has meaning, is the one that has consequence, to future health/behavior. Looking at Humbert’s answers to his question, the first 2 answers are not consequential beyond being premises to the final answer, which is the most meaningful: “I am not a monster.” This can also be simplified as “I am not a bad person,” which we can apply to the case of Senjougahara.

The unmeaning, or presence of no meaning, is not so much found, but distinguished. Sonjougahara may distinguish that her lightness does not mean she’s a bad person, and she doesn’t have to attack people with stationery.

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However, I don’t necessarily agree with the surface|deeper dichotomy on what the show is about. What the show seems to be at first glance, needn’t be the lower rung in the value hierarchy of interpretation/appreciation. It is an incomplete or limited reading to stop here, but to take only the latter we could say just the same thing. I’ve written an unpublished post on the dialogue of this show (and Macross Frontier), where I’ve identified exchanges that ennoble — for lack of a better term, the first glance interpretation of the subject. Here is the exchange that I noted, from episode three:

A: How about you Senjougahara, do you come here often?

S: This used to be my place.

A: “Your place?” That’s right, you said you used to live around here.

S: Well, yes. But then it all changed. It’s not like I’m too sentimental about it, but… For some reason, seeing how where I used to live has changed makes my motivation slip away.

A: Isn’t it unavoidable?

S: That’s right. It’s unavoidable.

The quote doesn’t do a good job of illustrating the confusion, but the kindness is there; and more importantly, the commentary on adolescence: where kids cannot avoid change in their world and in themselves. The changes in their world, as in Senjougahara’s example are almost always close to home, metaphorical while Araragi’s is literal (his conflict with his siblings leading to his self-image of being “small” for a human being).

—

What is at first glance that is easy to dismiss/relegate as the superficial reading may be a separate and equally multi-dermal venture after all. As is the case with the love story|harem tropes, it may be that the first girl (reading|interpretation) wins. Personally there isn’t a meaningful hierarchy of superficial or ‘deep’ interpretation, only a personally preferred system where enjoyment and appreciation is directly proportional to the meaning created with the text|subject through participation (reading).