

It only happened once in Bakemonogatari when Araragi went on his first date
with Senjougahara (and her father). Araragi called her by her family name
_Senjougahara_ , and Senjougahara teased Araragi and asked if he call her or
her father. And then Araragi called her by her given name (Hitagi)

They're dating, so why they don't call each other by given name? Does
Senjougahara do this out of respect to Hanekawa?


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2014-09-08T01:53:53.023
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2014-09-10T19:00:06.223
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monogatari-series
Why don't Araragi and Senjougahara call each other by their given names?


In Japan, it is normal to address others by their family name instead of their
given name far longer in any kind of relationship than in the West. First name
basis is usually reserved for very close friends, and even then not always
applied, depending on the people involved and their background.

With that premise, what can be observed is not very unusual, just sufficiently
borderline to allow giving a spotlight to the issue in the story.

The way Senjougahara uses this to tease Araragi can be considered her trait.
She often (ab)used similar situations in the same manner and made a pun of it,
which confirms the image and personality she displayed before.


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2014-09-09T00:47:28.207
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Even though we viewers have spent three, four, five years of our lives
watching Monogatari, Koyomi and Hitagi have only been dating for about a year
at the end of Monogatari Second Season. In other anime, characters who've
known each much longer than that are still on a family name-basis; for
example, _Honey and Clover_ takes place over four years, but by the end of it,
almost everyone is still on a family-name basis. That's something we should
probably consider.

Not only that, Hitagi herself is a distant sort of person. Look at the lengths
she went to to stop anyone getting involved with her when she was afflicted by
the Heavy Crab--she alienated her friend, Suruga, and actually cut open
Koyomi. Because of her past, she's distant and standoffish with everyone, but
she's especially uncomfortable with romantic matters. She warns Koyomi early
on in their romance (Tsubasa Cat Part 2) that it's going to move very slowly
if he stays with her, and that she might never be ready for certain intimate
activities. I'm sure she wasn't including calling each other by given name in
that, but it's still a sign of the very slow progress that she warned Koyomi
about.

I also think we should look at Koyomi himself. In general, he seems to use
pretty respectful forms of address. He calls every one of the heroines by
family name, even though Mayoi and Nadeko are younger than him and could
probably be referred to by given name, possibly with -chan. (In Love Hina,
Keitaro Urashima calls Motoko Aoyama "Motoko-chan" from the get-go, and even
though she despises him, she never calls him on this that I can remember.) He
calls his own sisters "Karen-chan" and "Tsukihi-chan" with an honorific, which
Tsubasa remarks on as odd. He refers to Oshino Meme as "Oshino-san", even
though Oshino is a weird transient in a Hawaiian shirt and Koyomi doesn't seem
to find him particularly worthy of respect in most ways.

Given all of the above, it seems likely that:

  * It's somewhat normal in Japanese culture to still be on a family-name basis after dating for just a year.
  * Hitagi is trying to take things slow; for that reason, she might be sticking with family names as a way of keeping a little distance.
  * Koyomi seems to prefer using a family name with no honorific to address his friends, and without a sign from Hitagi, he isn't going to switch how he addresses her.

As for Hitagi hassling Koyomi when they're in the car with her father, well,
that's Hitagi. She loves making him uncomfortable. It might also have been a
way for her to try on being on a given-name basis in a non-threatening
environment without committing to anything. If she liked being called by her
given name, she could ask Koyomi to keep doing it; otherwise, once she's had
her fun, they're back to family names. I don't really think she keeps this up
out of respect for Tsubasa. I would go too far into literary analysis if I
talked about all my theories on the dynamic between Tsubasa and Hitagi, but
suffice it to say, I don't think Hitagi ever saw Tsubasa as a loser who she
should be a gracious winner towards, which is the view that that kind of
gesture would suggest.


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