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Nov 02 2013

Categories: episodic review, monogatari
Tagged: monogatari

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“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”

(Monogatari Series Second Season fourteen and fifteen. That high school yearbook quality quote isn’t from Monogatari, but it should have been.)

(And, yes, yes, I am going to watch Yozakura Quartet.)

This was the scene when I went, “Damn, Nisio Isin is ripping off Fight Club. Nadeko is actually the snake.” I then thought, “Knowing Nisio Isin, the arc will end with a deus ex machina by a character who has yet to appear in the arc.” This brings a bigger point: Nisio Isin is a predictable writer. He (or she, since I have no clue) probably wrote 10X more than Nagaru Tanigawa or Mary Roach, but it’s all becoming the same. I am not a professional writer, but it’s hard to write a lot without backtracking already traversed territory. JUST SHOOT ME LOL HARUGASM KILLER LOLIS OH GEASS NO MELONPAN EMO FACIAL DISTORTION SHAFT BEING SHAFT MAKO-CAKES.

(tldr: Quantity, quality, and time are always inversely related.)

I mentioned previously that one thing about Monogatari is that the female characters will call each other out on their bullshit, and that’s refreshing in anime. They kind of did this in Genshiken Season Season, but most of the calling out was calling out the trap and Madarame. I think maybe the limited cast of the show is beginning to show. There’s not enough characters to do what needs to be done, so other characters are awkwardly being dragged into the plot. For example, as I’m backtracking myself (I’m allowed to do this: I’m a blogger, the kings of beating a dead horse) Tsukihi was just awkwardly inserted into this plot. One, she is Nadeko’s contemporary and friend. And she asks Araragi to fetch her. What happens? Araragi brings Nadeko back to their house, and Tsukihi totally ignores her until the next morning? Even if she were tired, she couldn’t muster a “Konnichiwa” or at least verify Araragi and Nadeko aren’t sleeping in the same bed? Two, she was so concerned with her friend that she asked Araragi to fetch her, then, in the morning, totally forgets about her until she wakes up next to her. Much like how all of Galilei Donna is a plot hole, there are character plot holes here.

Araragi is into girls with glasses?! Remind me again why he passed up Hanekawa? It also totally does not look like a gravure magazine; looks more like a standard magazine. And, again, backtracking once more, why is anime and manga so fixated with gravure magazines? It’s 2013! When was the last time a 17 year old boy bought a magazine with the full intent of jacking off to it? Maybe if there was a power outage, and his app phone was out of battery. Maybe.

Scissors are hot right now. I cannot wait for them to show up in Attack on Titan and Gundam Build Fighters.

(When Tsukihi cut Nadeko’s bangs, it reminded me of Shigeto Koyama’s panel at Fanime back in 2012. He talked about how common it was to denote the unleashing of one’s self by cutting hair or removing hair ornamentation. It was one of my favorite anime panels that I attended, and he spelled out quite a few rules for good anime character and art design. It made sense. Like how hairstyles can add to a character’s personality, especially if they can’t draw delicate facial expressions, so hair is used instead. Like how it’s pointless to make things too detailed as they won’t show up during fight scenes. And now the dude is the art director for KILL la KILL. So, yeah.)

(Going back to Fight Club, Nadeko “lost everything” when she saw Araragi with Senjougahara. Then she had that Ikea moment except it was tagging haremettes… a “great hips” tag on Senjougahara… “delicious melonpan” on Hanekawa… “end girl” on Mayoi… etc.)

So now we know Ougi is the “consulting criminal” behind the mess. She is also a catalyst for Hanekawa’s and Mayoi’s story lines. I hope she becomes the Moriarty to Senjougahara’s Sherlock.

(Two things. One, Sherlock is an amazing series. Go watch it. It’s on Netflix, and I rather watch that than more Tokyo Ravens. Two, everything is a matter of perspective. What if you watched a season of something like Law and Order where everything was shown through the eyes of the criminals rather than law enforcement? That’s kinda what this season of Monogatari is like. We see everything from the viewpoint of the haremettes as they give into their selfishness and do not so great things. If you look at things like that, the second season has been from the viewpoint of the criminal/victim. The mastermind consulting criminal is a bit player. And we don’t see Sherlock until the end.)

Your Sherlock. Shows up at the end with a deus ex machina solution? Check. No superpowers beyond memory and reason? Check. Interesting to note that this makes Araragi a haremette for all intents and purposes, he was consulted by Ougi to go fix Mayoi’s situation. I think it’s interesting. The first season was all from the classical hero’s viewpoint: Araragi’s. He manned up, solved problems, gained love and haremettes, and won the day. Now, the viewpoint has flipped. It’s like if the last half of KILL la KILL was from Satsuki’s standpoint (which would be riveting).

(What about from Mako Mankanshoku’s viewpoint? Great question! There’s an anime precedent for this already: FLCL. That’s basically KILL la KILL from Mako’s standpoint… or more from Guts’ standpoint. I guess cases can be made for either.)

(More importantly… Araragi’s phone changed! It no longer has those keypad buttons that made it seem like it was from 2005. We need a phone tracker to make sure Araragi’s phone has been consistent in the timeline… my guess… no. Also, why didn’t Senjougahara just show up with them and reason it out before Nadeko started impaling everyone? I mean, did her words have more power because Nadeko was in her post-thrusting refractory period?)

I hope an epic final battle with Nadeko is the end to the series, but I doubt it. There will be a cheap deus ex machina like Mayoi raising them from the dead or something or Nadeko is sealed in the temple, dreaming up glorious scenario after glorious scenario in her confinement, much like how my middle school self would pretend that if I made this last free throw, I win the NBA championship… and it didn’t go in. But wait! There’s a lane violation! I get another try… and another lane violation! That kind of thing.

Araragi could have lunged at her and overpowered her. I mean, he’s a teenaged boy slash vampire. She’s a little girl. He could have tried to distract her with a kiss, and then allowed Shinobu to sneak up behind. There were a lot of ways of dealing with the situation besides, “Stand like a statue, spout hot air, and do nothing. Like Congress.”

I just find it odd that Medusa Nadeko has to stab her victims with a polearm rather than defeating them with a stone gaze. Too literal? I don’t know. Then what’s the difference between giving her a polearm or a bow and arrow or an AK-47? And it’s not like Araragi and Shinobu are fighting back or anything.

Three predictions for next episode (unfair edition)…

1. Araragi joins the cast of Free!.

2. Mayoi and Shinobu are in bed together.

3. Melonpan should be rotated in a clockwise manner.