Tag Archives: Owarimonogatari

Owarimonogatari – Episode 6

Posted on by

And so Sodachi Lost comes to an end. This episode couldn’t match the cathartic peaks of last week’s stunner, but it was still a fine conclusion to a solid arc. Ougi’s villainy got some time to shine, and then was directly countered by Hanekawa whipping out her tiger hair powers. It seems like Isin’s haircuts aren’t just thematically important, they actually dictate the power levels of his characters – equipped with her self-actualization tiger stripes, it only takes Hanekawa roughly three seconds to figure out the truth behind Oikura’s mother. That answer didn’t really add or subtract anything from the story, but I certainly liked Araragi’s further thoughts on happiness near the end of this episode. Araragi’s certainly no Hanekawa or Kaiki, but he’s figuring stuff out one step at a time.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Continue reading →

Fall 2015 – Week 5 in Review

Posted on by

One more week of anime has come and gone, meaning it’s time once more to sift through the embers and see what riches have been left behind. This was another reasonable week of anime in what is turning out to be a reliable but not particularly dramatic season. The only top tier show I’m watching is Owarimonogatari, and that’s been a known product for years – aside from that, it’s really just One Punch Man as the production powerhouse and Iron-Blooded Orphans as the stable narrative. If things continue at this pace, it’s looking like my top ten shows of the year will be 80% consumed by the year’s first two seasons – not exactly the most impressive finish to a year that started off coasting from Shirobako into Oregairu S2 and Euphonium.

That said, there’s still plenty to talk about in what shows we have left. And I’ve also heard Concrete Revolutio has been doing some noteworthy things – I wish I had a bit more love for pop art, but if you’re less put off by the aesthetic than I am, it’s probably worth a look. There’s always something worth talking about out there, so let’s take a break from the naysaying and run down some fresh new cartoons!

Continue reading →

Owarimonogatari – Episode 5

Posted on by

We got our first emotional peak in this week’s Owari, and it was certainly something. These last few episodes have largely painted Oikura’s story as something that reflected Araragi’s issues, but this episode was all about Oikura for her own sake, and let her fill in the pieces through an oppressive recounting of her life to date. That was all well done, but it was the last third or so that really got to me, when Hanekawa, Araragi, and Oikura basically all offered their own personal reflections on depression and happiness. These were some of the sharpest exchanges of any arc of the show, and were just one more example of well Monogatari really gets its characters and people in general. I’m sure I’m not the only one who could relate to a discussion on the relative safety of a known unhappiness.

You can check out my supersized review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Continue reading →

Fall 2015 – Week 4 in Review

Posted on by

It’s that time again! We had a reasonable crop of episodes this week, with four out of my six active series offering solid episodes, and one of the last two never promising to offer a single solid episode in the first place. I think at this point it’s safe to say Iron-Blooded Orphans is the breakout star of the season – it’s not the flashiest show, but it’s just absolutely solid in everything it does, full of strong characters and well-chosen dramatic turns and plenty of threads I’m excited to see through. Other shows are more tentative, but still enjoyable so far – in particular, I feel like it’d be easy for either The Perfect Insider or Utawarerumono to fall apart, but I’m still having a fine time with them so far. And One Punch Man is starting to wear out its single joke, but I’ve heard the original series picks up from here out, so I’m hopeful this is just a temporary lull. Overall, this isn’t the flashiest season, and certainly can’t compare to the year’s stellar first half, but I’ve got enough that I’m enjoying that I can’t really complain. But that’s enough news in brief, let’s get to it and RUN ‘EM DOWN!

Continue reading →

Owarimonogatari – Episode 4

Posted on by

Owarimonogatari continues in an episode that was basically 50% Ougi being sinister and 50% Hanekawa kicking ass. So, essentially a perfect episode.

Alright, maybe not a perfect episode. In spite of this week’s adventure foregrounding my favorite character in anime period, it wasn’t nearly as visually interesting as the stuff at Oikura’s old home. And we’re clearly in a build-up stage at the moment, with all the various conflicts just sort of simmering as things move back towards Oikura. Hanekawa was great, and some of the ways the show articulated the spell Ougi casts over Araragi were great, but I’m definitely ready for the show to hurry up and get to the next Oikura confrontation. This was a great idea for an episode, but in execution not exactly a highlight.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Continue reading →

Fall 2015 – Week 3 in Review

Posted on by

Aw dang it’s the week in review what the fuck do we even have to talk about. Well actually, there’s plenty to talk about now; it’s a relatively new season, there are far more legitimately watchable shows than The Season That Shall Not Be Named, and last week’s awkward halfway point between preview week and the usual fare means we’ve got a sizable glut of anime to get through. I actually surprised myself last Sunday – I was doing my usual accounting of what was about to air, and suddenly realized I had three friggin’ shows to choose between for my first watch, all of which I actually wanted to see. Following a season where “you know what, this snake girl is actually pretty cool” was close to the top end of anime discourse, that’s a pretty nice place to be. Between Owarimonogatari, The Perfect Insider, and… well, I guess any more favoritism than that would be telling. So let’s get started this list of ‘well friggin’ crap these might actually be worth watching’ shows. Let’s RUN ‘EM DOWN!

Continue reading →

Owarimonogatari – Episodes 1-3

Posted on by

We’re in the thick of a new Monogatari season now, and this one’s shaping up to be a fine followup to Second Season. A whole bunch of that comes down to Ougi – Ougi both forces Araragi to consistently confront his own deepest fears and just possesses a great deal of charisma in her own right. This Araragi-Oikura story also has plenty of momentum so far, and seems to be pushing Araragi’s character forward far more consistently than Tsukimonogatari did. What do you know, when you replace Yotsugi lolicon shenanigans with Ougi’s mockery and psychological battles, you can actually make a damn good Araragi arc.

You can check out my full writeup over at ANN, or my episode three notes below!

Continue reading →

Fall 2015 – Week 2 in Review

Posted on by

Wednesday has come again! And it’s the second week of the season this time, meaning it’s time to a long, hard look at the shows I was iffy on for the first episode and likely drop half of them down the trap door. There were definitely some shows that earned the big red button this week, but also ones that held strong, and I even managed to find a show to pick up since my preview retrospective. I’ll just be covering second episodes here – you can find my impressions on all of the actual premieres back in that retrospective, and it’ll be going forward that all the shows get to share some space again. But it’s looking like they actually will have to share that space, since dear lord, this season might even have four or five solid shows. Let’s start at the top and RUN ‘EM DOWN.

Continue reading →

Fall 2015 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective

Posted on by

The preview guide is once again nearing its end, meaning it’s time to run down every single one of these goddamn cartoons that never stop coming out for one second ever. The actual hits this season were pretty limited, but that’s pretty much what I expected going in – even in my preview post, I was only actually looking forward to a bare handful of shows. Most of those shows turned out to be either solid or display some potential, though there weren’t any real positive surprises outside of just how nicely composed One Punch Man turned out to be. But what the hell are we even doing here if we’re not watching cartoons, and I gotta earn my too-many-words keep, so let’s run ’em all down anyway. TAKING IT FROM THE TOP!

Continue reading →

Owarimonogatari – Episode 1

Posted on by

Monogatari is back, again (again). This new arc already seems far more compelling than Tsukimonogatari though, so I’m very ready to see where it leads. I already wrote a full piece on this episode over at ANN, but I also took a pile of episodic notes, and figured someone might get some use out of those. So here we go!

Continue reading →