Can Monogatari top last week’s thrilling twenty-minute monologue? It seems difficult to imagine, but I guess we’ll see. Personally, I’m kind of set for this arc – that episode was impressive enough to cover my “wacky formal experiments” quota for the moment, and it also focused on one of the most interesting and emotionally charged relationships in the show. So I guess I can accept it if Mayoi has to go and regain consciousness or something.
Episode 19
0:21 – That spotlight is continuous now. So it looks like last episode’s slow build has led to a point of continuous sincerity between the two of them?
1:24 – Someone disagrees!
2:29 – I can’t possibly imagine why
3:06 – You’re only just noticing this?
3:21 – Total honesty: not necessarily a good thing
3:52 – Godfuckingdamnit Isin
4:15 – You and your goddamn double standards
4:23 – They’re kind of burying it in the jokes, but this is actually a really nice direct continuation from last episode. Shinobu basically bared her soul in that one – now she’s being playful and irreverent, but also continuously asking, “how much do you care about me?”
4:51 – Jeez, no one’s letting him out of this one
5:47 – Okay, that expression’s pretty fantastic
5:53 – The episode I’ve earned
6:11 – Araragi addresses his loli army
7:30 – Mayoi addresses her loli compatriots
7:50 – That’s a nice expression
8:13 – I appreciate this. You’ve had your fun, knock it off
I normally focus on the more charged stuff, but it’s true that this show is really good about portraying a wide variety of natural-seeming friendships. Which is obviously one of the things Isin’s style most naturally lends itself to – he’s often accused (by me as well) of writing scenes where characters just banter about nothing, but that’s kind of what friends do, and each of the relationships in this show has a “character” of its own beyond the different perspectives of the two individual characters involved
8:50 – That’s adorable
9:25 – Oh jeez oh gosh
10:18 – Here’s a very nice one
10:25 – No, here’s a very nice one. They’re leaning on that spotlight very heavily in this episode… it seems to still correlate to the same moments it did in Medusa, but it’s kinda odd to see it this consistently
10:32 – This scene might take a little while. Goddamn that’s a pretty background
11:16 – Monogatari stop it
13:20 – The show goes grayscale as soon as Shinobu is mentioned. Interesting
13:31 – Capping this one, because I think we’re reaching the crux of this conflict. Araragi can’t lose sight of Shinobu, but he also never really sees her, either – he doesn’t acknowledge her wishes as a person. He assumes her presence – she might not be an unacknowledged part of him in the same way Hanekawa’s envy or Nadeko’s desires were, but she is connected with him and emotionally unacknowledged
14:04 – Work work work
14:19 – You have badly injured her emotions, Araragi. Shame shame
14:44 – No better in context or out of context
14:47 – Oh my god Araragi’s pose
15:08 – I never asked for this
15:46 – Oshit no worst scenario Shinobuuu
Great image though
16:13 – They’re really succeeding in making this “nothing” enemy very creepy. So what, she went to fight it herself, then?
17:02 – Yep, we’re going there. This is actually better than arc two, since they’re not just hanging out, we’re actively discussing the relationship
Love the colors in this shot
17:08 – And another nice sad one
17:55 – And here are the key frames. Kind of absurd how not-optional these frames are
19:02 – But those are the only things Araragi knows how to do!
19:22 – A nice evening
20:06 – Another nice shot
20:37 – We’re just now reaching that point in the chronology? Gyeaaahhh
21:10 – Oh don’t say that you know they’re all gonna be dead now or something
22:40 – Right, of course. Not like any civilians exist in this world
And Done
Alright then. Fine, workmanly episode – point A to point B kinda thing. I like where we’re hopefully going regarding Araragi and Shinobu, and Araragi’s ridiculous faces this episode were pretty great. It was kinda too plot-focused to be a standout, but it at least moved that plot in a direction I’m interested in seeing explored. For an episode focused on three of the least interesting characters in this show (that’s right I said it), that certainly wasn’t bad.
