Owari is done and Owari is good. It honestly took until this episode for me to really feel that Owari was on par with second season, but yeah. It’s there. Maybe we didn’t get an entire Kaiki arc or Medusa Nadeko, but Sodachi’s story was wonderful, and these last two episodes have been overwhelmingly good. Such great conversations all through this episode, with characters ranging from Senjougahara to Kanbaru to even Yotsugi getting great little bits. Even Araragi was excellent in this arc, demonstrating some of the most consistent growth and true strength of character he’s displayed all show. This season was another triumph, and I now feel even more confident in Monogatari succeeding all the way to the ending. It continues to demonstrate why it’s one of my favorite shows.
You can check out my supersized review over here, or my notes down below!
Araragi calls Senjougahara for a pep talk. She says “leave everything regarding Hanekawa to me.” Cute
Asking Senjougahara how it felt to hear Kanbaru’s feelings. She said they felt like a burden. Araragi trying to get more context for relating to Shinobu’s feelings
“If I were to get together with Kanbaru, I’d have to become someone who could bear the weight of her feelings”
“I’m making quite the effort to become Araragi’s bride.” Lol
“If someone with better qualifications were to confess his love for you, what would you do?” “In that case, I think I’d switch to that guy 100%”
“I know there’s no bond that’s absolute. I learned that from watching my parents”
“An absolute bond, when you think about it, is actually scary. That’s why you need to work hard, so you don’t get dumped for someone else.” A pretty oddly great philosophy. Do your best for the one you love – don’t assume their love
“Even if you can’t become a special person in general, you can become a special person for someone”
“When I get back, we should have conversations like this more often.” God, such a good talk
The duel begins
“I don’t want to win because of Shinobu’s power”
They’re each going to dash for a sword. Araragi asks for a sprinting lesson from Kanbaru
Araragi just randomly learns from Kanbaru about Hanekawa’s house burning down. hahaha
Gaen drives in the fact that Hanekawa and Senjougahara are also in a dangerous crisis. What will he do? Will he rush to save them?
“Of the three of them… who do you love the most?” But it’s not about that. It’s about him having to do something for himself
And Araragi delegates Kanbaru to handle it. He’s learned something, and can trust his friends
“I have faith in them. I believe in Hanekawa, and in Senjougahara. From the bottom of my heart.”
…and then he undercuts it, saying he believes they understand he sometimes has to prioritize the little girl. Oh Araragi
haha, the sword fall is so great
“Is the dispute between me and you nothing but deeply troubling for Kiss-shot?”
“For you, Sir Araragi, what meaning is there to this duel?”
“You might be special, and I might not be. But I am the only me.” Steeled by Senjougahara’s words. He works to make himself special to the people he cares about
And Araragi banishes him
“You don’t have to apologize. I forgave you. I’m the one who was at fault.”
“with this, all the puzzle pieces have fallen into place” uh oh Ougi
Araragi tells Ougi that story on the morning of his college exams. It seems more likely than ever that she’s tied directly to him
Ougi hints that Gaen stole the armor to make another sword
Yotsugi comments on Araragi telling Ougi too much
Yotsugi points out that his words on “no one being happy because of him being with Shinobu” sound exactly like Sodachi’s self-aware unhappiness
“Since we’re so misfortunate, don’t blame us. Aren’t we pitiful?”
“Putting up with misfortune isn’t making a ‘good effort.’ It’s doing nothing”
“You should aim for the happy ending. Or do you want me to stomp your face again?” And again, telling him to live for himself, to find a reason
I dunno, I find the part of him saying he trusts his friends to be a rather convenient excuse. Remember Hitagi End? He seemed like he understood what Kaiki meant about staying away from Nadeko and the reasoning why, but then we see in Yotsugi Doll that he used it as another reason to stroke his self-flagellation complex without understanding it was because he refused to face the real her and coddled her that he stagnates her growth.
So this false understanding makes any growth we see suspect, if he was really this understanding, he would have had Shinobu sort out her feelings head on with Seishirou, if he really trusted his dear friends, because that was her role. The duel was pointless. Going to help Hanekawa in this situation wasn’t the wrong thing to do, because her determination was already there, and she had already resolved to take in the Tiger, her powers just weren’t enough to subdue it on her own, regardless of her powers and wit(which is why it was metaphorically the best opponent for her, it forced the self-reliant girl she was to accept help). I’d say that picking this time to say he trusted his friends to handle things while he participated in a pointless duel was a convenient excuse to pardon his pride of the bond with Shinobu. You pointed out out the “little girl” part, so you should see where I am getting at her. It harkens back to his emotional decision to follow Hachikuji for twenty years to protect her from from the Darkness. Him saying that Hitagi and Tsubasa were special because they understand his fickleness is slightly off putting to be honest.
And if he really understood that he should have heart to heart conversations with Senjougahara more often, the harsher implications of their awkwardness toward each other during the time around Hitagi End and him killing himself over Nadeko would have never happened. All this shows that Araragi’s growth is still hampered by his vices and abnormality. Like a wound that hasn’t had the pus cleaned out of it, it can’t heal properly.
Thanks for this one, I feel like I’d been following all the characters and thematic threads pretty well up until this last episode, but for some reason (maybe because I was watching it with one working earphone while my mom vacuumed around me) it didn’t really click with me until I read your write up on it. The Shinobu bits did, and that last scene with Yotsugi was great, but all of the really obvious demonstrations of Araragi’s growth didn’t find me somehow. Really detailed write-up and extremely well-articulated as always, it’s a joy to be able to watch Monogatari while it’s airing and then come here to dig a little deeper on each episode.
Somebody on reddit pointed out that Seishirou’s voice actor in this episode is the same as Emonzaemon’s in Katanagatari. It feels somehow appropriate.
I like how the first half of Owari is focused entirely on non-oddity-related issues while the second half is all about oddities and specialists. It was a pretty well-constructed season.
My favorite line was “remaining misfortunate is negligence; not trying to be happy is cowardice.”
A lovely recapitulation of what Araragi learned after teaching Sodachi how to be happy. God I love this show.