Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d check back in on Araragi’s progress in Zoku Owarimonogatari, wherein he most recently stumbled across an unexpectedly human Kiss-Shot. Aside from that, Zoku’s last episode was mostly consumed by Yotsugi wandering around and repeatedly mocking Araragi, i.e. your classic mid-arc Monogatari nonsense. Also, Nadeko did the Misato Big Gulp, so that was also some essential content right there.
As far as Zoku’s themes are concerned, the most impactful sequence of the episode was undoubtedly Sodachi’s reflection on the nature of mirrors. As she pointed out, mirrors are not perfectly reflective: they only reflect around eighty percent of the light they take in, meaning some portion of what they reflect is always lost in the balance. Beyond their literal meaning, her words can be interpreted in two ways that are both relevant to this story. First, in a “fantasy mechanics” sense, it is likely that this loss of essence is the reason all of mirror-world’s characters seem so diminished, only expressing one partial aspect of the original people they represent. And secondly, in a more philosophy-of-Monogatari sense, her words speak to the impossibility of fully knowing ourselves, as our impressions of our own identities will always be blurred and incomplete.
Nisio Isin is wise enough to understand that the clarion call of Monogatari – “you must come to know and love yourself, for only then can you truly connect with others” – is more of a hope or prayer than a truly achievable goal. It is what is most difficult and also what is most essential; in a world of chaos and disappointment, self-love is the only route to harmony or contentment. This path towards accepting the self has taken many forms over Monogatari’s various adventures, and in Zoku, this directive is further complicated through the admission that our “selves” are also variable, and impossible to draw fully into focus. But all that’s basically why I love Monogatari; it’s smart enough to understand that true self-actualization is likely impossible, yet optimistic enough to still hope for happiness for all its muddled-up heroes. Let’s get back to the action!
Episode 4
We open on a striking new style of visual flourish, with Kiss-Shot’s palace reduced to a silhouette of towers and pillars populated with full block colors. As the scene continues, we pan from silhouetted chandeliers to Shinobu’s familiar shadow, framing this whole palace as an extension of Shinobu’s identity
“If this is a world where vampires don’t exist, then a vampire’s kin shouldn’t either.” We’ve now received several leading comments regarding Araragi’s existence, or lack thereof, in this mirror world, with this following on Hachikuji’s earlier comment wondering why they hadn’t run into him (or Ougi). If Araragi simply doesn’t exist in this world, that might actually provide some consolation to our own Araragi – with no alternate self to compare to, he can more easily claim that his choices are the authentic ones. But that feels like fleeing from the fear this arc represents, rather than confronting and accepting the fact that all versions of our life are valid but none of them are necessarily “correct”
“That everyone knew me to be a victim of vampires, but knew of no vampires, was a contradiction.” Once again, Araragi discovers a piece of this world’s structure that makes no sense, and reveals it to be simply an imperfect reflection of our own world. Mirror-world is not an internally consistent place, because everything here reflects truths that only fit together on the other side of the glass
Aw shit, we’re actually getting pre-vampirization Kiss-Shot backstory! “Born to a noble family, a princess in a castle. The kind of princess where the castle is part of the package.” Figures that even before she was a vampire, she was always some form of royalty – before anything else, she is always stately and elegant in all things (except when she’s being a terrible gremlin)
I love this use of a bright red kaleidoscope-style visual effect as Shinobu urges Araragi to lift his head. A great visual implier of Kiss-Shot’s paralyzing aura, making it seem like staring at her would be like staring at the sun
Yep – as Araragi admits, the power of her noble aura caused him to instinctively kneel
“I know that you are the Araragi of another world – in other words, that you are both the same and different from the patron I am acquainted with.” So some form of Araragi does exist here, and is still Kiss-Shot’s patron in some way
“Patron of princesses, plunderer of panties, charitable to childhood friends… I just can’t get a read on this guy.” Mirror-Araragi does indeed seem even stranger than our own Araragi
A profile shot of the whole room further emphasizes Kiss-Shot’s otherworld presence, presenting her end of the room as bathed in saturated white light
“Our world must seem like quite the fake from your perspective.” Kiss-Shot seems like the only mirror-world character so far who’s genuinely invested in this reality, and not just playing out the role she’s been assigned
“It would seem we are both fakes to each other.” The concept of a “fake” obviously had a specific resonance in Nisemonogatari, but it doesn’t seem like Isin is playing into that same thought experiment this time
This Kiss-Shot’s aura is somehow even more overpowering than Araragi’s own. Though that’s probably not actually true – I’d guess it’s more that Araragi has come to know his own Kiss-Shot too well to be intimidated by her, whereas this woman is still an imposing stranger
“He’s holding out well, but he’s reaching his limit.” What is this Kiss-Shot’s power?
As Kiss-Shot’s influence over Araragi’s mind progresses, she is captured in closer and closer shots, and ornamented with a garland of roses
“You are as a disaster visited upon this fragile world.” Indeed – this fragmentary world likely cannot beat the intrusion of its mirror-born creators
Between Kiss-Shot’s aura, Araragi’s realization that he’s slipping into self-pity, and his own fundamentally self-hating nature, I imagine he’s feeling pretty low right now
We appear to be getting a glimpse of what Kiss-Shot might have been like when she first came to Japan, and instantly inspired a cult of fervent worship
She gives Araragi one last piece of advice: “seek allies. Just as you became my light in your world, become someone’s light here”
“Put simply, you get overwhelmed with her glory and start wanting to die.” Yotsugi is truly a master of putting things simply
“If you’d been directly exposed to her beauty, you would have ripped your own guts out on the spot.” Kiss-Shot must be one of very few people who was actually made less intimidating by her transformation to a vampire
“Her glory is so great in this world that she has to live sheltered away like that.” Kiss-Shot’s position seems to be one of the few that’s undeniably worse in this mirror world, making it interesting that she’s also the one most dedicated to protecting this place
Yotsugi and Araragi reflect on her words while journeying along the Great Wall of China. Sure, why not
“You’ve almost got enough suicide points to cash in. You should stay away from her until you cool off.” Yotsugi’s suicide point punch card, undoubtedly one of the grimmer visual flourishes of this franchise
Oh my god, I love that this world’s Karen has to jump to make it into the camera frame. The best kind of bullying, cinematographic bullying
While being force-washed by Tsukihi, Araragi briefly sees his reflection smile. His doppelganger!
Araragi repeats his desire to resolve this situation as quickly as possible. It seems his influence is having the greatest effect on Sodachi, since they’ve spent the most time together – meaning that the longer he stays here, the more he prevents even this world’s Sodachi from embracing happiness. That’s clearly weighing on his conscience
Yotsugi proposes that if Araragi were to embrace the version of himself that’s supposed to be in this world, he’d stop causing disruptions. A mechanical framing of his emotional conflict, his need to find the “correct” Araragi for his post-high school identity
“You’d probably start getting influenced by the world, and shift to our ‘normal.’” This deduction applies to his larger conflict as well – “inhabiting an adult persona” isn’t really about choosing a set of personal qualities and consciously exercising them, it’s just sort of what happens naturally over time, as the forces dictating your new life shape you in their image
“Simply resign yourself to your fate, and your new flirty life with Sodachi can begin tomorrow”
“I’ve left too many things in my world to resign myself to a life in this one. So long as there’s hope, I’ll pursue it.” A key step in Araragi’s emotional journey – in establishing what he might be like as a young adult, it is useful to first acknowledge what he still wants to maintain from his prior life, what bonds he refuses to abandon
Having finally reached Kanbaru’s bathhouse, Araragi is confronted by… GAEN TOOE, KANBARU’S MOM. AW SHIT
And Done
Jeez, Isin really is making the most of this alternate reality, huh? The arc is certainly maintaining a clear thematic thrust and trajectory, but it’s also offering plentiful indulgent payoffs, shining light on various mysterious corners of the Monogatari universe. I’m eager to get better acquainted with Kanbaru’s mom, but as for this episode, it seems Araragi is steadily moving towards a measure of peace with his young adult self. Through Kiss-Shot and Yotsugi asserting the validity of this mirror-world, Araragi is simultaneously being told that all forms of himself are valid, and that human beings are capable of any sort of transformation in order to better suit their environment. Rather than chase some uncertain ideal, Araragi should simply hold fast to what he doesn’t want to lose – a realization that’s already occurred to him, if only in the form of his desire to return home. We’ll survive the end of high school yet, Araragi!
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