Tag Archives: Monogatari

Monogatari S2 – Episode 12

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New arc! Man has this season been some good Monogatari. I think Neko Shiro is probably my single favorite arc of the show to date, and Araragi-Shinobu: Time-Traveling Zombie-Fighting Buddy Cops isn’t far behind. I’ve written more about this goddamn series than any other by a fairly significant margin, but it’s generally been a show I found more interesting than fully coherent – the style of storytelling was very unique, and the tricks of direction were extremely compelling, but it didn’t necessarily gel into a cohesive production. This season has blown that complaint away, telling vivid and compelling stories that don’t lean on either Isin’s wordplay or Shinbo’s cinematography, but instead make best use of each of their strengths in tandem. And now we have the Nadeko arc.

This is gonna be interesting. In Bake, I felt her arc was basically a biting, caustic comment by Shinbo, but Nadeko herself didn’t really have any presence. These first two arcs have been well-written and well-directed, but they’ve also had the benefit of leaning on two of the Monogatari universe’s strongest variables, Hanekawa herself and the Araragi-Shinobu relationship. Since Nadeko is so loosely define, this arc could go basically anywhere. So let’s go on an adventure.

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Summer 2013 – Week 11 in Review

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No Monogatari this week, so I only had two thirds of the great shows I normally do. That turned out to be fine, though, because the second-strings were in extremely good form.

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Brief Aside on the Beauty of Uchouten Kazoku

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Management: So yeah, I’m pretty much just evangelizing at this point. I was asked why I found the visuals of Uchouten so striking, and basically compiled a collection of many of my favorite moments. Of course, every other shot of this show is beautiful, so this isn’t even close to exhaustive. As usual, my responses were to real questions, but I’ve shortened the questions to their most basic form to keep it as general as possible.

Question:

Can you explain why you find the visuals of Uchouten Kazoku so beautiful? I agree that there are a number of standout moments, but it often feels like the backgrounds are just photographs someone put through a posterizing filter, which can clash with the hand-drawn characters. What do you get out of them?

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Monogatari S2 – Episode 10

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So do we get to see adult Mayoi now? That’s clearly what they’ve been baiting, but knowing Isin, the answer is no because fuck you. Not that I’d be moved much either way – frankly, last episode was so good it’s already justified whatever other nonsense this arc pulls together, and we haven’t even gotten to the full thematic point yet. Good times ahead!

Incidentally, I missed last week’s episode because busy, but I’ve caught up and put together a writeup for that one as well. You can find that here.

Episode 10

1:27 – Have to admit, Mayoi as a zombie hunter is pretty badass. And Araragi knows it – nice series of ‘holy shit, that’s Mayoi?’ shots there

1:59 – Shinobu, if you haven’t realized by now that this universe runs according to the rules of narrative convenience… 

3:15 – Nice. They are playing with shadows a lot in this arc. Clues, clues…

3:53 – Well, there’s a clarification. We are indeed in a many-timeline universe

4:26 – Isin has trouble keep a straight face in pretty much all his stories. Nice name, Shinobu

4:43 – I always love these interpretive sequences. And I guess this makes two stories in a row where the antagonist is an unwanted version of a character’s self

5:22 – Also great. Also, Oshino’s line about the impossible hope of his mission kind of resonates with Shinobu’s line from last week about maintaining optimism and pushing forward just to avoid stasis. Which in turn works with the red light/green light thing, and the futility of dwelling on (or attempting to change) the past

5:32 – When have Araragi’s powers EVER been relevant to his missions? Outside of Hanekawa’s issues, he mainly just gets beat up while talking the enemy to death

5:49 – As if Araragi could resist that 

6:56 – I love her replacement badass survival backpack. Also, all this work to save her and she’s still alone

8:35 – New palette! And what a lovely color scheme it is

9:15 – Even this world is beautiful now that Araragi knows that somewhere, Hachikuji survived

10:29 – Not quite sure what all to make of this conversation. Nice view, though 

12:31 – They make for quite the silly pair 

13:11 – I kind of jokingly referred to this as an Araragi/Shinobu buddy cop arc early on, but… yeah, that’s pretty much exactly where they’ve gone with it. Fun bonding time in alternate universe zombie apocalypses

13:22 – Well this is a new one 

14:11 – Isin finds outer demons significantly less interesting than inner ones 

Okay, that was hammy, even for me

15:02 – They are getting so much visual mileage out of this shrine

17:27 – This Shinobu required the same thing our Araragi did – to know that there is still hope somewhere.

20:00 – One more shadow for good measure. Right, shadows have always been relevant

23:01 – Alright, moral of the story time 

23:15 – And two… 

23:35 – …and three 

24:05 – Jeez Araragi, leaving a little explaining for the rest of us, would you? 

And Done

Route down! That was pretty solid – I enjoyed the second half significantly more than the first, but that’s mainly because I find Shinbo’s gorgeous cinematography far more satisfying than Isin’s campy humor. I liked how it was primarily a Shinobu story, and that Hachikuji’s own theme was kind of just sewn in along the edges – Hachikuji’s general theme of “you must go forward, come what may, because going forward is its own reward and what makes you happy will often come as a surprise” basically bookended the series, whereas Shinobu’s far more classically Monogatari story (accepting all elements of yourself, a very close parallel to Hanekawa and Tsukihi’s stories) basically took over in the parallel world. I really like how Isin tied the two resolutions together – the parallel of Araragi’s satisfaction at seeing a world where Mayoi had a chance to be alive and happy with alternate-Shinobu’s (no, I will not type out her ridiculous name) combined happiness and grief at her own better self is pretty satisfying stuff. Not just elegant, but also emotionally effective – Araragi introducing that concept helps on the emotional sell of Shinobu’s climax.

Overall, I don’t think this arc was as strong as the first (which isn’t really a fair comparison, since I think that arc is the best thing Monogatari’s done yet), but it was still some solid Monogatari. Bring on the next one!

Monogatari S2 – Episode 9

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Well I’m certainly ready to see this kick into high gear. This arc hasn’t been as tedious for me as the first Mayoi one (which is still easily my least favorite part of the series overall), but personally Isin’s comedy is kinda hit-or-miss for me, and not really what I’m here for. So I’d say an apocalypse or something is definitely in order.

Episode 9

0:02 – Nice establishing shot 

0:18 – Sweet, they weren’t kidding. This is a lovely series of shots, too. This one in particular is very interesting – all these shots possess much more detail than Monogatari’s usual highly stylized and flat aesthetic, and here we see the telephone poles’ usual appearance (a solid block of color, usually white) shift into more color as they reach the point where the corruption/natural overgrowth has reached them. Like the normal aesthetic is representative of the clinical, controlled environment these characters normally live within, and destroying that world also destroys that aesthetic

0:24 – God damn that’s nice 

0:40 – There’s one for the “inappropriate OP transitions” highlight reel

2:17 – Another beautiful composition. Love the use of shadow here – those ominous power lines reflected in black

2:27 – Back to the flat colors. Araragi’s house has escaped the destruction

3:01 – More great shadows. Really enhances the ghost town feel

3:39 – Shinbo gets to have so much fun with composition. I get that not every show would be appropriate for such a stylized approach, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a lot more of it

5:30 – So Shinobu’s obviously got some kinda secret. Good to know!

6:16 – Seems trustworthy 

6:39 – They keep changing the color palette of this place 

6:55 – Ermahgerd this show’s design. They are really going all-out today. It’s like the characters, the talisman, and the background have all been pulled from disparate worlds

7:25 – They are making it very hard for me to get through this episode 

7:47 – God, look at it. I love the consistency of the color trick – not only does the overall image fade from green to red, but you can see the individual trees in the distance do the same. It might be stylized, but it’s like the colors themselves are the ecosystem

8:02 – The green has spread significantly since they entered. Not yet sure what to make of that

9:09 – Well this is different. Their shifting, cut-paper texture kinda reminds me of Madoka

10:09 – Today is a good day 

10:47 – And to think I was complaining about this arc. This episode’s an embarrassment of riches

11:39 – Well I can see why she had trouble telling him. Wonder where they’re going with this…

12:26 – “Me that isn’t myself.” Pointing to some common Isin topics here. Links easily enough with fate, but there’s not yet enough pieces to tie it into the red light/green light stuff

13:32 – Jeez, that’s a morbid way to reference that 

14:39 – I like that this is more of a Shinobu arc than a Mayoi arc. Shinobu secretly being a possibly unbalanced world-shaking power is something the show generally breezes over, and keeping it relevant makes the Araragi-Shinobu relationship more interesting

17:08 – An interesting play on “true self.” Shinobu isn’t actually reformed, this is just a new version of her self, and that other self still exists

19:50 – Hanekawa reforms by embracing the various interpretations of her ‘self.’ Shinobu reforms by denying hers 

20:45 – I like pretty much every shot of this episode, but here’s another particularly nice one 

21:23 – He’s even at the playground? Jeez, I wonder who they’re gonna run into

And Done

What a great episode! Goddamn. Excitement about this season = renewed. Beautiful shots throughout, digging at some interesting stuff about Shinobu’s character, and who doesn’t love a good zombie apocalypse, particularly in Monogatari’s fantastic style? Still not sure of everything this arc is really about (though Shinobu’s little “you can’t always be pessimistic and wait for things to happen” speech at the end seems suspiciously relevant), but as long as the ride is this beautiful and exciting, I’ll remain happy to find out.

Summer 2013 – Week 8 in Review

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Because both story structure and the 1-cour system are kinda inflexible, this week pulled the interesting trick of having almost every single show I’m watching put their protagonist through the emotional wringer, questioning their very base motivation and bringing them as close to “defeat” (relative to each story’s stakes) as possible. Fun times!

Uchouten Kazoku 8: Jeez, you thought last week’s episode was heavy? This week dove directly into the grieving process, exploring the brothers’ father more fully than ever before through a series of quirky and moving flashbacks. Yajirou’s relevant backstory was fully laid out, culminating in the beautiful image of a rail car terrorizing downtown Kyoto and fading with the haunting shot of the family standing on the roadside, waiting for their father to come home. Even Yasaburou was forced to reflect on his relationship with his father, and possibly acknowledge that he must take up the mantle of responsibility simply because no one else can. Still on track to be the fourth anime in my list of basically perfect shows.

Gatchaman Crowds 7: Another doozy. Hajime pointing out Rui’s hypocrisy pushes him to Do The Right Thing and directly confront Katze. And so his Hundred are murdered, he’s nearly killed himself, and the Gatchamen’s chain of command is shattered. Only Hajime is able to save them, and even then only because her intelligence and philosophy amuse Katze. But even she is shaken by the appearance of a character who seems to put the lie to her fundamental faith in our common goals and desire for connection and understanding. Rui chose to forego his own ideals in order to hopefully create a future worthy of them. Will Hajime be forced to do the same?

Monogatari S2 7: Man, I act all cool and brooding about this season’s two Anime Worth Discussing, and then we get to Monogatari which was all derping around with loli Hanekawa and making terrible decisions about time travel. So far, this new arc has been much more comedy-focused than the first, which is fine as long as the comedy is good, and Araragi/Shinobu still have a fantastic dynamic. This episode was entertaining for what it was, but I’ll be happy to get into the meat of this time travel nonsense next week, and discover exactly how badly these idiots have fucked everything up.

C3-bu 8: Back to frowntown for this one, as Yura’s incredible insecurity has led her to first prove her worth to the team at any cost, and now seek victory in the same way. Cheating? Why, I never. I find pretty much everything about this show outside of Yura’s character development pretty flat (routine plotting, workmanly direction and dialogue), so it’s fortunate that they’re doing such solid work with her arc.

Free 8: And wrapping up my “everything sucks for everyone” roundup, this week featured Haru feeling really sad about not winning at swimming. Aaand not much else – the very distinctive direction from last week has been tuned down again, so once again it’s mainly watchable because I make silly jokes the whole time. I sure am excited for KyoAni’s next show…

TWGOK S3 8: I think this show’s turn will come next week, when Keima’s overt two-timing blows up in his face, but this show has always been more episodic anyway. Regardless, this particular week was mainly a rearrange-the-board style episode, setting up pieces to be knocked down in the next couple episodes. That’s fine, that’s sometimes necessary, but it’s not the kind of episode that shines in a weekly context.

So yeah, kind of a downer week overall, but the shows I’m invested in are still doing their thing with aplomb. As long as 2-3 shows continue to impress me, I’m happy.

Monogatari S2 – Episode 8

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So, Araragi and Shinobu, time travelling buddy cops trying to find their way back to the future. Or, as various people have pointed out, simply waiting for the future to happen on its own, since technically neither of them actually age. But wouldn’t that result in double Araragis and double Shinobus? I guess they could always just wait until present day again and then kill their doppelgangers… or wait, no, they don’t have to, they can just wait until the extra ones (not extra technically, just them in the future-past) head back in time. And that works whether this is a new timeline or simply a point in the past on the original one. Problem solved!

I like time travel.

Episode 8

1:03 – Baiting Kizu once again. KyoAni have some competition in the troll olympics

1:56 – These two have a great dynamic. Actually, most of the characters in this show have a pretty decent rapport, outside of Nadeko I guess. One of the many things that makes this a harem-but-not-really – I mean, structurally it is a harem (well, more of a supernatural/psychological thriller in a harem shell), and everybody pretty much loves Araragi, but almost all the conversations are an even back-and-forth based on friendship, not romantic tension. In fact, many conversations seem to possess sexual tension but not romantic tension, which is much more rare in anime, or at least rarely done in a way that isn’t just fetishizing a character for the sake of the audience. And legitimately good banter is a precious thing.

3:37 – Eh, lesser OP. I wonder if we’ll get another Platinum Disco?

4:01 – For the plot to work, obviously. That’s how time travel always works.

Incidentally, holy fuck does getting precise screencaps suck in this damn stream.

5:23 – Yeah, because saving a little girl 11 years ago isn’t going to affect anything else. Araragi is not a very good time traveler. Then again, if anyone ever was, time travel stories would be exceedingly boring

5:56 – Goddamnit Araragi. For someone who was expressing questions of parallel timelines an episode ago, you sure are flippant about making massive shifts to the course of peoples’ lives. His martyr complex is not gonna do history any favors

6:13 – I can’t believe Shinobu is the one talking sense into him

7:19 – Yes. This is how the butterfly effect works

7:36 – This makes no sense literally, so I have to assume we’re digging at the theme of this arc. Much like that first conversation about red versus green lights. Which works well with Hachikuji’s existence as an apparition, an eternal red light who can never proceed. Not that they’ll necessarily take it there, but Isin tends to scatter a whole lot of relevant Lego pieces, so I generally just poke pieces into each other until they seem to fit

8:57 – Goddamnit you two stawp

9:59 – Loli Hanekawa. We have jumped the shark

10:18 – Man, Shinbou and his sweet visual gags. A montage of street signs to simulate the experience of rolling down the street. Nice

11:04 – You’re fired. You’re fired. Everyone’s fired

12:36 – If you want to stop being mistaken for a pervert, you should stop being such a goddamn pervert, Araragi

12:38 – This entire episode is just fanservice of Araragi and Shinobu being adorable together. THEY’VE FOUND MY WEAKNESS

13:15 – Very nice

13:44 – Everyone involved is enjoying this arc far too much. New team: also fired

16:26 – Our hero

16:46 – Yes, Araragi. By all means, convince her you’re no one suspicious

17:52 – This is such an insane changeup from the last arc. But I guess Hanekawa arcs are heavy psychological drama, and Hachikuji arcs are pretty close to straight comedy

21:46 – I love the shrine’s color scheme

And Done

Oh jeez, saving a life fucked up the entire present. WOOPSIE-DAISY ARARAGI. Goddamnit. You can’t express some understanding of time travel dynamics and then BREAK THE ONE FUCKING RULE OF TIME TRAVEL. Jesus. What am I gonna do with these kids

Summer 2013 – Week 7 in Review

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Management: I think a lot of people find this format more friendly/useful than the timestamp writeups, and I write these things either way, so I think I’ll be posting them here going forward. Also, feel free to let me know anything you’d like more of in the comments.

This week was so good. My top two shows for this season are swiftly becoming two of my all-time favorites, and both of them had fantastic turns this week that seemed to indicate a honing of focus for the second half. Those first:

Uchouten Kazoku 7: This episode got me right in the gut. It started off extremely strong, with one last beautiful Benten vignette before returning the focus to the brothers. But the key here was the ending. This whole episode, the perspective shifted subtly but in a crucial way – while Yasaburou was still prominent, the focus this week was on illuminating the various sides of his put-upon older brother, Yaichirou. Seeing the contrast in his behavior towards the professor (calm, deferential), his rivals (confident, authoritative), and his brothers (childish, honest) really drove home the fact that his family is the one thing he truly relies on and lowers his guard towards. Which made the final scene, when his brother confessed to his role in their father’s death, absolutely heartbreaking. Yaichirou starts off essentially begging his brother to be innocent, and falls apart with a cry and collapse when he is let down. Right now, the political issues are secondary – this is Yaichirou realizing the one thing he trusts cannot be relied on. In a narrative sense, this moment clearly points towards what conflicts will cloud the second half of this show. But in its own context, it is one more incredibly personal and relatable moment in a show absolutely brimming with them, and its tragedy does nothing to diminish its beauty.

God, I hope this show maintains this quality to the end. So far I think it’s a goddamn masterpiece.

Gatchaman Crowds 6: Not to be outdone (by much, seriously, that Kazoku episode killed me), Gatchaman Crowds pulled out all the stops this week. The cliffhanger meeting from last week was delayed only so the existence of Gatchamen could become public knowledge, and the repercussions of this were as predictable as they were awesome. While the Gatchamen went to ground, Rui was forced to act – the existence of actual superheroes would throw a serious wrench in his “everyone’s a hero, no-one’s a hero” master plan. And so he arranges a meeting with Hajime through a fun set piece demonstrating the power of GALAX, ending with a clash where Hajime takes all of five minutes to acknowledge, question, and dismantle Rui’s philosophy. Hajime ain’t nothing to fuck with. Sugane and Hajime’s relationship also progressed this episode, with Sugane finally getting it through his thick skull that Hajime is far smarter than any of them. This show is heating up.

Monogatari S2 6: It sure is tough being the first seed in a season with two of the best dark horses in recent history. This episode of Monogatari got a bit too indulgent and pointlessly Isin-ish in the first half, but the second half was a lot of fun. Shinobu’s lack of fucks regarding the dynamics of time travel, and Araragi’s extremely valid and well-thought-out concerns (which he only mentions after the fact, of course, because at the time a girl had said she needed his help), made for an extremely entertaining ride. These two have one of my favorite dynamics in the show, and sending them off on a buddy cop time travel story promises all kinds of great shenanigans.

Free! 7: Thank god. Last week’s slice of life tedium feels thoroughly behind us, because this week saw a new episode director (the one behind K-On and Tamako Market, surprisingly) inject a massive infusion of visual distinction and purpose into the proceedings. Great direction and cinematography throughout this week, and virtually everything that happened was purposeful. This show’s narrative is absolute pap, but good direction can make almost anything compelling, and this episode proved that. Nice work, Free.

TWGOK S3 7: One of the funniest episodes yet for TWGOK, with this episode attempting to pull a double-booked-date double-seduction hat trick (yes, I know a hat trick involves three things, shut up). Not much else to say – last week disappointed me because it played the romantic scenario too straight, and this week bashed two or three romantic scenarios together at the same time, with Keima continuously ratcheting up his ambition despite barely being able to stand. This is comedy I can get behind.

C3-bu 7: Eh, I’m just enjoying this show for what it is at this point. This episode was pleasant, and the characters were pleasant, and the pacing was pleasant. Yura slowly becoming a moesoft tyrant is pretty great, and her characterization is well-realized. It’s a show with middling ambitions that pretty much always hits the mark.

Hunter x Hunter 93: This show is so great. This week transitioned from a tyrannical genetic mutant establishing a human meat farm to… a teenage boy tailing his friend on a date to watch out for any funny business. And it worked. It always works. I don’t know how they do it, but this show is fun and fast-paced and well-directed and full of creative ideas or great twists on old ones every single time.

So yeah. Almost everything was excellent this week. No complaints from me.

Monogatari S2 – Episode 7

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Day late on this one – it’s been a very busy weekend. Anyway. New arc today. I’m assuming we’re back on Araragi (which I’m kinda meh towards) and the arc is apparently about Hachikuji (also pretty meh towards), but this season has blown past my expectations so far, so I’m just trying to come in at true neutral. Let’s roll.

Episode 7

0:44 – Clearly a face we can trust.  

1:07 – A three second pause… alright, I’m just gonna let Isin’s dialogue do its own thing until pieces come together in a way that might make sense. The first arc of this season kind of spoiled me, but I’m kind of used to thinking of this show’s dialogue and its visuals as two separate shows that happen to run at the same time. So my notes will probably be a bit more me-focused (just jotting down details until they pull together), since I’m not gonna pontificate on what I don’t think I actually understand. So:

Traffic light metaphor. The pause where all motion is stopped, everywhere.

1:32 – “If I designed the system, I’d make sure the lights were never all green. Everyone prefers safe over dangerous.”

1:41 – They’re really grinding in a very simple statement. We’ll need a couple more reflections to triangulate an actual point, though

1:51 – “When the world is filled with green lights signaling safety, it’s more dangerous than anywhere.”

Again, basically self-notes here. The show is highlighting and underlining this concept, so I’ll want these statements written out to reference against

2:29 – “Half the lights being green just means half the risk. If you want to be safe, don’t cross sidewalks.” That’s something more, since it’s actually nonsense, and a kind of dangerous nonsense too. Hm

3:34 – Araragi, haven’t you realized yet you live in a world where half-baked semi-profundities always come back to bite you in the ass? Often literally, too

Nice shot there, by the way

4:11 – This is gonna be fun

5:01 – Her design is so bizarre. Like a non-anime fans’ idea of an anime character. It definitely helps make her seem like some kind of creepy homunculus

5:21 – Even if I didn’t already know, it’d be pretty easy to tell this is gonna be a Hachikuji story. All this crap mirroring Hachikuji’s life story and first arc. Isin can get so self-indulgent sometimes…

5:57 – That’s awesome. I’m glad she finds that phase as embarrassing as I found it annoying

6:11 – That is an incredibly good question

7:08 – I like how the absurd, empty-stage nature of their world makes this a pretty great gag

8:12 – Hm. Why is Araragi so put off by her assumption that he’s a human?

9:16 – Must every plot element mirror another one, Isin? Katanagatari is actually one of my all-time favorite shows, but in Monogatari I think he mixes it up too much between cute parallels and meaningful ones

9:28 – This one seems more relevant. Professing resurrection in a story about another dead girl

10:21 – I’d like to see a map of this town of theirs

10:36 – Seriously, I’d hire this urban planner in a second

11:06 – Seems relevant

12:42 – Oh please. Bring back Hanekawa!

14:07 – You know how I sometimes complain about Isin using his characters as self-indulgent mouthpieces? Well, I do, and Fuck This

14:47 – It only makes sense. Another distinctive shot

15:27 – Well this episode escalated quickly

18:01 – Manipulating Araragi 101: Play to his hero complex

18:26 – She takes his watch, and then once he no longer has control of it, uses it to confirm his sense of time. Hm

19:53 – I foresee no problems with this

20:25 – This conversation is actually awesome. Time travel is always nonsense, so “going forward in time takes less energy, just like salmon!” is pretty much par for the course

21:04 – And now he’s actually trying to clarify whether he traveled through time physically or just adopted his old physical self. You’d think if he were this thoughtful about time travel, he’d have asked maybe one or two of these questions before leaping through the giant scary time-gate

21:34 – Yeaah, she is being super weird about this watch

22:04 – This is extremely adorable

And Done

Welp, ya fucked around with time travel, what did you expect?

So I guess that answers the question of Hachikuji’s relevance. Are we actually right around her Time Of Death now? Eh, plot is details, let’s talk about the craft.

This episode definitely leaned into some of my least favorite Isin-isms, mainly through the extremely cute plot mirroring and self-indulgent, character-irrelevant banter. The first half just felt clunky as hell, and Shinbou didn’t really get much of a chance to strut his stuff as far as visual-plot-illuminating goes. That’s pretty much par for the course with Hachikuji stories, even though Hachikuji has yet to actually appear – there is no sexual charge to her and Araragi’s relationship, so the camera doesn’t have all that much to talk about. The second half was a lot of fun though, mainly because Shinobu and Araragi have a very endearing buddy-cop dynamic, and because time travel is just loads of fun in general, and actually improved through the presence of genre-savvy characters. Definitely not as strong a start as the first arc, but obviously it’s going places.

Summer 2013 Halfway Point: Season So Far

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Management: Sequel to this post. My general thoughts so far on the winners, losers, and casualties of my summer season.

This has been a very good season, and though there hasn’t been anything I enjoy as much as I enjoyed OreGairu in the spring, I think the top show is technically better this time. But the top tier is really good all around. In descending order:

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