Monogatari S2 ep4: wrath, lust, jealousy; wise to your own ignorance

With a new day dawning, it’s naturally Hanekawa who greets us as the episode starts. She’s quite aware that something isn’t right anymore when she wakes from her sleeps. And she’s also quite used to seeing the signs of Black Hanekawa’s arrivals. Though the clues are there clear enough now, they’re different clues compared to the ones she’s seen before. The rules are different, the circumstances are different.

Monogatari S2 ep3: two sides of the same apparition

So. I guess the normal rules of Monogatari don’t apply anymore?  From the beginning this series has been more “weird” than normal.  Not to say anything in Monogatari universe is normal to begin with.  Any normal in it has been a matter of perspective.

Monogatari S2 ep2: what makes you tick? Or do you tick just because?

Interesting how this episode used the maximum amount of wordage to get its point across. Though it still adds enough flavoring to make it palatable, to me at least.

Check-in Station: Monogatari Season 2 ep1 (my spirit animal is actually a spirit animal!)

Senjougahara! Welcome back! Hanekawa! Welcome back! Even you Mayoi! Welcome back! Araragi- Araragi? Araragi? Hey! Where the hell is the main character?! We’re starting a series here!

Check-out Station: Nisemonogatari eps 10 & 11: people and family are horrible things, but I wouldn’t want to be without them.

So concludes another season of leachery and monsters, or is it monsters and leachery?  Or is it the leacherous monstrosity of a harem of horny monsters?  No, I guess all of that is a disservice to the season and the show.  It’s advanced anime for the veterans and the pervs.

I was wondering when the second half of the season (this very, very short season) would get down to business.  It did so in episode ten with

Nisemonogatari ep7: what an absolutely, unquestionably incorrigible a-hole!

Talk about a duel.  I suppose you get everything you could want and expect out of this show in this one episode.  But I’m not I was prepared for how it was to be delivered.  And I was actually worried about the result.  The Karen Bee arc comes to an interesting ending, but the show overall is stronger for it.

#Nisemonogatari ep6: I love you so much that you had better understand the boundaries of this relationship. #anime

No matter how static things seem in this show, nothing is ever static.  Something is alway moving in the background, someone’s thoughts are always being molded, opinions moved in a different direction.  This episode is a good example. Most of the episode is a conversation with Senjougahara, with the rest taken up by an encounter with Hachikuji and Shinobu.  It’s all talk, but nothing is static.

Things seemed to be stable once the episode started. Araragi had declared at least a stalemate with the wreath fire bee by lowering, but not completely relieving Karen’s fever.  She apparently was no longer in danger.  And then he runs into Hachikuji and he gets dragged over the metaphorical hot coals for breaking tradition.  She makes some good points, points that I believe Hanekawa has already made.  His sisters are really indistinguishable from him, aside from age and sex of course.  Their reckless abandon and “hero-streak” are his as well.  Though it appears he’s no closer to realizing it this episode.

#Nisemonogatari ep5: I can’t imagine that Araragi’s in a playful mood right now. Is this about revenge or solving the problem? #anime

What an inconvenient solution. I’m sorry, but I’d have to let my sister keep the fever.

This episode definitely knocked me out of my playful mood. Seeing what that Kaiki dude did just sent me into an internal rage. I don’t care if that was my sister or not, Araragi can’t be completely cool underneath. For now though, it feels like he’s doing the right thing… sort of.  He’s at least trying to address her pain and health before getting some payback.

Maybe

DonKangolJones’ Images of the Week: January 30th (chill out man, enjoy the ride!)

After a week off to right a little for We Remember Love, I get to come back to my hobby of summing up what I’ve watched in blog format.  I got to enjoy a pivotal moment in a manga I’ve been following for near a decade.  I discovered a comedy that has made me laugh in harder in two episodes than anything else I can remember watching in a long while, maybe since Fumoffu.  And I witnessed the end of an “age” of anime.  So then, here are the my images of the week!

#Nisemonogatari ep4: “We live until we die.” Araragi, you have an interesting harem. #anime

This was rather intense from start to finish.  I got the shock of seeing Hanekawa’s new look (she looks like she just ended a serious relationship, which I guess kinda did happen at the end of Bakemonogatari).  I got the shock of seeing Araragi almost smack one of his sisters. And I got the additional shock of seeing Shinobu pop out of the bath!  Geez!  There was a lot of tastefully, sensibly censored nudity in this episode.  I suppose the loli stuff might get a few of us anime lovers in trouble, too.  But it was Araragi’s conversation with Shinobu that left the lasting impression on me.