And now it's really over. It feels so weird to know I've finally reached the very last episode of such a big adventure. There's still Off Season and Monster Season, but I guess it's not quite the same. I'm gonna miss seeing all those wonderful characters on screen. But at the same time, I can't wait to meet them again in the light novels ! I refuse to be totally done with them.
About this season as a whole, it was a very good one. Not as emotionally powerful as Owari S1 and S2, but still great, with a beautiful message and some great development mostly for Araragi of course but also for the other characters.
I didn't want to write anything before reaching this episode so that I could be sure I understood the big picture, but now I have quite a good amount of things to say.
Firstly, this season really proved to me how awesome Araragi is. I said I wouldn't consider him one of my all-time favorite characters but after a bit of thinking, I might reconsider that. He is so well-written and endearing.
To continue on my discussion, of course, as usual I'm gonna discuss the Ougi part. As intriguing and fascinating as usual, but even creepier than she's ever been (I thought that after Owari S2 I saw her so much in an emotional light I wouldn't ever be spooked by her again but she definitely proved me wrong). Overall I think Araragi and her already worded the most important so no need to paraphrase, however there are two aspects I wanted to pay some attention to. The first one is the very last moment of their discussion. When I saw Ougi standing at the window, I jockingly thought about how it looked like she was about to jump. And then she did. That really surprised me, but at the same time I immediately thought about the fact that she appeared in Hanamonogatari which takes place after Zoku Owari, so there was no way she just died here. So I thought about what that scene could represent and I think I get it. As interesting and touching as this whole scene between Araragi and Ougi was, what confused me was how much emphasis they were putting on the fact that they are the same person, for the simple reason that by the end of Ougi Dark, I came to the conclusion that Oshino making Ougi, and only Ougi, his official niece meant she was no longer attached to Araragi. But now I think I see it more clearly. This whole season proved Araragi wasn't actually at peace with himself. But his conversation with Ougi, with his reflection, led him to realize that, and to understand how to make up for that. So in the real world, Ougi and him are technically already separated, but this isn't the case in Araragi's subconscious. He needed to have a final discussion with this darker part of him, to make a final farewell, in order to fully let go of it, of her. So it's not that Ougi died or disappeared at this moment, but that her bound with Araragi hadn't completely disappeared. But now Araragi fully made peace with himself, he fully made peace with her, she fully made peace with him, consequently she no longer represents his regrets and darker feelings (though this doesn't stop her from representing people's regrets in general if her actions in Hana are to be believed).
But that also leads me to the other aspect I wanted to discuss. When she was talking about how Araragi saved her from the Darkness, she said there are people who would disagree with his action as they believe anything remotely dangerous needs to be destroyed. With that, she added she actually is one of those people. I found that to be an incredibly sad line, both for her as an individual, and for Araragi as her double. Because this line implies Ougi still doesn't consider she deserved to be saved, she still considers she deserves to be destroyed, so not only does she see herself as destructive but she also displays an actual self-destructive behaviour (well back in Ougi Dark she did refer to her being taken away by the Darkness as a suicide) which she hasn't completely lost despite what happened. And on Araragi's part, it's no better, but it's also not surprising considering that "suicidal" and "self-destructive" are two words that could perfectly describe him for a very long time, and it perfectly goes with what he needed to solve in this season. Despite having accepted this darker side of him, he still, deep down, has a feeling he might've done the wrong thing, that maybe something about him really needs to be obliterated. He isn't anywhere near as suicidal as he once was, but he still is unsure about if he deserves to go easy on himself, if him accepting some aspects of him aren't just pure stupidity, if he even has the right to let Ougi exist. I hope the way that conversation ended is a sign neither he as a whole, nor Ougi as an individual, continue to see this situation as such. It seems that way, well at least on Araragi's part (not sure about Ougi, she is so much of a puzzle that I probably need more content from the novels to fully understand). He no longer has regrets, which means he doesn't have to be so harsh on himself.
And speaking of which, just one last thing regarding Ougi : despite how creepy she's been in this episode, she hasn't actually been criticizing Araragi here, in opposition, her words have been truly nice and encouraging (even if she called him an idiot twice or thrice). This actually is so important.
Now, regarding the rest. Same thing, I don't want to paraphrase, I'm just gonna highlight some aspects.
The one thing I really needed to talk about was regarding Ononoki. I'm not sure to know how I'm supposed to interpret the fact that she rewrote her personality in order to fit what Araragi wanted of her. The show didn't really expend on that when the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that was "That's messed up !". That's messed up, because she went from a lively girl to an emotionless robot, who deep down is still the same but cannot express herself, because Araragi doesn't want to see her that way. I don't think I even need to explain why that's disturbing. Yet no one really mentioned that. I don't get it. I get the idea behind it, but the result, and the message it (accidentally) brings out, is unsettling. I really hope I got it wrong.
Aside from that, I wanted to mention Tooe's character. She was very interesting, I really wish we could've seen more of her, it's a shame she is long dead. And it actually brought out something interesting regarding Gaen (Izuko), which really makes me believe she also is an interesting character, but has never been expanded on that, it's such a shame, I'm sure I could like her a lot more than I currently do if we could even see her outside of that know-it-all facade.
Now another thing I was a bit confused about : we saw how Shinobu used to be as a human... But she's still called Kiss-Shot-Acerola-Orion-Heart-Under-Blade ? I'm guessing this is due to this version of the character actually being the result of Araragi creating the mirror world. I wonder how much of it is actually true to how she really was. Also, I found that a bit of a shame we haven't seen her as Shinobu ever since her episode in Koyomimonogatari, while it was very nice to see other aspects of her (and to see her in her vampire form with her new personality in order to understand how much she's grown), I feel like not having gotten to see her the way she wants to be one last time is quite a shame since as I said, this is the way she wants to be. It is hard to remember as such when we spent so much time with another version of her, it doesn't quite benefit the message. But well, maybe the light novels can correct that.
About the rest... No I think I'm gonna stop here, I've already said a lot.
Oh no wait, one last thing : seeing Araragi in Ougi's uniform was unexpected but an hilarious sight, and it's even funnier to know Ougi just trolled him and didn't even expect for him to put the uniform on. Well she did that with the actual intent to make him finally react but still, that's funny.
Also, I really was hoping to see Araragi behave like her just like he thought he would. That would be quite something and after all, she is a side of him. Interestingly enough, when he realized where he had to go last episode, he was in the same position as her when she was about to be taken away by the Darkness. Though I'm not quite sure if this was due to him being so convinced he'd become like her he just started unconsciously having the same body language as her, or if it's a sign of him really having this Ougi side in him.
Oh and how could I forget what I wanted to mention from the beginning of this post : hearing Senjougahara laugh can warm even the coldest heart.
Well, Monogatari really was a wonderful anime series ! It had such great messages, and it's one of the few work of fiction where I love almost the entirity of the cast (and even those I don't love, I still like them).
But if I have to mention one single regret I have with this series, it is that Kaiki didn't make a comeback. Not only because he is one of my top favorite Monogatari characters (and could've easily joined my favorite characters list if I got to see more of him), but also because I just realized the mystery regarding what happened to him at the end of Monogatari SS never received an answer. Weird. |