Well, there is at least one mystery that is now solved for sure : now I understand why Hanekawa questioned Kaiki about Oshino's so-called "niece". I always wondered how she knew about that.
We're diving deeper and deeper into Araragi's past, and at this rate I wouldn't even be surprised if it turns out he knew Oikura since kindergarten. At least it is pretty certain they knew each other for much longer than Araragi believes, but how exactly did he forget, what did he forget, and how this little idiot managed not to recognize Oikura, not just once but twice (and maybe even more) ?
One of the many interesting things about this arc is how it fully deals with the fact that Araragi isn't the smartest guy out there, or more exactly, he doesn't see far enough. He only ever scratches the surface, he's always done that, he doesn't think about the deeper meaning of anything (what fully confirmed it to me was in Ougi Formula when Ougi asked him why he seated "there", and he answered she was the one who told him, completely missing the point of the question). I didn't expect the show to address this problem, that's great.
And talking about not seeing far enough it surprised me to see Hanekawa going more in depth than Ougi. Where Ougi apparently took for granted the fact that Oikura knew Araragi's parents are from the police, Hanekawa pointed out that he didn't tell her about that which means she shouldn't know about it. So if Araragi didn't meet Hanekawa and only stayed with Ougi's words in mind, he wouldn't have realized the problems began before his official meeting with Oikura five years ago. Maybe Ougi purposely omitted this detail to make him think by himself, but maybe Hanekawa actually found a flaw in her way of thinking.
Either way, this detail shows once again that Araragi's main problem is that he doesn't think enough. After all, so far the only way he found out the truth, whether it be in Ougi Formula or in Sodachi Riddle, is through Ougi giving him all the necessary clues, basically he let her do the majority of the work and left with the final product. And then he did the same with Hanekawa, without her he wasn't at all planning on questioning Ougi's theory. And when I think about it, isn't this whole thing about getting away with the final product of the work someone else did for him exactly what Oikura reproaches him ? Well that's a good thing he is finally realizing this flaw of him, at least to some degree, and that makes me wonder what kind of huge mistake he did in the past.
Finally I wanted to mention this little bit of dialogue between Araragi and Ougi :
"-I'm starting to hate this me who is so happy.
-Well then I'll love him for you." (That wasn't exactly that but you know what I mean.)
What was up with that answer ?! She said it so casually. But actually that's something I always noticed about Ougi, she is particularly friendly and affectionate but something feels off. After all it is clear this attitude is part of why Araragi feels comfortable enough to talk to her like that, she knows how to find the right words and gestures to make him trust her despite how scary she is. And this makes her all the scarier but also all the more interesting. She manages so well to make him take the route she wants him to take (just like she did with Nadeko), how many of her words are genuine and why is she doing all that ?
About how genuine she is, I have absolutely no idea, but about why she is doing it, I have a theory. In Tsukimonogatari she said something like "I despise what's out of order" (once again, that wasn't exactly that but yiu get the idea), and in Shinobu Time there are plenty of hints that could indicate she is related to the Darkness that attacked Kiss Shot and later Hachikuji, actually she even practically said it herself. If we take all that in account that might explain why she is trying so hard for Araragi to fix his past mistakes, but it only explains what would be her current goal, not what are her inner motivations. I can't wait to find out but at the same time, I like for the show to take its time with her, it leaves more room for theories.
One last little detail I wanted to add about her is that I found her behaviour when Araragi saw her for the very first time in Ougi Formula (when Kambaru introduced her to him) to be very weird due to how out of character it seemed. She seemed to be very shy, hiding behind the door, which goes completely against the way we know her. Did she try to adapt herself to Araragi by first playing the shy transfer student before being her usual friendly self, or is it something else ? |