Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season Episode 14 Discussion

I feel pretty good about this final episode twist since I managed to catch it last week lol, a lot of folks on last episode’s thread just kinda accepted who the “culprit” was, being Kiseki, but I know there were a handful like me that noticed the inconsistency in what was shown at the start of the arc and who the show was saying was the prime suspect now, I was also told that this was a case of Araragi being an unreliable narrator, but thankfully that wasn’t the case and there actually was more to be revealed in the finale, so yeah I feel good rn lol. Yeah it was Kie Harimaze after all, her design as a vampire was pretty hot, and turns out she actually wanted to become a vampire and Suicide-Master lied about wanting to look good for Shinobu, yeah that makes sense when you recall Kie’s expression after meeting Suicide-Master.

But Kie fucked up tho, she took too long in deciding to eat Suicide-Master and ultimately went after Araragi, and even that was too late when Kagenui came crashing down on her, I was wondering if she’d ever show up since they teased her before, badass entrance I gotta say. It’s honestly funny too, because Kie was over here with her maximum edge talking about how she’s saving people and how she’s done with adolescence, basically what happens when you give an edgy teen power, and then she got shut down lol. I’m sure there’s truth to what she said but come on, your in high school lol, and thankfully she did apparently go back to being human to save those she harmed, I would’ve been a bit upset if this ended without saving the mummy girls, I just wish we could have seen them back to normal for more of a payoff. And at the end was what everyone is harping about, the return of Senjougahara, I like her a lot but I don’t go crazy for her lol, she by no means stole the episode, but it was nice to see her again after all this time.

And that was it for the return of Monogatari after 5 years or so, 2019 was actually when I first got into this series but stopped after finishing Nekomonogatari, but the announcement of this new season got me to return to the series this year and finish all of what I didn’t back then, so in a way it has been nearly 5 years for me too even if I finished everything right before this season began lol. And this was another banger, I really enjoyed it, Shaft has shown they still got it with this series and did an amazing job, I really enjoyed all the arcs within too, I do kinda wish they all could have been focused on side characters with Araragi being a supporting character, but I guess one of the arcs being with him as MC is fine, hard to not love him lol, but my favorite arc of this season was without a doubt Nadeko Draw, I just really enjoyed Nadeko as MC and her duo with Ononoki was a lot of fun, they made a great pair, the focus on all the past Nadekos was really cool too.

And the OPs and ED of this season were all once again great, YOASOBI’s ED isn’t as great as past EDs imo but it really grew on me over time and I jam out to it every time it comes on now lol, and Nadeko’s OP was such a bop and Shinobu’s was probably one of her coolest ones. I really hope we can get a continuation of this since I’m seeing that there’s still more from both Off & Monster Season to be adapted, but in the mean time I will probably rewatch the First Season content which I haven’t seen since 2019, should be a nostalgic time.

@TheColonel76 guess I was wrong about the unreliable narrator aspect lol. Guess the culprit was someone else lol.

This is EASILY one of the worst arc in the entire franchise in a narrative standpoint and I'm glad the rating survey reflects that.
First and foremost, this was the most evident mystery you could possibly ever write which was obvious from the very FIRST scene of the arc. I'm not even going to argue around it and I'll just straight up copy the shit I've said on /a/.
From the introduction scene where you see Kie having a mental breakdown about being part of the basketball club before meeting Deathtopia and finally smirking upon the scene's conclusion getting cut off you HAVE TO KNOW she's the real culprit behind EVERYTHING coming afterwards and everything else is a red herring. It's simple, if she wasn't the culprit, then that scene was basically pointless, this is called the reciprocity of Chekhov's gun narrative principle. Meaning there was no other way but for her to be the vampire behind everything, major problem is the entire arc is focused on finding the culprit causing the mummification and there is absolutely nothing else going on beside that, no clever and funny banter, no philosophical reflexions and of course no important character progress or self-reflection, mainly because those idiots and Shaft cut the most important part of RRRG/Kagenui end dialogue which carried the entire arc narrative.
The only thing you conclude from finishing this arc is that you got cucked of the possibility of a good story, "was that all for nothing?"
Shinobumonogatari doesn't immediatly follows Waza in the novels, but here in the anime, which rearranged greatly the arc orders, it did. Therefore what you expect is for the narrative to organically flow from one arc to another as it was Shaft INTENDED purpose. Unfortunately, the main focus of Waza Kiss shot and Deathtopia are an absolutely joke in this arc, both from their initial personality and in their role in the story. I've already treated Shinobu last episode's thread, she does nothing in the arc, she's barely a lore mouthpiece, she's carried around by RRRG only for her to be there and have reactions. She has absolutely ZERO involvement in DVS resurrection as princess Acerola (NOT SHINOBU) from the heaven gives RRRG her saliva to keep DVS alive, then Gaen, main character of the arc, resurrect DVS with a ritual. She has no involvement in the arc's resolution either as she appears last second before Kagenui cucks her of a fight scene. Her biggest impact is killing RRRG to send him in hell, which doesn't work as he goes in heaven instead AND could have been done by Gaen as she did it once before.
Now onto DVS, she is an insult to worldbuilding in this arc. Reminder that Kiss shot Acerola Orion under heart blade is cannonically "Oddity slayer and King of Oddities" and also a creature capable of bringing the apocalypse by herself (see Kabukimonogatari) BUT her master and creator, an immortal pure blood vampire, which lived more than 1000 years, jobs like a bitch to the disgusting blood of a depressed high school girl lmao. Right now without any possible debate, every single oddity had some sort of a powerscale, even if not explained, putting them all in a coherent hierarchy of power. If you want it brief, Oshino Meme can easily keep in check the Heavy stone crab, Kagenui and the rainy devil can easily demolish an unpowered RRRG, loli shinobu easily defeats Black Hanekawa but Nadeko medusa has no problem killing an underpowered Shinobu and that's why she would need to drink RRRG blood to face even Yotsugi, all of that remain perfectly coherent with a ceiling clearly stated as Kiss shot fully powered is basically above everyone. Deathtopia on the other hand, dies from food poisining from a human girl because she's a bit weakened. "Yeah but she's clearly in her weakest state ever, she states she's close to die at the end blablabla" Even if justified (badly because she keeps on living lmao) at the last minute by Nisio doesn't mean it's a compelling narrative. For SIX episodes you would expect of having a more climatic conclusion for a character than just coming into the world to say "hello it's been a while" then fucking off back to nowhere at the end without any catharsis or endearing dialogue. Shinobu and DVS had no dynamic, their meeting was rushed and skipped, there was no gravitas or impact to what you thought the arc was meant to be, their reunion, and what Nisio intended the arc to be is so boring and uninteresting it makes him look like he was trying to write a Monogatari filler.
Gaen and Araragi overtook the arc to an excruciating extent for no reason, Gaen is THE plot device of Monogatari, despite being entertaining and cute to hear, her main role is to be an exposition mouthpiece since her introduction, Araragi /our/ protagonist has another issue, he is a solved character after Owari. He has already learnt most of what he can learn as an individual, making him now extremely boring to follow as he just "Watson" his way through the mystery while Gaen does her "Sherlock Holmes". All other girls are there for filling the plot and do not leave much to remember, I'd remind you that the best dialogue of Monogatari ever (don't @ me) is Mayoi and Araragi first discussion in Karen Bee, an arc which Mayoi has no bearing WHATSOEVER. In Shinobu Mustard, Mayoi's, Yotsugi's, Kanbaru's and finally Senjougahara's lines are so devoided of ideas they all appear like a shadow of their characters, they are there to say their catch phrases "oh my kamimashita, oh my erodore, oh my yay peace peace" and nothing else.
I also must talk about Kie Harimaze, an antagonist so unimportant she makes Seishirou look like Kaiki in Nisemonogatari. Her main deal is she's part of the basketball club. During this arc, did she interacted with the defacto most important character related to the basketball club Kanbaru Suruga? Not even once. You know what's weird. This arc takes place after Hanamonogatari because Kanbaru has her short haircut, Hanamonogatari, an arc featuring Numachi Rouka, another former member of the basketball club and an INFINITELY MORE interesting antagonist from her reason and worldview to her impact on other characters.
Now Kie Harimaze sole impact onto anything was boring me to death when she complains how's the life of an high school girl in a club is SOOOOOOOOO AWFUL, which, if you're an adult like I am, is a complete farce of a statement. If you're an high schooler reading this and you think high school life is awful, just know that the best years of your life end at 18 and every single person you will ever meet will tell you this. In this story as well considering Zoku ends with Araragi cherishing his last high school years but now an entitled girl who couldn't be bothered to leave her club will claim the opposite, I, Am, Laughing.

My hate for this arc will not stain my love for the first 3 arcs which all are now in my top5 favorite Monogatari Arcs with Nadeko Medusa and Karen Bee, I'll rate this season a 9/10 with a slight clentch in my stomach.

@James-LastOmnic For the first para, I agree shaft shouldn't have cut all the important dialogues from the novels man. Like this one



Second para, you keep saying shinobu does nothing. but how would she do anything when she doesn't know anything? This arc was solely created for the reunion of Shinobu and Deathtopia. A friend from 600 years ago comes to surprise you, you don't know anything how will you take preparations bruh. Again, this arc showed the current relationships between her and araragi. When she was asked with 'what are humans to you?', she replied 'monster' didn't she? this leans towards the evil aspects of humans, they are more of a monster than oddities. Oddities are monster by nature but humans chooses to be monsters.

Third para, Deathtopia appears again in Shinomonogatari 'Death Tale.' she has yet to reach her conclusion. this served as the current state of mind of deathtopia. Also about their reunion didn't they lay everything bare to each other? what they did for past 600 years. even deathtopia didn't mind shinobu seeing her in that form. also what else can you say to someone you met after 600 years? endearing dialogues? also suppose deathtopia is killed by kagenui right there, would it serve as an appropiate ending? definitely not. she will reach her conclusion in shino.

4th para, isn't the catchphrase of Hachikuji one of the charms of her? Also Hachikuji definitely a big role here saving Deathtopia. About Gaen yeah she only served as mouthpiece here ngl. But this shed light upon that she actually doesn't know everything. And also more questions like oddity specialist group, gaen's intentions cuz I believe there is definitely something because of her dialogues near the end. Also didn't kanbaru retire from the basketball club lol? why in the flying fuck would kie meet kanbaru bruh? like what's her reason lol? kanbaru doesn't have anything to do with basketball club now lol.

5th para, yeah ngl about how kie harimaze served as a fodder. but she shed lights upon the deathtopia's current state of mind and araragi's growth. araragi is not fully not an adult yet. Harimaze desired friends but she hurt them cuz she hated them. Isn't that her sole reason? Her own characters reflects araragi. she has much more reason to be there than you make it out to be.(see some lines from the novels I posted above). Yes her statements was complete farce but isn't that because she is still child and a buffoon? that's exactly what araragi was b4. Araragi said she is me didn't he?
Pre Owar araragi was a buffoon and post owari araragi is a child not an adult yet. cuz he hesitates in his answers. he is not straightforward like kagenui who araragi sees as an adult.

This arc served much more purpose than you make it out to be buddy. Overall, the directing of this arc was off ngl compared to the previous arcs ngl but this arc has its own purpose.

This is EASILY one of the worst arc in the entire franchise in a narrative standpoint and I'm glad the rating survey reflects that.
First and foremost, this was the most evident mystery you could possibly ever write which was obvious from the very FIRST scene of the arc. I'm not even going to argue around it and I'll just straight up copy the shit I've said on /a/.
From the introduction scene where you see Kie having a mental breakdown about being part of the basketball club before meeting Deathtopia and finally smirking upon the scene's conclusion getting cut off you HAVE TO KNOW she's the real culprit behind EVERYTHING coming afterwards and everything else is a red herring. It's simple, if she wasn't the culprit, then that scene was basically pointless, this is called the reciprocity of Chekhov's gun narrative principle. Meaning there was no other way but for her to be the vampire behind everything, major problem is the entire arc is focused on finding the culprit causing the mummification and there is absolutely nothing else going on beside that, no clever and funny banter, no philosophical reflexions and of course no important character progress or self-reflection, mainly because those idiots and Shaft cut the most important part of RRRG/Kagenui end dialogue which carried the entire arc narrative.
The only thing you conclude from finishing this arc is that you got cucked of the possibility of a good story, "was that all for nothing?"
Shinobumonogatari doesn't immediatly follows Waza in the novels, but here in the anime, which rearranged greatly the arc orders, it did. Therefore what you expect is for the narrative to organically flow from one arc to another as it was Shaft INTENDED purpose. Unfortunately, the main focus of Waza Kiss shot and Deathtopia are an absolutely joke in this arc, both from their initial personality and in their role in the story. I've already treated Shinobu last episode's thread, she does nothing in the arc, she's barely a lore mouthpiece, she's carried around by RRRG only for her to be there and have reactions. She has absolutely ZERO involvement in DVS resurrection as princess Acerola (NOT SHINOBU) from the heaven gives RRRG her saliva to keep DVS alive, then Gaen, main character of the arc, resurrect DVS with a ritual. She has no involvement in the arc's resolution either as she appears last second before Kagenui cucks her of a fight scene. Her biggest impact is killing RRRG to send him in hell, which doesn't work as he goes in heaven instead AND could have been done by Gaen as she did it once before.
Now onto DVS, she is an insult to worldbuilding in this arc. Reminder that Kiss shot Acerola Orion under heart blade is cannonically "Oddity slayer and King of Oddities" and also a creature capable of bringing the apocalypse by herself (see Kabukimonogatari) BUT her master and creator, an immortal pure blood vampire, which lived more than 1000 years, jobs like a bitch to the disgusting blood of a depressed high school girl lmao. Right now without any possible debate, every single oddity had some sort of a powerscale, even if not explained, putting them all in a coherent hierarchy of power. If you want it brief, Oshino Meme can easily keep in check the Heavy stone crab, Kagenui and the rainy devil can easily demolish an unpowered RRRG, loli shinobu easily defeats Black Hanekawa but Nadeko medusa has no problem killing an underpowered Shinobu and that's why she would need to drink RRRG blood to face even Yotsugi, all of that remain perfectly coherent with a ceiling clearly stated as Kiss shot fully powered is basically above everyone. Deathtopia on the other hand, dies from food poisining from a human girl because she's a bit weakened. "Yeah but she's clearly in her weakest state ever, she states she's close to die at the end blablabla" Even if justified (badly because she keeps on living lmao) at the last minute by Nisio doesn't mean it's a compelling narrative. For SIX episodes you would expect of having a more climatic conclusion for a character than just coming into the world to say "hello it's been a while" then fucking off back to nowhere at the end without any catharsis or endearing dialogue. Shinobu and DVS had no dynamic, their meeting was rushed and skipped, there was no gravitas or impact to what you thought the arc was meant to be, their reunion, and what Nisio intended the arc to be is so boring and uninteresting it makes him look like he was trying to write a Monogatari filler.
Gaen and Araragi overtook the arc to an excruciating extent for no reason, Gaen is THE plot device of Monogatari, despite being entertaining and cute to hear, her main role is to be an exposition mouthpiece since her introduction, Araragi /our/ protagonist has another issue, he is a solved character after Owari. He has already learnt most of what he can learn as an individual, making him now extremely boring to follow as he just "Watson" his way through the mystery while Gaen does her "Sherlock Holmes". All other girls are there for filling the plot and do not leave much to remember, I'd remind you that the best dialogue of Monogatari ever (don't @ me) is Mayoi and Araragi first discussion in Karen Bee, an arc which Mayoi has no bearing WHATSOEVER. In Shinobu Mustard, Mayoi's, Yotsugi's, Kanbaru's and finally Senjougahara's lines are so devoided of ideas they all appear like a shadow of their characters, they are there to say their catch phrases "oh my kamimashita, oh my erodore, oh my yay peace peace" and nothing else.
I also must talk about Kie Harimaze, an antagonist so unimportant she makes Seishirou look like Kaiki in Nisemonogatari. Her main deal is she's part of the basketball club. During this arc, did she interacted with the defacto most important character related to the basketball club Kanbaru Suruga? Not even once. You know what's weird. This arc takes place after Hanamonogatari because Kanbaru has her short haircut, Hanamonogatari, an arc featuring Numachi Rouka, another former member of the basketball club and an INFINITELY MORE interesting antagonist from her reason and worldview to her impact on other characters.
Now Kie Harimaze sole impact onto anything was boring me to death when she complains how's the life of an high school girl in a club is SOOOOOOOOO AWFUL, which, if you're an adult like I am, is a complete farce of a statement. If you're an high schooler reading this and you think high school life is awful, just know that the best years of your life end at 18 and every single person you will ever meet will tell you this. In this story as well considering Zoku ends with Araragi cherishing his last high school years but now an entitled girl who couldn't be bothered to leave her club will claim the opposite, I, Am, Laughing.

My hate for this arc will not stain my love for the first 3 arcs which all are now in my top5 favorite Monogatari Arcs with Nadeko Medusa and Karen Bee, I'll rate this season a 9/10 with a slight clentch in my stomach.

@James-LastOmnic I agree that this is probably the weakest of the arcs this season but acting like there was no philosophy or important character progress is wild. Even with the dialogue being cut at the end the parallels between Kie are Araragi are still super clear and I was easily able to pick up on it before reading what was cut. This entire arc was there to show Araragi's growth and there were a ton of moments that go out of their way to emphasize his growth. Yes the mystery wasn't anything amazing, but it served more to show how Araragi has developed to be more calm and logical with his thought processes. I lot of the "clues" (imo) were intentionally nonsensical to show that they weren't the real point of this arc. Like you def aren't supposed to be able to figure out the prime number or F/C stuff and I think the arc went out of it's way to go "hey you're not supposed to be focusing on this part."

Also DVS wasn't just "a bit weakened" she literally hadn't eaten in 600 years, which is longer than she had lived beforehand. Being able to survive without food longer than you had lived with it is absolutely a show of power and I really don't think we needed some action sequence or whatever. And I really disagree that the justification was poor either, she states that she isn't eager to die simply that she would eventually and that eventuality was too pathetic for a great vampire. She didn't wish to die there because her death was otherwise imminent, she simply saw an opportunity for an honorable death and wanted to take it.

I don't really wanna respond to every point I have a problem with, but a lot of this entire essay feels like you're just avoiding engaging with what the arc is actually doing. Or at the very least like you're ignoring the parts of this arc that were actually good and the points that this arc set out to make. Namely to showcase Araragi's development and set up future arcs/narratives.

Since when was Senjougahara a brunette? Is it just the lighting? Or did she dye her hair?

I enjoyed the Sengoku arc more, mostly because I got to see my girl Ononoki in action again. As others have said, it would have been nice to see Hanekawa as well, but I guess there's always next time.

As for the Shinobu arc, I understand most of what happened except why Kie Harimaze's blood was poisonous in the first place. Did she have some ancient curse? Is it just because she was that depressed that it affected her on a molecular level? Did they mention why this was and I just glazed over it, or was it just clearer in the light novel?

@Thicc_Ink
You people absolutely love to spew "Araragi's growth" like it's some sort of magical explanation of why every single arc is good and important.
None of the "growth" in this arc is important, if you would actually think back about what you are watching, Araragi took this job out of pity because of a deal he made with Gaen that she wouldn't annoy him anymore for oddity problems during college. Actually none of the decision he takes during this arc are of his own will, he helps Gaen because she forces him to, he goes to heaven because there is no other way around, kanbaru begs him to accept helping her with the basketball club, meniko decyphers the codes, Mayoi and Gaen do the resurrection, DVS explains the solution, Kagenui solves the final conflict.
He is probably as his most reactive state he has never been, Gaen is the main character of this arc, Araragi is just being carried around as a narrator. He always has a "calm and logical" thought process, you think it's the case now because he has no input in this case. You think there are "parallels" between Kie and Araragi but the truth is they have nothing in common but getting transformed into vampires, Araragi went out of his way to save Kiss Shot no matter what, Kie just kills DVS out of spite. Kie is a non-character, she has a 2 minute scene introducing her then a 10 minute dialogue in the end to express her desire. It doesn't even matter for me if you'd consider her struggle as "real" because, as for me again, any high schooler complaining their life is awful is impossible for me to take seriously because Kie's struggle are laughable, "uuuuuuuhhh I don't want to be on the basketball team and I cant quit I just want to die", give me a break. This is the same franchise with Kaiki btw, possibly the most interesting ever anime portrayal of a morally grey character.
I'm not even going to comment about Deathtopia's situation, you are actually finding solace in defending boring storytelling because "oh Nisio cant possibly write something bad can't he? He has write Zaregoto and Monogatari he cant write something bad, doesn't matter if he wrote Medaka Box."
You are only spelling me justifications about DVS pathetic weakened state, no narrative reasoning, she was introduced as being ever-so powerful but now she isn't because Nisio had no idea what to do with her, simple as.

Alright this one is funny.
"I don't have the ability nor the good points to respond to you therefore I'm going to claim you're just wrong about your interpretation of what the arc is actually about, which is boring and uneventful mystery solving for 6 episodes, but I'm going to avoid saying this because it would ruin my argument so I will simply state you are wrong"
This is the most basic logical fallacy known to mankind. You are claiming the existences of "parallels" of "tons of moments to emphasize his growth" or my favorite "ignoring the parts of this arc that were actually good" but you haven't even ONCE listed to me even a single one of those.
I'm waiting now, what are the "good parts" of this arc, what are the "showcase of Araragi's development and set up for future arcs" you are claiming there are, the reality is there is probably not more than 2 instances of this and they both are in the very last out of 6 episodes.

@_Defect_

Honestly, I was tempted to respond to you again, but your writing gave me an aneurysm when reading how sad all of your sentences are.
You used the word "peak" unironically, like it's some real form of argument, it isn't zoomer.
You copied the same reply of "Gaen's not knowing everything", something no one cares and everyone was aware of but you apparently. You don't understand Mayoi's character. You talk about comedy despite half of the jokes being removed from the novel allegedly. You are still wrong about Kanbaru and remain completely entitled about not acknowledging Suruga Devil, an oddity case she solved by herself. You also invent things I never said about Kanbaru and Gaen?
Worst of all you claim I am nitpicking, despite pulling me some of the most baffling attempts of trying to justify this boring mystery solving arc like "meniko is first friend with araragi and not an aberration" which is literally a false statement because Sodachi has no involvement with any oddities.
You are unfortunately suffering of a very terminal state of "fanboyism", a disease which removes all objectivity and analytical hindsight of the person afflicted. I have nothing against you for this one but I beg of you to simply think about this arc as a whole without trying to justify everything with "it serves a purpose for later", then you'll realize how nonsensical your arguments are. Thank you.

I got a reply on the episode discussion reddit thread about it. Someone managed to scour the internet from 7 years ago with notes from a translator. Apparently it was poisonous because she was a troubled high school girl. So essentially: "depression makes your blood poisonous".

Which, good to know, but you would think they would have made that clearer at some point.

This is EASILY one of the worst arc in the entire franchise in a narrative standpoint and I'm glad the rating survey reflects that.
First and foremost, this was the most evident mystery you could possibly ever write which was obvious from the very FIRST scene of the arc. I'm not even going to argue around it and I'll just straight up copy the shit I've said on /a/.
From the introduction scene where you see Kie having a mental breakdown about being part of the basketball club before meeting Deathtopia and finally smirking upon the scene's conclusion getting cut off you HAVE TO KNOW she's the real culprit behind EVERYTHING coming afterwards and everything else is a red herring. It's simple, if she wasn't the culprit, then that scene was basically pointless, this is called the reciprocity of Chekhov's gun narrative principle. Meaning there was no other way but for her to be the vampire behind everything, major problem is the entire arc is focused on finding the culprit causing the mummification and there is absolutely nothing else going on beside that, no clever and funny banter, no philosophical reflexions and of course no important character progress or self-reflection, mainly because those idiots and Shaft cut the most important part of RRRG/Kagenui end dialogue which carried the entire arc narrative.
The only thing you conclude from finishing this arc is that you got cucked of the possibility of a good story, "was that all for nothing?"
Shinobumonogatari doesn't immediatly follows Waza in the novels, but here in the anime, which rearranged greatly the arc orders, it did. Therefore what you expect is for the narrative to organically flow from one arc to another as it was Shaft INTENDED purpose. Unfortunately, the main focus of Waza Kiss shot and Deathtopia are an absolutely joke in this arc, both from their initial personality and in their role in the story. I've already treated Shinobu last episode's thread, she does nothing in the arc, she's barely a lore mouthpiece, she's carried around by RRRG only for her to be there and have reactions. She has absolutely ZERO involvement in DVS resurrection as princess Acerola (NOT SHINOBU) from the heaven gives RRRG her saliva to keep DVS alive, then Gaen, main character of the arc, resurrect DVS with a ritual. She has no involvement in the arc's resolution either as she appears last second before Kagenui cucks her of a fight scene. Her biggest impact is killing RRRG to send him in hell, which doesn't work as he goes in heaven instead AND could have been done by Gaen as she did it once before.
Now onto DVS, she is an insult to worldbuilding in this arc. Reminder that Kiss shot Acerola Orion under heart blade is cannonically "Oddity slayer and King of Oddities" and also a creature capable of bringing the apocalypse by herself (see Kabukimonogatari) BUT her master and creator, an immortal pure blood vampire, which lived more than 1000 years, jobs like a bitch to the disgusting blood of a depressed high school girl lmao. Right now without any possible debate, every single oddity had some sort of a powerscale, even if not explained, putting them all in a coherent hierarchy of power. If you want it brief, Oshino Meme can easily keep in check the Heavy stone crab, Kagenui and the rainy devil can easily demolish an unpowered RRRG, loli shinobu easily defeats Black Hanekawa but Nadeko medusa has no problem killing an underpowered Shinobu and that's why she would need to drink RRRG blood to face even Yotsugi, all of that remain perfectly coherent with a ceiling clearly stated as Kiss shot fully powered is basically above everyone. Deathtopia on the other hand, dies from food poisining from a human girl because she's a bit weakened. "Yeah but she's clearly in her weakest state ever, she states she's close to die at the end blablabla" Even if justified (badly because she keeps on living lmao) at the last minute by Nisio doesn't mean it's a compelling narrative. For SIX episodes you would expect of having a more climatic conclusion for a character than just coming into the world to say "hello it's been a while" then fucking off back to nowhere at the end without any catharsis or endearing dialogue. Shinobu and DVS had no dynamic, their meeting was rushed and skipped, there was no gravitas or impact to what you thought the arc was meant to be, their reunion, and what Nisio intended the arc to be is so boring and uninteresting it makes him look like he was trying to write a Monogatari filler.
Gaen and Araragi overtook the arc to an excruciating extent for no reason, Gaen is THE plot device of Monogatari, despite being entertaining and cute to hear, her main role is to be an exposition mouthpiece since her introduction, Araragi /our/ protagonist has another issue, he is a solved character after Owari. He has already learnt most of what he can learn as an individual, making him now extremely boring to follow as he just "Watson" his way through the mystery while Gaen does her "Sherlock Holmes". All other girls are there for filling the plot and do not leave much to remember, I'd remind you that the best dialogue of Monogatari ever (don't @ me) is Mayoi and Araragi first discussion in Karen Bee, an arc which Mayoi has no bearing WHATSOEVER. In Shinobu Mustard, Mayoi's, Yotsugi's, Kanbaru's and finally Senjougahara's lines are so devoided of ideas they all appear like a shadow of their characters, they are there to say their catch phrases "oh my kamimashita, oh my erodore, oh my yay peace peace" and nothing else.
I also must talk about Kie Harimaze, an antagonist so unimportant she makes Seishirou look like Kaiki in Nisemonogatari. Her main deal is she's part of the basketball club. During this arc, did she interacted with the defacto most important character related to the basketball club Kanbaru Suruga? Not even once. You know what's weird. This arc takes place after Hanamonogatari because Kanbaru has her short haircut, Hanamonogatari, an arc featuring Numachi Rouka, another former member of the basketball club and an INFINITELY MORE interesting antagonist from her reason and worldview to her impact on other characters.
Now Kie Harimaze sole impact onto anything was boring me to death when she complains how's the life of an high school girl in a club is SOOOOOOOOO AWFUL, which, if you're an adult like I am, is a complete farce of a statement. If you're an high schooler reading this and you think high school life is awful, just know that the best years of your life end at 18 and every single person you will ever meet will tell you this. In this story as well considering Zoku ends with Araragi cherishing his last high school years but now an entitled girl who couldn't be bothered to leave her club will claim the opposite, I, Am, Laughing.

My hate for this arc will not stain my love for the first 3 arcs which all are now in my top5 favorite Monogatari Arcs with Nadeko Medusa and Karen Bee, I'll rate this season a 9/10 with a slight clentch in my stomach.

@James-LastOmnic

I just want to address this:



I'm sorry you peaked in high school.

Life gets better for a lot of people after high school. Personally, I've found that life gets better as you understand yourself more and more, find balance in emotions, become increasingly skilled at whatever your craft is, and ideally attain more freedom. I'm 29, and it's been the happiest year of my life so far.

This is EASILY one of the worst arc in the entire franchise in a narrative standpoint and I'm glad the rating survey reflects that.
First and foremost, this was the most evident mystery you could possibly ever write which was obvious from the very FIRST scene of the arc. I'm not even going to argue around it and I'll just straight up copy the shit I've said on /a/.
From the introduction scene where you see Kie having a mental breakdown about being part of the basketball club before meeting Deathtopia and finally smirking upon the scene's conclusion getting cut off you HAVE TO KNOW she's the real culprit behind EVERYTHING coming afterwards and everything else is a red herring. It's simple, if she wasn't the culprit, then that scene was basically pointless, this is called the reciprocity of Chekhov's gun narrative principle. Meaning there was no other way but for her to be the vampire behind everything, major problem is the entire arc is focused on finding the culprit causing the mummification and there is absolutely nothing else going on beside that, no clever and funny banter, no philosophical reflexions and of course no important character progress or self-reflection, mainly because those idiots and Shaft cut the most important part of RRRG/Kagenui end dialogue which carried the entire arc narrative.
The only thing you conclude from finishing this arc is that you got cucked of the possibility of a good story, "was that all for nothing?"
Shinobumonogatari doesn't immediatly follows Waza in the novels, but here in the anime, which rearranged greatly the arc orders, it did. Therefore what you expect is for the narrative to organically flow from one arc to another as it was Shaft INTENDED purpose. Unfortunately, the main focus of Waza Kiss shot and Deathtopia are an absolutely joke in this arc, both from their initial personality and in their role in the story. I've already treated Shinobu last episode's thread, she does nothing in the arc, she's barely a lore mouthpiece, she's carried around by RRRG only for her to be there and have reactions. She has absolutely ZERO involvement in DVS resurrection as princess Acerola (NOT SHINOBU) from the heaven gives RRRG her saliva to keep DVS alive, then Gaen, main character of the arc, resurrect DVS with a ritual. She has no involvement in the arc's resolution either as she appears last second before Kagenui cucks her of a fight scene. Her biggest impact is killing RRRG to send him in hell, which doesn't work as he goes in heaven instead AND could have been done by Gaen as she did it once before.
Now onto DVS, she is an insult to worldbuilding in this arc. Reminder that Kiss shot Acerola Orion under heart blade is cannonically "Oddity slayer and King of Oddities" and also a creature capable of bringing the apocalypse by herself (see Kabukimonogatari) BUT her master and creator, an immortal pure blood vampire, which lived more than 1000 years, jobs like a bitch to the disgusting blood of a depressed high school girl lmao. Right now without any possible debate, every single oddity had some sort of a powerscale, even if not explained, putting them all in a coherent hierarchy of power. If you want it brief, Oshino Meme can easily keep in check the Heavy stone crab, Kagenui and the rainy devil can easily demolish an unpowered RRRG, loli shinobu easily defeats Black Hanekawa but Nadeko medusa has no problem killing an underpowered Shinobu and that's why she would need to drink RRRG blood to face even Yotsugi, all of that remain perfectly coherent with a ceiling clearly stated as Kiss shot fully powered is basically above everyone. Deathtopia on the other hand, dies from food poisining from a human girl because she's a bit weakened. "Yeah but she's clearly in her weakest state ever, she states she's close to die at the end blablabla" Even if justified (badly because she keeps on living lmao) at the last minute by Nisio doesn't mean it's a compelling narrative. For SIX episodes you would expect of having a more climatic conclusion for a character than just coming into the world to say "hello it's been a while" then fucking off back to nowhere at the end without any catharsis or endearing dialogue. Shinobu and DVS had no dynamic, their meeting was rushed and skipped, there was no gravitas or impact to what you thought the arc was meant to be, their reunion, and what Nisio intended the arc to be is so boring and uninteresting it makes him look like he was trying to write a Monogatari filler.
Gaen and Araragi overtook the arc to an excruciating extent for no reason, Gaen is THE plot device of Monogatari, despite being entertaining and cute to hear, her main role is to be an exposition mouthpiece since her introduction, Araragi /our/ protagonist has another issue, he is a solved character after Owari. He has already learnt most of what he can learn as an individual, making him now extremely boring to follow as he just "Watson" his way through the mystery while Gaen does her "Sherlock Holmes". All other girls are there for filling the plot and do not leave much to remember, I'd remind you that the best dialogue of Monogatari ever (don't @ me) is Mayoi and Araragi first discussion in Karen Bee, an arc which Mayoi has no bearing WHATSOEVER. In Shinobu Mustard, Mayoi's, Yotsugi's, Kanbaru's and finally Senjougahara's lines are so devoided of ideas they all appear like a shadow of their characters, they are there to say their catch phrases "oh my kamimashita, oh my erodore, oh my yay peace peace" and nothing else.
I also must talk about Kie Harimaze, an antagonist so unimportant she makes Seishirou look like Kaiki in Nisemonogatari. Her main deal is she's part of the basketball club. During this arc, did she interacted with the defacto most important character related to the basketball club Kanbaru Suruga? Not even once. You know what's weird. This arc takes place after Hanamonogatari because Kanbaru has her short haircut, Hanamonogatari, an arc featuring Numachi Rouka, another former member of the basketball club and an INFINITELY MORE interesting antagonist from her reason and worldview to her impact on other characters.
Now Kie Harimaze sole impact onto anything was boring me to death when she complains how's the life of an high school girl in a club is SOOOOOOOOO AWFUL, which, if you're an adult like I am, is a complete farce of a statement. If you're an high schooler reading this and you think high school life is awful, just know that the best years of your life end at 18 and every single person you will ever meet will tell you this. In this story as well considering Zoku ends with Araragi cherishing his last high school years but now an entitled girl who couldn't be bothered to leave her club will claim the opposite, I, Am, Laughing.

My hate for this arc will not stain my love for the first 3 arcs which all are now in my top5 favorite Monogatari Arcs with Nadeko Medusa and Karen Bee, I'll rate this season a 9/10 with a slight clentch in my stomach.

@James-LastOmnic No one above the age of 18 cares about power scaling.