- And so we start the next arc with something that has already got my head scratching.
- As Owarimonogatari has gone on (even though this is only the second episode), we have been led on some kind of riddle (or quiz) to solve. Only Koyomi (and Hitagi in a sense) knows and remembers Sodachi from his first-year, but from this perspective so far, her reasons for hating him so much are quite possibly endless. With Ougi Formula showing us Sodachi for the first time, now with the two being reunited in the third-year, one obvious reason why she still harbours her hatred is because of the ‘assembly’ where she was outed as a cheat (even though she wasn’t the one who did), I’m not entirely convinced that’s just it:
- A clear shame of having to face the classmates who outed who, having been an ace in mathematics, and choosing to be home-tutored instead. So perhaps some people (like Sodachi) just can’t get over things.
- Sheer jealousy. Koyomi is still better at math than her. Koyomi managed to stay at school while she didn’t/decided not to. Koyomi has his large harem. Koyomi has Hitagi as a girlfriend. And Sodachi has nothing…except sheer spite…for everything because in her eyes, everyone around her has everything she can’t have.
- The one ‘out-there’ possibility is that Sodachi could be an extreme tsun. But that’s just so ‘out-there’ that if that’s even true, then I will laugh.
- Either way, Koyomi has now been led on some kind of meticulous path on why Sodachi still despises him; from a trip to their middle school, to his shoe locker, to the one secret place he went to as a child…all with Ougi in tow who, it seems, is just as interested (if not more) in solving this riddle as Koyomi is.
- SHAFT are being as SHAFT as they can be, so I can cross off a lot on my bingo card already. The constantly-changing artwork, the occasional metaphors, the highly-dramatic score…it’s like Monogatari had just taken a small break and has come back to haunt us all. I’m completely unfamiliar with this story; encountering Sodachi’s character in this makes me think of when I first met Kaiki’s character in Nisemonogatari. I had no idea who they were at the time, or how they could possibly be part of the story. Sure enough Sodachi is no bad guy, but she is more akin to an antagonist; she despises everything that is Koyomi (for reasons we will find out in this arc), she despises the world around her because they got what she couldn’t have in high school…she alone has become the ‘anomaly’ in this arc, and it is up to both Koyomi and Ougi to discover her hatred and either calm her down or cure her hatred entirely……more likely the former.
- But it’s not just Sodachi we have to think about more; Ougi has also just arrived from nowhere to get into Koyomi’s head and pick out as much as she can from him. Think about it; all of this – the events in Ougi Formula, Koyomi’s and Sodachi’s reunion, and now their trip to his middle school has all taken place in the space of around a week or two, and Ougi is already acting like his best chum…someone who Koyomi wants to tell his deepest secrets to. But then perhaps a character like Ougi, regardless of what her true agendas are, is needed, and the possible reason could be for us to get to know the real Koyomi. In past Monogatari arcs, we all just see him as the hero who saves the day for all the girls he encounters: the grade-school ghost, the lesbian second-year, the loli vampire…and with the girls taking the centre-stage, Koyomi is pretty much seen as the token guy. So with Owarimonogatari, along with the upcoming Kizumonogatari movies, we get the opportunity to see who he is, where he came from, and why he is what he is now. Something even he is finding uncomfortable, not just because while these stories and memories aren’t entirely traumatising (hell, a mere grudge is nothing compared to what he has faced already in the series), but to tell them to someone he has only just met (and also to someone he is already finding very uncomfortable to be around). Ougi is still alluding all of us; she clearly has no intentions of revealing her true self and what she truly wants to him, let alone anyone. So the question of the day:
Is Ougi moe?
- She speaks moe, she runs around like a moe girl, but something is just not right. More like anti-moe, like something Tomoko Kuroki is in Watamote.
- But what of the other girls in his class? What do they make of Sodachi’s sudden return? Well Tsubasa’s just Tsubasa, and is the goody-two-shoes diplomat, but of course one foul word sends kuudere Hitagi off the cliff and has, I think, made my day, considering as, since last week, I’ve wanted to do what Hitagi just did in this week’s episode for a while. Although after her creepy actions this week, I don’t think Sodachi will remain the bitter and twisted bitch she has portrayed herself to be. I don’t want her to be just another one of Koyomi’s harem either; she would have no real gain from reconciling…she’d just live out the remaining days of her third-year making a few friends, graduating from high school, going to a decent college, and being an OL. Interacting with Koyomi after this arc (and Sodachi Lost) is something she doesn’t even need or want or have to do. But whether she’d keep those twintails as an OL is debatable though.
- Now I’m just as eager and desperate to see why Sodachi still has a bone to pick with Koyomi as he does; he is, after all, just that kind of guy who wants to get along with everyone, make as many friends as he can, be happy with Hitagi, make her twin sisters proud, etcetera. So I suppose when someone comes along who just doesn’t want any part of that comes along, reality suddenly hits on him, and not everyone can like you. Even Koyomi’s unbreakable harem can be compromised. Perhaps Sodachi’s the kind of girl who is just unable to let things go, or maybe the long time of home-tutoring just made her the bitter, spiteful person she has become.
- Bring on more metaphorical weirdness and fantastic storylines; you aren’t my favorite studio for nothing.