Neomo’s Otaku Theater: Owarimonogatari Episode 3

Another arc over, and we won’t be rid of Sodachi or Ougi any time soon. We did consider Ougi to be moe, though…did we not??

And so what do we know so far? Well I thought the Sodachi Riddle arc was to wrap up some things about the relationship between her and Koyomi, but instead we’re given much more to think about. However we have been given one very crucial answer: one reason why Sodachi harbours her hatred of him. Episode 3 is essentially a flashback when Koyomi was in junior high and needed to desperately up his game in math. Going to an abandoned house and having a mystery girl teach her the wonders of advanced geometry and algebra is fair enough, but towards the end it left me feel…well…saddened; not only for Koyomi but for the mystery girl/Sodachi too. It’s obvious to see how Koyomi just wanted help with his schoolwork, but despite her not asking for anything in return, she obviously did want something. We only find out what it was in the end, but Koyomi as a young and dumb kid was just too young and dumb to realize it. But then how could he? Discovering an empty envelope only for it to represent how empty, shallow and meaningless he had meant to her when she needed someone like him the most? It could represent all sorts of things but Koyomi knew straightaway; that he ultimately could not save her. It’s in an episode like this when we can see that it is not Sodachi that is the anomaly, but instead the so-called Monty Hall problem that Koyomi must solve in order to get Sodachi to forgive him.

…providing she is capable of seeking forgiveness, that is. A traumatic childhood upbringing only to be followed by betrayal of trust by an innocent boy she ends up bumping into, followed by more betrayal by her own homeroom teacher, followed by a long spell of home tutoring. Hatred on this level is something that, surprisingly, has rarely been touched on in the Monogatari series; only Hitagi’s hatred of the con man Kaiki who took away her mother has been something that has had the capability of being the center of the story. Only a theory but my guess is that it is because we are approaching the end of the series as a whole, and we finally have the opportunity to see Koyomi as he really is (and not just some half-vampire knight on a white horse); a guy who has more flaws than we all realize. His harem know him well enough as a perverted but harmless wise soul, who is desperate for justice against the spirits and anomalies that affect the people around him. But when everyone is all fixed (Hitagi returns to full health, Tsubasa is no longer under the control of a mischievous cat, etc.) who is left to fix? Himself. And this is where he finds himself at his most vulnerable, and having a highly mysterious girl like Ougi hanging onto him wherever he goes, eager to pick his brain until there’s nothing left, doesn’t help in the least. He says it himself here, in that he sees himself as blessed and a person he despises at the same time. This can (well in my eyes anyway) be seen as nothing else than human nature; a good lot of us have things we love about being in this world, and an equal amount of things that make us want to hate ourselves for making the wrong decisions. Maybe due to the saving nature he has done throughout this show, an emotion like self-loathing has simply been put aside; something that is just unimportant. And it only took someone from his past, Sodachi, for it to all flood back into his life.

And this is another thing that haunts him: because, as he says, it was these so-called cram sessions in that run-down house with Sodachi that had made him into the Koyomi he is now. But on the second watch, there was only one person I could point at as to why Koyomi suddenly had these thoughts once again: Ougi. She has again become a catalyst to an anomaly, once to Nadeko and now here. It was her who led him to the mysterious classroom which made him reminisce back to when Sodachi was outed in class, it was her who made him retell this current story in this abandoned house, and it is her who makes Koyomi answer questions without realising it. Tsubasa has already given the impression that Ougi is someone that cannot be trusted; perhaps in this current state of his, Koyomi is prepared to give his two pennies out to anyone, and then think about the consequences of whether Ougi will use the information he discloses to him to her own advantage. Hell with Meme’s absence (since he left for some unknown reason in Nisemonogatari), we only have her word that she’s his niece. Me? Well I don’t totally see her as some kind of parasite, or an antagonist (well not yet anyway)…merely someone to just keep one eye on, just to be sure whether she is as harmless as she makes out to be.

Ougi is noticed, senpai.

It is a very good thing to see Koyomi as the flawed one now; it just goes to show that not every MC in every show is wholly flawless. Well the Monty Hall problem in this show has still not been solved, despite the title of this arc, and thus we have to see how Koyomi solves this in Sodachi Lost, the next arc, which will obviously focus more on Sodachi herself. Much later on, in the second half of the show, it’ll be Shinobu’s time to shine; something I am very much looking forward to since she’s my favorite one of Koyomi’s harem. So in the mean time, Sodachi Lost will be some sort of closure between the two. I’m not anticipating a positive ending, but at the same time I’m not anticipating a negative one either. I don’t entirely know about reconciliation, but in order for Sodachi to see beyond her current hatred, envy, spite and wrath of the rest of the world, only Koyomi can handle this. Someone who was a great influence on his life, despite the small amount of time they spent together…Koyomi’s a good talker, but no one has ever hated him as much as she does.

But I do wonder what Ougi will have up her long sleeves next. I really do…