Neomo’s Otaku Theater: Owarimonogatari Episode 8

• This week it was time for SHAFT to show off their loli girls/cute younger girls.

• After last week’s fire, Yotsugi comes determined to show Koyomi that he can’t back down on a promise he gave to Izuko. As a devil-hunter, it would be her duty to hunt down this so-called ‘darkness’ that took down Koyomi and Suruga in the cram school last week. She’ll be back in the show, sure enough…well I hope so anyway. Her monotone speech and lack of any kind of emotion just makes her all the better character, and while she was busy pressing Koyomi to keep him and Suruga safe (as well as seeing Izuko) by stamping on his face, I began to realize more on how key Koyomi has become in the show. In all essence this episode alone shows how Koyomi prefers so much to keep his past hidden from those he loves the most. You only have to take the recent episodes as an example; while Sodachi was no real threat to him, it was just ‘convenient’ for him to just forget about her. Like I’ve said, Owarimonogatari has focused so much more on Koyomi himself. Ougi, Sodachi and Shinobu may well be the named arc characters but deep down we’re shown Koyomi’s true weaknesses…about his past, about his unbreakable desire to protect and ‘save’ the harem girls around him, and about how Shinobu will be lurking in his shadows for as long as he lives. Well…the reason of Koyomi’s absence in Tsubasa Tiger (as well as Shinobu Time) is revealed; he can’t go home knowing that he’ll put himself, Suruga and his sisters at risk. If he wants rid of this new anomaly, he has to keep his promise and turn to Izuko.

Marking her territory.

• And now I can’t wait to see her again. She’s the atypical know-it-all auntie type who enjoys getting drunk, acting carefree and poking fun at her nephews/nieces/lowers (like Koyomi). Too reminiscent of Oya-san from Hidamari Sketch, Meme from Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, and Akira from Koufuku Graffiti…all of which are SHAFT shows (and all of which are fantastic slice-of-life shows, in my opinion, not counting the studio behind them all). Perhaps ‘crazy aunt’ should have been something else on the SHAFT bingo card. But of course, while Tsubasa only knows what she knows, it is Izuko who genuinely does know everything, being that playful auntie type. At least she’s nowhere near Spooky Ougi, who only wants to use her genius for malice and chaos…Izuko is just the type who is far more neutral, sitting firmly in the true neutral area of the alignment chart.

• When Koyomi and Suruga eventually arrive at their destination, it’s not long before they coincidentally find Shinobu, who turned out to be in a fight of her own; something which has seriously got Koyomi in the confused mode. “Who is this cat?” he asks himself; well the fans already know the answer, but it’s his own panic mode that shines. He is no longer in knowledge of what’s going on or what to do and he feels powerless. He lets Yotsugi stomp on his foot, he lets Suruga guide him successfully to a destination (something he normally does), he sees Shinobu’s marks and scratches and wonder what he has got himself into. A lot of us take our comfort zones for granted, and so with Koyomi firmly out of his, he is slowly watching the girls he helped out of trouble help him instead. Does it unnerve him, though? Well as the anomaly has seemed to ‘taken’ Suruga’s Rainy Devil power (from Suruga Monkey), we’re just going to have to wait and see.

• With Yotsugi’s pec jokes already out, it won’t be long until we see Mister Donut and Nobu jokes. But jeez, we all know how much of a perverted little girl Suruga is…

*ahem*

• Next week will be Izuko’s show…I hope. I miss her. The more she playfully pinches her Koyomin’s cheek like a big sister, the better. I understand that Izuko doesn’t actually want Suruga to know she’s her aunt (why I don’t know). And as this anomaly just gets stronger and stronger as it keeps on draining peoples’ energy, what can actually stop it? He wants his sword back, and Shinobu is no mood to just hand it back. Koyomin (maybe I’ll call him that for the rest of these reviews) didn’t want his underclassman Suruga involved in this dangerous mess, but she is. And so many of us wanted to see Shinobu, and now here she is. And I am happy.