Monogatari Series Second Season – 19: Shinobu Time Part 3
A loli on each leg and a third on the head. Kamijou Touma is low level.
 After last week’s brief aside concerning Shinobu’s past, we’re back to enjoying the Misadventures of Araragi the Lolicon this episode. Not a whole lot for all of you who were hoping to start connecting the dots between Shinobu’s story and the void. That’s 3 episodes into this 4 episode arc without any meaningful conflict or development. Just Koyomi getting uncomfortably close with prepubescent* girls as they inexplicably fight for his affection (*but actually 22, 598, and >100 years old, so it’s totally okay!). |
Those raised hands made this scene perfect.
For what it’s worth, I do enjoy seeing Koyomi’s pedophilic tendencies come out, and not just because Mayoi is adorable getting thrown and groped every which way. It reiterates one of the main themes of this series, that these are not Good People. Outside of Mayoi and the Fire Sisters, every main character at some point or other has chosen to harm innocent people out of their own selfishness. In-story, Araragi at one point in Nisemonogatari flat out called Hitagi a bad person who hides behind the tsundere persona as an excuse (cut from the 6th episode). Koyomi Araragi often falls into the boring anime everylead trope with his sense of justice and penchant for helping any girl who so much as glances at him, but let’s not forget, he’s also an unabashed pedophile who has groped and peaked at and beat and now kissed girls (who look) young enough for elementary school. And I don’t even have to mention the sociopathic tendencies of the female protagonists shown off in their arcs. I think such harsh disconnect between heroes and their villainous actions is one of the things that has made this series so popular.
Poor Mayoi is never bored when Koyomi is around.
Some great shots of the lolis this week.
The visuals were a step up from last week, at least in that it was actually animated. I liked the use of deformed and exaggerated designs for the slapstick comedy, particularly when they involved Ononoki. Her character design adds a lot of color and silliness to those scenes when she’s getting tangled up with Shinobu, Koyomi, or both. Her color palette and clothes are so loud and distinctive, you can’t help but to pay attention whenever she’s on screen. I was also impressed with Shaft’s work in the 2nd act of the episode in the mountains. Again, it was nothing they haven’t done before, but it was a great use of color and lighting to build a beautiful and serene setting. I appreciate the use of CG to distort the gratuitous reflection shots.
Frankly, though, the only part of the arc that has really impressed has been the music. Satoru Kosaki keeps dipping into different wells for his soundtrack – not dissimilar to Shinbo’s approach to the animation – and I was a big fan of the new theme that played over some of the more dramatic moments of this arc so far. I’m not knowledgeable enough about music to properly put it into words, but there’s a feeling of tension to the theme that just fits Shinobu’s arc. Unfortunately, it’s looking likely that Kosaki won’t get to show off his songwriting skills for this arc, as I’ve read (nothing confirmed, just rumors) that Maaya Sakamoto contractually can’t sing character songs. Maybe that’s why back when Arakawa Under the Bridge was airing, she did the opening to Shaft’s other show, And Yet the Town Moves rather than to the one in which she was voicing the quirky blonde female protagonist. Is it too late to call up Aya Hirano to reprise her role from the drama CD?
This episode had the first allusions to Tsubasa Tiger, the very first arc of this season. Koyomi sent that misspelled email to Tsubasa and Hitagi, which they got when the latter first took the former into her home, and he also got separated from Shinobu who will meet Black Hanekawa at the Araragi home. So at least those questions got answered, even if we’re still on square one with regards to the arc antagonist and the mystery surrounding it. If you are the speculating type, think about the moment when the void appeared in this episode, and the similarities to when it appeared in the 1st episode. In any case, we’ve only got one episode left, with the all-knowing Gaen Izuko around to bring Lolimonogatari to its logical conclusion.
Izuko seems to attract a certain type of clouds wherever she goes, it seems.
About lvlln
A math/science geek and a self-dubbed cynical optimist. I don't care if it's deep, if it can make me feel something or laugh, it's fine in my book. @lvlln
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
You’ve put the underline on the entire franchise here. It is ID the Anime. With it’s lack of background characters (unless of course the are mindless vampire/zombie things, cuts to cue cards, disjointed music, wild takes, we are always in for the theater of the absurd. This is what makes the show very watchable to me; in the there is only the barest amount of restraint. We don’t get good or bad straight up without a mix of ugly thrown in.
Given what has happened before, I don’t think we really are meant to dwell to hard on what the void/darkness is. It’s a spur in the track, taking the characters in one specific direction that they might not have been on before. Namely, to remind that under than cute exterior of Shinobu, there very much is something that could be much darker.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
This show doesn’t really give us time to dwell on things anyway; once it starts explaining things, it pretty much dumps the whole thing on us in one go, which is obv next episode. You’ll see for yourself what direction we’ve been going in, wonder how you’ll like it. I could see Shaft having fun with it.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I just hope that Gaen isn’t a Deus ex Machina.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I must be the sweetest chew toy in the world.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That classroom is the Shangri-La for lolicons. No way someone like Koyomi would hold his impulses back. He’s hopeless anyway because you’d think he’d learn from his mistakes after swearing that no matter when or how he encountered Hachikuji, he’d never open a conversation with sexual harassment due to a prior incident with Kanbaru.
Hachikuji has some nerve assuming to take the lead among the three girls. Vampire vs Snail. Everyone place your bets on who’ll win.
I always thought of Koyomi and Shinobu link to each other as a metaphorical scale. If one lessens, the other gets stronger. So I don’t see how suddenly severing their connection could put Shinobu in an even more weakened state than she already is when Koyomi is close to being completely human again.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Recall that in Mayoi Jiangshi it was revealed that if either Koyomi or Shinobu died, the other would revert to the previous state, which is weak for Koyomi but strong for Shinobu. This still isn’t consistent with what Ononoki said, that they’re both weakened by being disconnected. Between the two, there’s also the relationship that when Shinobu sucks Koyomi’s blood, they both become more vampiric, ie more powerful, so they could possibly both be weakened at the same time. Some of what Ononoki said didn’t make a lot of sense here, like Koyomi being able to see Mayoi. It’s never been stated that only an oddity could see her – back in Mayoi Snail, Tsubasa could see her, even though she wasn’t under the cat problem at that moment. So I didn’t get how Ononoki figured that Koyomi was still part vampire due to being able to see Mayoi.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Ono is mistaken?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Plot convenience… 😉
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
wait ..it’s that illegal
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That’s way too convenient.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
It was earlier revealed why Hanekawa could see Hachikuji in Bakemono/any other time she saw her(forget if there was one), and this is because, as she points out, she was in the middle of being lost since then. Lost about who she was, not being honest to herself, keeping her love for Araragi from him, etc., etc.. =w=
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
The best episode of many seasons yet!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
So far, this is the second best arc of the series.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
is it !!…well yeah ..too a lolicon
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
I don’t mind lolicon ..well not in the real life but in anime it work for me ….wait don’t jugde me
btw , Satoru Kosaki is my man ..he is like ｄａｎｉｗｅｌｌＰ/ｒｙｏ but in different genre infact im his fan’s since kannagi… u all better respect him FTW
（￣▽￣） ～(´∀｀～)”(´∀｀＠)/
to finish this off loli makes me enthusiastic and eager.But im not a lolicon ..I prefer futanari more..(don’t jugde me more..)
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
One of my favorites of his is both OP and ED for S1 and S2 of Working, with Coolish Walk being the best.
As for loliconnininining (my tongue slipped), I would say being attracted, strictly speaking, to the kawaii aspect of it is very much the best appeal. And anyone is free to judge me, I have not one care.
I too dig the futanari….and will just have to be judged for that…
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
OMG ..u read my mind ..i love working too btw futa is not a bad thing..it ‘s resembles the freedom not like trap or yaoi..
u never know until u tried it ..～(´∀｀～)”(´∀｀＠)/..
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
For me Futa is about the sheer absurdity of it all. It shouldn’t be…yet it is. It’s a big fantasy trip.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Been a fan of Kosaki since Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which appears to be his first anime soundtrack. That soundtrack had some really memorable tunes, especially the going-to-school theme that plays over Kyon’s first narration in Melancholy Part 1. And obviously can’t forget his work in the Idolm@ster series. The consistent excellence he shows in a wide variety of music types is very impressive.
POWUH: iLurker with 5 comments
I got to stop you on one thing though. Essentially, this show pretty much spells out that there is no clear distinction of a good person and a bad person, people are just people, it is your actions that define you. Also, the Fire Sisters go overboard in their standard for justice, so the only “good” person would technically be Mayoi. What sets these characters apart is that their ugliness is treated as it is, even among the slapstick.
And I think this arc has sufficiently given us our due quota of Hachikuji that we missed in Mayoi Jiangshi. I swear, like some other blogger said, Mayoi may indeed be his true love in a sense, lol.