Nekomonogatari is a four episode arc focusing on the events leading up to Bakemonogatari. It follows Araragi’s search for the meaning of love and his quest to save his “love” interest, Hanekawa, from a cat spirit. This isn’t a particularly necessary arc to enjoy the first two seasons and I’m assuming that Monogatari: Season Two doesn’t reference the events of this arc too often, but it is still an entertaining piece that develops Hanekawa a little more and explains the weird relationship between Araragi and the class rep.
Neko is, of course, chock full of dialogue and comedy, though the focus on an inclusive few means character development is much better for those being focused on. Once again, it shoehorns Shinobu in for no apparent reason, not adding to her character so much as leaving her as a stagnant member of the cast. I want to like her, but she’s not presented well in the series. At the very end, I can understand her involvement but the donut scene was sort of pointless except for unneeded explanation.
Nonetheless, the script is still solid, the gore is great, and the ecchi is still there (though by no means on the level of Nisemonogatari).
Animation
Once again, the animation and style is where the series shines. Visual metaphors and sight gags abound. Cue cards are used much more here than they were in Nise.
Sound
A pretty good opening song, a decent ending song, and the great voice cast along with some hilarious sound effects makes for easy listening.
Characters
I’m not going to go out of my way to write a best girl for this measly season. Hanekawa is developed pretty well, giving us a better glimpse at her stress and how she’s dealing with it. The romance between her and Araragi is also developed enough to give us an idea of why he picked Senjougahara over a girl who’s obviously a lot easier to get along with. Meme makes a triumphant return, and, as usual, is brilliant and completely awesome. Shinobu is just…there, wishing to be a larger and less plot-device-y part of the series. And Araragi’s sisters are around, though don’t do too much. Character-wise, I felt it was lacking quite a bit of the charm of the other seasons, though this could come from the smaller cast rather than bad characters. I like Hanekawa and think she’s interesting to see develop, but she’s about the only one worth watching flower. Araragi’s development is okay, but he’s still really bland to me. And Meme doesn’t develop because he’s already a total badass.
Overall
It’s not at all a bad arc by any stretch; it’s just not at all one of the better arcs and doesn’t add much to the overall story that we didn’t already know. Despite that, Nekomonogatari is entertaining and does provide enough of what makes the Monogatari series great to keep fans sated for the short runtime.
