Owarimonogatari

When it comes to this series, as I've mentioned in my other reviews, the time line is one of the only things that makes it hard for me to watch. As im enjoying the story and seeing how they all come together, i find myself thinking more about where it fits in the timeline, but that's just me.

On another note, out of all the ones in this series, i found myself enjoying this one the most. It had me thinking and wondering, and trying to piece together the mysteries on my own, along with Koyomi.

Finally putting the Shinobu chapter together, by the end of ... it I felt a sort of completion. I was like "ahh, okay now this makes sense." Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot.

I'll start off by saying that I initially had a higher opinion of Owarimonogatari in the first hour or so after I finished it. While I still really enjoyed the series overall, my impression weakened after I gave it a bit more thought. While many reviews break this show up into 3-4 mini storylines, there are really only two true arcs. The first one revolving around the mysterious background of Oikura Sodachi was far superior to the second arc centering on Shinobu and the reincarnation of her first kin, and I'll explain why in my story ... breakdown.

Story: 8/10
Starting with the Sodachi arc which was broken down into Sodachi Riddle and Sodachi Lost, I must admit that I was very surprised by the extremely dark direction this anime took. I really liked it, however. It went into a territory that this medium doesn't really tackle too often in a serious light, which is domestic abuse and mental disability. Sure there are plenty of shows that have yanderes and yangires, but this time it was heart wrenching and real. Owarimonogatari did a good job of unraveling the mystery behind Araragi's relationship with Sodachi at a decent pace. The story was presented in the form of a giant riddle which needed to be solved to wholly understand the relationship between the two characters, which was something new to me that I found engaging and interesting. The only thing I didn't really like was the fact that Araragi "forgot" about this new character that he was supposedly childhood friends with. It's a theme I feel like I see too often and it's such an easy way to introduce new storylines like this one.
As for the second arc revolving around Shinobu, I feel like it was entirely unnecessary and rushed. Essentially, her first kin is reincarnated after 400 years and wants to join her side again as her only kin. Of course he sees no place for Araragi in the picture, so there is conflict between the two. This lasts for two episodes and is resolved with little fanfare. I will say that I enjoyed the final scene with Shinobu. It was a touching moment of beauty, and one reason I felt more strongly about this anime immediately after it was finished.
I give the first half of the show a 9 and the second half a 7, therefore my rating falls into an 8.

Art: 7/10
Unfortunately I can't comment too much on how wonderful the art is for this show. My review is coming like 4 years too late, so I feel like I missed out on being one of the people who were raving about the art. It was still very nice, especially the Yotsugi and Shinobu characters.

Characters: 8/10
The characters were definitely a strength in this show. While some main characters like Senjougahara, Kaiki, and the sisters were nowhere to be found (Senjougahara had a brief scene), we got more of Gaen, Ougi, and Kanbaru. Kanbaru pretty much stole the show and pushed her way into best girl conversation. Her dialogue remains as hilarious as ever, and she even got into an argument with Shinobu!

Enjoyment: 8/10
This was a very enjoyable series in the grand scheme of the Monogatari universe. At the time of writing, I haven't scene Owarimonogatari Second yet, so I can't truly rank this show yet among it's counterparts. Again, I enjoyed the first half of the show more than the second half, but it evened out and ended on a high note.

Overall: 8/10
Overall, this was a fantastic show. There were some minor issues I took with how the story was created in the Sodachi arc, and especially the forced narrative of the second arc, but aside from that I can recommend this show without reservation. Be prepared to be a little shocked with the brutal reality of the Sodachi arc. I can't say it hits home to me personally, but I know many people out there suffer similar realities, and I empathize with anybody in such a terrible state of mind.

Owarimonogatari is yet another installment in the adaptation of the Monogatari LN series. This follows 3 stories, two of which focus on one character exclusively and resolve in a way that's both satisfactory and at the same time, kind of disappointing. The VA's of the focal female characters are doing their own openings with exception given (yet again) to Maaya Sakamoto. Decent Black strikes the nerves a funny bit the first few listens, but it soon becomes catchy and you find yourself obsessively looking it up on youtube. Mathemagics on the other hand, has a rather James Bond-esque feel to it that works really well ... with the overall theme of the second story.

The series is short at 12 episodes, but thankfully does a good job of fleshing out its characters, finalizing its plots, and giving an overall impression of quality. The negative points are more relevant to the one-off characters (Oikura is around for the span of maybe 2 episodes in total appearance time and the Oddity-Slayer does little more than act like a spoiled brat) in that for Monogatari, they're kind of one-dimensional. Oikura seems defined by her one characteristic of "I hate Araragi" (not to take anything away from her character as a whole, because there is a character outside of that one quality) while OS is sort of... There. The latter doesn't do much aside provide a minor inconvenience for everyone until Shinobu shows up and tells him how she really feels (and by then, it's kind of an after-thought).

Ougi is prominent throughout. Even in the stuff that doesn't exclusively include her, you know she's around, lurking in the shadows and watching things unfold. If not, she's being told the story and somehow has the answer to the questions that aren't asked. Her role in all this was spoiled for me by the LN people, so if you haven't read them, don't ask! Just enjoy the mystery.

All in all, Owarimonogatari is a Monogatari season through and through, the show has been stumbling a bit since Second Season, too. If this is a sign of things to come, I'm confident that we're on the right track!

What else can be said about the Monogatari series at this point in the game? It's been around for what feels like forever, presenting one of the best examples of dialogue, character and story-driven excellence in anime. Owarimonogatari is literally just a handful of prolonged conversations. The action within it can be summarized with one slap, a retaliatory punch, a brief fight with a samurai, a face grab and a touch to the chest. That's it. If any other anime that is supposed to be a mystery/action show tried getting away with that, it would be panned as boring. ... But, that is the strength of all of the Monogatari series, even those with more action.

The dialog is so excellent, so engaging, they don't really have to do much in the way of action. You find yourself glued to the screen reading every line as they unwrap each mystery, and for this season, the mystery was particularly morbid. While funny, everything isn't a joke. Why witty, nothing becomes pretentious. It's just flawless writing, which produces flawless characters, which in turn produces flawless stories. That is what the Monogatari series is all about and Owarimonogatari is just another prime example of it.

This is like the 10th installment of this series. You already know you should be watching it.

Story: 10
Art: 10
Sound: 10
Character: 10
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 10

The first half was extremely awesome. It was like ordinary monogatari but all the fan service changed with math fan service which makes the anime perfect to watch for me. Even just seeing all these math references felt like pure satisfaction. I simply love tertacube or blender-made looking torus or op called 'mathemagics'. I didn't see any major wrong explanation about mentioned math topics. It has almost everything for being math-themed anime. Sodachi was pretty much the math stereotype i wanted. She knows her own psychological situation and explains what she ignores this is what i call pro mathemagician move.

And the second half was ... OK.

No spoilers. (at least not big big one)

English is not my native language, sorry.

Owarimonogatari is by far my favorite monogatari season. It has my three favorite arcs of all the monogatari series:

1: Sodachi Lost
2: Ougi formula
3: Sodachi riddle

... Adaptation of Owarimonogatari 01 by Nisio Isin
The artstyle and animation is just stunning. It's studio shaft in his golden age. The soundtracks are also really good, and feats the anime well. The anime also has this stressful atmosphere since araragi is faced with the hatred of sodachi which he hasn't understood for 3 years. He slowly begins to raise question about his life that he tried to hide from himself because it was too painful to remain. The new character Oikura Sodachi is pretty good. It felt like all characters until now, liked araragi in some way. Even the antagonist wern't in really bad terms with araragi (except for kaiki, but it's araragi who hates kaki). Sodachi hates Araragi. Until the very end sodachi hates araragi.
She has good reason for not liking araragi and her obsession for hating araragi is also understandable since of what she's been through. Ougi also is a really good character. But ougi oshino is ougi oshino. Jk. Seriously, she's an indescribable character. Ougi formula is just so good and the conclusion of the arc is just so damn special to me. It really feats the theme of the arc being democracy and unfairness.

Adaptation of Owarimonogatari 02 by Nisio Isin
Shinobu mail is one of my least favorite arc. It's good but nothing special. It's just the conclusion of the relation of Seishirou Shishirui (Shinobu's first subject) and Shinobu. Animation and soundtrack are pretty good, as usual of monogatari. There's this scene where kanbaru confronts shinobu that I really really liked.

Sorry for my bad english. I hope you'll like this masterpiece as much as I did.

Well well thought I'd actually do a review for once so lets talk about Owarimonogatari one of the 30 thousand seasons of the monogatari franchise. Gonna break it down into the two big chunk chunks of the season. So first we have the Sodachi half and the Shinobu half.

THAT JUICY PLOT: Alright so lets begin with the stronger half by far. the Sodachi riddle and lost arcs were just fantastic arcs. The mystery aspect and the introduction of a new character was a nice change of pace. Ougi is newish too but Sodachi isn't a complete mystery.

Now the two arcs have Araragi unraveling ... his past to discover his relation to Sodachi and leaving out spoilers just know its amazing. The interactions and discoveries are just wonderful and the arc ends beautifully and conclusively which is rare in this series.

Anyway since I'm trying to not write 4 pages of text lets talk about the shinobu mail arc. It's pretty good it connects back to the story about her minion when she first came to Japan 400 years ago. Gonna leave this pretty bare as most stuff to say would be spoiling it. Anywho the arc showed Araragi's insecurities quite well in terms of his jealousy and I'd say that was the best part of the arc, was him being a little different.

ART: Alright solid shafty animation

SOUND: The mathemagics op my god its so good. Ed is sick too

CHARACTERS: I don't feel the need to talk about characters because its like the 8th season you must like them by now, cause why suffer if you don't. Sodachi is the only character that is worth talking about but basically anything I say would be a spoiler so just enjoy her, shes great.

ENJOYMENT: This series is always enjoyable if you've seen this many seasons just watch it its still just as good.

tl;dr: A really strong first half that is a very strong change of pace from previous arcs, followed by a second half that felt somewhat lackluster.

Owarimonogatari quite simply means the ending of the story. The novels extend past this ending, but there is some level of significance to this season of novels being considered as an ending. And as such, the first season of Owarimonogatari is the beginning of the end. This has two pretty distinct portions.

The first half while still focused on Araragi like Tsukimonogatari, focuses on him from the opposite direction. Instead of highlighting how different he is from how he was in ... the beginning, it instead focuses on conveying how he became the anti-social person he was at the beginning of the series. In doing so, it gives his personality more of a foundation, and gives more significance to how he’s changed over the course of all the arcs he’s been put through. This is done over the course of three arcs centered around a new character named Oikura. Her character arc is essentially the opposite of all the other character introduction arcs so far. All of those involve Araragi essentially forcing himself in to help someone else with supernatural problems despite them not really wanting the help initially. With her the problem she was facing was in the past, but she was desperately asking for his help but he never noticed it and thus didn’t save her. Whether he could have made a difference or not is arguable, but in the end because she wasn’t saved her life completely collapses and she ends up an incredibly twisted character as a result, and thus this largely could be seen as Araragi’s biggest failure. She is by far the most pitiably twisted character in this series and one of the most gut wrenchingly sad character’s I’ve seen in quite a while. This was likely heavily influenced due to the fact that while some supernatural elements are used in conveying the story, ultimately all the problems she faced and continues to face aren’t rooted in the supernatural at all. Thus, they don’t have any sort of supernatural solution, which means even though Araragi does try to fix it, ultimately his ability to deal with the issue feels negligible, and thus even though the ending of her arc does have some degree of a positive note to it, how negative that positive note is leaves a lasting impression of hopelessness.

Additionally, this half is used to properly introduce Ougi, show how they first met Araragi, and properly show off their personality. They’ve been a reoccurring character in the series for quite some time and it’s already been made quite clear that they’re the villainous mastermind behind everything, or at least they appear to be, but had always been a complete enigma. They’re still left incredibly mysterious, but they’re beginning to take shape to at least some degree, and as a villain I think they’re pretty amazing. They’re clearly the smartest person in the cast, even giving Hanekawa major trouble, managing to compete with while at a disadvantage and not missing a beat. Their thought process in dealing with aberrations is a lot more logical than how they’ve been handled so far, and gives the anime a more traditional mystery like feel compared to the rest of the series. But what makes them really stand out and makes them so interesting is that in addition to their wit and intelligence, unlike the rest of the cast they aren’t humble at all. They don’t hold back in the slightest on anything ever. It’s downright amazing how brazen they are. And they know exactly how to push all of Araragi’s buttons perfectly. Their background, motivations, or true abilities are still completely up in the air, but the anime was definitely able to instill a desire to know more about them and see more of them.

The second half is a single arc that technically takes place after Tsukimonogatari, but it’s actually Araragi explaining to Ougi through a flashback the events that occurred chronologically in the middle of Monogatari Series: Second Season but were skipped over. It’s nice to finally have explained everything that occurred in that gap and the various plot elements being tied together is nice, though ultimately things turned out to be a lot simpler than I expected to be honest. There were a few plot elements that it felt like would be brought up again at a later point, but there are so many of those at this point that throwing a few more in the pile doesn’t seem significant. Thus, while decent in terms of plot, it wasn’t as strong as I expected it to me after it felt like it had been teased for so long. The bigger problem with this arc though is that it didn’t feel that strong in terms of characters. In terms of just amusing interactions, there were a lot between Araragi and Kanbaru and some between Araragi and Shinobu so that holds things up somewhat. However, in terms of more significant character development or fleshing out of characters, it felt like there was some in Shinobu and a small amount in Araragi and Kanbaru, but unlike how it is most of the time it was kind of nebulous and unclear how it fits into things in the grand scheme of things. The focus is supposed to be in Shinobu based on the title and with the plot it does definitely have her in focus, but it didn’t really feel like it did anything worthwhile with that focus. Thus, while this arc does definitely have portions that are enjoyable, it largely felt pretty underwhelming and not all that satisfying.

In terms of art and art style this is far enough into the Monogatari series that you should know what to expect and this is a solid continuation of that. Though I thought that the second half was pretty subdued by Monogatari standards and that may be part of why I found it somewhat dull. The soundtrack was decent enough but I didn’t find any of it particularly memorable. The OPs during the first half were all pretty great in terms of visuals and audio and fit the themes of their arcs really well. The OP of the second half is similar to the previous Shinobu arc OP which I wasn’t a fan of and similarly am not a fan of this one. The ED was a pretty standard Monogatari ED but it worked well enough.

Now it's all starting to come together. It took me this long, but everything I've seen so far is finally making me feel attached to these characters and the direction they're heading in. A lot of that is because I saw, for the first time, a long-term story happening in Monogatari. Yes, I've been undereducated about this series prior to now, so you'll have to forgive me, but it was such fun watching this season and realizing that all the seemingly random pieces fit somewhere--that they mattered beyond developing these characters and their relationships bit by bit. This first season of Owarimonogatari is where it ... clicked for me that the characters are pushing a true story--not an arc, not a seemingly trivial LN adaptation, but a story--forward.

I'm not sure I can break down what I loved most about this season because it can all be umbrella-termed into the same thing, which is Araragi's development. I won't go into specifics, so don't worry: this review is spoiler-free. However, I feel like it was really important for me to see Araragi's commentary on his own past and the state of his town and his relationships throughout this season. Don't get me wrong--Monogatari being super disjointed is part of the fun of it, but as this series nears its end (at least, in terms of the First, Second, and Final seasons), getting some clear, significant movement from Araragi's character was very nice. Of course, there is development for Araragi this season in terms of his relationships with a few characters (and the more frequent appearance of a certain, mysterious character that was also awesome to watch), but Araragi's place in this tale on his own is what I was most intrigued with.

That being said, I was still very much engaged with the mysteries this season had to offer, and that isn't always the case with me and Monogatari. Because everything is driving toward a specific place now, I was happy to see the complexity of this series pay off in its storytelling this season. It's difficult for me to describe what I mean by that, but I suppose the easiest way is to say that I felt like the mysteries have higher stakes and more gripping suspense elements now, and I liked those very much. This season is, without a doubt, my favorite in the Monogatari series thus far--but I'm not done yet, and I expect it to get even better.

Owarimonogatari Season 1 continues the progression of the Monogatari series into a darker and more mature direction. It is decidedly less "fun" than all the earlier seasons. There is much less humor and fanservice, and there's barely any action. The first two episodes take place almost entirely inside a single class room. This season is Monogatari at its most analytical and introspective. It is a character study of Koyomi, Shinobu and new character Sodachi Oikura.

The first three arcs, Ougi Formula, Sodachi Riddle and Sodachi Lost, all center around Koyomi and Sodachi. The three arcs tie together in a way that makes them feel more like ... one 6-episode long story arc rather than three separate stories. Koyomi is forced to face his past and we find out why he became a bitter loner who did not want any friends (the way he is portrayed in the beginning of Kizumonogatari). Next, we find out why Sodachi resents Koyomi.

Strangely, the first time I watched Owarimonogatari, the Sodachi story arcs did not leave much of an impression on me. Perhaps I was already so invested in the previously established characters that I couldn't bring myself to care about a new character who was being introduced so late. However, upon re-watching this season, I found Sodachi's story truly soul-crushing. The ending of Sodachi Lost is among the most depressing moments I've seen in any media, and Koyomi's dialogue about the nature of happiness is probably his most beautiful speech ever.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the soundtrack. The beautiful music really enhances those heavy and emotional moments. I especially like the tracks Bugaisha, Yappari and Teokure. It's hard to listen to those tracks after finishing Sodachi Lost and not tear up. Furthermore, the ending song, "Sayonara No Yukue" is my favorite Monogatari ending since Bakemonogatari's "Kimi No Shiranai Monogatari".

Next, we get what I consider to be the second distinct story arc in this season, Shinobu Mail. This story takes place simultaneously with Tsubasa Tiger (if you recall, Koyomi was mysteriously missing in that story arc and did not show up until the very end). Shinobu Mail is another great arc that explores the complicated relationship between Shinobu and Koyomi, as well as their strong feelings for each other. We get some insight to how loyal they are to one another as Shinobu's original minion returns from the dead and challenges Koyomi for the right to be Kiss-shot's one and only servant. Consequently, Shinobu has to deal with facing the feelings of someone she thought long dead and no longer loves. Meanwhile, Koyomi has to deal with the feeling of inadequacy and jealousy when comparing himself with a 400- year old samurai who shares a history with Kiss-shot.

Although Monogatari Season 2 is still my favorite season in terms of overall enjoyability, I'm rating this one higher for its artistic merit and emotional impact.

8.5/10. I give the first half - the Sodachi parts - a very very solid 9, I really loved the new mystery angle and Ougi is so captivating. Shinobu Mail went back into the typical monogatari formula: apparition, dialogue, the human nature of fear and not waiting to face the unpleasant reality, joke etc. Which is still great stuff mind you, but the mystery aspects with Ougi and development on Araragi was far more enjoyable.

Overall everything here is seriously great. Soundtrack is awesome with varying renditions of melodies fitting the theme greatly. Openings and endings are amazing; it’s a real shame Shinobu’s voice actress ... refused to sing openings.

The animation is superb with its eccentric presentation and very far from linear storytelling. I’m very happy with the quality of this instalment. A good viewing all round. Very satisfied.

Owarimonogatari was a nice riddle to experience. It definitely wasn't my favorite part of the Monogatari Series, but it was still a pretty enjoyable show. This season mainly focused on Ougi Oshino, a character I had been dying to know more about, and while Owarimonogatari didn't fully deliver, it definitely gets me more curious about who the hell she is.

The arcs of Owarimonogatari gave a little bit of insight into Araragi as a person, and while it wasn't anything too remarkable or crazy, it was still a much needed insight into his character. It also reveals the other side of the events of some of ... the arcs in Monogatari Series: Second Season, although it hasn't fully reached a conclusion on that front. It has the same great style and sound of something from the series, so no problems there.

Overall I think this is a pretty good prelude to whatever is waiting for me in the second season.

Tiring.

I believe that the problem with writing a light novel series heavily based on witty dialogues is that, after twenty something books, you kinda run out of things to say.

As the anime series is almost a word by word adaptation of the novels, it reflects them by taking forever to just get to the point between endlessly idle chatter and the necessity of reminding the viewer what the story's about every 2 minutes or so like we have some kind of mental disability to grasp what the characters are saying the first ten times they said it, so they have to recap everything again! Even ... if it isn't as bad as the necessity of the author to remind us what a goddamn vampire is each two paragraphs like in Kizumo, it's still pretty annoying.

At least we were told an excelent story on the Sodachi arcs, which had more relevants moments than the opposite, being, in my view, one of the best narratives of the anime until the moment (it was even weird to watch so many episodes without so much fiddle-faddle), but the second half of the anime could be around 70% shorter and we probably wouldn't miss much by it. Frankly, only the scenes of SurugaxShinobu clash and Senjougahara's call (also other by the very end, which is a bit spoiler-ish) were actually good, because the rest, meh. Not that the story in this arc was useless; it was actually necessary, but it had way too much futile moments when compared to actual narrative development. Even if this particular tale was actually handled in a kinda poor way for such an important event of the story, at least Monogatari still manages to be generally good when it focus on its plot.

Shaft's anime series, which debuted in 2009, is part of the wider Monogatari franchise based on the light novel series by Nisio Isin. The franchise includes several shows that have aired out of sequence, with the latest installment "Owarimonogatari."

The show kicks off impressively, unlike any other anime you have seen. The entire look and feel of the show are that of a stage play with fixed locations, a few characters, and lengthy dialogues or monologues full of obscure references and wordplay. The action's pace is slow as each show heavily focuses on unraveling a mystery with supernatural overtones. The show can be unconventional, creepy, disturbing, ... and sometimes downright weird.

In season one, there are two story arcs. In the first arc, the central character, high schooler Koyomi Araragi, is introduced to Ougi Oshino, an enigmatic underclassman. They investigate several closely related mysteries about events in Araragi's life, all involving a female classmate, Sodachi Oikura, who exhibited an unexplained hatred of Araragi. Oshino gently unlocks parts of Araragi's memories of events to reveal the revelations.

The second story arc is less standalone than the first and concerns Araragi meeting his school friend Suruga Kanbaru at an abandoned cram school where a supernatural entity attacks them. The story spins violently out of control in a tale of revenge, curses, love, and vampires. It's challenging to deliver any synopsis of the second arc as it is all over the place, with the show seemingly enjoying its self-referential obscurity. It appears to have been written by the fans for the fans, and to an outsider, it resembles a Shakespearean play written about a book from the Bible.

Shaft's shows are challenging to comprehend, with highly sophisticated and long-winded dialogues that seldom conclude. As entertainment, it can only appeal to the fans, and the casual observer may be unable to follow what is happening. It is almost like one big joke, and it's on the audience. Although it is a genuinely clever show, it is sometimes borderline pretentious, and it's hard to determine whether Shaft designed their shows to be impenetrable to outsiders to enforce their cult-like status among fans or whether they did so deliberately.

In conclusion, the Monogatari franchise is an original and highly stylish show, but it can be almost unwatchable due to its deeply unconventional style. While it is undoubtedly clever, it may be too clever for some. It is recommended that anyone picking up the franchise so late in the day should plow through the Wikipedia pages to get up to speed before committing to watching this particular show.