Dec 29, 2015 4:26 PM
Fall 2015 impressions - 5. Owarimonogatari
Anime Relations:
Owarimonogatari
The Monogatari series, one of the most intriguing offers that never ceases to capture one's attention. Amongst most other popular series of our day, the Monogatari series is amongst the cream of the crop in its relatively unorthodox approach, both in form and content. It has, for the most part, never failed to impress in its conception of the odd and the avant garde, ever since its first release in Bakemonogatari.
To look at Owarimonogatari, I feel it necessary to speak on the history of the series. Bakemonogatari was the first of the lot, but chronologically speaking it is not the first. Bakemonogatari however, was a success, and Shaft went on to the less successfully Nisemonogatari. Still, it was intriguing. Nekomonogatari Kuro came, and that's when Shaft began a concept of releasing some of Nisioisin's novels as small 4-5 ep OVAs, before Monogatari S2 arrived and blew everybody away. Then came Hanamonogatari and Tsukimonogatari before a third full season, the recently concluded Owarimonogatari, with plans for Koyomimonogatari, and the long-stalling Kizumonogatari finally looking to make an appearance.
The point of this history is that there are many different aspects to the Monogatari series as a whole, and after a while, certain formulas are to be expected. Yet this does not play against the series. For the most part, Owarimonogatari has kept much of what its predecessors had, especially with regard to the entry of what Nisioisin labelled as Monogatari's Final Season, coming on from Tsukimonogatari and Hanamonogatari (even though the latter is technically the Middle Season). Hana and Tsuki came after the unprecedented success of S2, which featured a recurrence to the original heroines of Bake, and by extending upon their stories, the audience is blown away by the sheer ingenuity of Nisioisin's plot. Thus we cannot blame Hana and Tsuki for not living up to its predecessor.
Yet I find that this is one of two curses Owarimonogatari has had to face. Owari is split into two parts: the first regarding a new girl, Sodachi, and the second building on an aspect of Shinobu's past. Sodachi's arc(s) are undoubtedly the stronger of the two, for it is more original, and it features much more of the 'occult detective' subgenre which the whole series technically is. Yet it was nothing spectacular, and whilst one may have been intrigued at times, we do not come to a consensus that it blows any minds. Rather, it was pretty much like Hana and Tsuki, in that it was interesting and nice to watch, especially with Shaft's aesthetic style, but it did not reach the levels of masterpiece S2 did. The second half could be even thought of as disappointing, to some degree. More on this in a moment.
Owari's second sad flaw is one which, unfortunately, doesn't look like it could have been avoided. The chronological aspect of the whole Monogatari series is nothing new. Since time immemorial, the chronology of a story's plot has been varied in many ways. One need only read the likes of Homer and Virgil in epic poetry for an example. A more recent one closer to what Monogatari does is Aldous Huxley's "Eyeless in Gaza," where the narrative skips across time to show various aspects of the plot.
Chronologically and frankly speaking, Monogatari as a whole is currently a mess, especially for the viewer who has a history with the series, but has not had the opportunity to refresh themselves on everything. If I wanted to refresh my memory for Owarimonogatari, I would have needed to watch about 64 episodes worth of anime. Not everyone has that sort of time and patience, even for a wonderful series like this. Furthermore, following our own linear chronology of Shaft's releases does not match with that of the Monogatari series. It is thus difficult for the viewer to follow many parts of the story, especially since we are thrown around various different timings. The great leap S2 made was that it made it imperative for the viewer to make reference to different parts of the series that occurred at different times for there to be a sense of continuity. Unfortunately, this tossing of time makes it difficult to establish that essential continuity. At this moment, the whole Monogatari series still has not been completely animated by Shaft, and thus we have a problem: where do certain things fit in? If we had a full picture of the plot, like in those epic poems or in Huxley's novel, where we could comfortably read from start to finish, we may not have this issue.
One can only know that this is a decision made by the author and the studio, that releases made in this order has a certain effect. Already we can see that the placement of Kizumonogatari right after Shinobu's arc in Owari is entirely intentional. It leads on perfectly. We can take hope in that this continuity will eventually be achieved, even if not at present. The Monogatari series is ultimately one that will not be dropped for all its popularity, and we can be certain that it will eventually be completed, and maybe we can have a fuller picture of the whole.
I have only been looking at the bigger picture of Owari so far, but closing in, Owari's greatest plus is in the enigma that is Oshino Ougi. Who the hell is she (he)? It is such a confusing deal. If anything, anywhere where Ougi is involved and the placement of the episodes along with Monogatari's internal chronology gives rise to suggest that there is something extremely sinister about this character, and every time Ougi made an appearance or a comment, it was one of great intensity. I look forward to seeing how Ougi fits into the whole picture in the future. We can already have certain guesses. One need not comment on Shaft's aesthetic style, although I do feel that fewer 'stop-word-panels' have been used in this season. I usually have little to say about Monogatari's OPs (except Staple Stable and Renai Circulation), but the ED was definitely great and worthy of being a Monogatari series ED.
For the reasons stated above, I could not give Owari a higher rating. It just doesn't work. On a 'close reading' of the series, it might be easier to give it higher ratings. However, with what its various incarnations and series demand, it is impossible for one to not feel lost in considering the placement of Owarimonogatari as a whole. I can only hope that the progression of Owari is a 'sacrifice' of sorts in lieu of the entire watchability and presentability as a series, such that if I were to watch it both in Shaft's release chronology and in the series's own internal chronology, we can get a full picture of this brilliant world that is Nisioisin's creation. I can thus only hope for something better - it would be best if it could go out with a bang, and if any more seasons of Monogatari are released, I do hope they would surpass that masterpiece which is S2. Still, I shall have to wait and see what Shaft offers us next (looks like Koyomimonogatari).
To look at Owarimonogatari, I feel it necessary to speak on the history of the series. Bakemonogatari was the first of the lot, but chronologically speaking it is not the first. Bakemonogatari however, was a success, and Shaft went on to the less successfully Nisemonogatari. Still, it was intriguing. Nekomonogatari Kuro came, and that's when Shaft began a concept of releasing some of Nisioisin's novels as small 4-5 ep OVAs, before Monogatari S2 arrived and blew everybody away. Then came Hanamonogatari and Tsukimonogatari before a third full season, the recently concluded Owarimonogatari, with plans for Koyomimonogatari, and the long-stalling Kizumonogatari finally looking to make an appearance.
The point of this history is that there are many different aspects to the Monogatari series as a whole, and after a while, certain formulas are to be expected. Yet this does not play against the series. For the most part, Owarimonogatari has kept much of what its predecessors had, especially with regard to the entry of what Nisioisin labelled as Monogatari's Final Season, coming on from Tsukimonogatari and Hanamonogatari (even though the latter is technically the Middle Season). Hana and Tsuki came after the unprecedented success of S2, which featured a recurrence to the original heroines of Bake, and by extending upon their stories, the audience is blown away by the sheer ingenuity of Nisioisin's plot. Thus we cannot blame Hana and Tsuki for not living up to its predecessor.
Yet I find that this is one of two curses Owarimonogatari has had to face. Owari is split into two parts: the first regarding a new girl, Sodachi, and the second building on an aspect of Shinobu's past. Sodachi's arc(s) are undoubtedly the stronger of the two, for it is more original, and it features much more of the 'occult detective' subgenre which the whole series technically is. Yet it was nothing spectacular, and whilst one may have been intrigued at times, we do not come to a consensus that it blows any minds. Rather, it was pretty much like Hana and Tsuki, in that it was interesting and nice to watch, especially with Shaft's aesthetic style, but it did not reach the levels of masterpiece S2 did. The second half could be even thought of as disappointing, to some degree. More on this in a moment.
Owari's second sad flaw is one which, unfortunately, doesn't look like it could have been avoided. The chronological aspect of the whole Monogatari series is nothing new. Since time immemorial, the chronology of a story's plot has been varied in many ways. One need only read the likes of Homer and Virgil in epic poetry for an example. A more recent one closer to what Monogatari does is Aldous Huxley's "Eyeless in Gaza," where the narrative skips across time to show various aspects of the plot.
Chronologically and frankly speaking, Monogatari as a whole is currently a mess, especially for the viewer who has a history with the series, but has not had the opportunity to refresh themselves on everything. If I wanted to refresh my memory for Owarimonogatari, I would have needed to watch about 64 episodes worth of anime. Not everyone has that sort of time and patience, even for a wonderful series like this. Furthermore, following our own linear chronology of Shaft's releases does not match with that of the Monogatari series. It is thus difficult for the viewer to follow many parts of the story, especially since we are thrown around various different timings. The great leap S2 made was that it made it imperative for the viewer to make reference to different parts of the series that occurred at different times for there to be a sense of continuity. Unfortunately, this tossing of time makes it difficult to establish that essential continuity. At this moment, the whole Monogatari series still has not been completely animated by Shaft, and thus we have a problem: where do certain things fit in? If we had a full picture of the plot, like in those epic poems or in Huxley's novel, where we could comfortably read from start to finish, we may not have this issue.
One can only know that this is a decision made by the author and the studio, that releases made in this order has a certain effect. Already we can see that the placement of Kizumonogatari right after Shinobu's arc in Owari is entirely intentional. It leads on perfectly. We can take hope in that this continuity will eventually be achieved, even if not at present. The Monogatari series is ultimately one that will not be dropped for all its popularity, and we can be certain that it will eventually be completed, and maybe we can have a fuller picture of the whole.
I have only been looking at the bigger picture of Owari so far, but closing in, Owari's greatest plus is in the enigma that is Oshino Ougi. Who the hell is she (he)? It is such a confusing deal. If anything, anywhere where Ougi is involved and the placement of the episodes along with Monogatari's internal chronology gives rise to suggest that there is something extremely sinister about this character, and every time Ougi made an appearance or a comment, it was one of great intensity. I look forward to seeing how Ougi fits into the whole picture in the future. We can already have certain guesses. One need not comment on Shaft's aesthetic style, although I do feel that fewer 'stop-word-panels' have been used in this season. I usually have little to say about Monogatari's OPs (except Staple Stable and Renai Circulation), but the ED was definitely great and worthy of being a Monogatari series ED.
For the reasons stated above, I could not give Owari a higher rating. It just doesn't work. On a 'close reading' of the series, it might be easier to give it higher ratings. However, with what its various incarnations and series demand, it is impossible for one to not feel lost in considering the placement of Owarimonogatari as a whole. I can only hope that the progression of Owari is a 'sacrifice' of sorts in lieu of the entire watchability and presentability as a series, such that if I were to watch it both in Shaft's release chronology and in the series's own internal chronology, we can get a full picture of this brilliant world that is Nisioisin's creation. I can thus only hope for something better - it would be best if it could go out with a bang, and if any more seasons of Monogatari are released, I do hope they would surpass that masterpiece which is S2. Still, I shall have to wait and see what Shaft offers us next (looks like Koyomimonogatari).
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Divin3Wind_
| Dec 29, 2015 4:26 PM |
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