Did I really see Kaiki and Episode on that BL cover ? There was also Gaen on the magazines Araragi bought, but the most important is that there was freaking Kaiki and freaking Episode on a BL cover. I don't know if I want to laugh or erase my memories before my imagination tries anything.
Other than that, now it's confirmed that Kagenui has some sort of ability to resurrect people, maybe that's how Kaiki survived getting killed ?
Also, I had doubts because I didn't remember very well what happened but it is also confirmed that it is the Darkness that destroyed Araragi's and Shinobu's connection. It's surprising how casual they both are with that, especially Shinobu. Wasn't her connection to Araragi essential since she needed his energy to survive ? How come she can still move around then ? If I remember correctly, it was even stated that she was losing strength while she was kept away from him (but everyone kinda forgot about this problem as soon as it turned out the Darkness was after Hachikuji instead of Shinobu).
What's interesting though, is that at first I wondered why the Darkness separated them, but when I think about it it makes sense. In Kizumonogatari, Oshino described Araragi as "a vampire trying to behave like a human" and Shinobu as "a human trying to behave like a vampire". Considering what is the Darkness' purpose, it makes sense that it would separate them since it is said connection that made them that way. It still doesn't explain Shinobu's current state though.
Also, I don't really understand what happened in Tsukimonogatari then with him getting his powers back. But actually, I realize I'm pretty lost when it comes to this plot point about Araragi's condition as a vampire, there's a lot I have forgotten, so I should rewatch some scenes instead of complaining.
Other than that, that's once again a lot of important informations we got. So the warrior's ashes brought the necessary amount of energy for the temple to "feed" oddities again, which explains why the oddities began to appear only 15 years ago (which has me wonder, are there oddities others than the ones we know, in different places ?).
And the warrior is starting to regenerate which is why he looks the way he does at the end of the episode, it's just like what happened to Shinobu. But what's pretty ironic is that he seemed insanely powerful when he was still a shadow of himself, while now he is like a kid. If we take Shinobu for exemple, then there is no doubt that while he most likely still has some powers like the Energy Drain, he must be considerably weak. Even with the Energy Drain, it would surprise me if he easily gets back the strength he gathered back in episode 7. As I said, that's ironic. Also, that's probably just me but he didn't really leave a good impression on me at the end of this episode, he seems too much to be the typical rival character, I hope I'm wrong because with such a story, he has the potential to be interesting.
A last thing I wanted to mention is that now I more or less understand why they brought up this oddity cluster thing last episode, because the whole story is about how oddities came to gather in this city. However that doesn't explain what it really is nor what it is doing here. Apparently it isn't an actual oddity but a "nuisance", but in this context I fail to understand what it is supposed to mean. (Also, I mentionned in the last thread that the cluster thing must be related to the Darkness due to having the same kind of inscriptions written on it, but I just realized it's just what non-humanoid oddities look like.)
Well, now that there's only two episodes left I think I can safely say that this arc is, in my opinion, definitely inferior to the fantastic Sodachi arc which is disappointing but it's still pretty interesting, especially thanks to all the informations we get regarding oddities who still remain a mystery.
But what's the most disappointing is that once again, I feel like Shinobu is completely relegated to a secondary role in her own arc, even if the story technically revolves around her. It's a real shame because due to that I lost the majority of the interest I initially had in her, and I hoped for this arc to correct that but unless they provide us absolutely amazing last two episodes, it looks like that won't be the case. |