Oh Monogatari, a strange one you certainly are. The way I see it is that there are 2 types of reviews for this series - the people praising it for being a complete masterpiece of the modern age with no flaws what so ever and the people that hate it for... what again? Oh that's right, it's "devoid of a functioning storyline and character development" as pointed out by some pleb on this website. Now, I respect your opinion and everything but.. you're wrong.
What's so special about this series is how it handles exactly that. It doesn't follow a strict route in storytelling, it just kinda does whatever the hell it wants. Apart from the occasional obnoxious panty shots I think the story is very unique and engaging for the most part. As for the characters - you've got our protagonist who while being a borderline lolicon also happens to be a vampire, a sadistic tsundere with a daddy complex, a cat girl, etc. Point is that if not on the most complex side of things (also arguable), the cast is one of the most entertaining I have ever seen. The story combined with these characters and breaking the 4th wall humor makes this show what it is. However while I do praise it, the fact still remains that the Monogatari series is an overrated one.
Pretty edgy, huh? Anyway, Owarimonogatari is the final installment of the Final Season and it focuses on the mysterious transfer student, Ougi Oshino, who is seemingly Oshino Meme's niece. Ougi has appeared through various arcs of the series but never really got over an episode of screen time as far as I can remember. Something interesting as well is that Kanbaru referred to Ougi as a guy, what gives? So yeah, not knowing a characters gender is pretty mysterious to me. Owarimonogatari is divided into 2 arcs or 3 parts - Sodachi Riddle / Sodachi Lost and Shinobu Time.
The first arc is very mystery driven. It starts off with Araragi and Ougi getting trapped in a classroom. Pretty plain and simple, right? Turns out that a pretty big event took place in that classroom a couple of years ago. Soon after we get introduced to Araragi's former classmate who seems to hold some kind of grudge against him. To be honest, I thought I was going to hate this character. While I still somewhat do it turns out that she is a lot more complex than I originally imagined. What is her story and how is she related to Arararagi apart from being his classmate? That's pretty much all that can be said without spoiling. There also happens to be a pretty cool random James Bond reference thrown in there because why not.
Surprisingly enough, even though the 2nd arc is called "Shinobu time" there is no Shinobu to speak off for the first 2-3 episodes. No worries though, the show does compensate. We start off with Araragi meeting up with Kanbaru in the middle of the night in the abandoned school. The possibilities of that scenario are endless but sadly Koyomin is just acting on orders of Gaen, as we knew she wanted to meet with Kanbaru. All of a sudden a strange samurai appears. After seemingly defeating him they realize that it was just an empty suit of armor. The building is then lit on fire but they are saved by Yotsugi. Saying anything else would be getting into spoiler territory so let's avoid that.
Kanbaru has also gained quite a lot of best girl points from this arc. Every moment with her is just pure gold, she may provide the best fanservice in the entire series actually. "Eat up!" All that was needed was more of Senjougahara and/or Kaiki-chan but I'll let it slide this time.
The production value is top notch as to be expected from Shaft. The entire Soundtrack is filled with variations of music that work perfectly as the series changes tone and the voice acting is great as always. It might just be me but I feel like this is the peak of the Monogatari series in terms of animation. Everything just looks so smooth and nice to look at. Probably just me though, amazing nonetheless.
So all in all, Owarimonogatari follows the same general formula as all of the other series, filled with witty dialogue, amplified by all the shaft shafting. Should you watch Owarimonogatari? Probably, just keep in mind that it's not as good as Bake or Second Season and that the 2nd arc is inferior to the first. 6.5, best of the season.
