Disclaimer: This review is not spoiler-free.
This is a series not necessarily concerning oddities, but more about human beings and their interactive role that deals with or produces oddities. And these oddities are real, so long as you believe they are. You'll find that there is a lot of dialogue.
One quote that has made me understand the Monogatari premise comes from Bakemonogatari, and it is this:
"We must be believed in, dreaded, feared, shunned, revered, respected, hated, loathed, prayed to. That's why we exist." - ブラック羽川, Burakku Hanekawa
The thing about anime is that people think it's supposed to be predictable.. That if you can classify certain characters, then those characters are suddenly defined.
Although making such judgments of the characters in the Monogatari series would simplify them, and prove to be an inaccurate representation of who they are.
You can hardly stereotype the characters of Monogatari. The Monogatari series breaks the mold, and shows us that characters can be more than and be beyond our preconceived notions.
I'm sure you understand if you've ever felt before the judgments of other people about you are inaccurate/wrong, and so you could understand... the complexity of human beings.
In the eyes of Sengoku Nadeko, we see that people are fixated on her "cuteness" more than anything. Everyone has an unchanging perception on her. But although it is common to judge someone based on their appearance, the Monogatari series shows that this character (who seemed to have no business being in the series) isn't so one-dimensional after all. Even as a character of fiction, Sengoku Nadeko has possession of her own personal thoughts, feelings, ideas and morals; whether negative or positive... it makes her character pretty damn fleshed out.
-Sengoku Nadeko writes her own manga in secrecy. Until one day, she finds a potentially different path to her life... one that dove her ideas and morals into the realization that she could bring her life of continuous dullness to cessation... If she decides to release a god.-
Thus is the premise of the Nadeko Medusa event.
The thoughts that she's had to hold in until she finally explodes in front of her classroom, expresses how human her character is. This scene was the first literary explosion of her character. The Monogatari series does well to twist our preconceived notions on its head; exclaiming that no one is simple. No one can so simply be judged.
Sengoku Nadeko's personality is strengthened realistically more by her unique emotions of her coming into terms with her one-sided relationship that she had to bear for a long time. If and when you comprehend the entirety of Nadeko's life, you then see that the depth of this character is no exception in comparison to the others.
What's interesting about the Monoagatari Series is the differing perspectives and views upon other characters in each certain arc. Each character feels different towards the main role. In Otorimonogatari (Nadeko Medusa), each characters' words are slightly altered to match the perspective of Sengoku Nadeko.
Some of you might raise an eyebrow and say: "Everyone behaves the same way that they have before to me." But if you know the premise, that'd change your whole view, as it did mine. Recognize that Tsubasa is portrayed to be insulted by Gaen Izuko (from her perspective), and Nadeko is portrayed to be disdained by Shinobu (from her perspective)... but that is not the case for other characters. When a different character becomes the main character, all the other characters will act in a way that portray how the main character feels. Throughout the show, they (Gaen & Shinobu) held an antagonist-like spotlight against the character focuses (Tsubasa & Nadeko)... even though Gaen and Shinobu are not antagonists. Its for these reasons that I believe the show is much more brilliant than people are most times able to comprehend. And Kaiki's arc proves that no one perceives Kaiki the same way as he perceives himself. With the end of Second Season, we threw out our notions of him being "the bad guy," a notion we first fabricated with when we had watched Nisemonogatari.
How things are percieved depend on who our character focus is, at any one time. Shaft's cleverness is remarkable, and Monogatari Series: Second Season is an additionally phenomenal season to the Monogatari series.
