As I am continuing watching
Owarimonogatari, I finished the arc
Hitagi Rendezvous. One thing that can be surprising to admit is that despite how strong and well done the relationship between Koyomi and Senjougahara is. If you look at the big picture, we haven't had a romance episode with these two like that in a long time. The last was during
Bakemonogatari during the
Tsubasa Cat arc.
Well, it serves a point in romance anime. It is more so how you make the relationship meaningful then having explicit romance. It is not to say this can't be done in SoL Romance anime if you like recent series like "
The Dangers in My Heart" and "
A Sign of Affection". Furthermore, it is more so the point that SoL Romance usually has so much clutter that is generic and meaningless. In the following arcs we had a great showcase of Koyomi and Senjougahara's relationship:
- Hitagi Crab
- Mayoi Maimai
- Suruga Monkey
- Tsubasa Cat
- Karen Bee
- Tsubasa Tiger
- Hitagi End
Well, like any relationship, after the 6 months of chaos, Senjougahara would want a day to remember. One really sweet part of the episode is where Senjougahara shows off her new car. If you can recall from their date in
Tsubasa Cat, their father did the driving. So it's a nice follow-up it is just them in the car.
Of course, if you recall that it was just the day before White Day that Koyomi returned from hell and separated from Shinobu. As we know from
Tsukimonogatari, Koyomi's vampire powers were becoming more permanent. Obviously, his girlfriend would know of that. So this is Senjougahara way of being considerate. She loves Koyomi more than he could ever love her. Essentially, it is her making sure everything goes smoothly for them. It was also interesting to learn that Senjougahara wants to be an Astronaut. In many ways, this date was learning more about her since we spent so much time with Koyomi. Hanekawa's suggestion to her friend to have their date be something she is passionate about, since in a good relationship you love to learn what your partner loves. Also, keeping in mind in Japan has Valentine's Day for the guys and White Day for the girls.
The news that Senjougahara received from Hanekawa is pretty important. Essentially, she has a good hunch on where Oshino is. Finding him has been a goal since he left at the end of
Bakemonogatari. Although her remark that she doesn't remember is obviously a lie on her part. As we know from
Hitagi End, Senjougahara is very attentive and if any information were crucial to Koyomi she would remember it. Her "forgetting it" was more of the lines of let's have this day be about their date. It sets the tone on what this arc is. A getaway from the crazy that Monogatari is known for.
While Koyomi was sleeping he some sort of vision of Ougi Oshino. Tbh this more and more puts into the question, who is Ougi Oshino? She brings the mention that bringing someone from the dead is quite the sin. Ononoki was brought back from the dead by Meme Oshino, Kaiki and Kaeguni which they had curses on them. Although we only know the curse for Kaeguni. Unless the ones for Oshino and Kaiki for more so less obvious.
The curious point about Ougi is that she says that she corrects mistakes. If we recall from the
Monogatari 2nd Season in the
Mayoi Jiangshi arc, that the Dark Matter was addressing the issue of why Hachikuji wasn't fulfilling her role as an apparition. Which resulted in her passing on. If we assume what Ougi says is of a similar nature, then who is Ougi? Is she an actual person person? After all, she didn't transfer to their school until after the Hachikuji stuff was taken care of. Also, the request to not go along with Gaen. Feels like we are missing information here.
For much of the rest of the episode was their date. Though Senjougahara planned every aspect of it. They had two contests in which the loser had to do what the winner wanted. Of course, given this is White Day, Koyomi isn't stupid to ruin her day. It is equivalent to her birthday. As the day went on, it is of tradition that the man on White Day gives gifts back at 3 times the rate. Of course Koyomi's life has been a clusterfukk he didn't have much time.
Senjougahara is aware of this. However, the gift that she asks for is obedience. Despite this sounding weird at first. Senjougahara is your very Tsundere-Chan personality was asking if you will be there with me for the rest of my life. Which is what she meant being obedient to my requests for the rest of my life. Starting off with the request to call her Hitagi rather than Senjougahara like he normally does. This is more of a simple request, but it shows their commitment to how much they love each other.
The after credits scene is very interesting. It was good to roll the credits showing the other ED's to really highlight what this episode was meant to bring. A rendezvous now only for Hitagi and Koyomi, but also for the audience. Everything since
Bakemonogatari has been hectic, so this arc was a nice change of pace.
With Ougi waiting in front of the Araragi house, it is curious what she wants. One big information drop is that she is not the Darkness. While that resolves one question, there are numerous follow-up questions. Mostly, what is her motivation? Why does she seek to correct mistakes? Similar to Gaen and Hanekawa she has a line she repeats. She doesn't know anything. Fixing mistakes implies she only needs to know what is vital. Her quote being the opposite of Gaen's I know everything is interesting as they oppose each other.
The most interesting is that Ougi mentions that she has to trigger the trap that Gaen set out for her. As Ougi brings up that she isn't after Koyomi. More so she asks him to step aside. Clearly, Gaen's plans involve Koyomi, so he will be going against Ougi. Of course, there is no way he would go against his partner Shinobu or Hachikuji who just came back. But she still asks him for help. Very curious as this leads towards the end of
Owarimonogatari.
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Im not watching none of them leaks.
