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「こよみウォーター」 (Koyomi Wōtā)
“Koyomi Water”
(Sorry for the ugly watermarks on the screencaps, by the way. For previous episodes, by this time there would be a cleaned raw available by now, but no such luck for episode 04. I don’t have time to clean the caps myself, but decided that it wasn’t worth delaying this post any more than this. If you have an suggestion on how I should do this in the future, let me know in the comments; I can either keep waiting for a clean raw, or just do the post when whatever subs are available.)
Kanbaru following Mayoi fits the pattern, and like last week only about half the episode is about any kind of mystery at all; the other is hijinks. And when one combines Kanbaru and hijinks, there is only one outcome: fanservice time! After Owarimonogatari, I’m beginning to think that the staff at SHAFT have a very specific fetish. I am concerned that Kanbaru might be gettingtypecasted, though. Sure, in a short skit like Koyomi Water, she’s got to come out strong with her best act, but I’d hate to see her contractually obliged to strip for every performance she’s in. This isn’t Hollywood, after all.
Perhaps it’s in the recognition of the need for character versatility that Koyomi Water also features Senjougahara, and all the good things that she brings. I’m sure there are people out there who get turned on by a cold girl who threatens to kill you while casually stretching. It’s all about multiple forms of appeal.
As for the mystery itself, this week it’s actually more connected to the ‘OP girl’, being a story from Kanbaru’s father. I don’t think we’ve actually heard as usual it’s not really much of Mr Kanbaru; we’ve mostly been concerned with her late mother, on and off being the one who gave daughter Sugura the monkey’s paw, and also being the sister of the aunt Gaen. Since parents are mostly absentee anyway in Monogatari, alive or not (with Mr Senjougahara being the notable exception), there’s little to learn in this episode, sadly. What to make about the tale, though? As usual, it seems to not be about an oddity at all—or is it? The message seems to be something about differing perspectives, about the benefit of hindsight, and the illusions of youth. But we have only Senjougahara’s conjectures to work on; it’s the simplest explanation, sure, but in a world where oddities actually exist and the Gaen family being deep in mysticism, who knows? I am actually reminded of the myth of self-centred Narcissus, whom the goddess of retribution Nemesis cursed to fall in love with his own reflection. Something like that, maybe? Or maybe the moral of this tale is to not overthink it, and let stories have their embellishment. Did Kanbaru’s father really see his soulmate in the water? To him it did, and it makes for a much better story than the alternative.
In that vein, apparently Kanbaru’s soulmate is her breasts. I can work with that.
Full-length images: 08.
I don’t like these short episodes, however I did like this episode.
I am a fan of Senjougahara, ella es mi favorita.
Another tale with a mundane twist. It seems this is the tone behind Koyomimonogatari (now betting that the final episode will have a supernatural twist to take the viewers off guard).
I have an ambivalent relationship with Senjougahara. On the one hand, she’s probably one of the most fascinating characters in the series, with a very strong personality, and you can’t never get bored with her. I love her in that regard. On the other hand, I sometimes see her relationship with Araragi in a very disturbing way. Bakemonogatari called her “tsundere”, but she looks like a “yandere” to me. Most of her violent, jealous and ice cold antics are played for laughs, but if the roles were reversed, if she was the boyfriend and Araragi the girlfriend, I wonder if we would judge her words and actions so lightly.
Then I remember that something like Diabolik Lovers does exist, so maybe there’s an audience for that too.
Hint: Show Spoiler ▼
I’ll give Senjougahara this: at least she’s self-aware. I think I would be fine with her as a guy as long as there remains an open understanding that he’s actually really insecure.