First Impressions / Monogatari Series

「つばさタイガ – 其ノ参」 (Tsubasa Taiga – So no San)
“Tsubasa Tiger – Part Three”

After last week’s rather boring episode that was sprinkled with a little bit of fan service for all the Hanekawa x Senjougahara fans, this third episode does justice to the phrase “give each new series at least three episodes”.

Starting on the lighter side of things, I was dying from all the various cameos that SHAFT threw into this episode. As soon as I saw Full Metal Alchemist characters showing up (albeit in sketch form), I think it triggered my brain to be on constant lookout for any other hidden gems. And while the only other cameo I caught was that blatant use of the Terminator as a simile for how the new Black Hanekawa is behaving, there was something else that really grabbed my attention.

And that my friends was just how stupidly funny this episode was. I’ve come to expect slapstick and rather cynical humor from this show but with a sudden shift to stupidly funny jokes and straight up blackmail, I couldn’t help but spam IRC with how much I was loving it. And these jokes weren’t just “haha” jokes, they were the kind of jokes that you could completely miss if you weren’t paying attention. I mean, between Senjougahara’s jab at how there are technically three aberrations around her and Hanekawa downright pointing out Senjougahara’s loveably evil personality is still there how could you not snicker? But easily the best part of the whole episode (excluding that bath scene) was watching Karen fall perfectly into Senjougahara’s trap to house Hanekawa. I can’t remember if the two were on good terms beforehand but I’m willing to bet they’re worse than they started. Because not only was she pushing all of Karen’s buttons by saying things like justice doesn’t exist but after effectively calling her useless without Araragi around, I half expected Karen to throw a punch in retaliation!

All that said, let me take a second to try to analyze what’s happened thus far. It’s already been explained how she’s as pure as the color white — oblivious or rather uncaring about the negative things that could happen to her for doing the right thing. Be it helping a friend or becoming the host of a aberration, she’s just someone who’s there to do what’s right. At the same time we’ve seen how she’s constantly being plagued with the stress of becoming indebted to everyone around her — especially since they’re going out of their way to help her. Which as we’ve seen leads to her late night strolls around town as Black Hanekawa — her other self that only appears when she’s stressed out.

All of which isn’t really new news until you add in what Shinobu said right at the end of the episode — Hanekawa and Black Hanekawa may not be as different as Black Hanekawa believes. The way I see it, and by no means is it the only interpretation, is that maybe because of how irregular Black Hanekawa is for an aberration she’s become more than just Hanekawa’s stress container? Instead, becoming a part of Hanekawa as a whole? On the surface she may be the representation of all the other “colors” that Hanekawa is missing or rather has given up, meaning she’s effectively Hanekawa and not as separate as she’s led us to believe. But as many other animes before have shown us, separating different or undesirable parts of yourself never leads to pleasant things. And what if the Tiger that only Hanekawa and Black Hanekawa can see is actually another part of herself that she hasn’t come to terms with and is throwing out the whole “be loyal to my master while waiting for her stress to ease off” ideal? Instead, opting to change Hanekawa’s ways by forcing her hand by doing things like burning everything down that she holds dear to her?

WOW! I don’t think I’m cut out for these analysis things — my head itches. Anyways, with another week separating us from possibly seeing Araragi I suppose we’ll all have to wait to see what’s actually going to happen. In the mean time, I’m going to go think about how badly I wanted Karen to pull out a toothbrush as she left Hanekawa in her older brother’s room. I mean, she did say Hanekawa could make herself at home and use whatever she wanted…

End Card

53 Comments

  9. I can’t remember if the two were on good terms beforehand but I’m willing to bet they’re worse than they started.

    This is the first time we actually see them interact. Nise ended with Araragi promising that he’ll introduce Tsukihi(and, presumably, Karen) to his girlfriend.

    Asta
    Reply

    1. That brings up an interesting point. Although it’s long you kinda have to read this blog post to understand what I’m about to talk about. http://surprisinglycomplex.blogspot.com/2013/05/bakemonogatari-behind-summer-triangle.html

      That post I think is very important to the monogatari series as a whole and will completely change your outlook on the series. This arc is done from Hanekawa’s point of view and what goes on in her head. If this is true, then (since she wasn’t present with Senjougahara and Karen) Hanekawa simply imagined that scene. Hanekawa even says in narration, “This is probably what happened,” then came the Senjou and Karen scene. This means that the dialogue and scene was simply what Hanekawa imagined to have happened; And by no means did it actually happen that way. But considering her image of Senjougahara’s personality, and her limited knowledge of Karen (i.e. she’s a pursuer of justice), and the knowledge of everyone’s reliance on Araragi, then it makes sense that she imagined the scene to be this way.

      On further analysis (no clue if this is true, just speculation), but notice how that scene (the one between Senjou and Karen) had rather normal visuals? In comparison to other scenes. The art tends to be abstract in the series, with backgrounds being random colors and whatnot. However in that scene, the houses were normal, colors normal, backgrounds normal. I theorize it’s because Hanekawa is imagining the scene and thus she had normal houses with normal coloring. Branching off this, since monogatari story is based on someone’s perspective, then the reason that other scenes (particularly ones that the protagonist experiences in real time) are abstract is because we often only focus on the thing in front of us, and thus the background becomes abstract, just random shades of color. Also, depending on what we’re focussing on, things may be magnified and whatnot (thus explaining some weird scenes we tend to see). This may be a message from the director, a message on how we humans perceive daily events in our life.

      Rigelin
      Reply

      1. I realize that not everyone will read the blog post I put a link to (in the comment above), so I’ll summarize in short in this comment so people aren’t completely lost reading that comment.

        The monogatari series is a character study, i.e. it’s based on a characters’ thoughts and point of view. It’s like the first person point of view for books. What’s important is not what actually happens, but what the main character thinks happened or how he felt it happened. This is why scenes where Araragi gets beat up, there’s a full array of colors and rather gruesome visuals. That’s because that’s how he felt when it happened, it may or may not actually be that gruesome or painful.

        This also explains why sexual scenes tend to be so dramatic or overly emphasized, because it’s how Araragi or Hanekawa felt/thought at the time. Our brain naturally exemplify sexual scenes, and thus the anime portrays that.
        It also explains the black scenes (it’s when the character blinks), and why there tends to not be any other humans (because our main characters don’t pay attention to them), and why every bike looks the same except for specific ones like Araragi’s (it’s because it’s his bike, and so it’s special and different from the others).

        Rigelin
        Reply

  10. considering this is after Nisemonogatari, Tsukihi-chans hair is freakishly long, considering Kanbaru, who has her hair grow a bit faster than normal still grows only a bit

    not that i mind, as i can see her naked anyway
    oh boy the doujin after this…

    Hayate
    Reply

    1. Hanekawa actually mentionned it in the LN, even comparing it to Kanbaru. She also mentionned that Kanbaru’s longer hair made her look more feminine, probably because of Araragi.

      Ananas
      Reply

      1. I remember that myself. At the time I read this in the LN, I thought of her parents saying “Hey hun, have you noticed that Tsukihi’s hair grow freakishly fast and every time she scraps her knee it immediately heals?”

        Ace
        Reply

  15. Well, it clearly shows that at the very least Gahara-san’s suggestion about Hanekawa not truly loving Araragi is incorrect (having read the relevant book makes it a foregone conclusion though). Hanekawa is having trouble sleeping in Araragi’s room and wearing his clothes. Even if she was in shock after the fire, she never had open trouble over not sleeping in a room for years and she knew it was abnormal.

    But it is interesting that she didn’t know what his parents did. I didn’t really get that, no matter how much I thought. She might not know everything, but this wouldn’t escape her notice. My best guess is that it’s revealed this way specifically to reveal it to the audience.

    And Takaii, some good points, Show Spoiler ▼

    . I can say that Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    Grant
    Reply

  17. What I really like in this series so far is we get to see all the background talking, how the characters really see each other, and talk to one another without a single hair antennae in the way.

    The whole talk between two supernatural creatures without a single human was also pretty darn interesting.

    Geoff
    Reply

    1. And just think about that for a moment. This is a series where it’s just two characters (admittedly several of them are pretty important) talking to each other for over twenty minutes. And it still manages to be funny, exciting and creepy at different points. It’s not easy, but this is how you do extended dialogue.

      Grant
      Reply

  18. I miss Senjougahara’s long hair.
    I miss Kanbaru’s tomboy cut.
    I miss Nadeko with her bangs down.
    I miss Karen’s ponytail.
    I miss Hanekawa’s pigtails.
    (Of all the girls, only Tsukihi with her constantly changing hairdo, and Mayoi and Shinobu being immortal oddities, remained constant)

    In short, I miss everyone’s old hairdo. I understand that each character’s new hairdo represents said character’s determination to forge a new path for themselves, but still… :3

    echykr
    Reply

  20. Senjougahara just performed “Inception” on Karen-chan impeccably without relying on any of those fancy Nolan-esque conscious invading tricks. XD

    First Hanekawa’s house, now the abandoned school. Is it the Tiger’s doing? Specifically targeting places which Hanekawa has dwelled in? This could make the Senjougarahara and Araragi residences as well as Naoetsu High School at risk of being burned down as well.

    echykr
    Reply

    1. That guy makes me curious.Like,he didn’t say anything when his daughter was talking to her friend about apparitions,in detail even.But I appreciate a parent who doesn’t butt into his child’s business,assuming that child’s old enough.Especially in the case of a father & daughter relationship.

      MgMaster
      Reply

      1. Well, Hitagi’s father was not surprised about the aberration talk because he already knows about them. Hitagi herself was struck by the crab aberration and their family did go bankrupt because Hitagi’s mother got herself involved in some cult to try and cure Hitagi. So its not entirely surprising for her father to be rather indifferent to all that talk.

        Euzio
        Reply

      3. Actually it’s reversed. Hitagi nearly died from some affliction (I forget if it was aberration related or not but I don’t think so), her mother joined that cult as a result of the illness, nearly let her daughter be raped and ultimately Hitagi threw away her relationship with her mother when she met the crab god.
        And Hitagi’s father definitely knows about that part. He was very grateful to Araragi for doing what he couldn’t, helping her.

        Grant
        Reply

    1. She shouldn’t know about Tsukihi and she might or might not know about Mayoi (it’s always left uncertain whether anyone besides Hanekawa and Araragi are capable of seeing her).

      Grant
      Reply

  29. Senjouhagara trolling level: over 9000!
    She has played poor Karen like musical instrument, pushing exactly all the buttons needed to get Hanekawa a house to sleep over in.
    My hat is off to her!
    Also, second place in a row – and a very memorable one! – getting burned down? I dont believe in that kind of coincidence…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  34. Takaii, there aren’t that many references in this episode compared to series like Nyaruko-san.
    You noticed FMA & Terminator, while I think I noticed two more.
    I think Hitagi was arranging the sugar cubes in the form of Space Invaders,
    & Shinobu was definitely referencing Doraemon when she mentioned Shizuka whilst discussing about the king who loved baths.

    Techim
    Reply

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