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「まよいキョンシー其ノ肆」 (Mayoi Kyonshi/Jiangshi – So no Shi)
“Mayoi Jiangshi – Part Four”
For the end of Hachikuji’s arc, there was surprisingly very little Hachikuji. Then again, SHAFT didn’t disappoint with how they decided to handle things. Between making me rage harder than I ever have when Araragi didn’t reveal himself to older Hachikuji and unleashing an emotional tidal wave with older Shinobu, I don’t think I’ve ever exerted such a range of emotions in such a short period of time. So as I get my head back in order, let me somehow figure out how to properly express the feelings this episode left with me.
For those of you who’ve experienced bad relationships where you were on the end of the fallout, I’m sure you’ll understand somewhat how pathetic yet stubborn you become when things just don’t go your way. Add in the fact that your judgment goes out the window which leads to you making bad decisions and in one fell swoop you’ve brought together all the ingredients for a really depressing moment in your life.
Now while none of us have transformed more than three-fourths of the population into zombies (or at least I hope you haven’t), I couldn’t help but feel terrible for older Shinobu. And while hearing younger Shinobu call herself a complete failure would have been enough to get my heart pumping, I nearly lost it when I realized how difficult it must have been for older Shinobu to see herself all buddy-buddy with Araragi. Can you imagine how hard it was for her to come face-to-face with the reality that everything she ever wanted could actually exist?
All that said, I couldn’t help but feel a little irked with how things wrapped up so quickly. While I would have been okay if some of older Hachikuji’s time was moved over to older Shinobu, I have to admit that it was wild seeing an older Hachikuji. Besides being every bit of the beauty you’d expect someone like her to become, I think I nearly flipped over in my chair hoping that Araragi would reveal just who he was. And while that never happened, you have to appreciate SHAFT for taking the time to give regular ol’ Hachikuji some time in her own arc. They even remembered to answer the delicate question Ononoki left with Araragi almost four episodes ago!
End Card
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Although it took me some time to digest. The evil one wasn’t really older Shinobu; nor she was the origin of the faulty matter. It was Araragi and younger Shinobu’s fault for traveling to the parallel world’s past and changing it in the first place. So they have no right preaching her on what the older one did.
I completely disagree. Just because things may have happened differently if Araragi and Shinobu didn’t go back in time, doesn’t make it their fault. With that mentality, you can always blame someone else for anything that goes wrong in your life. Older Shinobu could have overcame it if she had tried harder like loli Shinbou said.
You would seem to be looking for someone(s) who’s in the wrong here, and things just aren’t that simple.
Unintended consequences aside, all Araragi wanted to do was to save the life of someone important to him. Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to meet a single person in my life who hasn’t carried that same wish at one point or another.
@aaaaaaaaaa
Don’t think so. Even the current young Shinobu wouldn’t feel like living if the current Araragi were to die. You can still hear younger Shinobu say in the previous episode that she would have done the same. The only real difference is in this timeline, both the younger and older Shinobu see the horrors ans consequences; therefore they are both repented. If they have not seen this horror in the first place, the would not have been repented YET and still DONE the same thing.
@RyanAshlight
You are right, it is not simple. However, they started preaching the older Shinobu as it was all her fault and forgetting that they created the cascade of this problem in the first place. It was like they found that the person who they could blame was still alive and they just pushed all the responsibility to that person.
Shinobou wasn’t exactly blaming Kiss-shot X. All that bloody tears, all that screaming and blaming, it was more for both of them or herself. The anime didn’t tell you that, but it was so readily implied that shinobou was particularly screaming at anybody but herself.
Needless to say, Araragi wasn’t blaming any of the Shinobu or Kiss-shot.
Older Hachikuji comes across to me as very spunky kind of girl! Very cool.
I quite liked how they ended the episode with some little Hachikuji time, great way to wrap things up, and it’s a nice sentiment knowing that despite being dead, Show Spoiler ▼
What a great episode – even for this series. Personally I liked the way they handled the time warp crossing issue. IMO it was the best possible “good” ending (minus the vampire zombie part of course). It must have been a relief for Araragi to know that at least somewhere, in some timeline, Mayoi didn’t die and survived to live an apparently good life (again, minus the whole vampire zombie thing).
Speaking of Mayoi, she certainly grew up into one fine woman! If we already didn’t have enough evidence that Araragi’s a lolicon, that scene clinched it.
– Mayoi: “Would you like to go back to my house for some ‘tea’? I live ALL ALONE and feeling a bit LONELY.”
O.o. You don’t find a flag that obvious in a poorly made VN. Instead, Araragi stays true to his nature and declines with little, if any, hesitation. OK, joking a bit with all this, but still, I would have to do some serious thinking before declining that offer.
The Shinobu x2 scene was awesome. Hard to imagine one would feel sympathy for a vampire who nearly destroyed humanity, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for “Timeline X Shinobu”. Shaft did a great job here. Crying tears of blood was a very effective method to visually illustrate just how emotional the situation was for each Shinobu. Also, as Takaii mentioned, Shaft even took care of the “little”, yet important details by resolving the question of whether Mayoi regretted becoming an abnormality. Again, simply a great job by all involved.
As for Araragi, I can’t help but LOL a little at his situation. Not only did he go through all that trouble for nothing (i.e. didn’t finish his summer homework), but ended up worse off by being late. That’s misfortune on a Touma level. Well, he did get to meet a grown up Mayoi so I guess it wasn’t all in vain.
I’m so glad that Monogatari is set for a full 2-cour, 26 episode run. 12 or 13 episodes simply isn’t enough for me.
Got the same thought for that “invitation” xD
He should have gone for it. Mayoi must be in her 20’s in this episode and perfectly legal 🙂
Or… Maybe she would be the cradle snatcher because Araragi is about 17? Lol
The one thing I wish they spent more time on was between older Shinobu and Araragi, felt it was a bit rush 🙁 I know they spent time on current Shinobu, but if he said something along the lines of it’s not your fault I’d bet that cheer her up a little.
That’s it? Man I feel like this could have been milked more…what happened to the usual Araragi getting split in half cross wise or length wise? No epic fights? Not much of a talking? The almighty vampire just shows up and says “kill me.” ? I get it that she was done with the world and stuff but at least she could be a little pissed, angry or maybe jealous of her other self who managed to come to terms with Araragi and was found by him while she felt abandoned, they all got those swords and epic poses just for older Shinobu to show up, give the impression that she was about to go nuts on their butts and then sit down cry tears of blood and say kill me. I don’t know about the rest of you but this left me…unsatisfied even though it deviated from the usual brutal and gore beat downs Araragi tends to suffer in his fights.
The tragedy of it is that death is all she wanted in the first place. To have Araragi die and return to full power, and still not be able to die herself after 600 years? What else could she want, after meeting them, the only people who could end her? That would really make her happy, not to mention save everyone left.
With all due respect, you seem to be missing the point. Shinobu actually fighting against Araragi and her younger self would’ve completely undermined the motivation behind her destroying the world in the first place, in that she was crushed by overwhelming loneliness and sadness. It would’ve made no sense whatsoever for her to do that.
That being said, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for epic battles and the like, but not if they’re at odds with the necessity of the moment. Shinobu’s emotional breakdown was by far more powerful than any battle could’ve been, IMHO.
I agree entirely with what RyanAshlight posted, but would like to add one more reason. The fact that everything is NOT resolved by some flashy battle is IMO one of several characteristics which set the entire Monogatari series (i.e Bakemonogatari et.al.) apart and above other more generic and formalistic supernatural series.
The Monogatari series rarely has epic fights and they almost never solve anything.
To add to everyone’s points, I think it’s pretty hard to create such a script/story where things are well thought out and can literally be like reading from a book (e.g. use your imagination to do the rest), this series does it right.
You can blame Nisio for having Koyomi walk away from adult Mayoi (I suppose Shaft could have changed it, but that’d be a pretty huge story change for an adaptation). I can see the reasoning, that Koyomi doesn’t feel like he has the right to impose his relationship with Mayoi on who is essentially a stranger, and he also probably doesn’t want to do anything at this point that would make him want to survive, since he had just read that he and Shinobu basically have to march to their deaths. But come on, not even one small detail!? Very disappointing. At least we got to see her, and she really was a beauty, what with her survivor get up.
If ever there was an episode of Monogatari to encapsulate just about everything I adore about the series, this would be the one.
Indeed, and though a part of me argues otherwise, I shan’t waste time trying to put into words just how heart thumpingly beautiful this episode was, for there are no such words, and that tells you everything you need to know about it.
Shinobu-sama, we salute you.
Not only a well crafted story, but we got to see an adult Mayori and she was a beauty. I too wish we could have seen more of her. A story of her survival and eventual meet up with Oshino and Araragi would be a great addition. The Shinobu’s realization that their jealousy put Araragi in danger on one timeline and got him killed on another made the situation all the more tragic. Shinobu2’s desire to die just shows how close (and strange) the Shinobus’ relationships are with Araragi. All of the relationships that Araragi has with the girls are complex (as are his feelings towards them) and it makes for a rich story.
I loved how ghost Mayori attacked Araragi and got some payback for his molestations of her.
I’m also very curious to know more about “adult” Mayoi’s life, but perhaps that’s best left unsaid since the main focus of the story is “Timeline A” and not “Timeline X”.
I forgot to mention one thing in my post which I thought was intriguing (and funny). In a letter regarding saving the world, Oshino felt it was important enough to mention that “Timeline X Araragi” was ‘surprisingly’ dating Senjougahara and wondered if the same was true for “Timeline A Araragi.” Perhaps Senjougahara is destined to be Araragi’s girlfriend, and everyone else is destined to be surprised by that no matter which timeline (“route”) LOL.
Oh, I didn’t mean it in this story. What I meant was that it would make a great “side” story. Just the fact that she grew up to be someone who managed to survive the zombie apocalypse makes her a fascinating character.
@Bear: That would be interesting indeed. In fact, I would bet that most, if not all, of the heroines (dare I say Araragi’s harem?) somehow survived. Certainly Senjougahara and Hanekawa. They are too smart to get taken down easily. Kanbaru could probably just out run any danger (or fight back if needed). Not sure about Nadeko, though I’d like to think she survived as well with the help of the Fire Sisters. 🙂
With certainty, Senjogahara would be KILLING Hanekawa even if and while almost every people on city is getting turned into a vampire. It would be epic to see it. Senjogahara brushing off all vampires in her path to chase the dumb cat to death. Just imagining it makes me grin…evily >;)
@Fraye
Not if Shinobu got to her first >:D really makes me wonder what happened to Hanekawa. who got to kill her first, Shinobu or Hitagi? or did she actually survive? I really want a sidestory for route X starting with Koyomi dying and how everyone reacted.
I’m just glad I got to see adult Hachikuji.
There were several ‘squeee!’ moments for me.
Adult Hachikuji: Squeeee!
Shinobu walking, in a kimono, ka-ka!: Squeeee!
KIss Shot arriving: Sque— oh.
..oh.
Kiss Shot smiling: Squeeee! Sniff.
One thing that’s bugging me a little is that her older self isn’t ‘older Shinobu,’ she’s Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade. After Kizu she turned into what Oshino called vampire-chan, since she didn’t have any traces of her old personality left. She was no longer the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire, blah blah blah. As you can see when she arrives even half-dead in this episode, she’s like a god. After Golden Week Oshino felt she deserved a name, and called her Shinobu, which is written as a heart under a blade.
Yes, but this is not the Kiss Shot that turned Araragi into a vampire but Shinobu, who has fallen in love with Araragi( or whatever the feeling is they have for each other) and regained her strength as a full vampire by Araragi’s death and is not the same Kiss Shot as before.
Agree. It’s essentially the same being though the power levels may vary. Meeting Araragi changed Kiss Shot just as meeting Araragi changed Senjougahara, Hanekawa, Mayoi, Kanbaru, etc.
The thing that bugs me is that Shinobu is the name given to a small girl who’s not even a real vampire anymore, a condition which is actually a bit humiliating for her (and she wasn’t happy about being branded by Oshino, as she says in Nisemonogatari at Mr. Donuts where they meet Kaiki. Although I think that’s just the ‘Oshino’ part of her name). It’s a name given to her after having lost grace. Calling her at full power ‘Shinobu’ is a bit of a disservice. Technically yes she’s Shinobu, but she was always the proud Kiss Shot, and now she can be called that again.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the name Shinobu, but she really is Kiss Shot. One of the things about this series is that you had this wonderful, lonely woman who was ready to end her life. I guess if anything, Shinobu is another name to add to her title.
Man, I greatly prefer the High School Mayoi…. She seems to fit the cast much better and any chance to give her a somewhat normal life instead of stuck in limbo.
This grown-up Mayoi’s much older than Araragi. She was in 5th grade when she died 11 years ago, so that would put her at around 20-21 present day.
If we assume Mayoi was correct in the final scene, in that she’s almost getting to the point where she’s been dead as long as she’s been alive, that puts her at at least 11 years and 3 months old at the time of her death, so she would be 22 or 23 years old there. I don’t think they’ve ever outright stated her age, though.
What I’m curious about is, what if she went to Naoetsu High School? That would make her upperclassman to all the high school age main characters in the series.
Whatever her age, doesn’t change the fact that Araragi is a shorty. LOL.
Poor guy, vampirism stunting his growth. I think his own sister has overtaken him in height.
Yup, Karen is taller than him. So is Hitagi, for that matter.
Ok, seeing Kiss-Shot so sad she was crying blood and her last request for Araragi to pat her on the head seriously made me cry.
I love the scene before meeting kiss shot
The BG music makes it more epic.. I missed that “ka-ka” of shinobu
That request of kiss shot t.t
I love everything on this arc xcept the fact that it’s kinda short/rushed
… hopefully the next arc doesn’t disappoint
You know, when I watched the original Bakemonogatari, Shinobu actually scared me. Knowing that she was that great vampire in the first episode (destroying the ground in rage), and the fact that she says nothing during the whole series, she always made me tense. Giving Nadeko the cold glare didn’t help either. I was expecting her to snap by the end of Bakemonogatari. My friend said she thought she was so cute, at which point I thought maybe I’m just being nuts.
Well, my instincts definitely weren’t wrong, she was definitely ready to snap. As Shinobu-chan said, there shouldn’t have been much of a difference between them, and Shinobu-chan herself said that she wanted to destroy the world.
Hahaha… she is really cute but scary at the same time xD Shinobu not doing anything and just “glaring” was something I, too, have watched out in that season. But this season just confirmed the subtle hints given right then. That Shinobu was actually holding emotions and was getting overly jealous as girls flock to Araragi for “help”.
There’s an important problem with Araragi explaining himself to Hachikuji, both versions. The conversation that goes like, “because I saved your life the world was destroyed.”
Too many feels during this ep, it is particularly strong for who has read Kizumonogatari and known of the pair’s history.
My only grip was that, it seems the anime was afraid of showing an ugly Kiss-shot. Because through the description in the novel, her state was way worse than this (rotten, half burn, can only be recognized by her face). It would show even more how much she had gone through.
Yeah. Maybe the studio dont want to “dirty” their cute Shinobu-chan’s image.. but I was like “what part of her was burned?” when she appeared. -shrugs-
more like it was pretty graphic and they didnt want to censor her (or use that comic “censorish” way they use to draw the blood and gore scenes) … the Anime is pretty tame on the blood and gore depatment.. even tho we have had really really gory material (basically any figth in which Araragi is on.. like in Subaru-Monkey)
PS: i think they make up for being tame on gore..but not “being so tame” on the “fanservice”
We can only pray that the BD treatment might improve upon that, or maybe not.
If they want to retain Kisshot’s beauty for aesthetic reason, they could keep her face unburnt while drawing charred skins for the rest of her body, or even the “Shishio treatment*” by wrapping her in bandages (bar the face) could have sufficed.
* Named for the badly-burned yet badass villain in Rurouni Kenshin.
they probably just wanted to keep it air-friendly for ratings’ sake. the BD will probably fix that.
Loved the episode
there been few (few as i can count them with 1 hand)times in which some scene in an anime made me cry.. and i have to be honest this was one of those.
2 points in particular:
– “My running away from home caused me to lose you … making me feel like I lost a wing, that I lost half of myself…”
explained to me why she ran away in the first time she didnt want to “compromise” .. she was jealous, and when Araragi died it all came crashing down … loli Shinobu was indeed surprised (“how could have you failed”) that the alternate had “failed” to grow closer to Araragi.
-“I’m already as good as dead”
-“Can you pat me on the head”
after all the things that happened all she wants is to be close to him. Even after regaining her powers she feels lonely and insecure. Interesting to point that loli Shinobu remarks to araragi that he could be careful not to die.. cus she “very likely to destroy this world” if he were to die… but he always get beaten to a pulp!…
Loli Shinobu is really possessive of Araragi lol that face when he moved to pat the
alternate Shinobu!
PS1: Adult Mayoi is really cute.. doesn’t she look kinda like Senjougahara and Karen together? it seemed like that to me.
PS2: lol how imba is Oshino?! sent a letter for a future Araragi from a alternate timeline!
PS3: when they say “another route” do they actually say “best route” .. i keep hearing “best” but dunno if im mishearing a japanese word… all this talk about routes make it sound like a harem game .. would be understable Alternate Shinobu considers the the other timeline the “best” since shes with Araragi there.
I’m glad I’m not the only who noticed Shinobu’s quick change in expression when Araragi happily agreed to pat Kiss-shot’s head, you’re right that she really is quite possessive and rightly so since they are in a complicated master-servant relationship.
Though I have to ask this to the novel readers out there, why did Shinobu ran away?
Kiss-shot mentioned that it was because of a silly jealousy, but to whom was she jealous of? Was she similar to Hanekawa and that Shinobu was jealous when Araragi started dating Senjougahara? So she was jealous oh Gahara then? I guess this means that Shinobu is also in love with Araragi. Also proves how the alternate kiss-shot reacted in this episode and what she did after regaining her powers. Did the novel expand on this further? I’m most likely guessing that she would’ve massacred the bakeneko after what she did.
Also after seeing kiss-shot’s reaction to Araragi, im positive that even if the current Shinobu turns into kiss-shot that there’s no way she would betray Araragi like she said last episode as the risk of increasing their vampirism to the limits. After all, despite regaining back her powers, she still would’ve wanted to be by Araragi’s side. Also take note that in this world, Shinobu would not have been able to talk at all to Araragi as she started talking again in Karen bee’s arc which happened after the incident of bakeneko confronting Araragi about Hanekawa.
Damn, I love gahara and all, but Shinobu is winning me over this season, especially with how deeply complicated and downright mysterious her and Araragi’s relationship is.
Adult Mayoi is cuter than the loli version and taking this out of context feels good…
https://randomc.net/image/Monogatari/Monogatari%20Second%20Season%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
I’d totally go-a-backpacking with her grown version!
This was a really good arc in my opinion. I loved very second of Shinobu and Araragi time…Yet…This feels less like Hachikuji’s arc and more of Shinobu’s due to her all her screen time. Not that I’m complaining of course.
I was watching this where the sub wasn’t that good. I almost coughed from my drink when the sub read that Oshino Meme was dating Hitagi in that world but luckily my Japanese listening skill was good and after hearing what was really said in Japanese I was like phew.
Not sure which sub group it was but they gave me a heart attack.
It will give anyone here a heart attack if that was true xD Nyahahanyahaha
So cool, we need more adult Shinobu. Where is my Kizumonogatari gosh-darn it! That movie cannot come soon enough =/
all this mess because one boy who didn’t do his homework on time.
Oshino is the badass, no matter what timeline he’s in. Correctly guessing Araragi to be the one who saved Mayoi. Him referring to Kagenui as the “Violent Exorcist” was quite spot on. (See Nisemonogatari to find out why)
And it seems no matter the timeline, Araragi will always end up with Senjougahara. Condolences to the alternate Senjougahara and Araragi’s friends and family, if they’re still alive after our Araragi had saved their world prior to travelling back to his timeline.
PS Grown up Mayoi <3
PPS Another "arc recap" next week. Seems like we'll be getting a recap at the end of each arc.
While it was great seeing & hearing Kiss-Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade(THIS NAME!) I personally found this episode to be quite rushed,and this whole arc a bit over-the-top.I agree with Araragi at the end,this actually felt like a dream.I am,however,happy with Shinobu telling him that he should consider how he’ll fight from now on as maybe he’ll be less reckless(you know,getting himself beaten up to the point that he’d be long dead if it weren’t for his vampire healing powers) and use his head a bit more.
Great arc. Had some of the series greatest heights but also with some deplorable shortcomings, namely its duration (One more episode should have been enough to flesh out the world even more, Nisiosin touched upon some pretty interesting ideas, but never got through with it), and yes, the lack of Hachikuji. As much as i like the arc’s final scene, i couldn’t help but feel it was shoehorned just to give the arc title some relevance. Nisiosin seemed a little confused here. That might have been the reason behind the arc’s glaringly short length.
But all in all it was still engaging and damn satisfying. I hope Senjougahara and Hanekawa came up with great torture techniques!!
That one moment…
“Could you pat me in the head?”
“Gladly.”
;___________;
Explains what happened at the end of Nekomonogatari White. Araragi has learned the power of head pats. He’ll have to seal this technique, if he’s too careless with it he could solve the entire series just by patting the right girl on the head.
Probably xD
Even so, that scene itself had so much power that I even forgot about Hachikuji =/
Mayoi Croft: Jiangshi Hunter
Pararagi needs to go to the alpha timeline! But if he does, even if both the world & mayoi survive, he won’t get to form the bond with mayoi.
Probably my favourite arc of the *monogatari series, thus far. Shame it was too short.
High points:
– Two Shinobus are better than one.
– Grown-up Shinobu’s expression while Araragi was patting her head.
– The acoustic fusion-jazz number playing during that scene where Oshino was climbing.
– Just hearing Oshino’s voice (he’s my favourite male character).
Low points:
– Arc was way too short.
– Araragi’s hooking up with Senjoblahblahgara in that timeline as well. Ugh!!
– All the characters I can’t stand are probably going to return next episode.
It’s okay, Hachikuji will get to hijack the show during Shinobu’s arc, so it all works out in the end. xD
So is there going to be another arc with just Araragi? At the end of the tiger arc his clothes were all ripped up.
Also if Black Hanaekawa killed Araragi in timeline x wouldn’t she still be running around that world wreaking havoc?
Guess what’s the first thing Kiss-shot X did after gaining back her full power? Went after Araragi’s killer.
Just how painful that was for the grown up Shinobu, Araragi died in her timeline then seeing herself so close with the Araragi of another timeline.
Simple question, when Araragi and Shinobu talking about whom to save, they said “I’ll chose to save the lone girl than the world” is she referring to Mayoi or Kiss-shot?
At first he was thinking about saving Mayoi since he was expecting a battle-to-death with a berserk Kiss-shot X. But after meeting Kiss-Shot X, he realized what the letter meant by “saving the girl in front of you”. Oshino meant to tell him to save Kiss-shot X also, cause just by seeing him, her soul was saved. I think the anime did give that quite clearly.
WOW Grown Up Hachikuji Is HOT!!
look like the young little girl became quite a beautiful lady lol i hope we get to see that form of her again
Wait a minute wasn’t Aragai supposed to come back right in the nick of time and save hanakawa? Somebody told me that the time travel ark was how he gained all that power to one hit kill hanakawa’s tiger. TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON!!?
@Haseo: Somebody told me that the time travel ark was how he gained all that power to one hit kill hanakawa’s tiger.
Short version = whoever told you that was wrong. Tsubasa’s Tiger was killed by the sword “Kokoro Watari” (aka “abberation killer” according to UTW-Mazui subs for Nekomonogatari). Normally, Shinobu (and/or Kiss Shot…) keeps it inside of her (see Nekomonogatari anime around 1hr 10min mark). It’s something she obtained well before she met Araragi. The “time travel arc” (Mayoi Jiang Shi) could never have happened and Araragi (with Shinobu’s help) would still be able to defeat the tiger in the same manner.
Furthermore, Araragi returned to the correct timeline (“Route A”) on August 21st. That’s the same day that Hanekawa first met the tiger. I’m fairly certain that Araragi/Shinobu defeated the tiger on the night of August 24 (for sure no earlier than that). So where was Araragi during all that time? Let’s just say he is a very busy guy.
Shinbo has marked each scene with a number. Episode 3 ended at Scene 26, and then jumped to Scene 52 by the beginning of Episode 4 (prompting Hanekawa in her narrative to wonder what caused such a jump).
Kabukimonogatari also started from Scene 1, yet when Araragi returned to his timeline it was still Scene 30, which took place in August 21st, the first day of school.
Go back to the beginning of Nekomonogatari White, and remember the scene at school where Hanekawa and Senjougahara were discussing why he was absent. Later that night, Araragi sent them a text saying he’s busy doing something.
So we’ve got another 22 scenes to fill in that gap.
As for what that gap might contain, we may speculate from the following facts.
Later on in Episode 4, we have Hanekawa meet Oshino’s sempai Gaen Izuko come to town, remarking she’s on an errand, in which she has summoned Episode the half vampire and Ononogi for. Ononogi had already arrived a few days prior, having met Araragi before he travelled to the past.
It wasn’t exactly the arc I was expecting (I wanted some more Hachikuji!) but I loved it anyway! It was awesome to meet an older version of my favourite Monogatari character and she was sooo cute *_*
What’s up with the beautifully animated letters in this Monogatari season? Bracing for another one in the next arc.
WHERE THE FUCK’S THE REVIEW OF THE LATEST EPISODE?!