Owarimonogatari

"What on earth does she know?"

What makes Koyomi Araragi?

A 12 (or 11, depending on how look at the first 40-minute combined episode) episode series containing 4 arcs, “Owarimonogatari” tells tales of Koyomi’s past, stories that shouldn’t have been told.

As just mentioned, this newest installment in the “Monogatari” series has 4 arcs, or storylines. Though this may just appear as a technical trait, this is, in reality, one of the best things about it; for those of you that didn’t know, I praised the original series (“Bakemonogatari”) for its ability to tell such a complex story in such a small amount of time, but, on the other hand, criticized its sequel for having extremely long arcs instead. Though, after reviewing these first two seasons, I decided to skip doing so with the confusingly-titled “Monogatari Second Season,” which consisted of several arcs that were all 5 episodes or more.

Backstory aside: what I really think of this is that “Owarimonogatari” has finally returned the series to its roots. Now, that doesn’t mean I dislike the previous installments for being longer than usual (it’s quite the opposite), but this new season helps bring back the original shortened charm it once had.

It almost feels mandatory for me to say this now, but I’ll try my best to make it interesting: SHAFT, the production studio, once again, hits it home with its amazing visual flair and style. The interspersed text monologues have been toned down a bit, but the studio’s signature animation remains present (a good example of these is the well-known “10-second countdown” scene; look it up.

With new arcs comes new characters, and with “Monogatari’s” broad cast of them, it seemed as if Nisio Isin couldn’t fit in any more fleshed-out, well-rounded characters.

Well, consider me proven wrong: “Owarimonogatari” proves, once again, of how much of a genius the author really is: the new character, Sodachi Oikura (one of Koyomi’s classmates), has their backstory revealed in a perfect buildup, marking her story as one of the series’ finest. Though, all this really does is put more pressure on the creator; but I’m certain he’ll be able to keep up.

9/10- Going back to its roots, “Owarimonogatari” returns to its original style, while still maintaining striking imagery and introducing one of the best characters the series has seen yet.