10 Second Anime - Owarimonogatari S2 - Episode 4

Araragi and Senjougahara have fun on their date. Ougi pays Araragi an ominous visit.

Episode 4 - "Hitagi Rendezvous - Part 2"

Hmm.

They really doubled down on the image of Ougi as a space hand fan. Having her conversations bookend the quintessential perfect date for Araragi and Senjougahara gave the fun proceedings an undercurrent of dread. Which was great!

Remember, I thought there were going to be two important deadlines to watch for concerning Ougi. The first was cleared with a successful date and Senjougahara making it back home as planned. But with Ougi's visit to Araragi in a dream as he fell asleep during the planetarium show, that wasn't guaranteed. Ougi said she would visit him after the date was over, but we didn't yet know what kind of meeting it was.

This undercurrent beneath the perfect date gave me a sense that this date was too perfect. Either it would be interrupted by Ougi or it would end up being their last happy memory together. Ougi told us it would be the latter when she described it as "their last date." Ougi doesn't threaten. She promises.

Because this was the ultimate Araragi-Senjougahara date (temporal or best, pick one), I'm going to call this pair Koyomi and Hitagi from now on. Talking about marriage was no big deal to Hitagi, but the goal of her date was to make Koyomi call her by her given name. That's an important distinction. She didn't want to ask for it. She wanted to win it.

And how that ended up happening was what made this their ultimate date. Koyomi barely won each of their contests, so she couldn't use her planned wager to gain the prize. Instead, an accident of Koyomi's forgetfulness, not having a White Day gift in return for Valentine's Day chocolates, gave Hitagi the opening she needed to win that official sign of intimacy. Perfect.

Eh?!

Let me tell you, it's been a long time since I've placed a note in the Eh?! category. What prompts it? Ougi told Araragi that she is not the Nameless Darkness! Wow! What does it mean? Are there two of them? Is she battling the other one or trailing in its wake? Split personality? This is a hell of a cliffhanger to make us jump into the next arc.

Heh.

Ougi's dark, formless eye starts us off. Ominous.

Get ready for a rapid fire conversation between Ougi and Araragi.

Lots of allegories using the Southern Constellations as doubles for Araragi's damsels in distress.

Ougi likens herself to Heracles trying to kill the Hydra, which is Kiss-Shot. The immortality attribute is there, but Ougi also means the multiple heads coming out of the severed ones. I think this is a reference to how Kiss-shot just walking around caused aberrations to form and existing ones were drawn to her as well.

The crab, Hitagi, was the first one to attack Heracles in his fight with Hydra.

Ougi has an enigmatic aphorism about knowledge too. She says, "I don't know anything; it's what you know, Araragi-senpai." If she is just the "principles of the universe," then she is just an origin point of whatever springs up in any being's mind, meaning Araragi too.

Araragi and Nadeko star in this constellation allegory too. She's Serpens and he's Ophiuchus, the sage and snake charmer who could bring back the dead, angering Hades.

So many allusions to the backstory. Hades being angered references the college circle bringing Yotsugi Ononoki back to life and getting cursed in return. We saw that with Kagenui not being able to touch the ground. I'm not sure what the other curses for Meme and Teori were, but Gaen wasn't part of their ritual. She may end up getting cursed for bringing back Araragi and Mayoi. She may get off on a technicality with Mayoi since it was Araragi who actually brought her back...

Confirmation - Ougi is they type who corrects mistakes. She disperses those who break the rules. She wants him to forsake Kiss-shot and Mayoi. He's already a corrected mistake, so she doesn't have to think about him anymore. As if Araragi ever could forsake a cute girl who asked for help...

Oh hey, Senjougahara! Totally not sleeping. Okay, she was sleeping.

Wow, this is a fully planned out day. They're doing everything!

Ha! She's practically begging for a lewd request after losing at bowling. Look at that Araragi nostril flaring! Holding his arm with the boob squeeze is lewd enough...

Ah. She lost at karaoke too. This is what it feels like to be just above average. Feels like failure, Araragi. Failure.

Marriage is okay. Okay!

She thought the date was his White Day gift, but if he's insisting, Senjougahara can finally get a victory. Revenge!

Hitagi loves Koyomi. Awwwww.

Sticking the end credits here means the first four episodes were grouped together as a movie. Three more to go.

Ougi. Just like she promised in his dream. Maybe this is how she brainwashed Nadeko. She put her to sleep and spoke to her in dreams? Well, she can also alter memories, but perhaps that's through the power of suggestion.

Uh oh. A cute girl just asked Araragi for help in a dire situation. How will he respond?