10 Second Anime - Owarimonogatari S2 - Episode 7 [END]

Araragi confronts Ougi with the truth of her identity, but finds a surprising path to victory over her. Series Finale.

Episode 7 - "Ougi Dark - Part 3"

Hmm.

There are two main things this episode stressed, one of which I'll expand on in my final thoughts for this series. The first is that this was ultimately a love comedy, because every heroine got her happy ending.

The one that made me the most emotional was Mayoi's ending. The little lost ghost finally found her home. Her story was the most touching because her circumstances were a pure accident from a time in the past that Araragi had no connection with. She was the one most deserving of a miracle and she found one in her big brother Araragi. All little sisters should be goddesses, right? And now, Araragi can visit her anytime he wants. At the place she calls home.

The second point this arc drove home, and very fitting for a concluding chapter, is that adolescence is the time of telling kind deceptions. Adulthood, and the end of adolescence, is when you face reality as it is, name things for what they are, and stop playing games with things that don't matter. This was how Araragi defeated all the aberrations who had started out as regular "monsters" but turned into other things because children played games with their essences. As soon as the kids stopped indulging the mixed up reality, those aberrations reverted. That's a life lesson as well.

Oh, but there was one more thing, but this was specific to Araragi. He loves young girls and he will live his life for the sake of these others. And he won't change. Which means this story isn't really the end, but it is the start of his happily ever after.

Heh.

Last episode, we had a flash forward to give us a cliffhanger about who Ougi was, just so we could have Araragi drop the bomb himself at the end of the episode. Now we flashback to Gaen finishing her sentence and explaining how Araragi created the aberration.

Like everyone else, the core of it came from some teenage angst. Araragi needed to criticize himself and seeing the concept of the Nameless Darkness "correcting mistakes" started it all.

Gaen explained the mechanics of how the jumbled form of Shinobu's first minion in his armor absorbed Suruga's energy drain power from her monkey's paw. That power passed to Shinobu when she ate him and then it became a part of Araragi when she slept in his shadow. From there, Ougi became armed with all the powers of all the aberrations Araragi had met in his town.

The name Oshino came from Shinobu, because she took Meme's name when turned into her little girl form.

Gaen told the litany of Araragi's self-doubts, but the more interesting part of it was that it gave the audience the definitive timeline of the Monogatari Series.

1. Not facing punishment by helping the vampire Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-Blade.
2. Not feeling worthy to return Hanekawa's feelings.
3. Dating Hitagi was just taking advantage of her weakness again.
4. Felt inferior to Suruga who was always so honest about her feelings.
5. Helping Nadeko was really helping himself by pushing away a girl who had feelings for him.
6. Was reconciling with Shinobu really okay because she was dependent on him again.
7. Using his immortality without consequences felt wrong.

If you ever want to watch the Monogatari Series in chronological order instead of release order, you've got your road map.

The core of Araragi's doubts was that he didn't feel he deserved to be happy after doing so much "wrong." Take note that Gaen never mentioned anything about Mayoi. Araragi had no doubts about her at all.

Ougi is Dark Koyomi.

This teenage angst about monster girls explains why Ougi went after Soudachi first. She wasn't an aberration that needed correction, or even about to turn into one. She was just a girl from Araragi's past that he needed to treat correctly in the present. Ougi's first assignment for herself was the biggest clue to her true identity.

Araragi needs to kill "himself" for the sake of others, which is what he's been doing all along.

Ending Ougi is the end of his adolescence, because he will be killing all his self-doubt.

Wow. I did not expect a black hole to form right there! It makes sense that the Nameless Darkness came dressed as an astronomical body considering the date episode with Hitagi.

Ougi is not surprised that the Darkness appeared after all the lies she told about herself. It's also an admission that Araragi's actions were right, and hers were wrong.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for her, Araragi doesn't care about right or wrong. Actually, he doesn't even care about "balance" yet, as Mayoi in Hell hoped he would. He just cares about saving a cute girl!

Araragi didn't save anyone, he says. All the girls saved him. Well, after his first rescue of a damsel in distress, they did all the saving, plus some back and forth, it gets complicated...

There had been a distinct lack of Araragi spraying blood anywhere, which should be the case since he was human after he came back from Hell, but they made up for it in the end.

When Ougi stopped Araragi's bleeding, it was her first sign of resisting her fate. Plus, she was another cute girl who saved him.

Meme! The hero arrives always in the nick of time!

Ha! Hanekawa says she won! She brought Meme all the way back from Antarctica, which was hinted at during the Shinobu Time chapters when Araragi was in the alternate time with grown-up Mayoi.

We still don't know how Hanekawa found Meme in Antarctica. The "this is a pen" clue was actually dépaysement, which is the French word for "expatriation, disorientation, change of scenery." There's no real one-to-one translation of this word into English. It's more like that sudden feeling of noticing you are out of place, which is neither bad nor good.

This is how you beat the Darkness. Make the lies true. Hey, Meme has a niece now.

Happily ever after epilogue time now.

Karen says maybe there is a god out there somewhere. Araragi: "Yeah, starting yesterday." Ha!

Man, I'm feeling waves of nostalgia for this show just watching Araragi talk to Mayoi at the park again.

Aw. Lost little ghost no more. Mayoi found her home! Come visit anytime!

Shinobu and Araragi really act like tragic romantic partners. I suppose they are, in that Japanese way of the almost everything happy ending.

Hanekawa sold off part of her brain to the US Military to get to Antarctica? Well, she doesn't know everything, but she knows what she knows.

Hoh. She noticed Araragi calling Senjougahara "Hitagi."

Hoh. He noticed "Hitagi-chan" calling Hanekawa "Tsubasa." Koyomi is still pacing behind...

And there he goes, saving another cute girl in distress. That's just how he is.

Series Final Thoughts.

I can't believe it's over! Well, it's not really over. In fact, some of the epilogue chapters were animated last year, grooming Suruga as the aberration killer with Ougi playing a boy. But Araragi's story is over because his days of adolescence came to an end.

A few things I will always appreciate for this series is how the studio SHAFT adapted a word-heavy, dialogue rich series of novels into this quick-cut, gag-shot, action-scene laden anime. But of course, the best thing about the animation was to make us fall in love with the girls just as Araragi had. No quick cut-scenes of the ladies as the point of view hovered longingly over their faces and body parts.

While the structure of the story was a romance harem style comedy, it was ultimately a coming of age fable. From the very beginning, it showed how the best way to defeat demons, monsters, and ghosts was to name them properly. The Monogatari Series took the idea of having normal teenage fears and complexes and literally turning them into monsters. But the trick was always coming to some acceptance of these normal human issues, separating them from the monsters, which cut off their power.

The author is figuratively telling you to accept your little foibles, otherwise they will gain strength and dominate your attention. Don't turn molehills into mountains. These aren't big deals. Grow up!

It took Koyomi Araragi six or seven tries, the loss of a lot of blood and limbs, but I think he got it in the end. So can you.

Now, it's not a question of whether I can recommend this series of stories to anyone, because, yeah, you should go see it. However, there is some debate over what order you should watch each of the anime seasons. I wholeheartedly recommend you watch it in broadcast release order.

If you've read the novels beforehand, which were in chronological order, you had the fun of those little aha moments as things out of order were merely referenced. If you only watch the anime, you will get those little moments as the seasons pile up, but in a slightly different way. This was all done on purpose and one of the characters told you why. Dépaysement. Both the novels readers and the anime-only watchers will be able to enjoy that feeling of things being out of place. Listen to Tsubasa. She may not know everything, but she knows what she knows.