In one of the blink-and-you-miss-it text intros in the "Karen Bee" arc, Arrghi talks about how Tsukihi still takes pride in the scars she has on her legs after leaping off the school roof to break up a fight Karen was in and landing on a truck like something out of a kung fu movie.
Good bit there. That episode was baffling, though. I think NisiOisiN challenged himself to write the perviest possible scene without actually writing a sex scene, and that was the result, but as for its significance within the story... I'm going to call unreliable narrator on this one and say that Algae is messing with the audience on some level, simply because it is at once in character and completely out of character, if that makes any sense.
As for the rest of the arc: I really liked the message, but the dearth of Tsukihi herself was unfortunate, and there was an element of self-directed one-upsmanship at points that felt excessive.
I'm 160% with you on Tsukihi and thankfully there's more of her in SS, apparently a lot more even proportionally, I just haven't seen it for myself yet but I dearly hope it's true. As for the one-up stuff, to me it... did not seem like that. It all felt like a natural and fair, if aggressive and a bit self-indulgent, escalation.
Maybe I should have rephrased that. "Excessive" does not mean "unnecessary." I feel like That Scene was both, although the comedic payoff was extraordinary. But the confrontation in the last episode, while certainly another instance of the series outdoing itself in its own way—in this case, "Can we top that epic beatdown from 'Suruga Monkey'?"—felt completely appropriate because it illustrated what Koyomi was willing to go through for the people he loved. Which doesn't make it any less difficult to watch, partly because the approach that Itamura (Nise's series director) takes to violence is less visually abstract than that seen in Bake. (Yes, Shinbo helmed both, and you can certainly tell, but the change in style from Oishi's tenure—he went off to work on the prequel films and, uh, still *is* working on them—is actually pretty noticeable.)
I'm glad that it turned out well, even if I'm not sure if that's really my kind of story. Hopefully that quality translates into money for more Baccano, which is of course set in the same period but is a bit more my speed.
It was actually, like, one of the most consistent shows of last season (of the shows I watched) which was really really nice. The ending in question did a painfully good job of capturing the crushing loneliness present in two of the guys, and wasn't too different from what I was hoping and expecting for in a revenge story of this nature. Pretty nice how my confidence in the final episode was well-founded too, given what a one-two punch Avilio's final actions were. Props to making brief, effective use of flashbacks and somewhat disorienting transitions in tandem with silence. Like, I thought 10 minutes or so had passed but it was actually a lot less? Glad I stuck it out.
But yeah, me too. I am always down for some wacky antics, particularly if mixed and baked with the decidedly not wacky like B!.
Oh and also wuxia puppet fun times is getting another season, 100% end-of-credits-level guaranteed, so I'm pretty dang hype for that too. And also also Reigen Arataka is an amazing man and if I swung that way I'd be spamming so much art of him right now, he's so goddang entertaining.
Oh, I haven't spammed Monogataripinions yet these last few days.
Neko (Black) was a'ight. Had some of the same issues as with Nise, but also a lot of the same strengths and some really interesting insights into what kind of people Araragi and Hanekawa really are. I actually wrote a review of it, for some folks, but whether it will see formal publication anywhere is an open question.
I'm probably going to further put off returning to Guitary because losing everything just kinda, like, hit hard and my videos for all of that (alongside more immediately important stuff) were wrapped up in that. :(
Anyway, I actually mostly agree, I think? Been some time. Will be some time.
The new DIU OP will take some serious getting used to, even if I think it can work relatively well for what's to come and what we've been building up to.
I'm missing literally everything, so like send if you want, buuuuuut even then things like "getting back my slew of school stuff, currently airing anime" kind of take precedent.
By Nise I at least saw omnyouji woman annihilate the living daylights out of my favorite girl, but, yeah kinda. I'll be returning with some aidoru fun times first (specifically SHOW BY ROCK!! and then returning to the living loves).
Yozuru Kagenui actually, if memory serves, but yeah that really was. I do like her a lot, you are not wrong. I already saw NekoKuro, and after that comes SS which got put on hold for my campy brawny men in haute couture, alongside the lives.
I was just talking about "Tsubasa Family"! I thought it was decent, albeit with some of the same issues I had with "Tsukihi Phoenix". Like, the first episode just completely implodes into a glibness tornado until after the credits when you realise Algae (and Nisio, and Shinbo) just trolled the fuck out of you.
Yozuru Kagenui actually, if memory serves, but yeah that really was. I do like her a lot, you are not wrong. I already saw NekoKuro, and after that comes SS which got put on hold for my campy brawny men in haute couture, alongside the lives.
I thought the joke was that the voiced and unvoiced consonants were switched between her and Yotsugi's names but I'm probably only half-remembering it.
mostly i just can't believe hanekawa's backstory. is that even possible? i mean, fuck.
anyway then next is tsubasa tiger, which is good but involves tragically little colorblind dollsplosions
To be fair, that's how Araragi interprets things. But internalising abusive behaviour and brushing it off like that isn't that unusual, and I've definitely heard of weirder family arrangements. Funnily enough, the protagonist in Brian Hodge's story "Nesting Instincts" has a very similar parental situation, but without the psychological and physical violence.
yozuru kagenui is definitely her name but man what a sentence. phonetics? you're almost as into this shit as /
Literally everything in Monogatari is a pun or word game, some stranger than others. Zu is often pronounced dzu in the middle of words, particularly when it represents du in older forms of Japanese, which makes it a direct parallel to tsu, just voiced. Likewise, k-syllables often become g-syllables, etc.
Ru and nu and all that is yet another weird Japanese thing but I'm rusty on it so that's for another time.
^ We see how he interprets what he saw in the house. Which is disturbing but not wholly implausible, but at the same time it could just be what he thought he saw, because Araragi means well but isn't always correct in his conclusions.
As for the whole step-step-parent thing, it happens. It's just rare and a bit weird.
Yozuru Kagenui actually, if memory serves, but yeah that really was. I do like her a lot, you are not wrong. I already saw NekoKuro, and after that comes SS which got put on hold for my campy brawny men in haute couture, alongside the lives.
I thought the joke was that the voiced and unvoiced consonants were switched between her and Yotsugi's names but I'm probably only half-remembering it.
yozuru kagenui is definitely her name but man what a sentence. phonetics? you're almost as into this shit as /
Literally everything in Monogatari is a pun or word game, some stranger than others. Zu is often pronounced dzu in the middle of words, particularly when it represents du in older forms of Japanese, which makes it a direct parallel to tsu, just voiced. Likewise, k-syllables often become g-syllables, etc.
Ru and nu and all that is yet another weird Japanese thing but I'm rusty on it so that's for another time.
it's just, wow. you are a nerd.
i'm glad monogatari has enough tits & Ultimate Rulebook for people with short attention spans and no understanding of the japanese coal market in 1983 to enjoy it too.
yozuru kagenui is definitely her name but man what a sentence. phonetics? you're almost as into this shit as /
Literally everything in Monogatari is a pun or word game, some stranger than others. Zu is often pronounced dzu in the middle of words, particularly when it represents du in older forms of Japanese, which makes it a direct parallel to tsu, just voiced. Likewise, k-syllables often become g-syllables, etc.
Ru and nu and all that is yet another weird Japanese thing but I'm rusty on it so that's for another time.
it's just, wow. you are a nerd.
i'm glad monogatari has enough tits & Ultimate Rulebook for people with short attention spans and no understanding of the japanese coal market in 1983 to enjoy it too.
And random Ashita no Joe references.
But yes, I am a nerd, and I'm kind of proud that I've delved into something esoteric enough with enough knowledge for you to say as much, because you just know so much more than I do.
is any of this discussion spoilery cuz I've only seen the first season of Guitary and planned to watch the rest eventually
Most of the really shocking stuff in the arc we were initially discussing is either explicitly stated in "Tsubasa Cat" way back in Bake or strongly implied there. Although there are some details you find out which I didn't bring up which raise the stakes retroactively and others that just tell you a lot about what Araragi and Hanekawa are like as people, which I'll try to avoid. Also literally any Nise comparisons.
I guess talking about Yozuru is a spoiler but just knowing she exists and that she's a jerk is less of an issue than knowing... anything more about her, really. So I'll try to spoiler anything less circumspect.
So, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku. I'm fairly mixed on this already.
The beginning is so very on-the-nose about how grim it's trying to be, opening up with death and despair all around before cutting to our normal girl who loves magical girls for being pure heroines while doing normal girl things. I like the style and it created an extremely comfy ethereal, dreamlike feel around the middle part. Feels like it could be a nice SOL, which of course is the point, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The Koyuki ("Snow White" who's basically an extreme empath), and Souta Kishibe ("La Pucelle" who's a standard knight except with a fairly off-putting outfit), are also very cute and watching them fan over magical girls, was fun. Plus the whole "You can be a magical girl too bro! Magical girls for everyone!" was unexpectedly sweet, if only so much. According to those that have read the source material there's a bit more going on underneath too, at least enough to keep me interested.
Less fun is some of the designs, like Ripple - who is apparently an 11th grade delinquent that hates her mom - and her her skimpy outfit, or La Pucelle and the boob armor. I could do without that even if the framing itself is rarely focused on their bodies. The clothes changing scene was, though unnecessary to me, thankfully tame and like 10 total separate seconds across the entire show. There is also not much going on yet.
But like I said, it's pleasant. I want to see more of it and am looking forward to it.
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Good bit there. That episode was baffling, though. I think NisiOisiN challenged himself to write the perviest possible scene without actually writing a sex scene, and that was the result, but as for its significance within the story... I'm going to call unreliable narrator on this one and say that Algae is messing with the audience on some level, simply because it is at once in character and completely out of character, if that makes any sense.
As for the rest of the arc: I really liked the message, but the dearth of Tsukihi herself was unfortunate, and there was an element of self-directed one-upsmanship at points that felt excessive.
Neko (Black) was a'ight. Had some of the same issues as with Nise, but also a lot of the same strengths and some really interesting insights into what kind of people Araragi and Hanekawa really are. I actually wrote a review of it, for some folks, but whether it will see formal publication anywhere is an open question.
I can send you any missing Guitary should you desire it.
anyway then next is tsubasa tiger, which is good but involves tragically little colorblind dollsplosions
Ru and nu and all that is yet another weird Japanese thing but I'm rusty on it so that's for another time.
^ We see how he interprets what he saw in the house. Which is disturbing but not wholly implausible, but at the same time it could just be what he thought he saw, because Araragi means well but isn't always correct in his conclusions.
As for the whole step-step-parent thing, it happens. It's just rare and a bit weird.
i'm glad monogatari has enough tits & Ultimate Rulebook for people with short attention spans and no understanding of the japanese coal market in 1983 to enjoy it too.
But yes, I am a nerd, and I'm kind of proud that I've delved into something esoteric enough with enough knowledge for you to say as much, because you just know so much more than I do.
I guess talking about Yozuru is a spoiler but just knowing she exists and that she's a jerk is less of an issue than knowing... anything more about her, really. So I'll try to spoiler anything less circumspect.