sunnuntai 25. elokuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 8

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 8

Well, the time we spent in past was surprisingly short... So we got only two of the many things I said. I recognized Loli Hanekawa the very second, and rescuing Hachikuji was indeed the purpose. But the fact that they destroyed the world with it? Damn son.

Delving deeper into the character of Araragi, we can probably agree pretty much that he is an enormous pervert, thus almost all perverted stuff that goes on is always so damn pronounced. Seeing that Hanekawa was in the past just like she was in the future was interesting too. Maybe this little exchange also changed the future, as in Hanekawa remembering it and hating Araragi? Which in turn resulted in Kiss-Shot Acerola to berserk freely and kill everyone? I think that the scene with Hanekawa has more to do with the future than Hachikuji, but you never know. Wait... Judging that Jiangshi means a hopping vampire/zombie, it probably has something to do with this. So what if Hachikuji turned into some insane monster when she died afterwards? Possible too. Also possible that she actually didn't die and it screwed everything up, which would actually be the first thing you should think about.

I found it amusing that they delved into why Hachikuji was the only one they could help, as the other problems are in people, and you can't really solve them that easily. But hey! I think Oshino is back in this arc. Because if the future is screwed, it pretty much means he's gotta either be there, trying to do something, or dead.

So, if Ougi was not from the past, she is either something that Oshino created as a countermeasure to something, actually Oshino's relative, or Yotsugi in this world. Dunno, just throwing theories at people's faces. And what's with the clock, anyway? Does it grant access back to the original timeline or something? I'm not sure, but I do say that this arc is very promising, it really has me at the edge of my seat all the time, either by pure laughter or by the very well placed cliffhangers.

We shall see if people travel in time even more.

PS. Been reading to the novel a bit now... It seems Eikou Cram School didn't even exist back then! What?

TL;DR:

Did the meeting of Loli Hanekawa affect the future more than the rescue of Hachikuji?


sunnuntai 18. elokuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 7

Sorry for not making an update in two weeks, M.S.S.S episode 6 was a recap, and I couldn't find it's translation. And it includes stuff I've already covered. Anyways...

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 7

Time travel?! Count me in! Also, lots of stuff to analyze.

The episode begins, and we see Araragi talking to an unknown girl, who looks like a doll, Oshino Ougi. Now that makes me think it's Oshino's relative. Combined with the fact that this intro is probably happening 11 years to the past, it's kind of obvious. Also, the meaning of the talk in the intro means that sometimes everything comes to a halt and the fake sense of safety we have brings the most misery to us. How this ties to the rest of the arc has me interested, as this kind of philosophy is indeed interesting. Also the three-second lag will probably come into play later in the arc. Maybe in the case of Hachikuji crossing a street?

It's also interesting to see Shinobu and Araragi interact more, as their character development is made clearer. They have already accepted that the situation they're in is kind of final (Even though the link is severed during this arc) and they are seemingly fine with it. The severing of the link probably has something to do with the time travel and meeting Kiss-Shot Acerola. Not entirely sure. But from what we've seen, in episode 5 Araragi seemed to have gained some of his vampirism back, so maybe something happens in the past that makes Araragi a full vampire again, severing the link with Shinobu in process? Possible, everything is possible. But, as this is probably a different timeline entirely, anything that happens here may not actually do anything.

About Oshino Ougi. It's highly possible that Ougi is either Oshino's sister, which would be weird looking at her appearance, or just another apparition which he has named... And sent her to school. Neither theory really adds up. Also, Ougi could be some incarnation of Yotsugi, and that was the first thing to come to my mind. But I'm not entirely sure. The voices are pretty similar, and the speech patterns have something similar. But don't mind it, it's just theory, but here comes everything we will see during the time travel episodes. Or more like, which I think we'll see and what we should see. It also contains possible spoilers.

-Hachikuji's Death / Rescue:
Not a big surprise, as the whole arc is named after her. Also, eleven years, kind of obvious. It's also possible that Araragi is the cause to her death. And it's also possible that Hachikuji remembers Araragi (In the future), but doesn't tell. It's also possible it doesn't happen at all.

-Younger versions of characters:
The most important will probably be Oshino's trio: Oshino, Kaiki and Yozuru (Whose name I will probably never remember). Or is it a quartet with Gaen? We may also see younger Hanekawa being abused. Younger Araragi (And the fire sisters?) is a sure one probably.

Wait. Araragi 11 years back is about 7, right? What if his former self had actually met Hachikuji in the past, but he had forgotten her after her death? That'd be interesting.

-Yotsugi alive:
If it's not Ougi, we'll probably see her alive as well.

-Eikou Cram School in top condition:
They are probably going to camp there, but it's being used.

-Senjougahara's Mansion and a happy family:
I think this arc was hinted at or the idea was taken from the first Mayoi Arc, when Senjougahara could navigate in the urban renewal are with her past knowledge of it. Also, 11 years ago the family wasn't broken to my knowledge.

-Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade (Shinobu)
We will probably see this.

Remember, everything I listed may or may not happen, and some may even have twists like: What if Senjougahara's family wasn't that happy to begin with, she just decided to ignore it?

Everything is possible now in 11 years to the past. One of the funnier ones may be Araragi go on with his greeting when he sees Hachikuji, but wait for it, she hasn't met him yet, so he's just a child molester. And everyone sees it. Oh god.

Random: I think I'm either gonna love or hate the opening of this arc. No middle ground.

TL;DR?

There's fun to be had... IN THE PAST.


sunnuntai 4. elokuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 5

End of Nekomonogatari Shiro arc. End, or atleast, the next checkpoint to Hanekawa's search of humanity.

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 5

Won't going to lie, this episode is probably going to my books as one of my favorites from the whole series. The irony of it being, that as the writer of my blog, it doesn't give me much, because all is pretty much laid bare. The only thing that this episode emphasizes is that Hanekawa is from development standpoint at least as important character as Araragi. The confession is one of the first times we actually see actual emotions on her. And boy, there's some character developed really called for there. We've seen her in two full seasons and one OVA, and not once has she lost a percent of her cool. Now it's very different, even though she is in the "black" mode, in which she actually isn't.

Notice how Araragi didn't get energy-drained when he patted her? It means that Hanekawa has successfully become one with the cat, so "Black" Hanekawa doesn't exist anymore. She still could drain the Tiger, which mean she is in control. Now that she also has the Tiger in, she might be able to generate super-heat. The question whether she actually has the powers in the future is important, because if so, she can be of help... Even more than before. But somehow I feel that the whole point is that by consuming them they lose their unnatural power.

Isn't it by the way kind of ironic that Hanekawa becomes human by consuming the supernatural that departed her? Even though they are made of her own parts, it's still an interesting thing to think about. Of course, it could be also taken as a classic example of "accepting your Demons" in a more literal sense.

I actually read almost the whole novel in the process of waiting for this episode, yet steering clear of spoilers. The novels have actually little more depth because of the style the anime went for, where you must do the thinking. The novels' way of speaking to the reader is actually not too dissimilar of the way I write these blogs, which is damn creepy. Remember my first example, the falling Senjougahara? Yeah, it was explained there, and the wording was almost identical to my way of writing it (At least the translation was). I do swear I didn't read it before I wrote my blogpost.

I really loved the artstyle of the Wandering Hanekawa -scene. It really shows how differently Hanekawa and Araragi think things through. If you're wondering "Where did we see Araragi analyze anything?" Well, we have to go way back. To the first episode of the series. Even though we never saw anything even resembling the black scene of randomness when we see him and Senjougahara arrive to the Eikou Cram School for the first time, just... Compare. I loved both scenes, but I think this was executed better.

Araragi says that he loves Senjougahara more than Hanekawa, but the important point is: Is Araragi's feelings toward Hanekawa love? NO! It was addressed in Nekomonogatari Kuro that it's not love. Just for the people wondering.

META-REDUX: HANEKAWA

This part is no longer viable, as of now, Hanekawa's character has taken a solid 180º. Or so we are told. Of course, Hanekawa is always Hanekawa, at least externally. This touches merely the inside part, of which we didn't actually know too much before now.

I could really argue that within these five episodes, we've learned more about Hanekawa than we have in the whole past series, and I think that's the point. She is way too central of a character to be just written from someone else's perspective. Or more like, her character is hard to analyze without the internal component. Why, you may ask? Because the line between "think" and "do" is very far in Hanekawa's case. The things she does, their justifications, and what goes through her mind doing it are three separate things. The things she does are very normal, their justifications are understandable, but what goes through her mind thinking about it? Different dimension. She doesn't think about the things she does in the same way normal people do. She does them (Or more like did) out of the fact that it's seen as normal procedure. She tried to become real, but she missed the whole point. Her own ignorance got her wanting the wrong thing, and as such, do the wrong things. She was just wrong.

In the end of this episode Hanekawa takes all her dark sides inside and finally turns into a real human. Does this mean she wasn't before? Not really, but it's a question worth asking, because the follow-up-question: "What does it mean to be human?" Exactly. It's a question best left unanswered.  

Anyway, Hanekawa's avoidance of the dark side, or her "dimming the dark" out of her life made her unable to see the sides of the world she should've seen from the beginning. She dimmed the dark out of her life, out of her body, creating more harm to everyone. Whether she did this knowingly or subconsciously is left to debate, but the idea stays. Hanekawa thought that to become real all negative aspects must be exterminated. They couldn't be exterminated, so she exiled them. What she missed was that those negative aspects make us who we are. 

There isn't always much to write, but a writing person still writes.

TL;DR?

Well, Hanekawa is human now, so... Yippee?