sunnuntai 24. marraskuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 21

Okaaaay. Mr. Deceiver is back, with sort of a vengeance. Count me excited. Like, Hella excited. Just now, I noticed how much I like Kaiki as a character... And how much can the quality of an episode be measured by the percentage of the episode I was either laughing or had a grin on my face?

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 21

Kaiki is back in business, but this time without cash. And with a brand-spanking-new art style. It sure has it's own quirks. The consistently changing colour scheme for example may be very much because of the idea that colours are different to different people. Also, white. 

So, okay. Previously Kaiki gave us the theory of Fakeness, and it's great. Now, he's narrating the goddamn show. And admits he will lie. But was that a lie also? Looking at the thing in a perspective of "anything can be a lie" gives some interesting depth to it. Well, before, pretty much anything could have been a lie too, right? I would say no. This time, Kaiki admits that even his thoughts may be lies. That is the difference.

Kaiki is an interesting character to talk about, mainly because of his antagonistic state in the show. He's shown very vampiric, not liking sunlight, pale and all, big, black bags under eyes etc. But, this time, for most of the episode, he's wearing sunglasses. Mirrored ones, I believe. It may actually have a point. I could see Kaiki go incognito in the city, trying to avoid Araragi in some ridiculous disguise. Even if the disguise wasn't ridiculous, we would probably be shown it as such, because of the character lens.

Continuing with the mirrored sunglasses. Mirror... Medusa... Huh... Could it be? I don't believe so, but a speculation is a speculation.

Kaiki's character lens may actually be pretty interesting. What if... Senjougahara was wearing really just normal glasses? It would make sense, lots of. Kaiki just sees the glasses as a stupid disguise, thus turning them to nose-glasses. It would also explain why their appearance changes through the episode. Kaiki might also be looking much meeker than, you know, Oshino garb. He just connects ridiculous clothing with Oshino garb. Highly impractical theory, but it gives interesting insight.

Now I just want to see Senjougahara with regular glasses...

And the final twist of the episode, the connection of Kanbaru, definitely did not come out of nowhere, but it was still unexpectable (Which is a good thing). For me, at least. It does give hints of the past. Kaiki is somehow indebted to either Gaen, Kanbaru, or Kanbaru's mother. Even though it is a wild guess, I'd say it's probably Kanbaru's mother. Or grandma even? Whoah. Soon I'll theorise Kaiki being Kanbaru's father or some other very disturbing shit. That would be rather... Unsettling.

TL;DR?
Grinning, with a new, extraordinarily unreliable narrator.

sunnuntai 17. marraskuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 20

With dried tears on my cheek, I've come here to analyze. : D

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 20

I didn't guess it. I never saw it coming that Hachikuji was the target. On the other hand, I did saw it coming that the anti-existence/darkness is something that appears when apparitions stray from the path, so to say.

Once again, I was completely oblivious of the obvious lyrics in the ending, just like in Bake. This time though they didn't get me to a crazy conclusion, but just deepening the understanding the characters of Hachikuji and Araragi. Once again has our rightful champion saved a girl from darkness, and get rewarded with love. Of course that makes it sound cheesy, but I think Hachikuji's final conversation with Araragi showed something else too. Araragi is once again hypocritical, and I think that it's one of his defining characteristics. But he's not hypocritical because he thinks himself better than others, but because he was born a martyr. If someone gets in trouble, it's not okay because they might get hurt, where as he can go through extended periods of all kinds of hurt because then the others don't have to suffer. His overprotective nature is destroyed here, when one of the first times ever, he just can't do anything. He's powerless, mentally and physically.

OH MY. I just realized something. We saw some effects of true character development in this episode. Remember... What was Araragi asked to do with Hachikuji when they met the first time? Exactly. He was asked to abandon her, let her go, as that is how Lost Cows are handled. He just couldn't do it, but ultimately solved the problem by finding her home. This time, there was no luxury of destination, thus he was forced to give in. The Araragi of the past would have been more stubborn, he wouldn't have let go, but I think this proves his growth as a person. Sometimes you just have to let go.

On the matter of Hachikuji... This episode makes it pretty clear what she feels. She's not too disappointed in her fate, and one of the last things she says is: "At least I had fun." Which is relative to the fact that she lived 11 years in anguish, leading people away from the path that they were on. Interestingly, the way Gaen put it was "-- Apparitions who have strayed from their path", which could be an nod to the fact that Hachikuji strayed from the path by not leaving it. And ultimately, her path led her to her untimely leave.

Hachikuji was one of my favorite characters, and she provided lots of the "air" that the series needs for it to progress naturally. She was the X, the variable. She could come by whenever, and leave whenever. That cycle kept the pace of the series natural, where sometimes we would go on with the story and sometimes get interesting viewpoints from Hachikuji. She was the other side of the coin, often showing the flaws in Araragi's and the viewer's logic, and thus improving the philosophies that the Monogatari series has.

Now I'm only asking...

Are we going to lose that part of the show completely?

And if not...

How are we going to replace her?

I don't know, I really liked the character.

TL;DR?
Hachikuji is X, and Araragi is haunted by the question from his past.

maanantai 11. marraskuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 19

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 19

Sorry to disappoint all you three people reading, but this arc is phenomenally self-explanatory. It does generally a better job in explaining itself than I do explaining it, so there's not much of a point.

All I can think about is theorizing about Izuko Gaen, and well... That's stuff for the Suruga Devil arc, as we got a hint for her identity before...

But anyways, one thing I would deem interesting is the actual order of the second season. Why? Because only now, already months after the actual arc, we're getting our answers on those long forgotten missing chapters in Nekomonogatari White.

I would highly theorize that the existence of the "darkness" is very important to the transformation of Araragi, the result of which we saw at the end of Nekomonogatari White. Remember those torn-off clothes? Those are the ones he is wearing right now, just... Destroyed. And the fact that he has the Kokoro Watari with him means he either pulled it out of his own ass or got re-linked to Shinobu somehow. We will also hear the reason why he is so late to that meeting, as now we've been shown what he did the days before. It's... The second evening of the Nekomonogatari White going on as we watch it. It would be ingenious if we would've seen the house fire somewhere in the background though.

Let's see what a new week is bringing about.

TL;DR:
Connections, connections...

sunnuntai 3. marraskuuta 2013

M.S.S.S Episode 18

Let us see what comes around this time...

Surprisingly Complex: M.S.S.S Episode 18

Who is Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade?

I have no idea, but dammit, I'm interested. Kizumonogatari! Come, goddamnit!
It would seem that the reason for her long name is that she has had different personas in different times(?), not sure. Because I believe that she got her name Heart-Under-Blade only after she created her first minion. Just wait a bit...

The art style of the episode is great. I love the classical Japanese painting style as it's executed here. Really gives the feeling of a totally different era.

Moreover... It would seem that Shinobu's lasting theme in the series "Apparitions are what we make them up to be." One of the most important ones, I think. It was first in the Nekomonogatari Black, now it's back. You can start drawing lines pretty easily between her worshippers and Araragi, and you can get a lot of her character development right there. Shinobu changes as the people around her change. Like the people who treated her as a god, and Araragi who treated her like a child, her character takes huge leaps in short amounts of time, purely of things that don't involve her. Her self is not for her to make.

This may well tie in to her long name. Maybe the name Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade actually is linked to the idea and belief in vampires, and how those beliefs change over time. The three names have distinct differences in tone, and as such could be seen as separate names for separate beings, which just happen to have been in the same body.

Maybe the name also has something to do with her behavior. Like, for example. Araragi and the first minion both called her Kiss-Shot. Maybe the Kiss-Shot in her is the only one who has the capability of making minions. The others may be physically capable of it, but have no interest in it. Or what if..? The lore of the vampire has changed over time so much, that only in certain periods of time there has been the idea that it makes minions?

Another part of her being is probably the inevitability of the outside world. As KSAOHUB (Stupidest abbreviation ever.) makes huge changes to the environment she lives in (Like destroying the ecosystem), maybe it is mutual. Maybe the changes in the environment in turn affect her very being?

TL;DR?
Maybe Shinobu this, maybe Shinobu that. Who even reads these?