Since I just finished talking about the favorites arcs in my all-time favorite manga, it’s only appropriate I follow up with my favorite arcs (called episodes) from my favorite anime: Monogatari. The Monogatari series has tons of arcs, the light novels and anime are both still ongoing with no end in sight. The various anime and books are in a sense the larger sagas consisting of the episodes by which I mean this: Nisemonogatari, (essentially meaning Fake or False Story) contains the episodes Karen Bee and Tsukihi Phoenix. Bakemonogatari (Monster Tale/Story) contains Hitagi Crab, Mayoi Snail, Sugura Monkey, Nadeko Snake and Tsubasa Cat. You get the idea; I’m not talking about the overarching anime seasons or light novel volumes but the specific episodes within them. The arcs. So let’s start.
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Yotsugi Doll - Part of Tsukimonogatari of the overall series. I thought the anime just made these four episodes just really really run. From the snowball fight with Shinobu and Yotsugi in the background. I like seeing Kagenui, she's really cool and I actually really like how this arc ties into Mayoi Hell later on with Tadatsuru Teori. He was honestly not too interesting here but he comes full circle later so I respect the foundation that they built for him here. Yotsugi is a very interesting character in her own right being who and what she is. This part simply put for me was very run.
Koyomi Vamp – Aside from the events surrounding Princess Rola and the long road of Kissshot’s adventures as a vampire, this is where it all begins. The event that changes the course of Koyomi’s life forever. The spring break where he runs into a beautiful vampire and becomes one. He chooses to give up his life and live to save this transcendent, dying, out of this world gorgeous vampire. But instead she doesn’t kill him but as a result he also becomes a vampire. He must retrieve various parts of her being from three powerful vampire hunters in order to “turn him back to a human” and make her whole. This is where we meet Hanekawa Tsubasa in what I believe to be her best showing because aside from her role in Kizumonogatari, she’s not the least bit interesting to me. Oshino Meme makes his entrance here too and I am personally a huge fan of his limited appearances throughout the series. The various fights were dope, especially in the movies, and the final showdown between Kissshot and Koyomi is honesty mind-blowingly crazy. This part as a whole has the best action portions of the entire series. Kissshot is my favorite character and seeing her as the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire and not just Shinobu Oshino is a treat. Her vulnerabilities of being who she is and ultimately the clash in ideals with Koyomi that leads to a beautiful relationship but not before he creates a situation where no one wins.
Shinobu Time – This is the part of the series that made me legit cry when I first watched it. This whole episode is special for a few reasons, Shinobu’s tale of her journey (the more information I get about her the better) and the ending of the arc. A mysterious darkness starts chasing Mayoi and Koyomi around; this entity freaks them out to their very being. It is not an oddity or apparition. It’s a phenomenon. One that Shinobu ran into where she was the King of Apparitions. There was a sequence of coincidences that led a village to worshiping her as a goddess. She became a god but she’s not one, she’s a vampire. In this town she also meets and creates one of the two minions she ever made because he died when the darkness came for her. So long story short, Mayoi is the lost snail and a ghost that was supposed to move on. Her very purpose as an oddity is not being fulfilled and the darkness simple “deletes” oddities that don’t do what they are supposed to do. Meaning Mayoi must move on to the afterlife or just stop existing. She decides to move on and as she fading away, Koyomi and Mayoi do their little shtick one last time which she doesn’t complete. She instead kisses him and passes away. The tears just wouldn’t stop, I was super sad but it was all so moving.
Sugura Devil – In the original series that is the story of Araragi and his trials and tribulations along with his friends and foes, this is chronologically the last episode. This is excluding the Off Season and Monster Season, I know there was a timeskip. This takes place in Hanamonogatari where Sugura Kanbaru is the protagonist and narrator. She’s actually one of the best leads the series has; following the events of this episode from her perspective is a treat and welcome change of pace. Kanbaru is now a senior in high school meaning Hitagi and Koyomi have graduated so she’s already dealing with some loneliness off the bat. She then learns about someone called the “Lord of the Devil” taking requests and after some mild investigation, her Rainy Devil arm is gone. After looking into some more, she runs into her old basketball rival Rouka Numachi who’s collecting the parts of the Rainy Devil. I’m not going to go over all the story beats, I’m not here to recap but I do want to talk about what I enjoyed specifically about this arc aside from Kanbaru being the protagonist. I love the final match she has with Numachi and the resolution. I am a huge fan of her running into Kaiki and Kaiki actually out speeding her, something Kanbaru is famous for. Their conversation at dinner where Kaiki is preaching about eating more meat is just a hilarious scene. I also love how long haired Koyomi is reintroduced and how they interact in his car after he finds her sprawled out of the road. Side note, his hair is finally long enough to cover the vampire bite.
Mayoi Jiangshi – This truly is one of my favorite portions of the series. Shinobu and Koyomi grow so much closer during this segment and you get to see how much Koyomi means to her. Koyomi decides to go back in time and save Mayoi on the day that she dies. But doing so they created a parallel timeline separate from their own world, where Mayoi grows up and the world is destroyed. By who? Shinobu herself. In the events of this timeline, Araragi Koyomi is killed by Black Hanekawa and as a result Kissshot destroys the world. It’s crazy because in the bleak, despair filled hopelessness of this timeline; we actually get to see what Hachikuji Mayoi would look like grown up. It worked, he saved her here, and she is alive. She hands him a letter by Meme Oshino who like a boss, proceeds to just write down exactly what happened and asks them to save the world. They summon the version Kissshot from this world and she sees WHAT the alternate possibility was had Araragi lived. They’d be closer and together…just knowing that is enough to remove her will to kill and let Shinobu take her blood, save the world and take them back to their original timeline. It’s just a beautiful tale all in all and I love it. Takes place in Kabukimonogatari.
Hitagi End – Sengoku Nadeko has become a Snake God and plans on killing her beloved Koyomi-niichan by graduation. He’s tried countless times to save her and stop with Shinobu, but they all fail. Leaving him almost dead every time. Hitagi does the one thing I never thought she’d do but, turns to the very man that was the catalyst for destroying her family: Kaiki Deishuu. And guess what, he’s the narrator! Easily my favorite lead in the whole series because you can’t even always take everything he’s telling us as absolute truth, he’s a liar. But actually seeing the world from his point of view is something I never thought the series would give us. He has an interesting mind. After agreeing to help them out (for Kanbaru’s sake) he goes through one hell of an interesting con plan…the plan? To con a God out of godhood. After a series of complicated and intricate planning and scheming, he ultimately almost fails until he forces her to choose between being a god or her dream: to be a mangaka. And he does the impossible. Araragi shows up and he tells him to leave her alone and then after a conversation with Hitagi, leaves. It ends with him being attacked brutally by some kids he conned earlier in the story and his fate left ambiguous. I think this part of the story holds the most stakes and is the episode with the highest need for success.