© 西尾維新／講談社・アニプ
I'm not going to lie, I've actually enjoyed our season of Monogatari without Araragi. To be clear, I don't think he's a bad character or a bad main character. However, if this season has proven anything, it's that the supporting cast can stand on their own without him. His absence allowed for all sorts of new interactions and even friendships between them. With his return, that aspect of the season is now, by definition, gone.
That said, this arc, Shinobumonogatari, really couldn't be told without Araragi. While Shinobu has also shown an ability to step out of her sisters' shadows, having them involved in such a personal story for Shinobu would feel wrong—especially considering how closely her story is tied to Araragi's.
Like many Monogatari series, this first volume is all about setting up the mystery. A vampire has come to town and is sucking the blood of the girls on the now-defunct basketball team, Kanbaru. Logically, it all makes sense. Slowly but surely, the pair of Gaen and Araragi piece together the clues the criminal left behind to reveal her identity.
The problem is, the episode reveals this character in the cold open: It’s Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicide-Master. So the entire episode feels like we’re waiting for Araragi to catch up, to find out what we already know. But even when the name comes up, it doesn’t seem to be related to Araragi. This could mean that Shonobu never told him about the events of the previous arc—or at least not in the level of detail we’re talking about. Furthermore, despite the arc’s name and the fact that the events revolve around her past, Shinobu doesn’t even appear in this episode. So even at the end of the episode, Araragi still hasn’t caught up with us.
But while the episode feels like it's spinning its wheels in a direction that's relevant to the main story—or is simply being used as an excuse to show off a code puzzle that's more in line with Zaregoto than Monogatari—it's still pretty entertaining. We get our first glimpse of Araragi's college life and check in on Kanbaru after the events of Hanamonogatari. Plus, we meet two new characters who may or may not matter later on—both of which are fun to watch Araragi make an appearance.
Overall, this is an average opening episode of Monogatari—that is, nothing amazing but still does its job of laying the groundwork for the style.
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Random thoughts:
I remember Araragi's white coat in Hanamonogatari.
→ It's nice to see Kanbaru doing well even without playing basketball as she's about to graduate.
→ Apparently, in the novel, there's a book and a half between this story and the last one we see. I hope we get back to those stories at some point.
© I wonder if Shinobu was listening to everything that was going on inside Araragi's shadow or if she was either A) sleeping or B) in Tsukihi or Karen's shadow the entire time that day.
The MONOGATARI: OFF & MONSTER Season series is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
