This review contains spoilers. I dont know why I started this mad idea of reviewing all of the Monogatari Series but this is now my eighth review for the eighth instalment of the Monogatari. Early on I had my doubts about Monogatari but I kept coming back so something mustve been there. By the time I finished Second Season these doubts had been washed away. Owarimonogatari has cemented that I shouldnt have doubted in the first place. Why? Well I dont even think Owarimonogatari is the best Monogatari series out there but its still really damn good. That to me proves that Monogatari knows what its doing and can execute on it well. Damn well. If a show is this good when it isnt at its best people are doing something right. Owarimonogatari is a series of two halves that delve into the backstories of the characters. The first half explores Araragis past and a girl that hes encountered multiple times over his life. And the second half brings Shinobus past to the present with an expansion of her backstory as explored in the Shinobu Time arc of Second Season. Backstories have always been something Ive been dubious of: if Im here for the characters current story nine times out of ten I dont wanna hear about their old stories. But I have my full faith in this show and it did an amazing job of exploring Araragis past in a very natural way for his character. Shinobus backstory likewise is awesome and seeing the story weave into the established timeline was a delight. Beyond the exploration of the past this series really pushes us to think about a main theme of the Monogatari series: knowledge. Who knows. Who does not know. What do people know? Anything? Nothing? Only what they know? Its not something this show seems to want to answer any time soon but its become a big part of the mystery of this series. Let begin with the first half of Owarimonogatari. The first three arcs are about Araragis past and a girl named Sodachi. Each arc explored how Araragi and Sodachi crossed paths in his past two years ago five years ago and then six years ago. If Monogatari is a show about Araragi helping girls these three arcs establish Sodachi as the girl he did not help. Id argue that this half of the series leans much heavier on Monogataris mystery elements that the show has before. Each of the three arcs plays out more explicitly as a mystery to be solved with each mystery leading Araragi one step closer to Sodachi so that he can finally help her. What complicates this story is Oshino Ougi. It isnt Araragi who can unravel this mystery but rather Ougi. Ougi takes the place of the sleuth helping a foolish Araragi piece together the memories of his past. And on the layer beneath each of these three mysteries is the mystery of Oshino Ougi herself. In every mystery Ougi and Araragi seem to unravel this mystery about Ougi deepens. Episode four starts with a prologue about her. Araragi says if you were to write a novel about her all it would say is Oshino Ougi was Oshino Ougi. Im inclined to agree: weve been told nothing about this character. But despite this Ougi feels remarkably integrated into the story and this allows the character to be a total enigma. There are just so many questions If Ougi is someone that was mentioned to Kaiki and he didnt know of her is she that mysterious? Or is she even Oshino Memes niece? Why does she do what she does? Why does she seem to push people towards apparitions? For example she did it with Nadeko to start the Nadeko Medusa arc and she did with Kanburu in the Sugara devil arc Hanamonogatari. To me she seems like a contrary force to Oshino Meme. He talked about the balance a lot but was always helping humans. Ougi seems to be helping the apparitions or at least pushing people towards more occurrences with them. She too talks about the balance. And there needs to be balance so if Meme pushed the balance one way perhaps its for Ougi to push it the other way. I have to be honest and admit that before this series I didnt really like Ougi that much as a character. I found the mystery surrounding her very interesting but I struggled to enjoy her even as a somewhatvillainous character. To be fair I had the same thoughts about Kaiki after watching Nisemonogatari. It wasnt until Second Season that he really came into his own and landed himself as being one of the best characters of the series. And I still dont really like her that much. But by god I couldnt stop watching this series. The mystery of everything just totally sucked me in. So maybe we arent supposed to like Ougi. She is after all fabulously written so I cant say I dont like her through any fault of the show. The way she talks and worms what she wants out of Araragi makes for a twisted watching experience. Once you clue onto what shes doing you start rooting against her. A highlight of this in episode four as Ougi begins to twist her words trying to get Araragi to bring her to Sodachi. And it takes Hanekawa to push back knowing him well enough to say exactly the right thing. So I cant believe Im saying this but Hanekawa offering to let Araragi touch her boobs was some great writing. In this scene were on Hanekawas side desperate for something to turn the pleading in her favour. And she knows exactly how to get through his thick skull. For Araragi it wasnt the opportunity to fondle that clued him in but rather that she made offer. In the moment its a clever line that pointedly ends quite a dramatic and tense scene. Nominally the first half of this series is about Araragis past and Ougi. But beneath this Owarimonogatari also looks at this idea of knowing and not knowing. Why does Araragi forget about his past and why are these events getting dug up? Why can Ougi piece together things from Araragis past? Why does she know what she knows? And as the show enters into the second half we are reminded of earlier questions we have had about this theme. Why does Gaen know what she knows? And as an aside why do both of them lie about being related to Oshino Meme? And how the actual fuck does Ougi know the full name of Shinobus first minion? This is something Monogatari has continuously played with the idea of knowing. Hanekawa only knows what she knows Gaen always seems to know everything. And Ougi insists that she doesnt know anything. But Ougi has always seemed to know a lot. Through the second season of Monogatari she was meddling using information she had no right in knowing. And in Tsukimonogatari she seemed to have something to do with Tadatsuru appearing and if she did it means that she knew exactly when Araragi began to turn into a vampire. Before I get too distracted lets bring focus back onto the second half of the series: the Shinobu Mail arc. These six episode cover the return of Shinobus first minion. Through this story it explores the relationship between Shinobu and Araragi. For Araragi Shinobus first minion the First or as we later find out Seishirou or even later Shishirui Seishirou represents a romantictrianglelike rival. While obviously under highly supernatural and dramatic circumstances Shinobu and the First broke up and now the First has returned to make amends. The First is the chosen one and Araragi is just some kid who saved KissShot in a train station. There is obviously a giant gap in qualifications here and we see this conundrum play out from both Shinobu and Araragis perspectives. For Shinobu she insists there is no first or second no difference in her eyes between the First and Araragi. Deep down there is the fate of the First was an enormously emotional thing for Shinobu. She doesnt want to face the First. Shinobu tells Kanburu that its out of respect for Araragi. But I think Kanburu was right though Shinobu was afraid of having to face the First again. Not afraid that shell die but afraid of having to confront him again. For Araragi his entire problem is boiled down to what is discussed in his phone call with Senjougahara. Its a great scene one that really warmed my SoL/Romance loving heart even if it had the subtext of how do I deal with a vampire and her samurai ex. Araragi asks Senjougahara what shed do if someone more qualified than him asked her out and she responds very characteristically i.e. bluntly that shed go with the other guy. But she goes on to reassure him that he is more than enough. He is qualified and thats why both Senjougahara and Shinobu have stuck by him. He fights the duel with the First to prove it and the way he outsmarts the First to win is proof enough that he is worthy. The epilogue of the final episode provides a vast tonal shift from the first half of this series. The third arc ends by focusing on how Araragi has found happiness with obvious elusions to his relationship with Senjougahara and that he hopes that Sodachi can find her own happiness even if it is through hating Araragi. Comparatively the Shinobu Mail arc ends by Araragi and Yotsugi talking about how Shinobu and Araragis relationship prevents either from being happy. This of course was the decision that Araragi made in Kizumonogatari. To prevent Shinobu from killing again he trapped both him and her in this bond in which neither can fully become a vampire. The show provides an interesting juxtaposition between these two relationships. Both seem like positiveish relationships but the fact that one represents happiness for Araragi and the other actively prevents happiness by existing is a very interesting thing for the show to consider. So is Araragi happy? With the shows unreliable narration its hard to tell how Araragi truely feels. So I think thats something the show wants to leave up to us to figure out. Monogatari has continued to improve upon establishing setups. Bakemonogatari was fantastic but in relation to the rest of the series it is distinguished by being the first. There are no payoffs from long standing setups and equally no setups are really established. Stand alone it still managed to be great. But what was so remarkable about Second Season was that it managed to pull off these incredible payoffs by expanding upon the foundations the story had established so far. There werent explicit setups to exploit so the series worked with what had. But its clear that Nisioisin has a plan now. He sets things up all over the place. Drops little hints to a bigger picture or to more stuff going on that we cant see. And this is at the heart of what makes the second half of this series so genius. The Shinobu Mail arc is a grand payoff for the setup of the very first arc of Second Season. The arc in which Araragi isnt around and we wonder what hes up to. And then Hanekawa meets Gaen and Episode and we wonder what theyre up to. Well surprise It was this And god damn fair enough hey? The incredible genius behind the achronological storytelling has always been a great part of this show. As youre watching and trying to work out what is happening you are also trying to figure out when it is happening. And the second you figure it out you feel like a genius and then you realise that Nisioisin is the real genius. Its such clever writing and it must take a lot of thought to figure out not only when everything happens chronologically but when to tell all of these stories to make for the most drama. So my absolute applause to Nisioisin. As these reviews go on I find it harder and harder to talk about the production without just repeating myself. Its fantastic as always here and Im glad to note that the animation did feel more reigned in that it did in Tsukimonogatari which I noted as being somewhat distracting at times. The production of this series lines up with my general assessment of Owarimonogatari. Its not the best animated Monogatari series. It was still absolutely gorgeous though. Oh and before I wrap this whole thing up I am finally admitting defeat for my love of the intertitles. If you love em you gotta let em go Intertitles you will be missed. Anyhow lets get outta here people Its good to get back to another longer form series. Hanamonogatari was great and I enjoyed Tsukimonogatari enough but theres something about these multiarc series that lets Monogatari really shine. Owarimonogatari was a fantastic series and the four arcs presented were all great. As an aside I realise I raised a lot of questions in this review and didnt really explore many answers. Id say thats pretty typical for Monogatari so unanswered they will remain. To surmise my thoughts on Owarimonogatari I would say that despite not being the best Monogatari series its certainly up there. This series executes on what Monogatari does best. It setsup big questions tackles philosophical ideas explores relationships it twist our minds and subsequently blows them. If this is how Monogatari performs when its not at its best its testament to how damn good this show is.