Thursday 3 January 2013

Nekomonogatari: Kuro - Episode 3

This third and penultimate instalment of Nekomonogatari sees Araragi paying a visit to Hanekawa's empty house - a visit which greets him with a vision of unspeakable horror that literally leaves him running home crying.

Upon arriving home, it seems that word has already reached the Fire Sisters about the "monster cat" attacking people in town, leaving him needing to think fast to stop them trying to interfere and thus putting themselves in danger.  After a couple of days of no news as Oshino's progress with Hanekawa and the oddity possessing her, Araragi pays a visit to his hangout only to find a bruised and battered Oshino who has clearly been given a sound thrashing by this supposedly "low-level" oddity.  The reason for this is quite simply - Hanekawa's genius and knowledge of tactics and strategy have turned this irritation into something far more dangerous.


As she continues to roam around town, Araragi finds himself paid a visit by Hanekawa during a rather unfortunate moment in their classroom - cue a long, meandering dialogue about how this oddity is acting as stress relief for Hanekawa by attacking people, and why she's decided to take this course of action in this particular case given that her decisions would more traditionally err on the side of the selfish.  Despite this act of charity, the oddity clearly has no intentions of giving Hanekawa back her body though, which leads Araragi down a troubling train of thought...

Although this instalment of Nekomonogatari was dialogue-heavy even by this franchise's standards, it was no less compelling for it - the reveal about Hanekawa's home circumstances, or rather their truly dire nature, was affecting even with such an over-the-top treatment, and the rest of the episode had no shortage of interesting discussion.  It may not be as snappy or cleverly comic as Bakemonogatari, but there's still plenty to enjoy here regardless as we move onto the story's finale.

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