Monday 23 December 2013

Monogatari Second Season - Episode 25

Although not entirely a surprise, Hanekawa's arrival on the scene and her interest in Kaiki's current job is still an intriguing development, and what's more it seems that she has as keen an eye as Kaiki for Nadeko's true personality.

Hanekawa also has some knowledge of "the closet", although she doesn't seem to know what's in it and Kaiki is certainly in no hurry to enlighten her despite a temptation to do so.  With Tsubasa also seemingly happy to let Kaiki get on with his deceptive work, he carries on as he has been visiting the shrine and plying Sengoku with gifts until the start of February and the arrival of the promised day where he has to deceive her.  It's something which Senjougahara continues to be unusually grateful towards Kaiki for, and her assertions that she still hates him sound rather hollow when set against her other comments.


Alongside this, Kaiki finds himself further warned off his current course of action by Onjouji at Gaen's behest, which gives us some further insight into her concerns that he might fail in his task.  It seems that Kaiki's relationship with Senjougahara runs deeper than we might previously have been led to believe, and despite his protestations when spun in the right way his actions surrounding Hitagi, her mother's cult and more have a strangely charitable air to them.  Is Kaiki really in a fit mental state to deceive Sengoku given the importance of his plan's success?  We find out soon enough...

Like so many episodes of Monogatari, this week's instalment is very much reliant upon how much you care about the characters involved - for someone who has enjoyed everything it has to offer to a greater or lesser extent, digging into Kaiki's past with Senjougahara and continuing to ponder Nadeko's true nature are both fascinating areas for the show to cover, and at the end of all that we're left with a potentially tumultuous cliffhanger to lead into the series finale.  Monogatari Second Season might not be as accessible as the first, but week after week it seems to know how to press the buttons of its existing fans.

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