Monogatari Second Season - Episode 15

Nadeko has found what she's looking for on behalf of Kuchinawa, but unfortunately for her this discovery also coincides with Araragi returning home, and needless to say he's keen to stop her from doing anything foolish.

As Koyomi pleads with Sengoku to put the talisman she's found down, our protagonist for this story arc seem to have little intent of doing so.  Such is the severity of the situation that even Shinobu becomes involved in trying to persuade Nadeko to stop what she's doing, but it seems that Nadeko's patience has run thin and she thus swallows the talisman in spite of Shinobu's best efforts to stop her.  Of course, we know what happens from here, and it involves both master and servant ending up in a bloody puddle at Sengoku's hands.

Thus Kuchinawa has been returned to his status as a God - but did he actually exist in the first place?  Although this God most certainly does exist, this wasn't the case until he was revived by Nadeko, meaning that all of her actions up to that point were simply her own desires reinforced by some rather comprehensive delusions to explain those actions.  With this in mind, we fill in the blanks about her behaviour, and pivotally aspects of her meeting with Ougi that were previously omitted - not that any of this seems to matter much now, with Nadeko determined to kill both Koyomi and Shinobu.  This desire has, however, reckoned without one Hitagi Senjougahara, who speaks to Nadeko with first a piece of advice - who to kill in what order, given that she too is on Sengoku's hit list - and a request to defer the trio's demise until after graduation.  In other words, this is a story that we'll be revisiting another day...

Frustrating though its finale certainly is, this turned out to be another decidedly strong Monogatari story arc as a whole that again delighted in its twists having pulled the wool over the viewer's eyes simply via who it selected as its "eyes" for the duration of its narrative.  Having been a bit of a weak character the first time around, seeing Nadeko fleshed out so substantially was very satisfying indeed, and I can only hope the eventual resolution to this story (whenever it appears in animated form) will live up to its preparation and execution to date.  After a bit of a weak previous story arc, it seems as if Monogatari is back on track.