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Summer 2014 Anime |OT2| Or, where Jexhius finally watches more Doremi for Hito.
- Thread starter Narag
- Start date
- Status
IS he gone for good?
Terareflection
Member
IIRC, he should be back in a week?
I actually should watch the first season of this show.
nintendoman58
Member
Is Ai Mai Mi the latest List show or something?
No, it's good-good.
astrogamer
Member
Terror in Resonance 7
Fairly exciting episode. Lisa was much more of a hindrance than an asset. Cool trick
.
Fairly exciting episode. Lisa was much more of a hindrance than an asset. Cool trick
in sending back the footage 5 minutes but, trying to keep Five under the threat of a pistol right outside of the surveillance room wasn't the wisest plan.
Femmeworth
Banned
Hmm, wonder if it is the broadcast version. The final Blu-ray volume just came out in Japan last week.
AquaWateria
Member
How long was it. Also there's gonna be another OVA in November.
That's a good question.
Is there any difference? It's one of those BONES shows which were completed way ahead of schedule.
Admiral Woofington
Member
When will I get my Polar Bear cafe sequel :'(
edit: well, new season.
edit: well, new season.
I know, and it was around 24 minutes long. I think they should have done 3 OVAs or two 40 minute OVAs so everything wasn't as rushed.
Whats the difference?
AquaWateria
Member
Well I guess they are putting more of there effort on Annex 1 Arc for the anime adaption, since it's the main part of the manga.
Though I guess the OVA is probably supposed to be a teaser for the anime.
Femmeworth
Banned
Ah, probably not then. Good to know.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Hanamonogatari
Inside out
It's interesting to go back to an arc that is fairly introspective, considering the latter events of Monogatari Second Season and the heavy arcing that occurred as that season wrapped up. For a story set after the events of the last series, in many ways it feels much like a pre-Second Season story, going back to the one lingering story that was never really resolved. While it's true that it resolves a longstanding question raised in Nisemonogatari, namely why Kaiki was stalking Kanbaru, for the most part you have a story about Kanbaru solving her own monkey paw problem through meeting her former, and forgotten, arch nemesis Rouka Numachi.
Individuality comes in pairs
And boy is the arc introspective. Although Rouka Numachi (this makes the fourth time in a row that Kana Asami has starred in a Shaft show, but she is finally free of her squeaky voice) is very much an external figure acting upon the world, it's made clear that she is very much a representation of Kanbaru's anxiety.
In the broadest sense, we see this reflected in the backgrounds such as when we see Kanbaru go for her job before and after she meets Rouka:
Of course, we also have the direct mirroring of the characters through their two basketball matches.
But we essentially have a story about desire and depression, where the choices that Kanbaru and Rouka made in their lives ultimately led them down very different paths. But there is a constant reminder that they both started from the same tragic origins, that their paths are intertwined because they are both representative of an earnest desire to achieve greatness and connect with other people.
Even though Kanbaru sees Rouka as a someone she doesn't want to be -
It's fitting that Araragi could never solve Kanbaru's problem, because she always needed Rouka to help her. Rouka is the only one who could have taken the burden of the monkey paw from Kanbaaru, as the devil collecting other people's misery, but Kanbaru was also the only person who could see that Rouka was an oddity who needed a reason to move on
(which is nice parallel to Araragi finally solving Mayoi's problem and helping her move on to the afterlife). Even though both characters are acting externally to help each other, we understanding that they are essentially helping themselves. Since the show goes out of its way to tell us that they are cut from the same cloth, we can see this is a very individualistic struggle. The fact that it ends with both characters leaving each other to their own devices, with Kanbaru literally standing by herself, is just a reminder that this was very much a story about an internal psychological struggle.
I think by keeping it so personal, even though she was nudged by the two men in her life, Kanbaru's story arc manages to be satisfying even if it doesn't quite tie into the rest of the mythology. You understand where it fits into the series, and there are questions that are raised, but it's so easy to get invested in Kanbaru's personal struggle that it doesn't really matter. The fact that Rouka doesn't feel like an out of left field late addition to the story is probably an indication of the strength of this particular story, since Rouka is really just another piece of Kanbaru.
Unresolved tension
It's probably worth commenting about the fact that the story arc very much ignores the events of the Second Season cliffhanger and the Nadeko snake arc. We understand that the arc is resolved, because of the mention and appearance of Araragi, but we're never told any specific details. Indeed, one could make hay out of the fact that no one ever explicitly mentions Nadeko... although I'm sure part of that is just so there are no real distractions from Kanbaru's arc.
The other big thing of course, is probably spoiler-worthy for those who are coming straight off of the Season Season cliffhanger finale. That is, the sudden appearance of
But that also leads to the one big unanswered question of the series:
, in some ways Ougi functions as the Araragi surrogate in this arc. Certainly Ougi is responsible for shoving Kanbaru in Rouka's direction if nothing else. But regardless, I find it amusing that I'm more curious about this character than I am with all the Nadeko Snake stuff. As much closure as this series gives us, it still leaves some questions unanswered.
Final thoughts
Hanamonogatari is reminder of why I think the Monogatari series is one of the more interesting shows I have watched in recent years. Yes, ultimately each arc boils down to two people talking to and at each other for two hours, but there is so much depth to these interactions that it makes it something special to watch. There's nothing like it in anime, and I doubt there will be anything like it in the near future. In fact, the lack of clear imitators in a medium full of copycats kind of shows that it is probably impossible to replicate the magic of all of these interactions.
Are there anime-isms? Sure. Araragi makes his jokes about what he would do to his sisters after all. But the conversations are much more than just otaku-bait pandering. They're lyrical dialogs that are equal parts witty, biting, and revelatory. I've said many times that Monogatari could basically exist as a radio drama or even as a minimalist stage production, and Hanamonogatari is no different.
(My only real regret is that the commentaries are still absent. It makes me wish I had the drive to learn Japanese)
Miscellaneous
I noticed some things that I just found interesting. One was the use of what I considered to be scientific imagery used to show the link between Rouka and Kanbaru.
I have no idea if I'm seeing things, but I thought it was neat visual metaphor nonetheless.
Then there was the scene with Rouka stealing Kanbaru's paw.
While the show goes very fair to make the Rouka and Kanbaru connection, I feel like it also wants you to connect her to the other main characters of the Monogatari story as a whole. Much can be said of Kanbaru's new hair style, but of course, they made it explicit by giving her what I think is a very Senjougahara-esque pose:
Indeed, this is made very explicit at the end:
Inside out
It's interesting to go back to an arc that is fairly introspective, considering the latter events of Monogatari Second Season and the heavy arcing that occurred as that season wrapped up. For a story set after the events of the last series, in many ways it feels much like a pre-Second Season story, going back to the one lingering story that was never really resolved. While it's true that it resolves a longstanding question raised in Nisemonogatari, namely why Kaiki was stalking Kanbaru, for the most part you have a story about Kanbaru solving her own monkey paw problem through meeting her former, and forgotten, arch nemesis Rouka Numachi.
Individuality comes in pairs
And boy is the arc introspective. Although Rouka Numachi (this makes the fourth time in a row that Kana Asami has starred in a Shaft show, but she is finally free of her squeaky voice) is very much an external figure acting upon the world, it's made clear that she is very much a representation of Kanbaru's anxiety.
In the broadest sense, we see this reflected in the backgrounds such as when we see Kanbaru go for her job before and after she meets Rouka:
It's fitting that, of course, there are dual meanings for these shots. The track that she is on in each shot reflects her immediate concern, but of course the tracks represent both possibilities that Rouka and Kanbaru have in their lives. Both in terms of their lost potential as normal girls and their potential as girls who have become afflicted.
Of course, we also have the direct mirroring of the characters through their two basketball matches.
Heck, even the position of their bodies is mirrored, showing not only the reversal of power as the film ends, but the fact that they are both one and the same.
But we essentially have a story about desire and depression, where the choices that Kanbaru and Rouka made in their lives ultimately led them down very different paths. But there is a constant reminder that they both started from the same tragic origins, that their paths are intertwined because they are both representative of an earnest desire to achieve greatness and connect with other people.
Even though Kanbaru sees Rouka as a someone she doesn't want to be -
- she inevitably understands that she is intrinsically linked to Rouka, which is made clear in the sports metaphor that binds the story together:
It's fitting that Araragi could never solve Kanbaru's problem, because she always needed Rouka to help her. Rouka is the only one who could have taken the burden of the monkey paw from Kanbaaru, as the devil collecting other people's misery, but Kanbaru was also the only person who could see that Rouka was an oddity who needed a reason to move on
(which is nice parallel to Araragi finally solving Mayoi's problem and helping her move on to the afterlife). Even though both characters are acting externally to help each other, we understanding that they are essentially helping themselves. Since the show goes out of its way to tell us that they are cut from the same cloth, we can see this is a very individualistic struggle. The fact that it ends with both characters leaving each other to their own devices, with Kanbaru literally standing by herself, is just a reminder that this was very much a story about an internal psychological struggle.
I think by keeping it so personal, even though she was nudged by the two men in her life, Kanbaru's story arc manages to be satisfying even if it doesn't quite tie into the rest of the mythology. You understand where it fits into the series, and there are questions that are raised, but it's so easy to get invested in Kanbaru's personal struggle that it doesn't really matter. The fact that Rouka doesn't feel like an out of left field late addition to the story is probably an indication of the strength of this particular story, since Rouka is really just another piece of Kanbaru.
Unresolved tension
It's probably worth commenting about the fact that the story arc very much ignores the events of the Second Season cliffhanger and the Nadeko snake arc. We understand that the arc is resolved, because of the mention and appearance of Araragi, but we're never told any specific details. Indeed, one could make hay out of the fact that no one ever explicitly mentions Nadeko... although I'm sure part of that is just so there are no real distractions from Kanbaru's arc.
The other big thing of course, is probably spoiler-worthy for those who are coming straight off of the Season Season cliffhanger finale. That is, the sudden appearance of
Kaiki, who appears to fulfill his promise from Nisemonogatari and serves as a the one person who provides Kanbaru help in the arc. It's a lovely payoff to a longstanding plot point of Kaiki's relationship with Gaen and why he sought out Kanbaru in the first place.
But more importantly, how he is revealed in the show is perfectly in line with his characterization throughout the story, and if nothing else, justifies why this story had to be set after the Nadeko snake arc. I think it's very fitting that Kaiki preys on the audience, tricking us into thinking that he died at the end of Season Season. In any other context, I might have felt cheated by the retcon of a death... but for Kaiki? It makes perfect sense.
And of course that lines up perfectly with how he ends up tricking Rouka and fulfilling his duty to Gaen by helping Kanbaru. Although it's not made explicitly clear, it seems certain that Kaiki knew about Kanbaru's paw and sent Rouka her way in order to start the ball rolling on the events of the story.
But more importantly, how he is revealed in the show is perfectly in line with his characterization throughout the story, and if nothing else, justifies why this story had to be set after the Nadeko snake arc. I think it's very fitting that Kaiki preys on the audience, tricking us into thinking that he died at the end of Season Season. In any other context, I might have felt cheated by the retcon of a death... but for Kaiki? It makes perfect sense.
And of course that lines up perfectly with how he ends up tricking Rouka and fulfilling his duty to Gaen by helping Kanbaru. Although it's not made explicitly clear, it seems certain that Kaiki knew about Kanbaru's paw and sent Rouka her way in order to start the ball rolling on the events of the story.
But that also leads to the one big unanswered question of the series:
Just who is Ougi? I will say, with the absence of Araragi and the revelation that he
drives a car
Final thoughts
We make bad choices, but it's just a matter of how you deal with those choices.
Hanamonogatari is reminder of why I think the Monogatari series is one of the more interesting shows I have watched in recent years. Yes, ultimately each arc boils down to two people talking to and at each other for two hours, but there is so much depth to these interactions that it makes it something special to watch. There's nothing like it in anime, and I doubt there will be anything like it in the near future. In fact, the lack of clear imitators in a medium full of copycats kind of shows that it is probably impossible to replicate the magic of all of these interactions.
Are there anime-isms? Sure. Araragi makes his jokes about what he would do to his sisters after all. But the conversations are much more than just otaku-bait pandering. They're lyrical dialogs that are equal parts witty, biting, and revelatory. I've said many times that Monogatari could basically exist as a radio drama or even as a minimalist stage production, and Hanamonogatari is no different.
(My only real regret is that the commentaries are still absent. It makes me wish I had the drive to learn Japanese)
Miscellaneous
I noticed some things that I just found interesting. One was the use of what I considered to be scientific imagery used to show the link between Rouka and Kanbaru.
Whether hydrogen particles.
Or just as matched pairs in a particle field.
I have no idea if I'm seeing things, but I thought it was neat visual metaphor nonetheless.
Then there was the scene with Rouka stealing Kanbaru's paw.
As another example of how they are mirrors of each other, Rouka takes Kanbaru's paw with her left hand, but the paw goes to her right hand:
It's another nice touch to bring them together.
While the show goes very fair to make the Rouka and Kanbaru connection, I feel like it also wants you to connect her to the other main characters of the Monogatari story as a whole. Much can be said of Kanbaru's new hair style, but of course, they made it explicit by giving her what I think is a very Senjougahara-esque pose:
It's fitting, of course, since her story really begins with Senjou and she ends up very much like Senjou after her problem is solved.
Indeed, this is made very explicit at the end:
Three mirrors, three girls. Senjougahara, Hanekawa, and of course Kanbaru. Although I suppose the revelation that Araragi is the one behind all their new looks is a whole new can of worms.
Fimbulvetr
Member
I see Terror in Resonance isn't being received very well here. I'm tempted to add my voice to the chorus of disappointment, but I'd like to clarify for myself first.
So, barring future twists, the basic premise can seemingly be described like this: the Japanese and US governments had a child experimentation program that they're willing to kill thousands of innocents to keep secret, and the two escapees are trying to reveal everything to the public, or at least send a message of some kind by blowing up buildings.
Am I missing anything big here? I'll be embarrassed, but at the same time I rather hope so.
So, barring future twists, the basic premise can seemingly be described like this: the Japanese and US governments had a child experimentation program that they're willing to kill thousands of innocents to keep secret, and the two escapees are trying to reveal everything to the public, or at least send a message of some kind by blowing up buildings.
Am I missing anything big here? I'll be embarrassed, but at the same time I rather hope so.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Interesting its just part one. I guess they are treating it as a weekly show. Wonder if CR will do the same.
Actually, I just opened up the video, and the length was 1h56m. So, much like it aired, they're treating it as a big movie instead of five individual episodes. The home video release will be another story, but you can - and basically have to - watch the whole thing at once.
AquaWateria
Member
Is it true that OVAs are generally higher quality than TV series, in terms of animation.
sad face.... I didn't realize denno coil was a failure... was a solid show
Yeah it didnt sell well. I would LOVE for it to get licensed here. I would even buy a DVD if that was all they released. I just want it ;_;
Well that settles it...
Thanks for the link. I like her style!
Oh. Didn't notice that.
So is it structured episodically or as one long continuous story?
Not any more or less than any other arc.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Yeah, there are breaks for each part, but it might as well be one film.
That used to be the case, but it seems like a lot of OVAs are just cheap promo fodder for manga sales nowdays.
Kabukimonogatari is the Snail Arc (2nd arc) of Monogatari S2. Nekomonogatari White was the first release from Monogatari S2.
AoA is releasing each volume by each arc.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Don't support AoA releases. I'm still bitter that they are half-assing their releases.
Neko white was $60 because 5 episode. Kabuki is $50 because 4 episodes.
You can't stop me!
Get your Wideface x SP Bluray preorders in...
For $15.
I guess this just went up. Date is Dec. 16th!
It'll still be stupid expensive. This is AoA. I still need Nise and Neko Black though.
I'm still on track to buy every volume of KLK, Nisekoi, Monogatari S2, and Yamato 2199 as they come out.
For $15.
I guess this just went up. Date is Dec. 16th!
It'll still be stupid expensive. This is AoA. I still need Nise and Neko Black though.
I'm still on track to buy every volume of KLK, Nisekoi, Monogatari S2, and Yamato 2199 as they come out.
That's exactly what I did!
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I can't believe they stopped subbing the commentaries, and for Nise, took them out entirely.
Wait commentaries are in but unsubbed? Wtf?
The commentary in Bake was awesome. What the heck.
Oooooooh shit! :O
How do anime commentaries even work? You have in theory anime audio, commentary audio, anime subs and commentary subs all at the same time?
The audio is exactly like it is in movies.
You choose between which set of subs you want to use and only use one at a time.
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