Now here’s a side of Nadeko we never knew existed…
What They Say:
The bee apparition is now gone, and summer vacation where the phoenix apparition averted harm is over– Around Koyomi Araragi and the girls who started a new trimester, apparitions, or perhaps threats even worse, were creeping in ever closer.
Tsubasa Hanekawa, Mayoi Hachikuji, Suruga Kanbaru, Nadeko Sengoku, Shinobu Oshino, and Hitagi Senjyogahara. Their soliloquies, confessions – and farewells. 6 new are starting now.
The Review:
When Tsukihi sneaks into her brother’s bed looking for an early morning cuddle, she’s more than a little surprised to find Nadeko there instead. It’s a discovery that forms the starting point for a rather unusual conversation between the pair, one where Tsukihi manages to be perfectly pleasant and yet perfecly terrifying all at once; one where Tsukihi tries to dig into Nadeko’s thoughts about Koyomi. And what Nadeko plans to do about them…
Tsukihi’s quite to point out that Koyomi already has a girlfriend, but her main problem with Nadeko is that she seems content to settle to the friendzone – after all, she’s been remarkably proactive in the past, and if she loves Koyomi enough to be that forward, then how can she not push for the win, as it were? Tsukihi would be happy for Nadeko to challenge Senjougahara. Or so she says. There’s no question of who won the battle of wills between the two of them, though, as Nadeko leaves the Araragi house an even bigger bundle of self-doubt that she was going in. A state that her inner serpent is only too willing to take advantage of.
Scary Tsukihi is scary, on the one hand seeming to be cheering on her friend, while on the other doing a damn good job of using passive-aggression to undermine. It’s an interesting exchange to watch, as much for what isn’t said as what is.
The real fun comes later, though, as the exchange seems to unleash a side of Nadeko that we haven’t seen before – the polar opposite of the meek & mild girl we’ve seen so far. Seeing people snap can be surprisingly entertaining sometimes, and watch the ‘new’ Nadeko cut loose with the people around her and say exactly what’s on her mind is the highlight of an already very good episode.
There’s a down to go with the high, of course, but I’ll leave you to watch the episode to see that play out – I’ll just say that it’s a bit of a sucker punch, certainly for Nadeko, and takes her a step closer to the confrontation we saw at the beginning of the arc. We’re at the stage of the story now where you can see how that situation might come to pass.
In Summary:
Still the strongest arc of this season of Monogatari, then, by quite some way. Nadeko could fairly be considered the weakest of the show’s girls before now, but her mood switch in this episode shows that there’s a lot more to her, making her – and her story – even more enjoyable to watch.
Content Grade: A-
Streamed By: Daisuki
Review Equipment: 27” Apple iMac, 2.9GHz Core i5, 32GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.8.4
