© Nishio Isin/Kodansha/Anipu
This episode is all about one factor: displaying the transformation of the type, humble Acerola into the extraordinarily boastful and evil Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Coronary heart-Beneath-Blade. You do that by making an attempt to resolve the puzzle: “How do you kill a girl when each try to hurt her causes the perpetrator (even a vampire) to commit suicide?”
The straightforward reply is you can’t, a minimum of not on objective. Her energy works in such a method that it reacts to any try to hurt her. Making an attempt to save lots of her and hurting her within the course of is not going to set off her energy. That mentioned, there is no such thing as a method to kill somebody on objective, so Acerola and Suicide-Grasp are compelled to attempt a special tactic.
Principally, the core drawback is that Acerola is simply too lovely, each inside and outside. Logically, all you need to do is make her much less lovely to scale back her energy. Based mostly on this concept, Suicide-Grasp comes up with the concept to make her act in another way. If she acts as vulgarly as doable, that may weaken her energy. So Acerola begins talking in a haughty tone, disregarding manners and neatness and dressing in additional provocative clothes, in different phrases, performing in the best way we might usually affiliate with Shinobu (particularly in her extra mature types).
All of this raises the query of how a lot of Shinobu’s character (as we have seen it) is an act, and at what level does an act grow to be actuality. Even in Kizumonogatariwe are able to see that she has hidden depths. In any case, your entire final act of that story is her performing as monstrously as doable to attempt to get Araragi to kill her—and for her dying to save lots of him.
Then, because the sequence progresses, she is slowly in a position to grow to be extra sincere about her interior emotions, however the outward act largely continues. It’s possible that she does this as a result of her constructed vulgar persona, plus the truth that she grew to become a monster, are the one issues conserving her unique curse at bay. If she acts like the gorgeous particular person she nonetheless is at her core, the curse will return and kill Araragi and everybody round her. So, in different phrases, even on the finish of her centuries-long journey, she nonetheless can’t be herself and people she cares about can love her for who she is. One of the best she will be able to hope for is somebody like Araragi who can see the particular person inside herself and settle for the vulgarity that covers it.
And since that is most likely too horrible a destiny for anybody to bear indefinitely — particularly an immortal vampire — Suicide Grasp gave her a method to each keep in character and categorical her most pure and constructive emotion: pleasure. Whereas she has her mocking “ka-ka” giggle, she additionally has a second giggle to precise real happiness. Figuring out that that is what occurs in quite a lot of key scenes all through the movie Monogatarimaking some occasions much more tragic and others much more miraculous.
All in all, this was a fantastic little arc and I can not wait to see the conclusion because the sequence continues. Since Suicide-Grasp met Shinobu originally of her journey, I am curious to see her response on the finish.
Judgement:
Some enjoyable scenes to rewatch:
• Owarimonogatari Episode 18: When Shinobu is reunited with Araragi, she picks him up and spins him round (and later when she bullies Ononoki).
• Nisemonogatari Episode 11: Gaen challenges Shinobu to a battle.
• Monogatari sequence second season Episode 10: When Shinobu and Araragi Face the Parallel World Kiss-Shot.
MONOGATARI Sequence: OFF & MONSTER Season presently streaming on
Crispy bread.
