Where do I even begin?
When it probably ends?

Owaridamonogatari is the penultimate end to the Final Season of Monogatari but with the context that we have now and 2 other whole seasons published at this point but no official English Release or Anime announcements, we can truly say that this is the big ending of the Monogatari series and what it was leading up to (excluding Zoku which I will get to before 2022 ends as intended). So I won't get sentimental here and save it for the next entry that is split up while this amalgamation of aberrations into 3 whole volumes of material covering Ougi Formula, Sodachi Puzzle, Sodachi Lost, Shinobu Mail, Mayoi Hell, Hitagi Rendevous, and Ougi Dark. What a stretch. Even though we were supposed to get to the end, we went back in time to set up that end. Maybe it was the right way to do things because Isin hid this information until the end for it to have the impact it has. Maybe this was what was intended because the reveal of Ougi which I couldn't quite understand until Araragi says it himself in the anime left me feeling lackluster was doubly enhanced on this read-through because I knew what an ordinary thing Ougi was. I ended up on both sides of what Gaen said in a mystery novel which Ougi and in essence Isin loves. Owarimonogatari felt the most Zaregoto for me. From the locked room throwback in Formula to the detective reveal's twists and turns in Ougi Dark as well as the "don't expect me to spoil you Araragi", this was one big homeage to Isin's past. To the human that probably was the most self-critical of themselves but kept on going. For the one that turned the genius into success with repetition. That effort paid off immensely as even though he might have changed while writing, he himself was the same. Nisi o isiN is nisI o Isin.

Your favorite section or maybe least favorite section of these reviews: The Short Stories! I only read two for this installment which were Yotsugi Stress and Utsukushihime finishing off the two I had left in the Heroine Series. There are a few attached to Zoku so I still have plenty to read don't worry about me. Yotsugi set a foundation of a bunch of monsters talking about their ideals while the other is the prologue? first chapter? of the first arc in Monster? Off? Season (Idk which one comes first I haven't thought about reading digitally because I will hate that I can't read physically anymore) and it was beautiful and got me hella excited for it. Although with the announcement of Zaregoto Vol 10 coming in 2023, I most likely will put off the next 2 seasons of Monogatari until I read that one. Maybe. Who knows. Anyways, Owarimonogatari actually references so many of the short stories. The first 2 in Koyomimonogatari in Ougi Formula and why Araragi is so trusting of Ougi because he knows of two other students that survey the school they attend so it feels natural even if it's very unnatural. Hitagi Running was mentioned in Sodachi Puzzle. Shinobu Mail is given because I couldn't even read Yotsugi Stress until I read that part because it stems from the end of the fight mentioned here, but Bon appetite is used which gave me the encouragement to read the last Heroine story as well (although you could consider it spoiling myself for Wazamonogatari, it was rewritten years ago so my justification is fair game but like Owari is all about, the justification is based entirely on you as an individual at the present moment). Shinobu mail also ask Gaen pose the choice between girlfriend, loli, savior, and family which was brought up in the Nise Short Story collection intitially from Shinobu as the question asker instead of Gaen. Hitagi Rendevous mentions Tsubasa Song in a funny way. I am sure I missed more but it's ok. I don't even have much to say about the story itself like what most of my reviews devolve into, but I shall see you all in Zoku before the year ends.