This season of Monogatari represents how learning to forgive someone can help make a better future for ourselves and the people around us.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
In this review, I want to go over the arcs presented in this season and the meanings I got out of them. Before that, I want to talk about a highlight that I liked a lot about this season. The OST. This is the best that it's ever been so far. So many of the OSTs this season had me feel so immersed and they enhanced the emotions heavily as well. I needed to pause the show multiple times in order to search for the specific theme that I was hearing too lol.
Ougi Formula ArcOugi has been a very mysterious and interesting character ever since she's been introduced and she remains this way for the whole season, too. What I like about her and Araragi's interactions in this arc is that they feel so connected with each other. I also love how Ougi uses Araragi's words against him and even digs deeper into the things he says. In some ways, she acted as if she's Araragi's inner consciousness with how she would think about the other sides of his decisions. It was really cool to see Araragi's beliefs getting challenged by someone, especially in a situation where he's trapped with the person. Lastly, I liked how Araragi's backstory showed us a root for the person he is today and I liked his inner conflict with righteousness from the whole situation.
Sodachi Riddle & Lost Arcs
These arcs were amazing at showing us how big of an impact other people can have on us. But, these arcs mainly displayed how people can perceive these impacts as either a positive or a negative. For example, Araragi grown to become a better student because of his time with Oikura. He got into the high school where he ultimately met his future girlfriend who convinced him to apply for a college to improve his life. Even though Araragi doesn't recognize at first how big of an impact Sodachi had on his life, it ultimately made him become a person who he's proud of today. However, the negative side of this is shown with how Oikura perceived Araragi's role in her life. Araragi's peaceful life at home was a huge contrast from her chaotic one that she has to survive in. When she realizes how nice Araragi lives, she gets inspired to work towards living the same way in her home. This ultimately doesn't work out for her at all and she starts to internally blame Araragi for having something that she could never have. She's does everything in her power to make it seem like Araragi is at fault for her issues but in the end no one can really control her life instead of herself. Hanekawa resonates with Oikura's situation and tells her the lesson that she also had to learn the hard way.
"We can only help ourselves have the future we want." After they find out the real reason for Oikura's mother's disappearance, Araragi shows that he still wants to help Oikura live a better life even if it means he would have to be a stepping stone for her achieving true happiness. I really do like these 2 arcs a lot for showing us a new character's conflict and providing more of Araragi's background at the same time.
Shinobu Mail
This arc was another one that caught me off guard because of the name and it also unexpectedly hit me hard, too. I love this arc for building up Araragi and Kanburu's chaotic friendship and providing more background information for apparitions as well. Another big focus of this arc is the acts of selfishness. Selfishness doesn't always have negative intentions, but sometimes the result can always be negative despite the intention. Shinobu's first minion, Seishirou, wants to meet Shinobu again and we learn that he's always remained alive even after 400 years of his suicide taking place. He revived himself in order to meet with her again, but after all that he's done, Shinobu wants nothing to do with him. This leads to him challenging Araragi for a duel to have her again and this shows how big of an impact Shinobu's selfish actions can have on others. She doesn't want to meet with Seishirou because she feels like things are already over, but if she keeps ignoring him there will only be more damage. Kanburu's speech to Shinobu is easily one of my favorite moments in this whole show because we get to see how much she's matured from Senjougahara's rejection. Kanburu's amazing speech to Shinobu shows how even though she knows the pain of not being with someone who felt like they belonged to you, she knows that it's the right thing to break things off properly rather than letting them fade away.
This arc was almost as profound to me as Hitagi's end because of how amazing the messages were especially at the end. This show has mainly revolved around growing teenagers who feel like they know all of the notions of the world, but each conflict says otherwise. It's beautiful how they take the philosophies of Kaiki and learn that there are no absolutes in human relationships. If there's someone who is better for us than who we have today, we should take them. We are never special only to one person but to so many. Yet, this won't stop us from becoming more special to someone or ultimately deteriorating to others. The only thing we can do is change ourselves for what we think is better and stay with the people who fit with our change. Even though it's true that we can replace the people in our lives with others, we will never have the same people who made us who we are today. I miss the people who I thought would stay forever in my life, but even though they are gone from my world, they're impact will forever be permanent in my life.
Owarimonogatari taught me that it's my decision to interpret people's actions as either a positive or negative impact on my life. I think that it's important for us to forgive the ones who done us pain in our past because it's in our control to look forward for a happy ending in our future. Because at the end of the day, time might not be infinite, but it'll always help us get back on our feet.