MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season

Episode 6.5

Whenever a “.5” episode comes out, I tend to sigh. The vast majority of the time, “.5” is simply shorthand for “recap episode.” The creators had more slots to fill than they had episodes to make so they just stitch together a few key scenes from recent episodes, record a narration, and call it a day. This episode of MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season is anything but that.

Instead of a recap, this episode is the origin story of legendary oddity Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade told in the form of a fairy tale. Now, we've heard parts of this story before but have never seen in detail the tragedy that was Shinobu's life from the very start.

Shinobu is a woman defined by her loneliness—a loneliness she is never able to truly escape up until the events of the Monogatari Series. At least originally, this was through no fault of her own. She was simply born beautiful—so beautiful that that was all anyone ever saw in her. No one even bothered to try to get to know the person inside. They were too enchanted by the outer shell.

So Shinobu wished for people to see who she really was—only to find out that her inner beauty far eclipsed her outer beauty. So great was it that instead of gifts, poems, and songs, people began to give up the things they valued most in praise of it—and for most people, this was their very lives.

The tragedy of the story is that, even after all this, no one could actually see her for her. They still saw the beauty, nothing else. Shinobu's real wish had been for a friend, and instead of getting one, she was left with a mountain of corpses offered up to only the most superficial parts of her. At least before, there had been people around her—a family that loved her. But now, she was truly alone—and would remain so for hundreds of years.

All this gives us an insight into Shinobu—most notably her actions in Kizumonogatari and Owarimonogatari. Her connections with Shishirui and Araragi are far more than sire and minion. They were people who could see her in a way no one else could—not as just a mythic beauty or even a legendary vampire but as her. With them, she was no longer alone. It now makes more sense than ever why Shishirui's suicide broke her on a base level—to the point where she would rather die than have the same happen to Araragi.

The presentation of this episode only makes it better. Rather than the art style you'd expect from Monogatari, this episode is instead shown as a series of static scenes made out of sheet metal cutouts. Then, we get Maaya Sakamoto, Shinobu's voice actress reading the fairy tale. It's just fantastic from start to finish.

Honestly, I can't understand why this episode was called a “.5” beyond that it is only half as long as a normal episode. Not only is it a beautiful work of art, on par with the rest of the series in its own special way, but also a vital piece of Monogatari backstory conveyed in a unique way. It pains me to think how many people will see the “.5” and skip this one entirely. Truly, it will be their loss.

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MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.