MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season

Episodes 1-3

MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season dares to ask the question, “What would the Monogatari series be without its protagonist, Koyomi Araragi?” The answer? The same darn good show filled with surreal visuals and clever wordplay that it's always been.

The first episode is a fun little one-off. It revisits one of the central characters of Nisemonogatari, Tsukihi—and the living corpse/magical girl wannabe tasked with watching to make Tsukihi doesn't inadvertently cause a disaster. While funny and somewhat predictable in its execution, this episode shows what truly makes Tsukihi a terrifying monster.

It's not that Tsukihi's an immortal oddity, forever fated to be reborn to unsuspecting women, it's that she is, by her very nature, unable to learn from her mistakes. The reason misfortunes happen around her is that any wound, physical or mental is instantly healed. Thus, she acts completely on a whim—with a selfish brashness that can't help but cause problems for others. After all, as far as she remembers, everything always seems to work out for her in the end.

With the second episode, we start the first big arc of this season—one focused on Nadeko. Nadeko has had one heck of an arc over the entirety of the Monogatari Series so far. She's gone from shy girl to outgoing girl, to angry girl, to literal god—and now to shut-in recluse. However, the key defining part of the present Nadeko is that without her memories—and therefore, her attachment—to Koyomi, she can focus on what truly matters to her: her dream of drawing manga.

Unfortunately, her life is thrown into chaos when her parents demand that she either go to high school or get a job—and she (as the immature kid she is) sees both options as giving up on her dream. Thus, her only way out is to become a pro manga artist right out of middle school. So in a mad plan to become a master artist before the end of middle school, she creates copies of herself based on who she was at various points in the past to help her improve as an artist—and, of course, as they don't share her dream in the slightest, they scatter to the four winds and start getting into trouble.

What comes from this is an insanely heavy-handed metaphor taken to the extreme for the sake of comedy and self-reflection. Nadeko is literally and figuratively running from herself and trying to find herself. To catch herself, she is forced to confront who she is, was, and wants to be. She may have changed in some ways but that doesn't mean she didn't do all the things she did. She can't simply separate herself from them as if they were done by other people. It's a super cool way to explore her character on a deeper level and I'm more than excited for the rest of the arc.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't point out how amazing the animation is in this series. While the first episode has tons of creative shots and great use of color, the second and third episodes kick things up to an even higher notch with the constant combination of manga and game aesthetics to keep things visually interesting throughout—no matter how deep we get into the monologuing or pontificating. Better still, all the visuals manage to be either poignant on a metaphorical level or at the very least related to what's going on in the story—no matter how abstract they might seem at first glance.

This show is truly off to a fantastic start and I'm just happy to be along for the ride.

Episode 1 Rating:

Episode 2 Rating:

Episode 3 Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Tsukihi can be freaking terrifying.

• It's nice to see that Nadeko has support and can make her way through supernatural craziness, even without Koyomi around.

• I'm interested in the limit of Nadeko's powers. At this point, she seems like she could become the ultimate oddity creator—so I can see why she might end up being targeted by hunters.

• Having Nadeko and Sodachi play off each other to highlight how they are similar people at different stages of a similar journey to adulthood is a great touch.

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