Koimonogatari-9/10
Another fantastic arc in Monogatari second season. While I don't think it was quite as good as the last 3 arcs that proceeded it, I still really enjoyed it. The choice to have Kaiki as the protagonist for this arc was quite out of left field. I had heard from some people that this arc will make you like Kaiki but I never expected the story would follow him. I actually really enjoyed having him as the lead character for this arc. Much like Sengoku in her arc this season, Kaiki was a character that was underdeveloped in his only previous appearance in Nisemonogatari and received significant development here and it changed my opinion of him a lot. What was particularly interesting was the conversation with Ononoki where it turns out Kaiki broke up Senjogahara's family for her benefit and it completely changes your perception of the character. I also liked watching the relationship between Kaiki and Senjogahara in their many scenes together this arc, it was an interesting pairing that I didn't think that we would see and was once again kind of out of nowhere. My only issue is I think the pacing got a little too slow in some places and Kaiki getting (presumably) killed at the end seemed a little unnecessary and tacked on. Other than that, I really liked this arc. It brought good closure to both Kaiki as well as Sengoku. The only loose end that wasn't tied up was Ougi. She was a pretty big mystery throughout all the arcs, and Kaiki mentioning that it's impossible for him to have a Niece makes it even more interesting, yet it was never resolved. I'm just going to hope that it is later down the line.
Monogatari Season 2-9/10
Despite the rocky start with Nekomonogatari Shiro, which I feel is the weakest arc out of the entire franchise, Monogatari took what was done in the previous shows, Bakemonogatai and Nisemonogatari, and improved on it in pretty much every way. The visuals are the best they have ever been, and the style of the show still remains one of it's biggest strengths, as it has such an amazing and unique look, every scene, no matter how mundane, manages to look absolutely gorgeous. The voice acting remains just as good as in the previous shows, and the soundtrack is also still great. The characters throughout get a lot of development and characters that were overlooked and underdeveloped before such as Ononoki, Sengoku and Kaiki get a tonne of development here and it really puts them in a new light. The stories in this arc also got a bit more adventurous, not always relying on the aberration of the week formula that we previously saw in Bake and Nise and instead served to change things up, for the better. Monogatari second season is easily the franchise peak so far, managing to tone down the sometimes impenetrable dialogue from Bake and Nise somewhat, making it a more enjoyable experience. Here's hoping Hanamonogatari and Tsukimonogatari continue this trend.
Also for those interested, I'll collate my individual reviews for each arc here:
Nekomonogatari: Shiro-8.5/10
Man am I conflicted on this one. I'll say this is probably my least favourite Monogatari arc. Not to say I didn't like it, it's still really good, but in comparison to the others, it felt a little lacking. First of all, I'll get some personal bias out of the way. I don't really find Hanekawa that interesting. Sure she isn't completely boring and she is well developed but out of the 5 or 6 main girls in Monogatari I think she is the second least interesting, next to Sengoku. So, as you can probably guess, an arc where she is the central character wasn't boding well for me anyway. On top of that, this is the third Hanekawa focused arc and the second consecutively so I'm kind of burnt out on that character, which I don't find interesting to being with. I also felt this arc was really hurt by the lack of Araragi. He was a really relatable protagonist and, in my opinion, really grounded the show as well as bringing a lot of the humour to the show, which this arc also lacked, which was another thing I was disappointed by. I also thought the first two episodes of the 5 episode arc were too slow, even by Monogatari standards. I think this arc really would have benefited being 4 episodes rather than 5. All that aside, the art and animation is as good as it's ever been, if not better, the writing is still as good as previous arcs and the other three episodes gave some good development to Hanekawa, the last episode in particular being incredible and made me like Hanekawa a whole lot more. As I said, this was still really good and really enjoyable but just not as much as previous arcs
Kabukimonogatari-9/10
After a slightly shaky start with Neko Shiro, Kabuki brings Monogatari Second Season back up to the standards of the previous arcs IMO. This arc might have become one of my favourites of the entire franchise, mainly because of it's story. It's very different from any other arc in the fact that it's more story focused than character focused and I like that, it's a good change of pace and the story is excellent, although I love a good time travel story so maybe I'm a little bias. This story restores the humour that Neko Shiro lacked so much and I'm very glad about it. It didn't go overboard with it and it still had it's serious moments but the humour sprinkled in was definitely appreciated. It kind of goes without saying at this point but the art and animation in this was superb and I especially liked the use of colour in this arc. The only thing I thought it lacked was the Hachikuji. Considering her name is in the title of the episodes and the story revolves around her in this arc, she really didn't get much screen time. This goes double for Adult Hachikuji who despite being on the box only gets one short scene. But that aside, I really loved this arc.
Otorimonogatari-9/10
I really enjoyed this arc. Whilst I wasn't keen on the entire focus being on Hanekawa during her arc, I didn't mind the focus on Sengoku here. We didn't learn much about her character in her Bake arc, so this was very welcome. This arc gave the character a ton of development that she lacked before and I really enjoyed this arc almost solely for that fact. As with the other arcs, the art and animation looks amazing and the writing is still great and there was some good humour sprinkled in, although not as much as previous arcs. The only thing I didn't like was the kind of abrupt ending but after enquiring in the Monogatari community, I learned that it is wrapped up in the final arc, so I can't really hold it against it however having the conclusion to your arc happen 4+ episodes later is kind of odd. Yet another great arc, definitely up there with the previous arc. Monogatari Second Season is turning out to be amazing.
Onimonogatari-9/10
Monogatari season 2 continues it's trend of putting out series best arcs. First of all, I want to say that I think that the staff really messed up when it came to the naming of the arcs. This was more of a Hachikuji arc than the actual Hachikuji arc this season, yet this was supposed to be a Shinobu arc despite her not being the focus at all yet played a key part in the Hachikuji arc. Kind of weird. Anyway, what I really enjoyed about this arc was the slower pace compared to the last 2 arcs. Both of those arcs have been quite hectic and fast paced and this provides a nice breather between the previous arc and what I am sure will be a very fast paced 6 part finale. It took it slow without ever becoming boring. The dialogue is as on point as always and the show still looks gorgeous. However, the best part, by far, was the ending. Well the last episode as a whole really. It's hard to describe without spoiling so I'll have to go into spoilers for a while. Personally, I thought that the Hachikuji send off was pretty much perfectly done. It's been something I felt has been looming ever since her first arc back in Bake, as if I recall she says she will only be around for "a little while longer" and I've been expecting it since, although I was certain it was going to happen back in her arc in the season, not Shinobu's. In her last scene, you can genuinely feel how much that Araragi cares for Hachikuji and I thought it was really well done. Not sure if I can completely get behind the kiss, but still I thought it was a franchise highlight. It's also very different to see Araragi actually loose something. As brought up in the episode, he hasn't lost before, he always finds a way, but here, for the first time, we see him completely helpless, and you really sympathise with him. The end really got to me. I've never cried at a piece of media before, and I doubt I will but I've come close on some occasions. While this wasn't as on the brink as the finale to K-On, I'd be lying if I didn't say I had a small lump in my throat. My only real complaint about this arc was the absolute exposition dump that was episode 2. Whilst it was interesting learning about Shinobu's past, I don't think it needed to take up the whole 20 minutes. Other than that, this arc was great.