IncendiaryLemon
Captain Karen
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-11-01a332bca8jw1ewydj7rdxdj20bi0gojs4.jpg">
<b>Review of Owarimonogatari - Episodes 1-3 by IncendiaryLemon</b>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">Who is Ougi Oshino? That is a question that has been on the mind of every fan of </span><em>Monogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">ever since her (or his?) first appearance in </span><em>Monogatari</em><span style="background-color:transparent"> Second Season. There have been clues and hints ever since but the identity of the character still remains one of the biggest mysteries the show has yet to solve. Until now. </span><em>Owarimonogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">is the sixth title in the long running </span><em>Monogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">franchise and stands to unveil the answers to the mystery of Ougi Oshino as well as delving into the backstory of main protagonist Koyomi Araragi and bring to light what exactly makes him who he is.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">The series starts off with the 40 minute long double episode </span><em>Ougi Formula </em><span style="background-color:transparent">which sees Ougi and Araragi trapped inside a classroom by a supernatural force. The pair quickly deduce the room is an oddity created by a traumatic memory from Araragi’s freshmen years when his class president at the time, Sodachi Oikura, was looking for students who were cheating on their maths test, and refused to let the class leave until the culprits were found. In order to escape the room, the duo realise they have to find the culprits, something Araragi failed to do two years earlier.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">This opening episode is an excellent start to the series and manages to distinguish itself from the rest of the franchise by being rather unique. The episode is firmly planted in the Mystery genre, a genre the show has dabbled in before, but never to this extent, and it works fantastically. The mystery reels you in and whilst the show doesn’t give you much time to actually work out the mystery yourself, it still manages to be engaging throughout. This opening episode also manages to avoid a flaw that sometimes crops up in various </span><em>Monogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">episodes. Whilst the visuals are always amazing in </span><em>Monogatari</em><span style="background-color:transparent">, sometimes just showing two people talking gets boring if the conversations are especially long, which they often are. This episode always has something interesting happening on screen and this, once again, fully engages the audience for the full length of its 40 minute running time.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">Episodes 2 and 3 make up the arc </span><em>Sodachi Riddle </em><span style="background-color:transparent">which continues from where episode 1 ended with Araragi confronting Sodachi, who returned to school following a long absence </span></span></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12px">after being wrongly determined the culprit</span><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">. Sodachi begins to berate Araragi, claiming she despises him because he has a happy life and doesn’t know why. After the confrontation, Araragi confides in Ougi and determines the key to finding out about Sodachi’s hatred lies in the middle school where she and Araragi studied.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">This continues the mystery theme that started with the first episode, although to a lesser degree here. Despite her only being introduced in the previous episode and not having a lot of screen time, she manages to get quite a bit of character development. The revelations made in this episode give her character a lot of depth and makes her relationship with Araragi very interesting and I am very much looking forward to what happens with her character and what they do with said relationship. This episode as well as the previous one also goes into Araragi’s backstory, something that hasn’t really been touched on before (at least not in anime form) so it is very refreshing to see him getting development here. </span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">On the visual side, </span><em>Owarimonogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">continues the trend of topping it’s predecessors with the best visuals the series has had yet. The series tends to play a lot with different art styles which is always welcome and keeps it fresh and interesting. Even when it sticks with its standard art style, it still manages to look as unique as it always has with the iconic SHAFT touch. Ken Naito returns for his third outing as art director for the franchise and continues to do an amazing job.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">The voice acting remains as impressive as it’s predecessors with the highlights being Hiroshi Kamiya and Kaori Mizuhashi, who voice Araragi and Ougi respectively, and manage to carry a lot of this dialogue-driven show between them.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>In Summary</strong></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">The first three episodes of </span><em>Owarimonogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">are absolutely fantastic but I’ve come to expect nothing less from the franchise at this point. These three episodes have great stories, plentiful development for its characters and the series’ trademark gorgeous visuals. Even as far as this show goes, these episodes are excellent.</span></span></span><br>
<b>Final score: 9 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-01Capture.PNG">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-01Capture2.PNG">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-01Capture3.PNG">
<b>Review of Owarimonogatari - Episodes 1-3 by IncendiaryLemon</b>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">Who is Ougi Oshino? That is a question that has been on the mind of every fan of </span><em>Monogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">ever since her (or his?) first appearance in </span><em>Monogatari</em><span style="background-color:transparent"> Second Season. There have been clues and hints ever since but the identity of the character still remains one of the biggest mysteries the show has yet to solve. Until now. </span><em>Owarimonogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">is the sixth title in the long running </span><em>Monogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">franchise and stands to unveil the answers to the mystery of Ougi Oshino as well as delving into the backstory of main protagonist Koyomi Araragi and bring to light what exactly makes him who he is.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">The series starts off with the 40 minute long double episode </span><em>Ougi Formula </em><span style="background-color:transparent">which sees Ougi and Araragi trapped inside a classroom by a supernatural force. The pair quickly deduce the room is an oddity created by a traumatic memory from Araragi’s freshmen years when his class president at the time, Sodachi Oikura, was looking for students who were cheating on their maths test, and refused to let the class leave until the culprits were found. In order to escape the room, the duo realise they have to find the culprits, something Araragi failed to do two years earlier.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">This opening episode is an excellent start to the series and manages to distinguish itself from the rest of the franchise by being rather unique. The episode is firmly planted in the Mystery genre, a genre the show has dabbled in before, but never to this extent, and it works fantastically. The mystery reels you in and whilst the show doesn’t give you much time to actually work out the mystery yourself, it still manages to be engaging throughout. This opening episode also manages to avoid a flaw that sometimes crops up in various </span><em>Monogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">episodes. Whilst the visuals are always amazing in </span><em>Monogatari</em><span style="background-color:transparent">, sometimes just showing two people talking gets boring if the conversations are especially long, which they often are. This episode always has something interesting happening on screen and this, once again, fully engages the audience for the full length of its 40 minute running time.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">Episodes 2 and 3 make up the arc </span><em>Sodachi Riddle </em><span style="background-color:transparent">which continues from where episode 1 ended with Araragi confronting Sodachi, who returned to school following a long absence </span></span></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12px">after being wrongly determined the culprit</span><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">. Sodachi begins to berate Araragi, claiming she despises him because he has a happy life and doesn’t know why. After the confrontation, Araragi confides in Ougi and determines the key to finding out about Sodachi’s hatred lies in the middle school where she and Araragi studied.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">This continues the mystery theme that started with the first episode, although to a lesser degree here. Despite her only being introduced in the previous episode and not having a lot of screen time, she manages to get quite a bit of character development. The revelations made in this episode give her character a lot of depth and makes her relationship with Araragi very interesting and I am very much looking forward to what happens with her character and what they do with said relationship. This episode as well as the previous one also goes into Araragi’s backstory, something that hasn’t really been touched on before (at least not in anime form) so it is very refreshing to see him getting development here. </span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">On the visual side, </span><em>Owarimonogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">continues the trend of topping it’s predecessors with the best visuals the series has had yet. The series tends to play a lot with different art styles which is always welcome and keeps it fresh and interesting. Even when it sticks with its standard art style, it still manages to look as unique as it always has with the iconic SHAFT touch. Ken Naito returns for his third outing as art director for the franchise and continues to do an amazing job.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">The voice acting remains as impressive as it’s predecessors with the highlights being Hiroshi Kamiya and Kaori Mizuhashi, who voice Araragi and Ougi respectively, and manage to carry a lot of this dialogue-driven show between them.</span></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>In Summary</strong></span></span><br>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:transparent">The first three episodes of </span><em>Owarimonogatari </em><span style="background-color:transparent">are absolutely fantastic but I’ve come to expect nothing less from the franchise at this point. These three episodes have great stories, plentiful development for its characters and the series’ trademark gorgeous visuals. Even as far as this show goes, these episodes are excellent.</span></span></span><br>
<b>Final score: 9 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-01Capture.PNG">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-01Capture2.PNG">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-01Capture3.PNG">