Koimonogatari

Araragi, a high school student and supernatural problem solver, and Shinobu, his 500-year-old vampire companion, would have been killed by the junior high girl turned Goddess Sengoku Nadeko, had Senjougahara, Araragi’s girlfriend, not stepped in to postpone their fate. Now, with only 74 days until Sengoku takes her vengeance, Senjougahara turns to an unlikely source of help in the form of Kaiki Deishuu, a renowned con artist. She asks him to save her own life, as well as her lover Araragi’s, a request that Kaiki reluctantly accepts. Can Kaiki pull off the biggest or con of his career – or will Sengoku see through his deceit?

Koimonogatari– also known as Hitagi End –  picks up after the events of Otorimonogatari and is the fifth and final entry in Monogatari Second Season and manages to maintain the series’ high quality by delivering a satisfying end to the season.

What makes Koimonogatari stand out among the various other Monogatari arcs is its protagonist Kaiki Deishuu. This is the first time Kaiki has made an appearance in Monogatari since his role as an antagonist in the Karen Bee arc of Nisemonogatari. His return is welcome as he is quite different from Araragi, who serves as the protagonist for most of the series, and this makes the arc quite refreshing to watch. Much like Sengoku in Otorimonogatari, Kaiki gets the character development that he needed but didn’t get in his previous appearance. By the end of Koimonogatari, the opinion I had of the character had done a complete 180 and revelations get made throughout the arc that put not only his character in a different light, but the entire story. Another highlight is the interactions between Kaiki and Senjougahara. This is something else that was underutilised in the past but is brought to the forefront of this arc and the banter and interaction between the two characters is quite fun to watch.

The visuals of this arc, much like the rest of Monogatari Second Season, remain one of its best features. Hisaharu Iijima returns as art director, continuing to give the show an art style that is incredibly unique and gorgeous to look at with. This is a show where you could take any frame of the show and hang it on a wall. The soundtrack by Satoru Kousaki also remains stellar, as is the OP, which is performed by Chiwa Saito and Shinichiro Miki, the voice actors for Senjougahara and Kaiki respectively, and the ED by Luna Haruna and Marina Kawano.

Monogatari currently isn’t dubbed, so this release is subtitled only with Japanese audio. The voice acting, much like the rest of the series, is top notch. The stand-outs here are Chiwa Saito and Shinichiro Miki who voice Senjougahara and Kaiki respectively. The show is very dialogue-driven so the voice actors do a lot to carry the show, especially the two leads, who give fantastic performances.

My only issue with this arc is with its pacing. Around Episode 4 it starts to drag a little bit and, seeing that it’s Monogatari, it is very talky and that can get a little tiresome if you’re watching a lot of episodes in a row. That being said, it’s just par for the course when it comes to this franchise, so it could be taken as either a positive or negative.

The extras on this disc include a Clean OP and ED as well as TV Spots and Trailers.

In Summary

The final arc in Monogatari Second Season is a great one, wrapping up a lot of loose ends created throughout the show whilst also setting up new questions that I’m sure will be answered in a future series, and ends the franchise’s best season so far on a high note.