LogFAQs > #913989858

Alright, now I'm done Shinobu Mail and with it the first season of Owarimonogatari. That was definitely a step up from the last few arcs, but nowhere near enough to reach the upper echelons of the series.

I liked how it brought a lot of previous events together, obviously running concurrently with Hanekawa's tiger story and also dealing with the aftermath of that Hachikuji story and revisiting Shinobu's past. There were a lot of loose threads that finally came together, and I appreciated the craftsmanship that must've went into setting all of that up and keeping it coherent.

Sadly, I found the actual plot of this arc to be rather lacking, especially compared to what I feel it could have been. Shinobu's first minion returns and they only had one quick scene together as she eats him. I'm having trouble gathering my thoughts to explain exactly why, but I just didn't find it satisfying after all that build-up. I'm imagining a Monogatari-style episode long conversation between Shinobu and her minion and I would have vastly preferred that. I'm sure there's a poignancy that would have been lost and an argument for why this was the best way to handle it... but it wasn't for me I guess.

Not a bad arc by any stretch. I liked Gaen tracing all the plot threads from the past to the present, how it fit with all the other arcs, Araragi's interactions with the first minion were neat... but when it came time for what should have been the big emotional payoff, I felt nothing. Ah well, next up is Koyomimonogatari and then one more season!
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**R.O.B.A.Z.O.I.D**