Monogatari Series Second Season - Episode 9 Discussion / Poll (Mayoi Jiangshi IV)

[Rurushoe]

Originally Posted by omimon

Also, recap episode.

Fuck this gay earth right?

I must have missed something, is the recap listed on the site or what?

[shinyaNakagawa]

Originally Posted by Rurushoe

I must have missed something, is the recap listed on the site or what?

It's the telop shown in between the episode parts perhaps.
I have also missed it.

[Wigwams]

I thought this was suppose to lead to Araragi saving Hanekawa from the tiger? I expected alot of action and for araragi to "lvl up" to the point of being able to take down that tiger in 1 hit...

[Dawn]

For the first time this season; I can't praise the visuals or music. Ah well.

Narrative and characters were fascinating as always. Hachikuji zombie survival spinoff please.

Originally Posted by shinyaNakagawa

no.
you are supposed to feel the emotion like when you are watching the last episode of AnoHana.

The Shinobu scenes didn't really do it for me either.
However, I got really warm and fuzzy feelings just watching the last few minutes with Hachikuji. Laughed out loud at the jokes and seeing her throw Araragi in the air was hilarious.
Reminded me of Nise ep1 and I got all nostalgic somehow >_<

Madoka PV so good.

[blakstealth]

HOLY FUCK MAN. HOLY FUCK

Mayoi Prime was awesome
AraragixShinobu was awesome
Seeing Oshino again was awesome
Finally seeing Kiss-shot in her prime, despite being half dead, was awesome
Kiss-shot getting patted was hhhnngggggg
Seeing present Mayoi throwing Araragi around like a rag doll was fucking awesome
And that PMMM ad at the end...icing on the cake.

[Nochgo]

Originally Posted by Rurushoe

I must have missed something, is the recap listed on the site or what?

A text actually flashed at the top of the screen in the episode, during the scene where Araragi and Shinobu were walking up the stairs to the shrine, that said next week was a recap episode.

Also, I was wondering why they were talking about jiangshi. Were they related in the story in anyway? Or was it just random chatter?

Overall I thought this was a great arc. We got tons of Shinobu after all kaka.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by konart

Most of the episode screams for major cosmetic work. No one from Shaft actually said "We're gonna do our best job for BD" It's just that... well it's Shaft. While other studios also spent some time polishing things for DB release - Shaft almost uses this as a trade mark

There certainly was an awful lot of static shots this episode. Good thing they have a recap coming huh?

They will definitely fix it on DVD. This is not up to par with a Shaft finished product.

[HandofFate]

Didn't expect the 'fight' to finish just like that. Though I guess it makes sense. Poor Kiss-Shot.
Couldn't see the text enough, but what did it say about the 4 "demon-killer" swords?
Only 1 was real while the others were fake?

Liked Oshino's letter and him teaming up with the con-man. Wouldn't mind an arc of just the 3 of them having adventures.

With some saying Kiss-Shot suppose to look like a rotting corpse, I can see why it was weird showing her like that.

I never read the novels, and I was confused when Shinobu commented on trying to burn herself to death, then it shows kisshot and....she doesn't look burnt at all and don't see any burn scars.

Adult Mayoi was nice.

I assume after this Araragi goes home, sees the letter, and helps Hanekawa?
What was the timeline of the cat story we saw last arc.

I assumed the text to Senjougahara about "don't worry about me, or don't look for me" was from right before he time traveled. So now I wonder how Araragi and Shinobu ended up getting separated somehow when they came back, or is that a latter episode maybe.

[FlareKnight]

Well I suppose the way it ended was better than Araragi and Shinobu going all dual-wield and trying to take down a powered up opponent like that. Just a good conversation and a way for this vampire to find the end she had been seeking.

Meeting the older Mayoi was pretty cool. Nice to see that they were off about whether or not she'd survive for long after being saved. Despite the fact the world ended she was doing pretty well and with many people returning to life at least she won't be alone out there. A bit of a happy conclusion though we only saw her for a little while.

[SQA]

This will look different on BluRay (it's a Monogatari, that's just the way that works, haha), but it still looked good. I especially want to give credit to the inventive way of showing Meme's letter. That was brilliantly done.

Oshino Meme is still insanely awesome... off screen.

23? year old Mayoi was, as she foretold, pretty stacked & looked great. Very Lara Croft like.

Did I spot a Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere reference in there, btw?

Was a great end to the arc. Half-dead Shinobu just wanted one last head pat from Araragi. So many layers to that relationship. I can see why the fans talk so highly about the story.

Ragdolled Araragi. I was not expecting a full throttled throw back to Nisemonogatari.

[Shikijin]

Originally Posted by Nochgo

Also, I was wondering why they were talking about jiangshi. Were they related in the story in anyway? Or was it just random chatter?

All the zombified townspeople were basically jiangshi. A bit of a liberal interpretation of what jiangshi means.

Originally Posted by HandofFate

Couldn't see the text enough, but what did it say about the 4 "demon-killer" swords?
Only 1 was real while the others were fake?

They were all replica of the original sword.

I assume after this Araragi goes home, sees the letter, and helps Hanekawa?
What was the timeline of the cat story we saw last arc.

The timeline is a bit more convoluted. NekoShiro spans a few days, as Hanekawa has time to sleep in the abandoned building, at Senjougahara's and Araragi's house. The beginning of NekoShiro is right when school starts again after the summer break (Hanekawa was at school when she saw her house burning), which is exactly the day this episode ended with.

Originally Posted by SQA

23? year old Mayoi was, as she foretold, pretty stacked & looked great. Very Lara Croft like.

Hachikuji died as a fifth grader 11 years before Bake, so she should be 21.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Nochgo

A text actually flashed at the top of the screen in the episode, during the scene where Araragi and Shinobu were walking up the stairs to the shrine, that said next week was a recap episode.

Also, I was wondering why they were talking about jiangshi. Were they related in the story in anyway? Or was it just random chatter?

Overall I thought this was a great arc. We got tons of Shinobu after all kaka.

Originally Jiangshi were suppose to be corpses that were being transported back to their homeland to be buried after dying far away. They were carried on bamboo poles with the poles under their armpits, and a two man team transports the body upright. It looks like a hopping zombie from a distance.

Add folklore, and you get Taoist masters using Asian Voodoo to re-animate the corpse so it can make the trip home under its own power.

All that references to dying in sunlight, drinking human blood and fangs? That's western vampire myths that was transplants into Asian culture in recent history.

Under these conditions, the most jiang-shi-like being in this arc is not the zombies or snail, but Yotsugi. She is the only reanimated corpse in the show.

[shinyaNakagawa]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

Didn't expect the 'fight' to finish just like that. Though I guess it makes sense. Poor Kiss-Shot.
Couldn't see the text enough, but what did it say about the 4 "demon-killer" swords?
Only 1 was real while the others were fake?

Liked Oshino's letter and him teaming up with the con-man. Wouldn't mind an arc of just the 3 of them having adventures.

With some saying Kiss-Shot suppose to look like a rotting corpse, I can see why it was weird showing her like that.

I never read the novels, and I was confused when Shinobu commented on trying to burn herself to death, then it shows kisshot and....she doesn't look burnt at all and don't see any burn scars.

Adult Mayoi was nice.

I assume after this Araragi goes home, sees the letter, and helps Hanekawa?
What was the timeline of the cat story we saw last arc.

I assumed the text to Senjougahara about "don't worry about me, or don't look for me" was from right before he time traveled. So now I wonder how Araragi and Shinobu ended up getting separated somehow when they came back, or is that a latter episode maybe.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novel:

1. All four blades were the replicas of the real one.
2. Adult Mayoi is 21 years old.
3. This arc is the first part of a two-parter which interconnected to Neko Shiro.
4. Araragi texted Senjougahara and Hanekawa in the morning before Shinobu and him met Mr. Hachikuji. It has been cut in the anime.

[Nachtwandler]

Arggh. I need the gif with mature Mayoi appearing.

[The Butcher]

Lawdy Mayoi getting shafted in her own arc was lolworthy.

Anyways, Kiss-shot stole the whole episode. I had a little bit of feels.

Also, was I the only one that had trouble keeping up with Oshino's letter?

[Daisu]

it was too rushed, and burnt corpse would been more fitting. Mayoi scenes were only redeemers in the episode ;\

[Kanon]

I don't get why this was called Mayoi Jiangshi. Mayoi was merely used as a plot device in her own arc. It was actually all about Shinobu. Mayoi fans must be disappointed, but they can at least find comfort in the fact they saw their favorite loli as a smoking hot grown-up woman. The final scene was nice too but this isn't enough to justify the name of the arc.

I'm actually not complaining, since I'm more of a Shinobu fan myself. I enjoyed learning more about her and watching her relationship with Araragi deepen. I liked how they resolved the whole conflict with Kisshot with a simple pat on the head. Somehow it was really heart-wrenching. She ended up like this because of a tiny mistake. It's really tragic.

This was good development for Araragi as well. Now that he knows what could happen if he got himself killed, perhaps he will be less reckless from now on, leading to the badass Araragi we saw in Neko White.

[shinyaNakagawa]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I don't get why this was called Mayoi Jiangshi. Mayoi was merely used as a plot device in her own arc.

The plot used is Araragi and Shinobu accidentally went back in time of a parallel dimension and Araragi got the idea of saving Hachikuji, from that event alone the world ended up in such mess. Changing Hachikuji's fate alone can change the whole future events. It is pretty simple isn't it?

[Shikijin]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I don't get why this was called Mayoi Jiangshi.

It seems that originally Mayoi was supposed to be the narrator of the book, but it proved too difficult to write so Nisio went back to Araragi.

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I don't get why this was called Mayoi Jiangshi. Mayoi was merely used as a plot device in her own arc. It was actually all about Shinobu. Mayoi fans must be disappointed, but they can at least find comfort in the fact they saw their favorite loli as a smoking hot grown-up woman. The final scene was nice too but this isn't enough to justify the name of the arc.

Isn't this how it usually is? Other than the intro arc of the characters, most of their focus ends up leapfrogging to the next.

Like in Nise. Kizu came right before it, so it focused on shinobu.
And in Karen Bees and Phoenix arcs, the girls had little relative screentime as well, and they had a lengthy closure scene in the next arc instead.