© 西尾維新／講談社・アニプ
Last week, with all the information we had gathered, it was possible to figure out who was behind the vampire attacks in the city: Kiseki Souwa. This episode is all about spelling that deduction out piece by piece while adding Suicide Master’s account to fill in any potential gaps.
What we are left with is a mess of vampiric failures. Much like Shinobu wanted to put on airs in front of Suicide Master, Suicide Master wanted to do the same in front of Shinobu. As this was a matter of pride, it overrode the immortal vampire’s other prideful decision to only feed on the best of humans—and so she chose to feed on the first easy target she saw: Kiseki.
From this came a string of bad luck. Suicide Master was struck by food poisoning (likely from the emotionally toxic state of the girls’ basketball team) and became a mummy. Meanwhile, Kiseki became a vampire but not a minion to Suicide Master—and so buried the elder vampire in a shallow grave. And with her newfound power, she went around getting revenge on the others in the club by sucking their blood and mummifying them.
At the same time, she made the mistake of treating her blood-sucking spree as if it’d be investigated like a criminal investigation instead of a supernatural one—trying to obfuscate what was happening by leaving fake clues all over the place and hoping to pin everything on Suicide Master. However, having little things like a god as a friend and a vampire living in your shadow change how investigations are run—not to mention being able to take a quick trip to heaven or hell.
The issue now facing Araragi is the simple fact that Gaen and the police are protecting all the current members of the club. Thus, if Kiseki wants to continue her revenge, the only unguarded targets are the soon-to-graduate students like Kanbaru who have retired from the basketball team. And thanks to Araragi’s meddling, all those girls have been gathered in one place.
Thus, the episode ends with a comedic bit as Araragi invites himself to a girls’ pajama party—only to discover that he’s infamous for all the wrong reasons. But as silly as the ensuing conversation is, the danger remains. A vampire is on the loose—and who better to stop them than a person with more than a bit of personal experience in the matter?
Rating:
Random Thoughts:
• Why does going vampire make Kiseki a blond? Araragi’s hair stayed the same…
• Araragi is known as Hanekawa’s friend, Senjogahara’s boyfriend, Sodachi’s childhood friend (she might debate that point), and Kanbaru’s “master.” Also, the only delinquent to ever graduate from their school.
• On that note, I always forget that Araragi’s supernatural problems over his senior year caused him to miss a lot of school and be seen as a delinquent.
• I love that both Suicide Master and Shinobu do all this stuff in the name of pride only to throw it out the window when it’s just the two of them.
MONOGATARI Series: OFF & MONSTER Season is currently streaming on
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