One of the best arcs so far Disclaimer: This review has spoilers for the whole Nekomonogatari Kuro anime Bakemonogatari anime and the Kizumonogatari movies. It also includes some lewd scenes. I think I can be more concise with this preview considering my previous one where I summarized a lot of the plot without noticing. This story is so precious even more after the events of Kizumonogatari. This series keep amazing me every time with each part I see and well as this part is the final part of season one I think it did its job perfectly. Its kinda funny how Monogatari is just a back and forth all the time first with Bakemonogatari going back to Kizumonogatari then Nisemonogatari going back to Nekomonogatari Kuro. Im loving the dynamic no need to lie here because I prefer this instead of the usual stupid flashbacks that cant even explain the story at a proper pace. In my opinion this arc is one of the most interesting ones so far mostly because I find the character of Hanekawa Tsubasa extremely interesting and I really want to know more about her and her past especially her past with Koyomi. We all know about what happened in Golden Week since a couple of flashbacks in Bakemonogatari explain the situation really well but I want to share my opinion on the matter. As we already know the Sawarineko is an oddity that has the ability to possess someone manifesting under huge loads of stress. To relieve that stress it uses its signature ability energy drain. Once its job is done it leaves but in this case it didnt. Thats because Tsubasas nature wasnt typical at all she didnt act like an average human being she was hiding her feelings all the time suppressing them. In Kizumonogatari we start seeing more about her shes very kind to Koyomi even after meeting him from just a couple of minutes shes very indulgent. She doesnt mind Koyomi seeing her panties she doesnt mind Koyomi touching her braless breasts she doesnt mind anything she just does whatever everyone wants her to do. Ecchi GIF below She obviously shows how shy shes about the situation its not a normal situation after all but why does she have to be that indulgent? She just acts like that because its the nice thing to do or because its what a girl should do. This brings us back to the time they meet the Sawarineko. She and Koyomi buried him but was it due to empathy from Tsubasa? Was it due to real kindness? No it was because if an adolescent girl sees a runover cat on the street she must bury it. She didnt do it out of respect for the cat she didnt do it because she felt bad for the cat she just did it because its what should be done. A lot of people might not like Tsubasa because of that attitude a person that never complains about anything but I always understood that there was a reason why she acted like that in the first place. Shes obviously doing all of that on purpose shes doing that because after all this time it has become the norm for her and honestly the whole situation hurts to watch because seeing someone being that selfless someone that doesnt really value herself at all... its really hard. We also know shes deeply in love with Koyomi but this time we start to understand more about why theyre not together. I also wondered for a long time why was that the case because they seem really compatible they literally like each other but the answer to that is not that simple. Nekomonogatari Kuro happens before Bakemonogatari as we all know so Koyomi hasnt met Senjougahara Hitagi yet. The only friend Koyomi has at the moment is none other than Hanekawa Tsubasa. Koyomi likes everything about her he admires her. He thinks that shes better than everyone in everything that she knows everything even though she only knows what she knows that shes perfect. On the other side Tsubasa doesnt see Koyomi as an equal she would die for him she would do anything for him but she wouldnt die with him. Thats because she just sees Koyomi as a thing she can fix. Thats how Kizumonogatari starts after all after Tsubasa catched an eye on him after hearing about him at school she started to notice that Koyomi was a flawed boy. He didnt go to school very often and had bad grades and also the fact of him not having any friends. Tsubasa made Koyomi his little project that person she could fix and make better. And even though she did help him in the end her love for him is not healthy because as I said it comes from a position where she just sees him as a lesser being even if she doesnt notice it. Black Hanekawa is the manifestation of everything she has suppressed all this time. Her feelings her way of thinking her actions... All this time I just thought that Black Hanekawa was the manifestation of the Sawarineko but Nekomonogatari proved me wrong. Even though the Sawarineko is still inside of her its not the same entity that possessed her at the beginning. After the entity was done with whatever was causing her stress it attempted to leave but well that didnt go as planned because in the end the one that wanted it to stay... was Tsubasa herself. At that time she fused with the Sawarineko forming something completely new. Thats Black Hanekawa just another side of her thats dependant of the cat oddity. A side of her that she doesnt want to look at a side of her that she doesnt want to aknowledge as her even if in the end that part of her might be more real than her real self. I really love these analogies I love how NISIOISIN managed to write something this good something with a lot of character depth and something really relatable and realistic. Tsubasa wont face her real self the version of her that makes her imperfect the version of her that makes her human just in the attempt of being perfect the version of her that the world expects to see a version of her that just hurts her every day of her life. Thats the reason of her stress being someone thats not her being a fake being someone so hypocrite because she wants to help Koyomi she wants to be useful when in the end she cant even help herself. Going back to the question why cant Koyomi and Tsubasa be together? Why cant they have a romantic relationship? Well with all of this explanation its very simple: its just toxic. They are bad for each other theyll never see each other as equals and even if Tsubasa doesnt understand that Koyomi does. Koyomi understands that everything going on around Tsubasa is not healthy at all not for her not for him but he wants to help her anyways but as her friend. Araragi Koyomi will learn to love someone else than Hanekawa Tsubasa even if it hurts his valuable friend even if it makes things worse for her and even if it hurts him a lot in the end. Nothing is perfect no human is after all. Im really looking forward to see more about Tsubasa I absolutely love her character and where her story is going to so I have high expectations of Nekomonogatari Shiro. Oh yeah and it was really funny seeing how Shinobus obsession for donuts started along with the appearance of the Demon Sword Heart Span for the second time.