You won’t find much more of a split personality in an episode than that one. Mononogatari got very dark indeed there, but not before giving us another round of the same romcom hijinks as last week. I’m still not necessarily sure the series is all that good at that sort of thing, but it makes a change of pace, anyway. Still, I feel like it’s more at home with the material in the B-part (or with something that’s kind of halfway between the two extremes).
The girls in Botan’s Hyakunin Isshu club certainly get painted with the loser brush. Desperate at the very least, to the point where they lure young men into the clubroom and lock the door behind them. Let’s be honest here – if you can’t hook up on a college campus you’re seriously doing something wrong. But hey, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say the guys at Botan’s school (which appears to be Doshisha University if I’m not mistaken) are particularly shy. These girls just come on way too strong, that’s the long and the short of it.
Turning their sights on Hyouma – albeit for a slightly different reason – they get a little more than they bargained for. He’s pretty much immune to all the “flee” signals they send out, but once they openly start grilling him about Botan even Hyouma starts to connect the dots. His revelation that he’s “sworn a vow to always keep her safe” plays a little differently with this audience than perhaps he intended. Eventually Hyouma too flees the scene, so in that sense at least he’s like every other guy the Hyakunin Isshu club has abducted.
Things take a very dark turn when the paper umbrella makes her presence known. The Bureau of Traditional Music has given us a name – “Kisatsu” – though it’s distinctly unclear if the paper umbrella that manifests in Kyoto here is the one to which they refer (and indeed the one that killed Hyouma’s siblings). This one (played by Hikasa Youko with her usual aplomb) kidnaps Botan along with two of her friends from the club, and makes it immediately clear that what’s she’s really interested in is the marebito inside her. Things are looking grim indeed for Botan’s pals until the cavalry shows up in the form of Hyouma and Fukie from the BoTM (who seems to have come on his own initiative).
We hear a lot about the “similar” presence this one has – from Kai, from Hyouma, from the Bureau – but not necessarily “same”. And the paper umbrella refers to the marebito inside Botan as her master – he’s been sealed in there. That suggests to me that it was the master that did the Kunato siblings in, but that’s still TBD. It also suggests there is a very real connection between Botan and that tragic event in Hyouma’s life, as was hinted earlier, and that’s going to prove a real test of how much Hyouma has grown up since arriving in Kyoto.
DonkeyWan
July 19, 2023 at 5:52 amPersonally I enjoyed the door locking joke, Hyouma’s reaction was very in character. I also still enjoy the way he falls into archaic, traditional language when he feels under pressure. The fact that the anime setting up to have Hyouma realise that the one he loves is the shell for the one he hates is also pretty interesting.
Nicc
July 19, 2023 at 6:48 amIndeed, we got two different episodes in one. The hijinks of the Hyakunin Isshu Club continues in this episode. Yep, the girls are coming on too strong and that’s scaring off any potential suitors. Hyouma gets roped in for another round of interrogation, this time with the rest of the club. The vow of protection for Botan impresses them and all of her clubmates are now shippers-on-deck. He eventually finds an opening to flee like the first victim. I’m certain this isn’t the first two times this has happened, but it seems that they still haven’t learned to dial down the thirst…
Then, the paper umbrella tsukumogami shows up and makes her move. Right, it’s not certain if this one is the “Kisatsu” that killed Hyouma’s siblings, but she abducts Botan and two of her friends. Apparently, the marebito sealed inside Botan is her master. Things are looking bad, but then Hyouma steps in the saves the day, sensing earlier on that something was afoot. Fukie also came along and promises to protect the girls, which will allow Hyouma to go all out. The look in his eyes suggests he won’t be holding back.
The preview already shows that the Nagatsukis’ show up for the battle. Since Fukie is already there, I’m expecting that the rest of the Bureau of Traditional Music will show up too as Kisatsu is their target anyways. I don’t expect this to go unnoticed by the Kadamoris’ as well. At least Tsubaki should show up as she has stated that she wants a piece of the paper umbrella too. It may be a “all hands on deck” episode next week and maybe we get something about the marebito inside Botan and the connection to Hyouma.
Monymous
July 19, 2023 at 12:08 pmI admire this series having the patience to spend the first three episodes of the cour setting up this confrontation. The weaker/more generic battle Shonens tend to neglect development of the character motivations behind their fights.
After 3 weeks of spending time with Botan and her friends and flashing back to his siblings death, we’re able to understand why Hyouma looks so feral at the end: for him, the emotional stakes couldn’t be any higher. His new life is under threat, and everything he trained so hard to destroy is staring him in the face.
I think you’re right that we’re eventually going to find out Botan is housing his sibling’s killer, and that he’ll have to decide if revenge trumps his relationship with her.
Bnk
July 19, 2023 at 4:22 pmThat’s because this is serialized in Ultra Jump, a monthly Seinen not Shonen.
Monymous
July 20, 2023 at 11:42 amGood to know. I wouldn’t have guessed from the anime that this was aimed at the seinen demographic.