Nekomonogatari: Kuro - 03

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It may only be four episodes long, but I think I prefer Nekomonogatari to Nisemonogatari.

So far Nekomonogatari has resembled any given arc out of Bakemonogatari. It's all about Araragi starting off his harem by adding the first girl, Hanekawa, to it . That's the crude, unrefined way of saying it; the other way to say it is that this first encounter holds a lot of significance for both Araragi and Hanekawa.

Seeing the origins of their friendship is allowing us to piece together the true nature of Araragi and Hanekawa's relationship. Seeing as how she was the first person besides Araragi to have something wrong with her, they already have a connection to the point where Araragi admits that he is beyond being in love with her.

It's quite good to have the nature of their relationship cleared up a bit, since it not only explains one of the biggest questions of the series but it also explains things like Senjougahara's treatment of Hanekawa in Nisemonogatari. I always suspected the nature of their relationship was complicated, so I'm glad to learn all about it.

Most of the episode was quite dialogue heavy. The conversations between Araragi and the Curse Cat managed to continue upholding the tense atmosphere the series going on, whilst building up to a climactic conclusion. Amidst the dialogue, Araragi's emotions are what really shine through in the episode.

Even though he's always present in the episodes of the monogatari series, he's most present in Nekomonogatari. This only reaffirms the importance of his relationship with Hanekawa and yet again builds their bond. In many ways Nekomonogatari: Kuro has been one long love letter from Araragi to Hanekawa.

Only one episode left to conclude the Hanekawa story. It feels like we've taken enough time to arrive at this, so the conclusion will hopefully wrap things up and set us up for the next season.