Tsukihi you ultimate troll, you!
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Summary
As Araragi is about to leave to take Shinobu to Mister Donuts, he realizes that Tsukihi’s seemingly permanent scar has disappeared, along with the rest of the scars on her body. When Shinobu refuses to tell him much about Yozuru or Yotsugi, he ends up having to ask Kaiki, who just happens to be in the donut shop as well. Kaiki tells him that Yozuru and Yotsugi are a master-shikigami two-man cell who specialize in immortal creatures, hinting that Araragi may be the one they’re after. When Araragi reaches home, Yozuru and Yotsugi tell him that their target is in fact Tsukihi, who is an immortal phoenix in human form.
Impression
How? She’s so cute, how on earth is she possessed by a phoenix? Actually, I have to question exactly how much of Tsukihi is even human at all. At this moment, Yozuru and Yotsugi are heavily implying that Tsukihi is just a phoenix that has taken human form, meaning that she’s been a fake all along – a fake sister, a fake Seigi no Mikata and even a fake human. Nisio Isin, you never cease to amaze me at how one confusing title to a show can end up being so fitting. Anyway – it’s been established that Tsukihi can’t die, as I’m pretty sure she got blown apart by Yotsugi’s Master Spark spell thingy.
I’m willing to bet that Tsukihi will still feel pain but will not be able to die (maybe she drank a Hourai Elixir?) similar to Touhou’s Fujiwara no Mokou. Her relation to the supernatural is on a totally different scale from even Tsubasa’s cat, which was a split personality issue – here Tsukihi isn’t bound to an oddity, she IS the oddity. And all along she’s been living with Araragi and Karen, seemingly pretending to be their loving, albeit somewhat violent younger imouto. You’ve gotta question exactly how much of everything she’s displayed is real, and how much is just an act. I should have totally seen it coming though, from her violent tendencies to the disappearing scars that seemed like fanservice but ended up being strong foreshadowing.
This is the thing about Nisemonogatari – plot devices that seem useless from the start, but end up being extremely useful towards later events. Take Shinobu going to eat donuts for example – Araragi would never have met Kaiki again had he not taken Shinobu to Mister Donuts, and so he wouldn’t have gotten any info on Yozuru or Yotsugi.
Speaking of those two, it looks like they’re affiliated with Oshino after all, and Kaiki wasn’t exactly clueless about them either. They didn’t have to say it out loud for us to be able to tell that they’re going to be much harder to deal with than Oshino, and the fact that they knew of Shinobu’s former full title as Kiss-shot already marks them as dangerous people to deal with. Though Shinobu’s bluff bought them a day, I seriously doubt even she could do anything against either one – Yotsugi’s power is already immense by herself, and a master is definitely stronger than their shikigami, so a direct confrontation with Yozuru isn’t a good idea.
At the moment I’m hazarding a guess at something to do with the phoenix having some attachment to Araragi and Karen after living with them for so long under the guise of Tsukihi, and would therefore be willing to protect them and fend away both the immortal specialists. While I was worried about pacing before, I’m extremely hyped for the finale next week now. Maybe some of the other girls would be willing to lend a hand?
a..aw, awebesome!