“If you happen to cause any more harm to my mistress…I will kill you.”
Summary
After a fun-filled shower, Hanekawa goes to sleep with Senjougahara (in the same futon), with the chapter numbers still mysteriously skipping as she sleeps. One night, Black Hanekawa appears, formed from the stress and fatigue Hanekawa has built up from her house burning down. The cat manages to track down the tiger oddity, deciding to warn it away from wishing any more harm on her mistress.
Impression
As with last episode, this week was very much a mixed bag of events! But as always, SHAFT really do love their still-frames. And they’re quite bold too – what was up with that shower scene? I do admit I was hoping they wouldn’t forget about it, and I certainly did get my wish granted. They were daring enough to animate all sorts of things, from a fully uncensored ass shot of Senjougahara-sama (there are many happy, happy people tonight) to silhouettes of Hanekawa and Senjougahara engaging in a lot of naked skinship that wouldn’t be quite appropriate for a younger audience. I love you guys, SHAFT. I really do. And they even slept together that night – screw erotic camera angles, the Queen of Tsundere is using Hanekawa as a body pillow! Araragi will be so jealous 😀 Speaking of which, I don’t think he’ll be around at all this arc. At the same time this arc is airing (the new semester) he’s apparently off on some adventure with Shinobu, which will be animated in the storyline after this. It’ll be exciting, I promise.
It’s normally Araragi or Shinobu that deal with all the oddities (apparitions/kaii’s) so this did raise an important issue – who’s going to face the tiger? Oshino? Not around. Senjougahara? Not likely. The answer to that is related to why the chapter numbers keep skipping (nice fourth-wall breaking, by the way). Obviously, as Hanekawa’s narrating, the only time chapters would skip is if she’s not conscious…or if she’s possessed. I’ve missed you, cat! Okay, that sounded weird. Well, I’m not too keen on calling it Sawari Neko or Black Hanekawa…and “cat” should be fine too 😀 See what I did there. Anyway, I’m surprised the cat appeared once more – apparently Hanekawa’s built up a lot of stress from having her home burnt down, even though she didn’t seem to show it. Of course, she can’t stay in Senjougahara’s house forever, so I do understand why she’d have some insecurities. It seems like it’ll be Hanekawa’s cat who’ll deal with the tiger, who seems to be out for Hanekawa’s blood. I dunno, the tiger seems to have some sort of issue with being seen by humans – at this point, I’m pretty sure it burnt down Hanekawa’s house in an attempt to kill her. For once, it’s nice to see the cat on the good side of things – I’m aware she’s trying to help Hanekawa with everything she does…it just so happens that it usually involves mauling Araragi to death, which isn’t so great. I’m glad she’s a protagonist now, I’ve always kinda liked her. At the same time, I don’t think it’ll be easy for her to oppose the tiger, who was able to catch up with her instantly.
Finally, what’s Senjougahara’s whole role in this? It was mentioned both tonight and last week that she’d changed (and I don’t mean her hairstyle). Aside from acting as Hanekawa’s moral support while Araragi is away, her handshake with the cat was really poignant. The cat told her it’d drain her energy involuntarily, yet Senjougahara was perfectly fine with it – personally, I think it shows her readiness to suffer for Hanekawa’s sake. She approached the cat with no fear too, in spite of knowing how dangerous it was. As expected of Senjougahara-sama nods
P.S. Hanekawa doesn’t use any seasonings? What is this madness…