Review of Zoku Owarimonogatari

!!! ATTENTION: THIS REVIEW IS NOT AS IN DEPTH AS I WOULD HAVE LIKED BECAUSE I WANTED TO LEAVE OUT ANY SPOILERS. !!! Before getting into this review, I think you need to understand something. That something is: that a majority of the love for this film comes from a love of the series. It comes from a love of the directing style, the character dynamics, and the eccentric plot. If you don't love these things about Monogatari, then you won't love Zoku Owari, the ultimate Monogatari. Zoku Owari is the ultimate Monogatari. Why is it the ultimate Monogatari? Because it's the most Monogatari, Monogatari. Everything fromthe wacky artistic direction down to the stupid mannerisms is exactly what Monogatari is to me.

In my personal experience, watching any Monogatari just once is never enough. I feel as if I have to watch each Monogatari at least twice or even three times to truly digest everything. There is so much to marvel at from the perfect dialogue, to background art, to character designs, to the wide array of artistic styles within seconds of one another.

But on top of all that complexity is a deeply intertwined story that requires your full attention for the entirety of the series. It requires you to invest yourself in Araragi Koyomi's world and to devote yourself to seeing his story play out. Although Owari is the, "end," we get to see Araragi finally close the last chapter of his high school life in Zoku.

So now to specifically get into Zuko, I'll start off with possibly my favorite part of the entire film: the stupidity.

The stupidity of this film is completely overwhelming. I would, in most cases, criticize films for bringing up plot holes but then dismissing them as if they didn't exist but actually in Monogatari, I don't care. The story has set itself up as one which can just plainly excuse anything that might be seen as questionable and to be honest, that's fine with me. I think that I am most fine with this because it fits perfectly into the artistic, comedic, and storytelling direction that I have fell so much in love with.

But on top of the usual eccentric direction the story explores, it felt as if Zoku maximized the potential of this artistic style without being too overwhelming. I would normally insert an example here but I can't give mine because it would simply ruin this scene and spoil it for anyone who wants to watch the film. But, what I can say is that it uses something set up as a precedent in Owari, and completely flips it on it's head. Just like you may think you know what's going to happen then you don't as Owari does, Zoku uses an exactly opposite technique but achieves the exact same effect.

This is Monogatari. It sets up your expectations, then undermines them. And you know what? That's the beauty of it. That's what makes it so great to me.

For example, I had questions that were raised in my mind from recent seasons of Monogatari, as anyone would. Shortly after the beginning of the film, an energetic Ononoki Yotsugi appears and directly mentions my questions. But guess what? She doesn't answer my questions at all. She basically says, "Who cares?" and you know what? She's right. Who cares? This IS Monogatari, not some proper, rule-following film that's looking for critical acclaim, it's a film created simply to enjoy. So that's exactly what I did.

I enjoyed it and I think you should too.

Notes: Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to write about for the entirety of this review since I could ramble on and on about character dynamics and plot but instead I'd rather just give you what I enjoy about Zoku specifically. Every Monogatari has the character dynamics and plot (obviously, that's what makes it a great series and most enjoyable to me) but there really is only one Zoku, just like there really is only one Bake. So I do hope you enjoyed this review and I would love if you could leave a little, "this was helpful." Thanks and hope you read my future reviews. :)

Ratings-
Story: 10
Art: 10
Sound: 10
Character: 10
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 10!!!