Owarimonogatari: Season 1/ Episode 1 “Ougi Formula (Part 1)” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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The season premiere is all about setting things up. Unfortunately though, Ougi is the one helping Araragi setup the events of the season.

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Characters & Story (with Commentary)

It’s 6 months since spring break, when Araragi was attacked, and when we meet him he is just being introduced to Ougi, Oshino’s niece, and from the start she is weird. Though what makes her part in all this so strange is that she traps him in a classroom to reveal the truth about an incident which happened when he was a freshman. Said incident deals with an accusation of cheating, through stealing the teacher’s answer key and sharing it amongst a study group. His whole class, Class 1-3, had a trial about it. The end result being, student class president Sodachi Oikura being home schooled.

As for why? Well, it wasn’t expulsion. If anything, it was more so embarrassment. For, you see, she was the one who started the witch hunt and even elected Araragi to preside over the meeting. Mind you, this wasn’t because she thought well of him, for she detested him since he was top of the class when it came to math, but since he wasn’t part of the group, and got a perfect score, he seemed like the best neutral party. However, after at least two hours of back and forth, the jury deliberated, and everyone, from Araragi to the teacher, chose Oikura as the culprit. Thus leading to her being shamed into homeschool.

Now, as for why this matters? Well, it is because that day, July 15^th, sometime before 6 PM, changed Araragi. For not only since that day has he not had a perfect score in Math, but he decided that he doesn’t needs friends. Not in the sense of becoming a loner, but seeing what people will do when they have a majority, and him feeling guilty for being part of it, it seems he figured it is better to be righteous and be alone than part of the majority and be part of the problem. Hence why he takes on so many cases to right wrongs, if only to atone for what he has done in the past.

But now in the present, Arargi learns through Ougi it was the teacher, Komichi Tetsujo, who was the culprit. She wanted to be seen as a good math teacher, one who was so skilled most of her students get high marks, so it is argued she took the questions the study group had and based the test off of them. Then, when someone caught that something was up, she threw Oikura under the bus. However, with Tetsujo on maternity leave, it seems Oikura has returned to school. Leaving us to wonder if when she sees her former arch nemesis, what may come of it?

Highlights

What has made this show since the beginning has always been its method of storytelling. For while it can get a bit convoluted at times, to the point you have to rewind to fully understand what is going on, arguably the dialogue presented in this series is the top of the industry. I mean, why else would a non-action anime have damn near all of its mangas adapted one by one?

Low Points

The teacher being revealed to be the culprit was kind of a letdown. Only because a part of me wanted it to be Senjogahara. Even though that would have made less sense than the teacher being the culprit.

On The Fence

Opener’s math conversation, while very much Monogatari, and it made sense by the end of the episode, was also probably one of the least inspiring monologues of Araragi. Much less, being that I’m the type who isn’t fond of math, I was lost so quickly.