According to ancient beliefs, some objects gain life or spirits as they age. Spirits that came to life from an object are called Tsukumogami. They can take humanoid forms and use powers related to the object they once were. Sometimes, a Tsukumogami starts as a “Marebito,” a wandering spirit that possesses objects. In the world of Mononogatari, there are several exorcist families who make sure to watch over humans, killing any evil spirits.

So we know spirits can arise from objects or possess objects. But what if a Marebito tried to possess something that wasn’t an inanimate object? What if it possessed a person? The only case where this has happened is a human girl by the name of Botan. She is one of the main characters in the continuing story of Mononogatari. Please enjoy my reviews for the first three episodes.

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Episode 1: Entrance

Botan reflects on the fact that Hyoma has been at her house for six months. She remembers when she was cleaning the room to prepare for his stay. That day, she was attacked by a pipe Tsukumogami, but her faithful family saved her. Back in the present, it’s time for an event called the Aoi festival. I’m not sure what it’s like in reality, but in the anime, it’s a parade procession of people in old time costumes. It’s some kind of historical celebration.

An evil Tsukumogami tries to attack the festival, but three good Tsukomogami save the day. They are known as the Bureau of Traditional Music, as they were all born from musical instruments. After thanking the new allies, Hyoma looks back at the festival. He sees a mysterious feminine figure with a distinct paper umbrella. This prompts an onslaught of traumatic memories as Hyouma relives the day his siblings were murdered. Hyoma wonders if the figure below is the same as the paper umbrella monster who killed his family.

I enjoyed the first episode and I’m pleased with the pacing. I hope the story moves along quickly so I don’t end up bored. The visual quality of this anime has not improved since the first season. It’s still mediocre and sometimes just bad. However, I continue to enjoy the character designs, especially for female characters. Also, visuals don’t matter to me as much as other elements like voice-acting, story, and character development. Mononogatari isn’t super great with any of those elements, but I do find myself interested in the characters. That’s why I’m watching season 2.

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Episode 2: Duet

The three music-themed Tsukumogami play some music for the humans while they are in town. Meanwhile, Kagami takes Hyoma on a mock “date” to teach him how to have fun. Kagami hopes he will use what he learns when he starts dating Botan. She and Hyoma go shopping, eat at a nice restaurant, and enjoy some bowling. Afterward, they discuss things at a café. When Kagami asks how Hyoma feels about Botan, he replies that he likes her. However, he seems to mean he likes her as a person rather than in a romantic way. Hyoma feels grateful to Botan and believes she deserves much respect.

At a later point, the trio of musical Tsukumogami come to visit the Nagatsuki house. They love to make noise and talk. Hyoma gets overwhelmed by all the socializing and goes for a walk. Two of Botan’s friends meet him, take him to a park, and ask him about his relationship with Botan. Hyoma can only follow a little of their strange, hyper chatting, but he seems happy thinking Botan has lively friends. Botan eventually comes to the park too and leaves with her two companions, giving Hyoma some time to himself.

Meanwhile, the old lady of the musical Tsukumogami has a serious talk with Haori. She has guessed the truth, that Haori is trying to get Hyoma and Botan to marry. The ultimate purpose behind this is to seal away the Marebito living within Botan. Though the old lady warns against “making use of Botan,” she doesn’t plan to get in the way. She was just curious. Also, the musical Tsukumogami are here for one other reason: to investigate a mysterious spirit in the area, who may be the paper umbrella. As the episode ends, we see the paper umbrella lady approaching Botan. To be continued.

The dynamic of everyone trying to force Hyoma and Botan together is annoying. Nevertheless, I’m still enjoying most of the character interactions. Hyoma is especially amusing to me. He’s super serious about everything. I’m a little disappointed that we haven’t had any significant moments with Yuu yet. The best thing about this episode, in my opinion, was the old lady, who refers to herself as “Baba.” She is really cool. I think we would get along in real life. I hope we see more of her in the next few episodes.

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Episode 3: Specter

At the start of the episode, an attractive young man comes to the ancient poetry club. This is the club where Botan spends most of her after-school time with her friends Natsuki and Kei. However, the club members are overly passionate and end up scaring away the potential new member. Natsuki and Kei then suggest calling Hyoma to the university to help with some heavy lifting. Hyoma agrees heartily, but a surprise is waiting for him. The girls in the club send Botan away to her class and interrogate Hyoma again about his connection to Botan.

Literally backed into a corner by a bunch of extremely enthusiastic women, Hyoma tells the truth. He has sworn a vow to protect Botan at any costs. Natsuki and Kei are impressed with this answer, and Hyoma promptly runs away. After college, Botan walks home with Kei and Natsuki. They are suddenly accosted by the paper umbrella tsukumogami, who traps them in a barrier. Kei and Natsuki are panicking, since they know nothing about spirits and exorcists. Meanwhile, a little ways off in the darkness, Botan is face-to with the umbrella spirit.

The umbrella spirit is extremely creepy as she holds her face close to Botan’s, staring deep into her eyes. She promises to awaken her “Master,” the Marebito that sleeps within Botan. Last time it awakened was when Botan was deeply traumatized and dissociated. So, in order to try triggering Botan the same way, the umbrella spirit decides to hurt Botan’s friends. But just before any physical harm comes to the girls, Hyoma breaks through the barrier and saves the day. Face to face with the umbrella spirit, he is wearing an expression of mad delight. At last, he can have his revenge. To be continued.

Wow! This episode was intense for a show that’s usually very mild. The paper umbrella spirit is genuinely unsettling. She’s also quite intelligent to be able to understand the concept of psychological torture and what might traumatize Botan. I was definitely glad when Hyoma came to the rescue. It was also cool that Fukie of the Traditional Musical spirits is helping him. Hopefully, his magic music can make Natsuki and Kei forget this frightening event. I seriously doubt that Hyoma is good enough to beat the paper umbrella yet, but I’m excited for the fight nonetheless.

Since I haven’t mentioned much about the audio-visuals yet, let me spend a few moments on that. The opening song a is “Dare ga Tame” by Megatera Zero, and I really enjoy listening to it. However I’m not a big fan of the ED, which is “Private Room” by Azusa Tadokoro. The visuals haven’t changed since the first season, and they are still rather mediocre. The art and animation are not bad, but they’re also not what I would call good by today’s standards. Despite that, I still appreciate the visuals because I like the character designs and sometimes the clothes for the characters. That’s all for today.

Thank you for reading~

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