©Nishio Restoration/Kodansha/Anipu
I must say, I love a story that has its glaring plot holes pointed out – addressing them and, in doing so, adding another layer of complexity to the story. After all, if you think about it, there are many people who are capable of cleaning up Nadeshiko’s current mess. There is no need for her to bear everything alone.
…unless there is.
While Shinobu or Gaon could have waltzed in and ended it all in a second, this is a story of personal growth – Nadeshiko coming to terms with who she is, who she is, and who she should strive to be – and Nadeshiko coming to terms with who she is, and who she should strive to be. Zi realizes this. Relying on someone else (well, someone other than her accomplice Onoki) is basically her running away again.
There is no doubt that while she has been running towards her dreams, she has also been running away from her past. That’s why she became closed off—no longer going to school or seeing friends. She tried to make a clean break with the past. But just because you reformed doesn’t mean the bad things you did never happened. You have to face it and accept the consequences. Only then can you truly move on. That’s what Nadeko is trying to do now.
The problem is that she doesn’t have a clear understanding of herself yet. It’s not surprising, really. After all, how many middle school girls are capable of this level of self-reflection? By avoiding her past self in her mind, she couldn’t understand why she did what she did.
As I talked about last week, this could lead her to make an extremely dangerous false assumption. She thinks Mick Nadko is helpless – being taken advantage of by everyone – when in fact, she may very well be the one behind them leading them.
Mick Naddo gives the flighty Nadco her cute uniform and tells her to set a trap at the school. She gave the chisel to an angry Nadeshiko as a weapon, then used a clone of Kami Nadeshiko to lure the current Nadeshiko into the Araragi family’s trap. She then uses herself as bait to lure the current Nadeshiko to a shrine for the god Nadeshiko to dismember – only to capture Onoki. Finally, in this episode, she uses her helplessness to try and kill the current Nadeshiko again. Only this time, she conveniently fakes her own death at the same time.
At her core, Nadeshiko is a master manipulator: able to lie to herself and become whatever she needs to be to achieve her goals. However, there are two reasons why Nadeshiko can currently maintain the lead. On the one hand, her experiences provide her with many allies – whether it’s Onoki, Ogi, or Mrs. On the other hand, it’s because she learned from the mistakes Mick Nadeko has yet to make. She is different from these shikigami, she has the ability to truly grow. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll grow.
Fortunately, she has Onoki by her side who can impose the decision-making power on her. We’ll just have to look to the next episode to see if Nadeshiko’s latest reckless scheme pays off in the face of an angry God.
Story Series: OFF & MONSTER Season Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
