©Nishio Restoration/Kodansha/Anipu
This episode is about one thing: to show us how a kind, humble Acerola transforms into someone extremely arrogant and evil kiss-Shoot the Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. This is accomplished by trying to solve the puzzle: “How does one kill a woman when any attempt to harm her would result in the perpetrator (even a vampire) committing suicide?”
The simple answer is that you can’t — at least not intentionally. Her powers work in such a way that she will react to any attempt to harm her. Trying to save her and hurting her in the process will not cause her powers to activate. That said, there’s no way to accidentally kill someone on purpose, so Arcelora and Suicide Master are forced to try another tactic.
Basically, the core problem is that acerola is just too pretty—both inside and out. Logically speaking, all you need to do to weaken her is make her less beautiful. Following this idea, Suicide Master came up with the idea of making her act differently. Perhaps it would weaken her power if she behaved as crudely as possible. As a result, Pinora begins to speak in an arrogant tone, disregard etiquette and cleanliness, and wear more provocative clothing, i.e., behave in a manner that we typically associate with Shinobu (especially in her more mature form).
All of this raises the question of how much of Shinobu’s character (as we’ve seen) is an action, and at what point the action becomes reality. even in Kizuna Monogatarishowing her hidden depth. After all, the final act of the story involves her acting as scary as possible, trying to get Araragi to kill her—and using her death to save him in the process.
Then, as the series goes on, her inner feelings slowly become more explicit, but her outer behavior mostly continues. She most likely did this because her constructed gross personality, combined with the fact that she became a monster, were the only things that could stop her original curse. If she acts like she’s still the beautiful person she is, the curse will return and kill Araragi and everyone around her. So, in other words, even at the end of her centuries-long journey, she still can’t be herself and still have the people she cares about love her for who she is. The best she could hope for was someone like Araragi, someone who could glimpse the inner man and accept the vulgarity underneath.
Because this might be too terrible a fate for anyone—especially an immortal vampire—The Suicide Master gives her a way to stay in character while unleashing her purest and most positive emotions. :hapiness. When she laughs like “ka-ka”, she will also express her true happiness with a second laugh. Understanding this can re-contextualize several key scenes throughout the story Storymaking some more tragic and some more wonderful.
All in all, this was a great little arc and I can’t wait to see its conclusion as the series continues. After all, since Suicide Master met Shinobu at the beginning of her journey, I was excited to see her reaction at the end.
grade:
Some interesting scenes worth re-watching:
• Owari Story Episode 18: When Shinobu reunites with Araragi, she lifts him and spins him (she later bullies Onoki).
• The Story of Renshi Episode 11: When Ga-eun challenges Shinobu to battle.
• Monogatari Series Season 2 Episode 10: When Shinobu and Araragi confront a parallel world kiss-shooting.
Story Series: OFF & MONSTER Season Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
