Oshino Shinobu

If you have watched this week's episode then you would know that it re-introduces the character of Oshino Shinobu into the series. This episode is possibly one of the most important if not THE most important episode of the series as a whole. As you might have noticed already from my banner, Shinobu is my favorite character so this episode plays a great importance to me as well.

For all you anime-only watchers you probably remember her as that blonde loli that appears once in a while during the first season. Since she didn't say anything or did anything of great importance (other than saving Araragi's life at the end of the season) you probably shrugged her off as a background character. Now I don't blame you for thinking that since she really was pretty useless during that period. With that in mind, you are probably thinking about how is such a character important to the series? Well let's just say that we'll be seeing A LOT of her in the future.

SPOILER AHEAD, read with caution

For those of you who have read Kizumonogatari over at Baka-Tsuki, you'll know what sort of relationship Araragi has with her. He saved her from death when she got cold feet and then she wanted to die for him so that he could become a human again. Araragi won't allow her to do that so they ended up in a relationship where they have to live for the sake of the other. I have seen quite a few people who is confused about what Araragi meant when he said he won't forgive her and she won't forgive him. Personally, I feel that it's more of a metaphor for their relationship since there really isn't much to forgive nor do either of them actually expect the other to apologize or something. We see that Shinobu tries to convince Araragi to kill her in the bath scene but the truth is there is nothing Shinobu wants more than to spend all of eternity with Araragi. In terms of just Nise it's actually quite confusing as to how Shinobu actually feels about Araragi but that gets cleared up pretty nicely in future events.

After episode 4 aired I saw a lot of comments about how it was distasteful for a high-schooler to be bathing with a seemingly 8 year old girl. All I can say is that those people kind of missed what the author was trying to get at here. The bond between Araragi and Shinobu is supposed to be very close and the intimacy of the bath is supposed to show that. It's as if the scene is trying to say that there is nothing those two will hide from each other.

BTW for anyone hoping to see her sporting the hat she wore in Bakemonogatari, don't bother. She decided that it was too lame so she's never going to wear it anymore. However, there is actually another reason. Initially she wore that hat so that Araragi wouldn't be able to pat her head anymore which was sign of obedience in vampire culture. Now that she isn't wearing it anymore and have started to speak to him again, it means she no longer holds a grudge against him for not killing her.