Judgment Commentary! | Owarimonogatari | Episode 12 "Shinobu Mail, Part 5" [Reaction + Discussion]

I love how the show just gave us 3 whole episodes of straight exposition and it just flows so well, it's never a drag. Now, for the usual trivia: During their entire meeting in the novel Araragi was making comments on the First's clothes and his way of speech, because he acts and dresses in a very modern way, even though he is a 400 years old dude that just got revived, and this ties up with a VERY important explanation that was left out of the anime, but that Gaen and the First tell Araragi in the book: the mannerisms are supposed to represent the influence of the town on the First, because he is, in fact, made out of every aberration in this city. For 15 years he has been feeding out of the energy from those oddities, so his composition is the same as them, the anime never gives the flat out explanation from the novel, but that's why he has got the powers from the past aberrations, like when he made Araragi and Kanbaru lost with the Lost Snail's power. When they are talking in the bookstore, he tells Araragi he was also the one who sent the chimeric Monkey-Crab-Snake odditiy to attack him in the park as a way of assessing his abilities and, maybe, even kill him if he were to be weak enough. And about their one-on-one combat and why Gaen just went along with the First's demands instead of trying to put an end to him then and there: a self contained duel with it's own set of rules is an easier way to do it than to go in an all out brawl against a vampire of Kiss-Shot's lineage. The First has all the experience and ability of an specialist, like Kagenui or Meme, plus all the vampiric powers and his samurai combat prowess. Araragi with the powers alone was able to deal with 3 renowned vampire hunters with ease, so you can imagine how hard dealing with the First on a head on fight could be. But that's why Gaen hired Episode to help with this job, the anime didn't say much about his reasons for being there, but in the books Gaen explains she got Sode there as a failsafe in case Araragi loses the duel or the First fails to comply with the terms of the loss. They can't have the risk of letting Kiss-Shot and the First come to terms and join the battle side by side once again. And just a little correction, before Owari Season 2 you still have to watch Koyomimonogatari.