Recap: After recalling the events of Nekomonogatari Black, Araragi finds Hachikuji’s backpack and encounters Ononoki while searching for her. Summer vacation ends and Araragi realizes he has not done his homework. He jokingly asks Shinobu to take him back in time one day so he can finish it… this will not end well.

Jel’s Thoughts: Episode 6 was pretty much a straight recap of Nekomonogatari Black, so there’s not much more to say about it other than we may find Black Hanekawa still relevant in the upcoming story arc. That’s all I’m saying. Episode 7 kicks off Kabukimonogatari properly, although I have to say even by Monogatari standards they left a lot to the audience to figure out. The random appearance of Ougi Oshino as well as never really showing Araragi finding Hachikuji’s backpack had me scratching my head for a second, but I suppose it wasn’t too hard to figure out what happened once the conversation got going.

Getting to the meat of the plot, I am so, so, SO sick of time travel stories, especially ones about going back in time to do your homework. Still, the accidental leap through time was amusing and the idea of Araragi and Shinobu stuck eleven years in the past has a lot of potential. I love the chemistry they’ve developed as they’ve both come to accept their situation and I’ll be happy to hear more of their bickering and bantering. On a completely unrelated note, their arrival destination vaguely reminded me of the PV for “Kimi no Shirainai Monogatari”, the amazing ending song for Bakemonogatari. That video just screams rural Japanese town in the 90s to me for some reason, but I digress.

I should also mention the conversation with Ononoki was pretty amusing, especially the vague joke about her previous speech pattern and her attempts to convince us she’s not afraid of Shinobu. I’d also like to point out few writers aside from NisioIsin would do something as silly as make a tsukumogami out of a human, but that’s why we love him. It’s one of the reasons I have hope he’ll find some new spin to the much overused time travel plot device, so we’ll just have to see how Araragi’s latest misadventure plays out.