We’ve got a new OP for this arc, and it features Hanazawa Kana and Hayami Saori singing and visuals of countless Nadeko clones having fun together. Are you not entertained? What more could you want?! Well, this episode offers plenty, with Monogatari’s usual slick and polished style.
Ougi escorts Nadeko into her middle school, where they eventually find Flirty Nadeko in what was once her class. Having apparently swapped outfits with Meek Nadeko, Flirty is the life of the new class, basically unwittingly using her Shikigami powers to enthrall them like an idol enthralls her fans. Watching Flirty’s vapidly gregarious display makes Nadeko Prime a little envious.
Flirty has also created a human wall around her, making it tough for Nadeko Prime to approach her and slap a blank piece of paper on her face, which will return her to two dimensions per Yotsugi. Ougi remedies this obstacle by hitting the fire alarm, causing the students to scatter and giving Nadeko a clear path.
The school’s palette turns to all reds and blacks in this particularly striking scene. Once Nadeko has Flirty captured on paper, Ougi rolls up on his BMX and whisks her out of the school. One copy down, three to go.
Nadeko “rejected” Flirty by returning her to her 2D form, she wonders if she has the genuine resolve to do the same with the others. Earlier, Ougi made clear that these aren’t her literal past selves, but essentially four baby shikigamis that have the potential to become hazardous apparitions. Then Nadeko gets a call from Kanbaru (CAMEOBARU!), and they have this wonderful exchange when Kanbaru asks if she’s doing well:
“Yes. I’m not dead. I’m still alive.”
“That’s great. Can’t beat that.”
When asked if Kanbaru has seen “her” (as in Nadeko) around anywhere, Kanbaru relays to her reports of a topless girl with bloomers and bangs wandering around. The reports are numerous and pop up all over town, so Ougi lends Nadeko his BMX and she starts searching.
One report leads her to Namishiro Park, and while she doesn’t find Meek Nadeko, she does encounter Oikura Sodachi, who like her has changed her hairstyle as part of a larger effort to change herself, or at least move forward. Sodachi assumes that the topless girl she saw is the same as Nadeko Prime and assumes she’s being terribly bullied.
While Nadeko insists she isn’t, she does own up to having not gone to school in a while. Sodachi, no stranger to truancy, assures her her life won’t end just because she skips school. Sodachi herself is feeling aimless and that she’s gone in circles since enrolling in college, but speaking to Nadeko inspires her to go to attend the afternoon lectures.
Nadeko and Sodachi also exchange contact info, and she promises she’ll be there if Nadeko needs her. It’s a super-sweet and charming encounter, and it motivates Nadeko to redouble her efforts to find Meek. By making the assumption that Meeky is doing her utmost to avoid a certain location, Nadeko manages to use all her sightings to zero in on her current whereabouts, which appear to be the Araragi residence.
Nadeko’s Great Doppel Hunt is off to a stirring start, as her visit to school and the park and clutch appearances from Kanbaru and Sodachi help give her the nudges she needs to succeed. While Meek’s return to 2D feels imminent, the Wrathful and God Nadekos probably won’t be so easily neutralized.
