“Monogatari Series Second Season” Episode 5 Recap: “Tsubasa Tiger, Part 5”

"Please help me," Tsubasa writes in her letter to Black Hanekawa. It's the first time she choses to face herself, and the first time she reaches out to someone for help. Three days earlier, Kako was born from a piece of Tsubasa's jealous heart, as she ate the same breakfast with her mother and father. Just like Black Hanekawa was created from Tsubasa's release of stress, Kako is a monstrous manifestation of her jealousy. Now, Tsubasa has decided to not run from her stresses or her jealously, but to face them head on.

Black Hanekawa absorbs Tsubasa's thoughts and confronts Kako. Tsubasa denied herself the ability to be free from her dark emotions and live purely. She wanted to be human, even if she wasn't the real thing. However, that thought was not enough to bridge the gap between her and Kako. The moment she thought that all was lost, a blade pierced a hole through Kako.

"It may have been impossible, and it may have been absurd, but it was not futile," Koyomi Araragi says as he appears in front of Tsubasa. She is now able to face Koyomi, who as always helped her and understood her, and tell him how she really feels.

"I love you, Araragi-kun"––the girl who contained Black Hanekawa and Kako is able to feel pain, able to cry.

Tsubasa Hanekawa has returned to herself. She is able to say for the first time, "I'm home."

Original works: Nisio Isin’s Monogatari Series Nekomonogatari (White) – Koimonogatari (Kodansha Box）
Original character design: Vofan
Chief director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Director: Tomoyuki Itamura
Series composition: Fuyashi Tou, Akiyuki Shinbo
Character design, chief animation director: Akio Watanabe
Chief animation director: Nobuhiro Sugiyama, Taisuke Iwasaki

TV Anime Monogatari Official Site

© Nisio Isin / Kodansha Ltd., Aniplex Inc., Shaft