Yes, another week has gone by and we are now on episode 3 of Winter 2012’s Nisemonogatari. The story finally starts turning its gears with some pretty interesting developments, along with the introduction of the “big bad” himself. Oh, and did I mention more Senjougahara?

Yes, even the OP agrees by giving us a full color Senjougahara centered sequence.

The episode starts out with Koyomi cleaning up Kanbaru’s mess of BL books. Kanbaru mentions that Koyomi’s kindness might work against him someday and proceeds to warn him albeit casually. Their time together ends with some serious talk, with Koyomi asking about Kanbaru’s left arm. The question was more or less the same from episode 1, wherein Koyomi wanted to know how Kanbaru hid the fact that her arm was once a cursed entity. I take it that Koyomi is still thinking about his vampirism, and how he should talk about it with his sisters.

Probably the biggest revelation in the episode was right around the first half where Araragi encounters a shady man clad in funeral clothes as he was about to leave Kanbaru’s house. He introduces himself as Kaiki Deishu, who apparently has the title of being the “Black Swindler”. This scene, for me, was pretty intense, almost creepy really. It goes to show that SHAFT really knows how to set a mood. However, my favorite part in this scene was Koyomi’s passing mention of Oshino Meme, and Guillotine Cutter.

To those who may not know, Guillotine Cutter is a highly skilled Archbishop/Exorcist from Kizumonogatari, the prequel of Bakemonogatari. In a nutshell, he’s a badass human that can go against Kai, or “oddities”. I can see why Koyomi can make that comparison as Oshino is pretty strong as well, can go against Kai, and he’s also just human. However, the difference between the two (Oshino and Guillotine Cutter) and the similarity between Guillotine Cutter and Kaiki, would be the air of animosity, or as Koyomi describes it, a feeling of being threatened. I love how they’re tossing Guillotine Cutter’s name around. It makes me feel that Kizumonogatari (animated) is oh so near.

Feeling uneasy about getting involved with Kaiki, Koyomi heads the opposite direction. Upon reaching the town, he sees Senjougahara and yells a “Hi” to her. The scene then becomes comedic as Senjougahara completely ignores him, the reason being that Senjougahara doesn’t like Koyomi ditching his studies to be playing around – with other women at that, to which she counted five: Tsukihi, Hachikuji, Sengoku, Karen, and Kanbaru (six, if you count Kanbaru’s grandma).

After Koyomi finishes explaining the situation, their idle banter continue until Koyomi mentions an “ill-omened” man. Koyomi says Kaiki’s name, and the next thing we see is a black screen. It was Senjougahara that knocked him out and “confined” him in the cram school. It turns out that Kaiki was one of the con-men that tricked Senjougahara’s family. She wanted to protect Koyomi from him, so that she’ll never have to lose anything important to her again.

All’s well and good until Koyomi’s cellphone rings, and a message from Tsukihi asking for help is displayed. The awesomeness of Koyomi shows once again as he breaks the cuffs that bound him via his own strength. And he’s only a tenth of what he used to be!

What follows is a very cute scene with Senjougahara, as well as an intriguing phone call to her by, surprisingly, Hanekawa. So yeah, it’s good to see the plot finally underway, but…where’s Shinobu!?