Spoiler alert: Mostly Nisemonogatari with some reference to Bakemonogatari. I recommend watching the two scene in question, in Ep. 2 and Ep. 8 of Nisemonogatari. It’s the first critical analysis I’ve ever attempted to write for my own interest, so it’s a bit rough to read.

Since Nadeko’s debut in Bakemonogatari until her short appearance in Nisemonogatari, there’s just something that not quite sit right with me whenever she shows up that I can’t really call out the name of. Even after her big reveal in Second seasons that I won’t discuss here, there’s still some inexplicable feeling of her that’s not quite right.

After being introduced to Nadeko as a shy underclassman and her helplessness, there’s just something not right about her action in the scene where she seduce Araragi.

The way she dress, the provocative conversation and action, it really doesn’t feel like the same Nadeko we see in Bakemonogatari.

For some reason today I think back about some of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari scene that I can put two and two together. And the other scene that stand out in Nise, of course, is the infamous brush scene. I mean just right before the brushing scene.

I especially notice the outfit that Karen and Nadeko is wearing.

Karen, within context, is wearing Tsukihi’s borrowed clothes to appear cuter to her brother to make him giving in to her request of introducing her to his friends, and since Tsukihi is shorter it doesn’t fit her very well and ended up looking like this. With Nadeko, she obviously choose her clothes beforehand, and I bet she tried on multiple set of clothes to find the perfect one that she thinks will please Araragi. Both of them try to appeal to Araragi and put on a cute front for it, but the key different here is that:

Nadeko’s clothes fit her, but it seems like after changing into another set of clothes her personality also changed dramatically. It’s like when she put on another shirt, she’s also forcefully put on a “role”, just like when she’s in her uniform she plays the shy underclassman, and now, underneath the more provocative clothes, she’s now playing the role of the girl who’s actively seducing Araragi without a lick of resemblance to her everyday shy personality. Which is why even though from a glance her clothes looks really fitting, it doesn’t fit her previous appearance one bit and it stood out feeling really odd to me for a long time.

While Karen, even under these unfit clothes, still undoubtedly be Karen, and her action doesn’t change just because she put on a skirt. In fact, it’s because she’s Karen who’s carefree and airhead nature preventing her from seeing that she’s wearing unfit clothing, that makes the clothes she wear really fitting her personality. She’s straightforward, but she’s trying to be someone that she’s not for a purpose, and it physically shows. This point stick out so much that some people even forget the fact that Karen’s borrowing clothes and when the original owner of said clothes, Tsukihi, wore it in later episode, people really surprised that it’s really Tsukihi clothes since Karen left such a strong impression wearing it. When no one’s remember Nadeko clothes because it’s really out of place.

The last point I notice is that while Karen looks shy when being praised because she’s not used to wear such feminine clothing, Nadeko’s really trying to flaunt it without actually acknowledge it, trying to casually playing it out when in truth she’s have her own intention in mind.

I think that, after Bakemonogatari show us a vulnerable and insecure Nadeko, Nisemonogatari’s scene is the first indication that Nadeko’s not all she appeal to be, and that it looks like she’s putting on a fake personality, like a mask, when the situation calls for it. The dramatic contrast between the cute underclassman and the provocative woman without anything in common really stood out to me, but only when I see Karen’s action when she tried to do the same, that I could explain Nadeko’s action and I have to say it hinted a lot of her personality that would later be the focal point in Second Seasons.