Monogatari (series)

Monogatari (物語^?, lit. "Story") is the general name for a series of Japanese light novels written by Japanese novelist Nisio Isin and illustrated by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan. Kodansha has published 20 novels since November 2006 under their Kodansha Box imprint, with at least two more novels planned. The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who survived a vampire attack, and finds himself helping some girls involved with all kinds of apparitions, deities, ghosts, mythological beasts, and spirits.

An anime adaptation by Shaft of Bakemonogatari aired 12 episodes between July and September 2009, and released three more episodes online between November 2009 and June 2010. An anime of the sequel Nisemonogatari aired from January to March 2012. An anime adaptation of Nekomonogatari (Kuro) aired on December 31, 2012. An anime titled Monogatari Series Second Season aired between July 6 and December 28, 2013. An anime adaptation of Hanamonogatari aired on August 16, 2014. An anime adaptation of Tsukimonogatari aired on December 31, 2014. An anime adaptation of the Owarimonogatari novels aired between October 3 and December 19, 2015. An anime film trilogy will be produced based on the prequel novel Kizumonogatari.

Plot and setting

The Monogatari series revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate of his, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara, falls down the stairs into Koyomi's arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened by her to keep away, Koyomi offers his help and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned building, who cured him of being a vampire. Once Koyomi helps solve Hitagi's problem, she agrees to become his friend.

As the series progresses, Koyomi finds himself involved with other girls, each afflicted by different "oddities", including the ghost of a child called Mayoi Hachikuji; his underclassman Suruga Kanbaru; Nadeko Sengoku, a friend of his sisters; his classmate Tsubasa Hanekawa; and his own younger sisters Karen and Tsukihi. To deal with the spectres, Koyomi relies on guidance from Oshino and, later, from Shinobu, the same vampire who attacked him, now with the appearance of an eight-year-old girl.

Most heroines have an item that symbolises their spectres, such as Hitagi's stapler (the claw of a crab), Mayoi's backpack (the shell of a snail), Suruga's arm (the arm of a monkey), Nadeko's hat and jacket (the head and skin of a snake), and Karen's black and yellow suit (the colors of a bee). Although incorporating elements of fantasy, horror, and action, it primarily focuses on conversations between characters, containing parodies of other series, as well as Nisio Isin's trademark word play and metahumor.

Media

Light novels

The Monogatari series was first created by Nisio Isin as a series of short stories for Mephisto magazine. While his previous Zaregoto series featured large casts of characters, each Monogatari story tends to introduce only one new character. The previously published stories of Bakemonogatari, and some new ones, were eventually collected in two volumes as part of the Kodansha Box launch titles in 2006.^[1][2] The first volume Bakemonogatari (化物語, "Monster Story") contains three stories titled "Hitagi Crab" (ひたぎクラブ), "Mayoi Snail" (まよいマイマイ) and "Suruga Monkey" (するがモンキー);^[3] the second volume comes with two additional stories titled "Nadeko Snake" (なでこスネイク) and "Tsubasa Cat" (つばさキャット).^[3]

A prequel to the series, titled "Koyomi Vamp" (こよみヴァンプ), was published in the first issue of Pandora magazine. It was later released as a separate volume in 2008, titled Kizumonogatari (傷物語, "Scar Story"),^[4] followed by Nisemonogatari (偽物語, "Fake Story"), which was divided into two volumes released in 2008 and 2009:^[5] the first containing "Karen Bee" (かれんビー) and the second "Tsukihi Phoenix" (つきひフェニックス).^[6] The first volume of Nekomonogatari (猫物語, "Cat Story") released in 2010, subtitled Kuro (黒, "Black"), contains another prequel to Bakemonogatari, titled "Tsubasa Family" (つばさファミリー).

The second Monogatari saga, released between 2010 and 2011, delves further in Koyomi's relationship with each of the heroines, including a second Nekomonogatari volume, subtitled Shiro (白, "White") containing "Tsubasa Tiger" (つばさタイガー); Kabukimonogatari (傾物語, "Slope Story") containing "Mayoi Jiangshi" (まよいキョンシー); Hanamonogatari (花物語, "Flower Story") containing "Suruga Devil" (するがデビル); Otorimonogatari (囮物語, "Decoy Story") containing "Nadeko Medusa" (なでこメドゥーサ); Onimonogatari (鬼物語, "Demon Story") containing "Shinobu Time" (しのぶタイム); and Koimonogatari (恋物語, "Love Story") containing "Hitagi End" (ひたぎエンド).

The third Monogatari saga, released between 2012 and 2014, deepens the history of the character Ōgi Oshino, a supposed relative of Meme Oshino. It is composed of six volumes; Tsukimonogatari (憑物語, "Possess Story") containing "Yotsugi Doll" (よつぎドール), Koyomimonogatari (暦物語, "Calendar Story"), containing 12 short stories, three volumes of Owarimonogatari (終物語, "End Story") containing "Ōgi Formula" (おうぎフォーミュラ, Ōgi Fōmyura), "Sodachi Riddle" (そだちリドル, Sodachi Ridoru), "Sodachi Lost" (そだちロスト, Sodachi Rosuto), "Shinobu Mail" (しのぶメイル, Shinobu Meiru), "Mayoi Hell" (まよいヘル, Mayoi Heru), "Hitagi Rendezvous" (ひたぎランデブー, Hitagi Randebū) and "Ōgi Dark" (おうぎダーク, Ōgi Dāku), and Zoku-Owarimonogatari (続・終物語, "Continued End Story") containing "Koyomi Reverse" (こよみリバース, Koyomi Ribāsu).

The fourth Monogatari saga is being released between 2015 and 2016. The first book is Orokamonogatari (愚物語, "Fool Story"), containing "Sodachi Fiasco" (そだちフィアスコ), "Suruga Bonehead" (するがボーンヘッド) and "Tsukihi Undo" (つきひアンドゥ). The second book is Wazamonogatari (業物語, "Karma Story") containing "Princess Fair" (うつくし姫, Utsukushihime), "Acerola Bon Appétit" (あせろらボナペティ, Aserora Bonapeti), "Karen Ogre" (かれんオウガ, Karen Ouga) and "Tsubasa Sleeping" (つばさスリーピング, Tsubasa Surīpingu).

Anime

The anime adaptation of Bakemonogatari aired between July 3 and September 25, 2009 on Tokyo MX.^[7][8] The series is part of Kodansha's Nisio Isin Anime Project and is produced by Shaft, directed by Akiyuki Shinbō with assistance from Tatsuya Oishi, written by Fuyashi Tō and featuring a character designs by Akio Watanabe based on Vofan's original concepts.^[9] The music for the series is produced by Satoru Kōsaki under the supervision of Yota Tsuruoka.^[10] The series was scheduled to be 15 episodes long, but only the first 12 episodes were broadcast. The remaining three episodes were distributed on the official website between November 3, 2009 and June 25, 2010.^[11] At Sakura-Con 2012, Aniplex of America announced that they have acquired Bakemonogatari for a North America release.^[12] The series was released in North America on Blu-ray on November 20, 2012.^[13]

An 11-episode anime adaptation of Nisemonogatari aired from January 7 to March 17, 2012,^{[Note 1]} produced by the same staff as Bakemonogatari. A four-episode anime television series adaptation of Nekomonogatari (Kuro) (猫物語(黒), "Cat Story (Black)") aired back-to-back on December 31, 2012.^[14] Two BD/DVD compilation volumes were released: the first on March 6, 2013 and the second on April 3, 2013.^[14] A 26-episode anime television series titled Monogatari Series Second Season, spanning five of the six novels from Nekomonogatari (Shiro) (猫物語(白), "Cat Story (White)") to Koimonogatari,^[15] aired between July 6 and December 28, 2013.^{[Note 2][16][17]}

A five-episode television anime series, adapting the remaining novel of the second series, Hanamonogatari, aired as a marathon on August 16, 2014,^[18] and a four-episode adaptation of the first novel of the third series, Tsukimonogatari, which falls chronologically between Monogatari Series Second Season and Hanamonogatari, aired in a marathon on December 31, 2014.^[19] A 12-episode television anime series adapting two more novels of the third series, titled Owarimonogatari, aired between October 3 and December 19, 2015. A series of three films adapting the prequel novel Kizumonogatari are being produced, with the first one premiering on January 8, 2016,^[20] and the second film to premiere in Q3 2016.^[21] A web anime series adapting Koyomimonogatari became available for download on the App Store and Google Play from January 9, 2016.^[22]

Other media

A drama CD titled Original Drama CD Hyakumonogatari (オリジナルドラマCD　佰物語, Orijinaru Dorama Shīdi Hyakumonogatari), a reference to the parlor game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, was released on August 3, 2009. The script was written by Nisio Isin and is bundled with the CD.^[23]

A PlayStation Portable visual novel titled Bakemonogatari Portable (化物語 ポータブル) developed by Bandai Namco Games was released on August 23, 2012.^[24][25]

Good Smile Company has made several nendoroid petit figures for the series, releasing them as separate sets. The first set contains the characters Koyomi Araragi, Hitagi Senjōgahara and Tsubasa Hanekawa.^[26] The second set contains Suruga Kanbaru, Mayoi Hachikuji and Nadeko Sengoku^[27] and the third set contains the Araragi sisters Karen and Tsukihi, as well as Shinobu Oshino.^[28] The company also made a line of separate, 1/8 scale figures of Hitagi Senjōgahara,^[29] Suruga Kanbaru,^[30] Nadeko Sengoku,^[31] Tsubasa Hanekawa,^[32] Mayoi Hachikuji,^[33] and Shinobu Oshino^[34] They also plan to make a figure of the older form of Shinobu from Kizumonogatari. They have also made figma figures of several of the characters: Koyomi Araragi,^[35] Hitagi Senjōgahara,^[36] Mayoi Hachikuji,^[37] Suruga Kanbaru,^[38] Nadeko Sengoku,^[39] and Tsubasa Hanekawa.^[40] They have planned to make the Araragi sisters, Karen and Tsukihi. Alter, Bandai, Kotobukiya, and others have made figures of some of the other characters as well.

Reception

The light novel series ranked sixth in the 2009 issue of Takarajimasha's light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!. It later went on to rank as high as second in 2010. Koyomi Araragi ranked sixth in the Best Male Character in 2009, second in 2010, seventh in 2011, third in 2012, and sixth in 2013. Meanwhile, Hitagi Senjōgahara ranked seventh in the Best Female Character in 2009, fourth in 2010, eighth in 2011, and seventh in 2012.

The anime adaptation won the Users' Special Award in the 2nd annual DEG Japan Awards/Blu-ray Prizes.^[41][42] Over one million DVDs and BDs of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari have been sold.^[43]

Notes

References

External links

• Bakemonogatari at Kodansha Box (Japanese)
• Monogatari Series anime official website (Japanese)
• Monogatari Series Second Season anime official website (English)
• Bakemonogatari Portable official website (Japanese)
• Bakemonogatari (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia