Monogatari (series)
Monogatari is a Japanese light novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Vofan. It centers around Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who survives a vampire attack and finds himself helping girls involved with a variety of apparitions, deities, ghosts, beasts, spirits, and other supernatural phenomena. Between November 2006 and April 2019, Kodansha published 25 volumes in the series under its Kodansha Box imprint, with plans for at least three more volumes as of 2017. All of the series' story arcs share the common title suffix -monogatari.
Shaft has animated the Monogatari series multiple times since 2009. The first season of the anime adaptation consists of 30 episodes, which were broadcast in Japan between July 2009 and December 2012. The second season consists of 28 episodes broadcast between July and December 2013, and the third and final season consists of 42 episodes broadcast between December 2014 and June 2019. A prequel anime film trilogy, Kizumonogatari, was released in 2016 and 2017. A manga series illustrated by Oh! great adapting the series' first arc, Bakemonogatari, began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in March 2018.
Synopsis
Premise
The Monogatari series revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who has almost restored his humanity after briefly becoming a vampire during spring break. One day, a classmate of his, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara, falls down a flight of stairs at school into Koyomi's arms. To his surprise, he discovers that Hitagi weighs almost nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened to keep away, Koyomi offers his help and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned cram school who helped reverse his vampirism. Once Koyomi helps solve Hitagi's problem, she decides to become his girlfriend.As the series progresses, Koyomi finds himself involved with other girls afflicted by "oddities": the ghost of a child named 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 apparitions, which feed on human emotions and often take forms symbolically represented by animals, Koyomi relies on supernatural guidance from Oshino and, later, from Shinobu, the once-powerful blonde vampire who attacked him and later assumed the appearance of an eight-year-old girl.
Setting
Most heroines have an item that symbolises their spectres, such as Hitagi's stapler, Mayoi's backpack, Suruga's arm, Nadeko's hat and jacket, and Karen's black and yellow tracksuit. Although it incorporates elements of fantasy, horror, and action, the series primarily focuses on relationships and conversations between its characters, which make heavy use of Nisio Isin's signature word play and metahumor.Production
Initially written during spare time as a trilogy of short stories with no illustrations for submission to the Mephisto magazine, it was made into a series with illustrations. Since his previous work, the Zaregoto series, had been accepted as a light novel, Nisio decided to change direction and write a formal novel, and the first story, "Hitagi Crab", was written with that literature approach in mind. It was not a simple transition from light novels to literature, but rather an experiment to see if light novels could be achieved with text alone. However, that direction of the story was written until the third episode, "Suruga Monkey", in Bakemonogatari volume 1, and the story of Bakemonogatari volume 2 was changed because it was decided at the time of writing that an illustration would be included in the story. Also, the atmosphere of Kizumonogatari written when the author did not know it was going to be made into an anime, and Nisemonogatari volume 1, written when the author knew it was going to be made into an anime, are different.Media
Light novels
The Monogatari series was first written by Nisio Isin as a series of short stories for Kodansha's literary magazine Mephisto. The first three stories were printed in the magazine's September 2005, January 2006, and May 2006 issues, respectively; they were later collected in a light novel volume entitled Bakemonogatari on November 2, 2006. A second volume of Bakemonogatari, containing two new chapters, was released in December 2006. Both volumes were published under the Kodansha Box imprint and featured original art by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan, who would illustrate all following releases.A prequel story to Bakemonogatari entitled "Koyomi Vamp" was published in the February 2008 issue of Pandora magazine. It was later released as a light novel volume entitled Kizumonogatari in May 2008. The next story arc, Nisemonogatari, was released as two volumes in September 2008 and June 2009. The first volume of Nekomonogatari, subtitled Kuro, was released in July 2010, and consists of a prequel story to Bakemonogatari entitled "Tsubasa Family".
The second Monogatari saga, referred to as the "Second Season", released between 2010 and 2011, delves further into Koyomi's relationship with each of the heroines. The second volume of Nekomonogatari, subtitled Shiro, was released in October 2010. It was followed by five story arcs published in five volumes: Kabukimonogatari in December 2010, Hanamonogatari in March 2011, Otorimonogatari in June 2011, Onimonogatari in September 2011, and Koimonogatari in December 2011.
The third Monogatari saga, referred to as the "Final Season", released between 2012 and 2014, deepens the history of the character Ōgi Oshino, a supposed relative of Meme Oshino. It is composed of four story arcs published in six volumes: Tsukimonogatari in September 2012, a collection of 12 short stories entitled Koyomimonogatari in May 2013, three volumes of Owarimonogatari in October 2013, January 2014, and April 2014, and Zoku Owarimonogatari in September 2014.
The fourth Monogatari saga, referred to as "Off Season", released between 2015 and 2017, contains side stories focusing on various characters. It is composed of four story arcs published in four volumes: Orokamonogatari in October 2015, Wazamonogatari in January 2016, Nademonogatari in July 2016, and Musubimonogatari in January 2017.
The fifth and current Monogatari saga, referred to as "Monster Season", whose first volume was released in 2017, follows Koyomi's life as a university student. It is composed of three story arcs published in three volumes: Shinobumonogatari in July 2017, Yoimonogatari in June 2018, and Amarimonogatari in April 2019. Plans for two final arcs were revealed at the end of Shinobumonogatari: Ōgimonogatari and Shinomonogatari, which is to be published in two volumes.
In 2015, Vertical licensed the novel series for English release. The company began its paperback line with Kizumonogatari on December 15, 2015, and later released the Bakemonogatari novels in three volumes: the first in December 2016, the second in February 2017, and the third in April 2017. As of April 2020, the novels in the series up to Koyomimonogatari and the first two volumes of Owarimonogatari have been translated; the remaining volume of Owarimonogatari and one volume of Zoku Owarimonogatari are planned for release in September 2020 and November 2020, respectively.
Anime
An anime adaptation of Bakemonogatari was announced in April 2008 and broadcast between July 3 and September 25, 2009 on Tokyo MX. The 15-episode series was animated by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and series director Tatsuya Oishi, with scripts by Shinbo and Shaft staff under the collective pen name of Fuyashi Tō and character designs by Akio Watanabe based on Vofan's original concepts. The music for the series was composed by Satoru Kōsaki. Only the first 12 episodes were broadcast on television; the remaining three episodes were distributed on the anime's website between November 3, 2009 and June 25, 2010. At Sakura-Con 2012, Aniplex of America announced that it had acquired Bakemonogatari for release in North America. All 15 episodes were released on Blu-ray with English subtitles on November 20, 2012.An 11-episode anime adaptation of Nisemonogatari aired from January 8 to March 18, 2012, produced by the same staff as Bakemonogatari, but with Tomoyuki Itamura replacing Tatsuya Oishi as director. A four-episode anime television series adaptation of Nekomonogatari aired back-to-back on December 31, 2012. Two Blu-ray and DVD compilation volumes were released: the first on March 6, 2013 and the second on April 3, 2013. A 26-episode anime television series titled Monogatari Series Second Season, spanning five of the six novels from Nekomonogatari to Koimonogatari, aired between July 7 and December 29, 2013. Aniplex USA later released the Blu-ray on April 22, and June 24, 2014.
A five-episode anime television series, adapting the remaining novel of the second series, Hanamonogatari, aired as a marathon on August 16, 2014, and a four-episode adaptation of the first novel of the third series, Tsukimonogatari, aired in a marathon on December 31, 2014. A 12-episode anime television 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 were produced, with the first one, Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu, premiering on January 8, 2016, the second film, Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu, premiering on August 19, 2016, and the third and final film, Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu, premiering on January 6, 2017. A web anime series adapting Koyomimonogatari became available for download on the App Store and Google Play from January 9, 2016. A seven-episode anime television series, an adaptation of the third Owarimonogatari novel, aired on August 12 and 13, 2017. An adaptation of Zoku Owarimonogatari was released in theaters on November 10, 2018 and as two Blu-ray and DVD volumes on February 27, 2019 and March 27, 2019. It aired on TV as six episodes between May 18 and June 22, 2019.
The anime adaptation does not follow the order of the novels. Kizumonogatari was planned to be released in 2012 after Bakemonogatari, but due to production issues, it was delayed until 2016. Hanamonogatari was originally planned to be animated in its original place from the novels, but it got postponed to air after Monogatari Series Second Season. In the Blu-ray box set of Monogatari Series Second Season though, Hanamonogatari is listed as the third arc. Koyomimonogatari in the novels was released before Owarimonogatari, but in the anime adaptation, it was released on the App Store and Google Play app after Kizumonogatari I and Owarimonogatari.
Manga
On January 10, 2018, Nisio Isin announced via Twitter that Bakemonogatari would receive a manga adaptation. On February 13, 2018, Kodansha revealed three pieces of character art and opened a contest for Twitter users to guess the identity of the artist who would illustrate the series. On February 28, 2018, it was announced that manga artist Oh! great would be illustrating the series. The manga launched in the 15th issue of Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine on March 14, 2018. The special edition of the first volume contained a short prose story by Nisio Isin and a short manga titled "Bake 'mono' gatari" by Oh! great.Vertical began releasing the manga in North America in October 2019.
Other media
A drama CD titled, 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.A PlayStation Portable visual novel titled Bakemonogatari Portable developed by Bandai Namco Games was released on August 23, 2012.
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. The second set contains Suruga Kanbaru, Mayoi Hachikuji and Nadeko Sengoku and the third set contains the Araragi sisters Karen and Tsukihi, as well as Shinobu Oshino.
The company also made a line of separate, 1/8 scale figures of Hitagi Senjōgahara,
Suruga Kanbaru,
Nadeko Sengoku,
Tsubasa Hanekawa,
Mayoi Hachikuji,
Karen Araragi,
Tsukihi Araragi,
Shinobu Oshino,
Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade,
Nadeko Sengoku in her Medusa form,
and Yotsugi Ononoki.
They have also made figma figures of several of the characters: Koyomi Araragi,
Hitagi Senjōgahara,
Mayoi Hachikuji,
Suruga Kanbaru,
Nadeko Sengoku,
and Tsubasa Hanekawa. 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. Over one million DVDs and BDs of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari have been sold combined as of September 2012. Across its 27 titles, the series has sold over two million DVDs and BDs as of October 2015.
The first 3 volumes of the manga adaptation has sold over one million copies as of January 2019.