Monogatari Series

[Marzan]

There's enough interest from some in this site on the ongoing Monogatari series for it to have it's own thread and thereby keep it from monopolizing other threads. Let's keep it all here, TV series, films, novels and those fine looking 1/8 Senjougahara PVC figures too.

[anime52k8]

I haven't actually watched the show yet (don't have time to watch a full series right now ), but Tsubasa Hanekawa is the cutest character ever. Just felt like throwing that out there.

[Major Focker]

i'm genuinely surprised.

you can start with Nekomonogatari Kuro which stars Hanekawa and is chronologically the first (at least until the Kizu movie comes out). and it's only 4 episodes. having said that, i really would recommend watching the various series in order of release.

Bakemonogatari (the first to air) is well suited to sporadic viewing since it is structured in 4-5 episode arcs. the first arc though is focused on Senjougahara, and Hanekawa's arc is not until later in the series, but she does show up in nearly all episodes.

c'mon, get going! you're missing out on the awesomeness.

p.s.

yay! for Bakemono thread

Edited October 15, 2013 by Major Focker

[Keith]

This is easily my favorite show ever right now, and quickly stole the thunder away from Haruhi without even blnking. How such a finely tuned maichine of wit, mystery, style, and fanservice exists mystifies me.

[Marzan]

Otorimonogatari has been one impressive arc from this franchise. It took a very under-developed character (and one might say rather boring character as opposed to some of the other haremettes) and gave her a very thorough characterization that used her existing traits as a foil for her true nature, making it a compelling and thrilling ride.

Moreover it signifies at least so far, Araragi's first failure to "save" one of the girls. This show is all about portraying the problems/issues that a troubled teenage girl may have being wrapped in a supernatural disguise, and up until now, amateur psychologist/vampire white knight Araragi Koyomi has always been there to help the girl in question overcome those problems. And now Nadeko, wow. She not only didn't overcome those issues, she embraced them to the absolute fullest with the results we saw.

BTW, I've just learned that what we saw in the epilogue was Nadeko's imagination of what will happen in six months when the deal with Senjougahara comes to fruition. The spoilers are saying however, that this will give Senjougahara time to plan the counterattack in what should be a very interesting arc

Edited October 15, 2013 by Marzan

[technoblue]

Thanks for the new thread, Marzan!

I've been having a blast following the anime since I was first introduced to Bakemono four years ago.

[Keith]

I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who couldn't resist spoilers.

[Major Focker]

i'm spoiled rotten.

but whatever you do, do not look into Hanamonogatari any further. MAJOR spoilers.

[Keith]

I just wish a publisher would pick the series up, translate it, and port it to my kindle app.

[Keith]

A pretty good recap ep overall. I actually thought Tsubasa Cat would get its own, but I like how Nise ws rollex up alng with it. But enough of that, I'm ready for the next Shinobu arc, and I hope it ends with a trailer for Nise. At this point, I really hope someone decides to bring the light novels over here.

[Major Focker]

after watching the recap, i brushed up on previous episodes by looking at wiki summaries. at the end it listed episode 17: Shinobu Time, Part One. really looking forward to that. i'm not even going to try to stay away for 3 weeks before watching. ironically, now that i've decided that, i'll actually be in 3 countries over the next 4 weeks. guess i'll have to insist on being home every weekend.

i'm wondering what the next recap episode will be. a recap of the current season? or (gasp!) a Kizu preview?

[ErikElvis]

I just finished bakemonogatari within the week and like I said in the other thread I didnt know what was going on for like 5 episodes. But I was drawn to it as I found it oddly entertaining. Looking forward to moving on to the next season.

[Marzan]

Although I'm slightly irritated by the presence of so many recap episode in a relative short series, this recap did refresh me with the events of Nisemonogatari which I haven't seen as many times as Bake.

I'd nearly forgotten about the bit at then end of the

Karen Bee arc, when after Kaiki walks away in defeat, Senjougahara grabs Araragi forces him to force her against the fence and says: "Tonight, please be gentle with me" Of course the very next scene is Araragi waking up at his own house and seeing his 2 sisters sleeping naked. The Monogatari series does teasing like few other series can.

[Major Focker]

i'm not so bothered with the recap episodes. i think it's simply due to the material they have to work with.

for the second season they had 6 novels, and they decided to do just 5, and with good reason: Hanamonogatari is chronologically much later in the timeline and showing it ahead of the season 3 stories will likely diminish some of the latter's suspense or drama elements. i can only guess that Hana was published at a time when they thought that was it for the entire series. So they've announced Hana will have its own standalone series in 2014, but as i said previously, do not look into Hana unless you want to be spoiled.

so with 5 novels, they could do 5 eps each for a full 25 ep season. but 5 eps is probably too long for some of the story arcs. so far only 3 arcs have gone beyond 4 eps: Tsubasa Cat, Karen Bee, Tsubasa Tiger. Tsubasa Cat is 5 eps but technically just 4 because one of the eps (S01E12) is actually unrelated. Karen Bee at 7 eps really felt too long, probably doable in 5, but six eps max. Tsubasa Tiger at 5 eps felt about right, but i could still argue the first ep was more of like a "welcome to the new season" kind of episode.

so 4 eps per arc seems to be the right balance, but that would only be 20 eps for the season. perhaps 2-3 arcs would merit 5 eps and the rest at 4 eps each. but that would still just be 22-23 eps total. ergo, add 2-3 recap episodes to round up to 25. considering that Bake was from back in 2009, Nise from early 2012 and NekoKuro was aired chronologically out of order, i think the now sequential recaps actually helps. i'd rather have them than overly drawn out narratives.

so my bet is that Shinobu Time will have 4 eps and the last arc at 5, unless they do a filler beach episode like so many animes theses days..

[Keith]

What a delightful arc setup and tease episode that was. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be strung along with minimal info before. And as usual, watch completely through the credits!

[Marzan]

^

I laughed for hours at ARE YOU ITALIAN?!!

I thought it was strangely typical for a show that does the unexpected to have Araragi kissing 2 girls in the space of 10 minutes, neither of which is Senjougahara. And his friendly teasing of Hachikuji is nearing prison time limits!

That darkness seems like very bad news. Cannot wait for next week.

[Major Focker]

Araragi's on a roll!

i wonder what's with this new habit of theirs playing the credits 4/5 of way rather than at the end?

in ep10, credits played in the background with 5mins to go as the episode continued uninterrupted. it made sense then, because it was sort of an epilogue to the story arc.

in ep15, there was 2 mins after the credits which again made sense because it was an epilogue/preview of sorts.

now in ep 17, it's nearly 4 mins of material post credits. and i can't think of a good reason this time except

to space the kissing scenes?

[Keith]

I think it was directly an "h wait a minute, almost for forgot I could do this."

[Ghost Train]

I have only watched Bakemonogatari. I thought it was brilliant. The scene where Hitagi and Koyomi finally go to their dayto under a sea of stars is particularly touching.

I couldn't get motivated enough to watch Nisemonogatari.

[Keith]

Nise is fluff at first glance, but is also full of major plot l, and foreshadows a lot to come. If you're not motivated, at least watck Neko Kuro & Shiro. If that doesn't make you want to watxh everything else, nothing will.

[Keith]

This weeks ep is actually what I thoght we were going to get last week. I loved the art style used, and it feels incredibly decadent to get these glimpses into Shinobu's past and mentality. With even more teases as to the events of Kizu, I can't wait for them to finish and release it.

[Marzan]

This weeks ep is actually what I thoght we were going to get last week. I loved the art style used, and it feels incredibly decadent to get these glimpses into Shinobu's past and mentality. With even more teases as to the events of Kizu, I can't wait for them to finish and release it.

I absolutely loved the art and how the animation flowed from one to another instead of in shots. Shaft really has some talented artists working on this series.

I'm thinking that her bond with Araragi makes much more sense now that we've heard how things ended up with her first minion. And you're right, Kizumonogatari cannot come too soon!

[technoblue]

Sunday seems to be my catch-up day. And I love how Monogatari can still surprise me. It's the little things, I guess:

For instance, how Shinobu and Araragi were talking together in the beginning of the episode. The style of it seemed fitting with Shinobu in a sound room set up with Hachikuji laid out (recovering from the darkness, I guess?) and Araragi listening down below through the tabletop radio. It's a visual that's been sticking with me today.

[Keith]

[anime52k8]

I'm sure that was really cool when it wasn't so compressed and down-scaled to the point you can barely tell what you're looking at.

[technoblue]

On my desktop monitor, I can tell there is a cool tapestry affect going on with Shinobu's hair--a history of sorts.

Keith, is there a link to a larger version of that picture?

[Keith]

http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/1538245?tags=monogatari_%28series%29

It was a full version when I uploaded it, not sure why the site compressed it down, but whatever. Just click on "view original" from the link.

[Marzan]

Latest episode taking Nisioisin's favorite fetish to new heights

Loliragi really embracing his young girl loving ways. And Gaen Izuko seems like a really scary character

[Keith]

If not for the impending "Darkness," Araragi would be having the time of his life.

But now the issue is how to rescue Shinobu while quickly losing power. Likely this is why Kanbaru was called in.

The onlyvthng that has disappointed me about this arc, is the lack of an Op & theme for Shinobu. I was really looking forward to one.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Keith

[Marzan]

If not for the impending "Darkness," Araragi would be having the time of his life.

But now the issue is how to rescue Shinobu while quickly losing power. Likely this is why Kanbaru was called in.

The onlyvthng that has disappointed me about this arc, is the lack of an Op & theme for Shinobu. I was really looking forward to one.

I've read in a couple of places that Maaya Sakamoto refuses to do character songs (in general, not just for this series), hence the lack of one. I suppose she's one of the few seeiyu's that can pull off a power play like that.

[Keith]

Kind of ironic at this point in her career, but she's given us some awesome performances, wo I'll forgive her. I still love the Escaflowne TV & movie theme's she did.

Edited November 12, 2013 by Keith

[Marzan]

Indeed. She's done some wicked stuff for Raxhephon too and a personal favorite, Kiseki no Umi from Record of Lodoss War. It seems she's been around forever, huh?

[Marzan]

The latest episode of Monogatari was pretty moving. It was also very unexpected. They really threw a curveball. I thought it was going to be all about

Shinobu and it turns out that it's Hachikuji the darkness (clearly Ougi) is really after.

[Keith]

So muxh rage over Daisuki not having the new ep up yet. And crunchyroll is several eps behind. O don't ask for much, but I need my freakin Monogatari fix!

[Marzan]

Yes!! Gahara is back! Hilarious episode too.

Seeing Senshougahara's long conversation with Kaiki wearing a Groucho Marx mask (while he wore a Hawaiian shirt) with a straight face was pretty hard. I really liked Kaiki as the unreliable narrator too. He brings a cynical yet very relatable take on things.

My only wonder at this point is when they'll be doing Hanamonogatari since it seems that Koimonogatari is the last arc in this season