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studentofetherium · 1 year

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watch Monogatari

Monogatari is a lot of things. across 18 novels or 102 episodes and three movies, the series spans numerous tones and genres

the premise of Monogatari is that there are supernatural creatures called oddities that represent the characters' mental problems. in each arc, a new oddity happens to force the characters into situations. that's rather broad! because the series does a lot with its concept and treats it rather loosely. the point is, the focus of the series is on its characters and their numerous psychological issues. as a result, the topics the series handles can be rather serious. this includes things like domestic violence, child abuse, and rape. however, not all its plots are so serious, and others focus on sexuality or sibling relationships

Monogatari is highly unconventional. i could say a lot about the bizarre presentation of the anime, or Nisioisin's distinct prose, but i think it's been seen rather than described. needless to say, Studio Shaft and specifically the directors Tatsuya Oishi (who directed the first two arcs, Bakemonogatari and Kizumonogatari) and Tomoyuki Itamura (who directed everything after) did a fantastic job in the series

what about the characters? it's hard to talk about the characters in Monogatari without going into spoilers, but suffice to say that each is distinct in their own ways

Koyomi Araragi is the series' protagonist as well as its narrator. for good and bad, his view is how we see the world. during spring break, an incident occurred which left him in a twilight state between humanity and undeath as a half-vampire. the supernatural attracts the supernatural, so since then, he has found himself involved in a number of other oddity incidents

Hitagi Senjougahara is the cool beauty, a tsundere with a violent side. after a run-in with a crab, she found that her weight had been stolen, causing her to come down with poor health

Mayoi Hachikuji is a precocious and energetic elemental schooler who can't find her way home. at times, she can come across as wise beyond her years, but at others, she seems exactly her age

Suruga Kanbaru is the princely athletic star of the school. however, a recent incident has led to her early retirement. at the same time, she begins to spend more time around (stalk) Koyomi for some unclear reason

Nadeko Sengoku is the little sister character who Koyomi forgot. he remembers her again when he stumbles across her at the shrine in the mountain, taking part in some sort of dark ritual...

and last but certainly not least, Tsubasa Hanekawa is the studious class president who shares some hazy recent history with Koyomi

and of course, there are many more characters than this, but i can't spend all my time introducing them

unfortunately, Monogatari has problems. i already mentioned that it tackles serious issues such as abuse or rape, and while it handles them well, there needs to be a warning for their presence, as the series does not shy away from them. however, not everything is handled well. complaints about the series oversexualizing its cast are frequent, and especially Koyomi's relationship with Mayoi falls under scrutiny. much as i love the show, i would be remiss to not warn people about these issues

but! if you still want to watch the series despite those problems (and you should), knowing what and how to watch can be difficult. the series is infamously hard to translate, meaning not every translation is equal. official subs are not always ideal and streaming services are far from the ideal way to watch the series. i recommend torrenting the series (suggested torrents are linked below). each arc name is unnumbered which easily causes confusion if you're not already familiar for the series. the watch order for the series are:

Bakemonogatari

Kizumonogatari

Nisemonogatari

Nekomonogatari Black

Second Season

Tsukimonogatari

Owarimonogatari season one

Koyomimonogatari

Owarimonogatari season two

Zoku Owarimonogatari

this may seem complicated, but it's much less so once you're familiar with the series

there is so much more i could say about Monogatari. the series is really deep, leaving lots of room for analysis of its characters and stories. even if you aren't inclined to go that far, there is so much to appreciate about the series. Monogatari is without a doubt my favorite story ever, and for many people it has been lifechanging. i cannot recommend it more and i hope if you've read all of this, that you're interested in checking it out!

#monogatari #monogatari series

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typellblog · 8 months

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Tsubasa Cat - An Analysis

In an interesting move for a post theoretically about Hanekawa I am prompted rather unsubtly by the text to begin with Hitagi. Specifically, her first date with Araragi.

In the anime, this is the last TV episode, and all things considered it’s not an unreasonable place to finish. This story, to some extent, is not about Araragi, but about Araragi’s relationship with Hitagi. She is important to every other arc (besides, perhaps, Nadeko Snake, which is interesting in its own right, but I digress).

What I like about this scene is how it’s mirrored – it starts with Hitagi’s stumbling attempts at asking Araragi on a date, and ends with her stumbling attempts at asking him for a kiss. During the torturous (to Araragi) car ride with Hitagi’s father, she talks about – as if at random – Araragi’s studies, Kanbaru, and her father. During the second half, when they’re alone, she makes it clear that this was a deliberate showcase of all of the things that she has – everything she can offer to Araragi as his girlfriend.

This transition is accomplished through the midpoint of Araragi’s conversation with her father, which begins awkwardly and then veers into the heartfelt – ‘take care of my daughter’ is at first uttered as a joke and then once again more seriously when the conversation ends.

It gives us another perspective on Hitagi, telling us that the only people she felt comfortable speaking her mind to were people she didn’t mind being hated by, and people who would never hate her. We see that Araragi started as the first and became the second. But just as Hitagi’s father underrates his importance to her, seeing himself as in the first rather than the second category, so does Araragi. He feels uncomfortable being given the credit for helping Hitagi open up to others. He wasn’t the one who did it, after all. She just went ahead and saved herself. It didn’t need to be him, specifically. Anyone could have been there for her.

As Hitagi’s father points out, however, that alone is enough. The simple fact that he was there for her is enough to earn her gratitude. There’s nothing wrong with that.

And it’s with that in mind that we move outside, to see the stars.

This is also one of the few things that Hitagi can give to Araragi. Not the stars themselves of course, not even the specific location outside the observatory, but rather the memory. It’s a memory of a time that her family was still together. A memory that was reclaimed from the Weight Crab in no small part thanks to Araragi himself.

When Araragi is asked in the car what he loves about her, he’s too nervous to answer. When he flips the question back on her, she answers smoothly, ironically. It’s a total defeat.

When Araragi is asked now, he answers easily. Everything. Everything that she’s shown him tonight, he accepts. When he asks her again in response, she gives the same answer, but in this context, we realise she was being dead serious earlier.

It’s the kind of response that fits Hitagi’s specific brand of brashness paired with vulnerability. It’s the kind of recontextualization that fits this series. And as an affirmation of their love for one another it’s an appropriate jumping-off point for what Araragi is about to go through in this arc.

But before we get to that, I want to note that the way this arc is reliant on previously established events that we haven’t actually read about yet is quite aberrant.

The difference positions Hanekawa differently from the other characters. She’s not someone that Araragi meets because of oddity problems, she’s someone he’s known for a while already. Unlike the other characters, she’s stable - doesn’t need fixing. Her oddity problem has already been resolved, and she slips comfortably into the role of supporting character from before she’s even introduced.

If Araragi’s developing relationship with Senjougahara is the throughline of Bakemonogatari, then his relationship with Hanekawa is its dark reflection. She appears in every arc, but never gets involved directly, never changes as a result. She tells him this. I never change. It’s a lie.

On a narrative level as well as a personal one Hanekawa is sidelined, ignored, taken for granted, and it is essentially this failure to address her that feeds the Sawari Neko.

It’s an interestingly contradictory oddity. As its name suggests, it ‘meddles’, doing things for the host that they in some way needed but didn’t have the desire to act on. It was triggered by the act of picking it up from the side of the road and giving it a proper burial. It could easily be ignored, but ignoring things like that is not in the nature of Hanekawa Tsubasa. She sweats the small stuff, she does things that are expected of anyone but nobody actually does, she projects the image of an ‘ordinary’ person, and in doing so comes off as more extraordinary than anyone else.

She goes out of her way to help the cat, and the cat goes out of its way to help her, because for all her kindness and compassion she doesn’t reserve any for herself.

The ability of the Sawari Neko is energy drain. It’s the inverse of her usually supportive nature, the selfish ability to take from others in order to make herself feel better.

Since we’ve mentioned how the oddity’s quirks informs Hanekawa’s own issues, let’s continue with the classics and talk about the characteristic Monogatari twist. You see, Araragi tells us, the typical twist with these cat monsters is the reveal that there was no cat monster. A virtuous woman acts strangely at night, becoming a harlot and wandering the streets. She must be possessed! Entrapped by a monster! No, she’s just doing that on her own. The idea that she couldn’t possibly want to do that is your own assumption – how well do you really know her?

This is a theme that has been explored in Bakemonogatari already, with the case of Kanbaru Suruga. She was afflicted by a devil, yes, but the devil only gave her the ability to achieve desires that she actually held. Hanekawa’s case is an expansion of this – the monster is in a very real sense part of Hanekawa herself. But we understand this already. There is no need to belabor the point that Tsubasa Hanekawa is, herself, gaining some benefit by the cat’s actions. This is how oddities work. They arise for a reason.

And thus, the twist of the previous cat incident, the one that we haven’t actually seen yet, is skipped over. Or rather, it is told to us directly. Hanekawa faces a terrible family situation. Her parents aren’t really her parents. Her overwhelming stress from this causes the cat to assault others, including those same parents.

Instead of this, we get a new, more dramatic twist. The cause of the stress this time was not her parents, as Araragi assumes. It was her feelings towards him.

Stress is a curious thing. The word must come up a dozen times in these few episodes – I can still hear the drawl of Oshino’s voice as he pronounces the English loanword.

For my money, the most interesting portrayal of Hanekawa’s stress here is seen in the opening for this arc. Or should I say both openings? There’s a photo version as well as the more usual animated one this time.

I would say the theme here in the first one is ‘wandering’ – we’re given names of different countries for each shot of Hanekawa walking around. A reference to her plans to travel after graduation, I suppose. But the pictured locations aren’t actually different – all washed through the same grey filter, all seemingly Naoetsu rather than overseas. Hanekawa’s post-graduation plans are paralleled with her habit of walking around town on holidays to avoid her parents.

It’s another view of something that seems to Araragi quite impressive and unconventional. Perhaps she simply does not know where to go, would rather be anywhere but here. If her walks are a way of avoiding one source of stress, her parents, then her travel might be pegged as a way of avoiding the other – Araragi himself.

The fear of being trapped is heightened in the second rendition. Now we see her actually running from something, hands grasping to pull her back, strapped motionlessly to a set of train tracks.

The thing I’m most curious about, though, are the opening and ending shots of her standing on the bridge, long hair trailing to either side. Different versions of Hanekawa – the second is the cat – but the same solemn expression. It’s enough to make us doubt that they’re separate characters at all, and indeed that’s the point. We’re shown not just Kuro Hanekawa, but Kuro as Hanekawa.

Kuro Hanekawa is an interesting character.

She can’t lie because she’s too direct and unthinking to bother. Contrast regular Hanekawa’s assertion that she doesn’t lie – one that’s patently untrue. To her, keeping up appearances and responding in a way consistent with her ‘normal’ persona is more honest and upstanding than revealing her true feelings. To be reductive, if Kuro tells the truth because she’s to dumb to lie, the Hanekawa lies because she’s too smart, too socially conscious to be honest.

Kuro in her lack of regard for societal norms can be considered a manifestation of Hanekawa’s stress, but she doesn’t embody it. She, herself, is easily able to fess up to her master’s (note the reference to her as a different person) feelings. She is indifferent towards humans, not actively hostile. Her random energy drain attacks were done to relieve stress, but Araragi’s alternative method of Shinobu is also perfectly acceptable to her. Not only do their vibes and behaviour differ, but so are their personalities and priorities – the cat is functionally a different person.

In this light, the anime’s portrayal of their dialogue is interesting. During this scene he initially refuses to believe what the cat is saying, his idealized perception of Hanekawa preventing him from recognizing her hidden emotions. He mistakes her refusal to show any sort of outward jealousy for her incapability of doing so.

But look at how the ghostly presence of regular Hanekawa reaches out to Araragi along with Kuro’s words. See how Araragi gently addresses her rather than Kuro – Kuro as Hanekawa instead of either Kuro or Hanekawa. Later his perceptions shift, Kuro’s dialogue delivered through reused frames of Hanekawa talking to him in the classroom, Hanekawa’s mannerisms like the mysterious opaque glasses recontextualized in Kuro’s paws – Hanekawa as Kuro. It becomes clear that Kuro is merely giving voice to things that Hanekawa really does feel.

As such, he’s able to give a genuine answer, saying that he loves Hitagi. Kuro Hanekawa, for her part, is not particularly surprised or bothered, simply moving to her next step in the plan to relieve her master’s stress.

She tries to kill him.

Once again building on Kanbaru’s arc, Araragi is forced to seriously consider dying in order to solve the problem. Hanekawa is someone he owes a great debt to. Would it really be that bad? Yes!

Hitagi would kill Hanekawa. Here we have the same excuse as Kanbaru’s case. I don’t want to say it’s wrong, she absolutely would, but the point lies more in what it represents. Her feelings for him. Everything that he promised to give to her. It’s not actually an ideal resolution of the situation, even if we accept that his life is as cheap as he makes it out to be. Because something that cheap can only be traded for one person’s happiness. Everyone else who cares about him (including Hanekawa) would be worse off for it.

The real solution is to ask for help. This has been partially demonstrated already, on the hunt for Shinobu. Hanekawa rubs it in, with her little lie about vampire fascination. None of the girls he met him him because they were brainwashed, they agreed because they care about him. They are each people that Araragi has to one extent or another participated in saving. Oshino Meme says that people can only save themselves, but Araragi doesn’t share that opinion when it comes down to it.

He believes firmly that Hanekawa saved him. Just by being there, a person can drag you out of the deepest and darkest of depths. Araragi has done the same for several others. So, isn’t it alright to ask for help oneself? To not feel as though you’re being a burden on others, but can instead rely on them equally?

This is the realization he came to, the root behind Shinobu’s disappearance. Kuro Hanekawa says he was getting too used to oddities, too friendly with them, not respecting their power and legend enough. He was treating Shinobu as a child, hardly feeling as if he had the right to even speak to her. Thus, she disappeared, until he called her back. Until he relied on her.

She, the ur-example of the people he has been risking his life to help, as well as the source of his vampiric abilities that enable him to do so.

As of our current position in the story, we don’t know what caused their current relationship. But we do know that as an oddity capable of draining the life from others, even the selfish Meddlecat is handily outclassed by a vampire. And yet Shinobu willingly stops draining when requested. Araragi willingly gives her his own blood. If the cat is Hanekawa cut loose, free from social standards and bothersome human emotions, then what does being afflicted by a vampire mean to Araragi exactly?

Hanekawa ends this arc by falling asleep, returned once again to her regular state. But as she crosses the thin line between dreams and reality, she lets some unfiltered thoughts slip out.

You have to shape up. The impersonal framing of debts doesn’t represent Araragi’s true feelings. Just as ‘not wanting Hanekawa to exploit his debt to her’ wasn’t the real reason why he rejects her, ‘I care more about my debt to you than remaining friends’ is a really awkward way of him saying he just wants to help her. He struggles to admit this because, I think, of his belief he can’t really save anyone. He’s almost embarrassed to admit he’s trying.

In the end, though, he can’t take the same lackadaisical attitude as Oshino Meme. He can’t help but get involved in others’ personal issues, to put people’s wellbeing over the most effective way of resolving a situation, even if that person happens to be an oddity themselves.

However – is this really such a bad way of handling things? Araragi blurs the line between oddity and human, but he’s been getting half-decent at walking that tightrope lately. Knowing this, Oshino leaves town, trusting Araragi to handle both Shinobu’s disappearance and Hanekawa’s transformation.

Oshino himself – his lackadaisical attitude is ultimately just an attitude. His actions reveal a certain level of sympathy for Araragi’s priorities. His fees, his manipulations, his harsh words, all show a certain awkwardness on his part. He has an inability to be honest and act directly, one that balances out his true deep propensity for helping others.

Thus ends Bakemonogatari, a story about coming to terms with the monsters hidden in the darkness of the world. “For example, in my own shadow.” Araragi adds. Whatever being afflicted by a vampire means to him, it’s something he has to learn to live alongside with, not ignore.

Thus ends Bakemonogatari, but I’m looking forward to writing about the rest of the series very much as well. Took a stupid amount of time to muster up the mental energy for this one, but hopefully I can work a bit faster next time (I always say this and its never true lmao)

#monogatari #monogatariposting #hanekawa tsubasa #black hanekawa #araragi koyomi #senjougahara hitagi

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toyota-supra · 3 months

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curious for your thoughts on Monogatari so far! if you have them

I watched four episodes so far and I'm enjoying it! Winter asked me if it's similar or different to what I expected so I'm repeating it here: it is exactly what I expected so far.

I don't have a lot of thoughts I can put into words (and some of the ones I can't are too embarrassing! for now) but I really like Hitagi. the Hitagi Crab episodes are so incredible to watch I can tell that anyone who's watched this when younger would never ever forget it.

The visuals and the soundtrack are very nice and I adore the framing of some scenes, though this is more a general compliment without examples

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corecamilo · 3 months

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Senjougahara Hitagi crab - Bakemonogatari

#monogatari #senjougahara #hitagisenjougahara #bakemonogatari #monogatarifanart

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valhallakonbi · 7 months

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i meant new ask: character headcanons?

oh okay i wasn't sure my bad!

i'll start off with some small ones and gradually get to the bigger ones:

i can't tell if you were the one to come up with it or if it was established in the novels but i really like thinking of ougi as a neat freak... since koyomi is one, it ties in nicely

vegetarian koyomi & sodachi are also very good (i think veggie koyomi is yours and sodachi is annabelle's)

kanbaru and hitagi actually kissed in middle school. several times maybe.

yotsugi has a crush on nadeko but she doesn't understand that it is one. nadeko has noticed something's up but isn't sure yotsugi knows either

uni senjougahara can drive a motorcycle (please picture koyomi in the backseat as well)

hanekawa knows way too much about cars and all the men she meets at diners and gas stations overseas are really impressed with her, whether they like it or not (she drives manual btw.)

kanbaru wanted to become a sports doctor after meeting with numachi again, so i think she would mostly work with teenagers. i'd like to think that she frequently visits naoetsu and that ougi and kanbaru are still friends and reading buddies even when kanbaru grows into an adult.

my biggest headcanons are not fun ones and they are senjougahara related. reader discretion avised (mentions of eating disorders, cancer)

it's pretty on the nose, and it's edgy, and it's not revolutionary or anything, but hitagi crab as an analogy for eating disorders works extremely well in my eyes.

as someone who has dealt with eating disorders it makes for a very true-to-life tale of a girl whose response to multiple trauma has been control of other's perception of her by violent means (mindful of what people are saying about her, can't let anyone know about her secret, threatens and bullies anyone who tries to get closer to her). this is coherent with anorexia as a way to regain some form of pride and "autonomy" when you feel like everything's been taken away from you. the "weight" aspect is a major factor in how people come up with this interpretation, it's a pun on "omoi" (heavy ; feelings / ties / memories) and how cutting these off completely is easier than dealing with them... and eating disorders oftentimes serve as a way to shift the focus on something other than the actual traumatic event. i remember it functioning the same as addiction on a neurological level.

anyway, what i like about this reading is how the analogy makes it non voyeuristic. the lack of voyeurism (ironic, huh) when it comes to traumatic events is something i really appreciate in monogatari. even as she's talking about the ways she was emotionally and sexually abused, we're not directly shown, we listen to senjougahara talk. a lot of stories about eating disorders are very graphic with the subject matter. seems people can't talk about this stuff without putting extra stress on the "disgusting" aspects of it (critically underweight bodies, laxatives, vomit and other forms of purging). this kind of stuff does nothing except add shock value and try to warn readers or watchers about self-image issues and how starving and purging is bad and gross!! like they don't already know. with hitagi crab as an analogy for anorexia, the self-image/societal perception aspect is neatly implied and the root of the problem (relationship with her mother) is addressed directly.

the other on-the-nose, edgy thing, is senjougahara had a critical operation which saved her life when she was little. it's never been said outright what her disease was, but cancer is prevalent enough among kids and it fits her motif.

#valhalla ask

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