What? Why? The answer being that when I first engaged with the series, first watched Bakemonogatari around a year and a half ago, the anime adaptation frustrated me. Unfortunately, I was just too much of a realist to enjoy the surreal style---I didn't want the iconic, infinite staircase---I'd have rather had a plain, boring one. Not to mention that my personality was likely incompatible with the style of the story. As Nisioisin puts it (forgive me for my awful paraphrasing), the books are mainly about having a bunch of silly conversations. Watching the anime, I was getting frustrated and wondering if anything worthwhile was going to happen. Go on, laugh at me. Only later, would I become the kind of person who would be sold on that premise.
So I bought the books. All of them, to be precise, simply because I was sure that there had to be *some* reason that this series was so highly acclaimed. Buying 20 books at once without reading any of them first, you might consider that slightly reckless---and I would agree. However it's something that I now, evidently, don't regret in the slightest. I mean, have you *seen* the cover of Bakemonogatari Pt. 3? It's gorgeous. Oh yeah, not to mention the words printed behind the cover are novel and entertaining too.
How could I possibly regret getting into a series that is just so funny and charming, that's unlike anything I've read before? The clippings section on my Kindle is clogged up from me saving all the best jokes and quotations.
But of course, that's not the only good thing about this series. Yes, it's funny, written in flowing and engaging prose, but it can also wound you. Hell, you can tear up reading this series. It can be poignant and emotional, just the same as it can be childishly funny and frivolous.
I could end this review by saying that I loved it and writing the conclusion, but for now let me also run through each of the instalments that make up this first season.
Bakemonogatari is where the story originates. It's pretty good. I would hesitate to say it's as good as some of the other instalments. I must say that the conflicts/aberrations are on point throughout, but still, not my favorite. I liked Suruga Monkey and Tsubasa Cat especially, and I enjoyed the humor of Mayoi Snail.
Kizumonogatari is brilliant. How to express my feelings on it... Let me just say that I can understand why Vertical published it before Bakemonogatari. It's the potential of Bakemonogatari realised. It's funny, it's iconic, and best of all, it is genuinely touching. It's so memorable and good that after I finished reading it, I didn't bother to move onto Nisemonogatari for a few months. I just felt so satisfied. If I had to review this book on its own, no question, it would be a 10/10.
However, I couldn't stay away for long. Eventually I started to crave more of that signature Monogatari quipping. Luckily, Nisemonogatari was the perfect one to start reading for that. Nise turns the quipping and the jokes up to 11, getting more and more meta, as well as making use of the full cast of characters to crack jokes with. It's like the world that the story takes place in became a lot brighter. It's very silly, but it's heartwarming too. I liked Karen a lot. Naturally, I loved it.
Okay, last one then. Nekomonogatari (Kuro). Imagine, a book where around a quarter of its overall length is taken up by one conversation. Impressive. Not as intensely satisfying as Kizu, but the emotional drama was very enjoyable. It genuinely tugged at my heartstrings.
Now, if I had but one criticism of the series, it would be that the action sequences are resolved rather easily. Kind of suddenly, even. Never will there be an intense struggle to solve a problem. Even if Araragi is practically banging on death's door from an intense fight, there is never a climax where you would say that they really had to fight to reach it. To compare it to another series, imagine if every conflict was resolved in the same way that A Certain Magical Index's Daihaseisai arc was resolved. There's a struggle, there's a fight, but at the end of the day, it's kind of meaningless. Sometimes that can even be refreshing (like in Nise pt.1), but it's just the nature of the series.
But, overall, what I really want to say is that the Monogatari series is hyped for a reason. You can start out one of the novels laughing your ass off, then read the last few chapters while tears well up in your eyes. Yes, believe the hype.
If you are like I was and didn't enjoy the style of the anime adaptation, yet you don't find yourself averse to reading stories filled with long, meandering and frivolous yet hilarious conversations, then I whole-heartedly recommend reading the novels. And if you did enjoy the anime adaptations---loved them, even, then I still highly recommend reading the novels. You get all of the narration, all of the meta jokes, and indeed, all of the content. There was actually a fair amount of cut content in the anime adaptations. Yes, if you can believe it, a seventy seven thousand word long book like Nekomonogatari Kuro could not be adapted in its entirety in just four episodes. And if you enjoyed Nisemonogatari's anime, then wait until you read Nisemonogatari Part 2. It's like a whole different experience!
And most importantly of all, if you haven't seen the anime at all, know nothing about this series and aren't averse to reading, then I still recommend reading it. Take it from someone who is typically hype-averse, this time, believe the hype!
Overall, I massively enjoyed this series. It's like nothing else that I've read. The best entries in this first season are worthy of incredible scores, but to round out this whole first season while anticipating that the highest highs are perhaps yet to come, I am going to give the series a 9/10. I'm glad I gave the series a second chance.
____________________
Now for some pathetic complaining, please, spare yourself the time and move on unless you are the kind of person who cares about name order and honorifics, because I'd like to do some nit-picking with the official Vertical translations.
Tell me, what is the name of the protagonist of the Monogatari series. The main one. Last name Araragi? Is it Araragi Koyomi? Or is it Koyomi Araragi? What about his girlfriend? Is it Senjougahara Hitagi? Or is it Hitagi Senjogahara?
If you answered Koyomi Araragi and Hitagi Senjogahara, then there is absolutely nothing to worry about. These translations are perfect. Enjoy!
However, if by chance you are umm... well, particular(?) about things, then you can read on.
My brain writhes in pain, sending a deep sense of rejection throughout my body whenever I am forced to parse a sentence containing the words Hitagi Senjogahara. I feel so distracted that I can't even read the page that I have open. I fall out of my seat, crawling desperately to my computer, where I am compelled to 'fix' the epub files by myself. Finally, all of the pages say Senjougahara Hitagi. All is right in the world.
Unfortunately for myself, I am the kind of person who cares about this sort of stuff. Also unfortunately for me, in the official translations, it doesn't quite swing my way. They use Westernised name order and mostly omit honorifics (bringing them back only in certain situations). So when Araragi says Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan, someone comments on it, then after that, the honorifics are kept intact inside of that novel. If that was going to be the case, why not just use honorifics throughout? (Because they didn't need to, duh? [Shut up, get out of my own monologue! I don't need to listen to common sense!] Come on, they're trying to appeal to a wide demographic, including people who don't know what honorifics are or don't care about them. [Look, if I didn't have bad opinions on localisation that actual translators laugh at, I'd have ended the review a few paragraphs earlier.])
Let me tell you, it took effort for me to adjust to the GJM subs of Railgun T (Huh? Wasn't this a review for the Monogatari series?). Gone were such unlocalised terms as 'Onee-sama' and 'Daihaseisai'. I was incredibly torn up by it. My pathetic baby tears flooded my neighborhood, destroying massive amounts of property. I woke up the next day and didn't even pull back the curtains. However, after I went on a spiritual journey and reached a state of miniscule enlightenment, I was finally able to accept that the subs were excellent and that I could understand why they localised these terms. I grew as a person, but still, I have not triumphed over my need for Japanese name order.
All this to say, if you're like me and get all particular about that, you might find yourself mildly inconvenienced (I mean TERRIBLY AWFULLY TORN UP) about that fact. But really, it's a nit-pick. The translations are excellent. But if you're like me, my pro tip is that you can fix it yourself by doing a mass find and replace in notepad++ if you open all of the text files inside of the epub files.
