KABUKIMONOGATARI

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

ANIME ComedyMonogatari Series: Second Season
NOVEL ComedyNekomonogatari: Shiro
NOVEL ComedyHanamonogatari

REVIEWS

• 

  inspirashamul

  60/100
  A two-man cell narrative meshing zombies and time-travel into a story about living with regrets.

  Nisioisin rewards you for paying attention. Please only read this review after watching the anime at least because I will point out foreshadowing that is sprinkled throughout this titled tale of a nonsensically upfront story about time travel.

  Time travel is all about regrets. Nothing more simple than that. When you regret the way you did something, talked to someone, thought about anything and wish you could do it again, you dwell in that feeling of regret. Everyone feels this way and how you handled that is the key component to happiness because just wishing that the problem was never there negates the learning of dealing with that regret.

  Mayoi is happy that she got to meet Araragi even if she regrets becoming a ghost.
  Araragi is happy that he got to save Shinobu even if he regrets losing his humanity.
  Shinobu is happy that she is tied to Araragi even if she regrets failing her suicide.

  This concept of parallel worlds breeds the idea of Ougi and the entire ending of the Final Season as this ending of summer break in Araragi's eyes is equal to the ending of his adolescence in the future, but if he didn't get to tackle his regret of saving a little lost girl here, he would not be able to live with his regret of considering himself a failure. That reassurance from Oshino is everything. Because he wished for a world where he never met Hachikuji and thus creating Route X that allowed him to realize just how much of an impact he has made in the lives of those around him. That a world especially in the anime where no one else except those he cared about even appeared, a world where not even those he cared for still where affected by his kindness because that could never be changed if he was an Araragi X, Y, or Z.

  Speaking of the endings, we loop back to my favorite segment which is why does Isin write arcs the way that he does. Kabukimonogatari is sandwiched between a girl's story of finding a home and family and a girl's story of letting go of the past both of which are present here. It points us to the future ending of the final season but also talks about a swindler's death, a god at the shrine, and even points to another tale about the ones who he has touched go through heaven and hell to bring him back. This tilted tale points us back to the dynamics of that fated moment at the end of the First Season where one small absence affects so much as well as shedding light to the prior dynamics of a story told even before the beginning itself and it's subsequent relevance to how the theme of a failed incomplete being is shown in all of the lineages of Kissshot and her thralls, no one is able to die free of guilt.

  And looping back to the beginning of this review itself. The only reason I made this tiny connection is because I happened to be on the audio commentaries for Nisemonogatari at the moment and the short stories are fresh in my mind because of that.

  I love Senjogahara best, and I respect Hanekawa more than anyone else. Hachikuji is the most fun to talk to. But if I had to choose someone to die with, I would choose you.

  This response given here tells us the growth that Araragi has since the end of Nisemonogatari as in the Short Story Shinobu House, she is annoyed that Araragi got to spent time with his sisters and Hitagi under the same roof that she asks an impossible question on who he would save. And although the situation was really lighthearted here in the short story and Shinobu acting like tsudere for being left out, Araragi gives a much more heartfelt response that Shinobu is the only person he is happy to die with as one can truly only save themselves.

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• 

  yeqks

  70/100
  partial-review and partial-analysis

  Originally I had planned to write out a lengthier partial-analysis of the work because I had just finished reading it, but 30 minutes into it I had forgotten a lot of my points. Though this was intended to be put into a google doc, a private, my eyes only document; I felt it would be more satisfying to release it as it's practically a recurring gag that my memory is my worst quality. Maybe a recurring villain? Returning illness? Feel free to ignore this if you'd rather read a more intelligently formatted review, and feel free to read to your heart's content if you're unbothered by such a large load of waffle. I am grateful for your time regardless.

  The novel's biggest shortcoming is its length. The first 200 or so pages are mostly just build up with very little in the way of theme exploration or character exploration. It took me around a week and half to finish this book, in comparison to the previous novels taking 3-4 days each. The last 100 pages of this novel took me only 2-3 days to finish since that was when the book actually gripped me. There are 2-3 chapters within the first 200 pages containing non-stop useless banter in this book - such scenes would not be known of by those who'd only seen the anime because they'd been (thankfully) cut from the adaptation.

  The themes themselves are very fun to digest and comprehend upon reaching the actual meat of the story nearly 2/3s into the novel, the unrelated at first dialogue with Ougi at the start holding heavy weight throughout the story - giving some examples of it's brilliantly creative usage: Araragi's attempts to save Hachikuji's past self from death avoid her being hit by a truck during a red light (opposed to the original green light of her "route A" death) (this red light also indicating that the future can still remain safe though Hachikuji is momentarily in danger) establishing a new green light of safety, catching him off guard when he returns to the present only to find it's been destroyed and infested with zombies - a new red light is established. Araragi and Shinobu hovering in the sky until dawn when the Zombies retreat is no different from waiting for the next cross signal - for the next promise of safety. The zombies then reappear during a cloudy day. Still daytime but the weather conditions block out the sun, allowing the zombies to avoid their greatest weakness, the swerving car nearing a collision with our two protagonists walking across the street during their green light. This also later applies to the cause of the zombies - the result of "route B" Araragi not knowing of Shinobu's disappearance because Hachikuji hadn't been there to alert him; and his lack of urge to forge a connection with the vampire he'd abandoned had resulted in him creating a red light waiting for the green to finish. Thus the vampire caused the end of the world because of his mindlessness - his sense of caution numbed by the glow of a green light signifying safety.

  Of course the idea brought up by NisiOisiN himself at the end of the novel, that the idea that pain is what causes growth as a person, is a very obvious but well explored theme throughout the novel that actually gives some cool insight into Araragi as a character. Someone so selfless he'd go back in time and willingly prevent himself from meeting the person who'd made him want to go back in time and mend the wounds that lead them to him. So selfless that it loops back around and becomes selfish again. there's a moment in which he discusses how he'd want to save Senjougahara or Hanekawa before they'd come forth to him with their problems, forsaking the people he loves, their present selfs stitched together collages of positive and negative, wanting to purify and create the perfect positive experience for them - what he believes to be uprooting the source of the weed would actually be more equivalent to unwinding the string that binds them together. What would be the point in saving them, is something Araragi failed to realize. They would only meet further, maybe even greater hardships in the future, and the person you wanted to save because that was the person you knew they became as a result of the fire you suffocated would not longer exist. It does actually reshape his perspective on Oshino's philosophy however, that saving someone will result in them taking steps to ensure being saved is not necessary in the future. Thus they'd "saved themselves all on their own." Araragi also fails to realize that he's already done such things in his own present.

  One more misc. detail: a recycled gag of Araragi and Shinobu arguing upon arriving in the past is who's fault it is that they'd ended up 11 years prior. With Araragi deciding they're to share a circular blame so as to not have anyone to shoulder the responsibility of mistake but each other. This returns later upon Shinobu's realization of her "route B" version's actions and Araragi consoles her by claiming it's because of his changing the past that this situation has resulted in the way it has. The two guilts reside in far apart contexts; it's harder to weave them together as he did previously, coming off much more desperate this time. willingly degrading himself to soften the blow on others - in a way he's doing exactly what he did by saving Hachikuji, he can't allow someone he cares about to feel hurt but that urge to mend tampers with their growth as people. you could even say Araragi is the bad guy for trying to force his kindness on others. That of course isn't true, it's just his methods which are flawed, if he were to outsource to an ally for assistance, he'd likely receive it and could maybe even achieve a sort of compromise. Things like this are too much to weigh on a still emotionally maturing highschool student, after all.

  The final thought to round off this story: regretting past mistakes is natural. It's human to regret, and it's even more human to want to change them, but to change your past is to cease to be yourself in the present. You can call Araragi's adventure into the past a once-in-a-lifetime lucky break or a metaphor for escapist fantasies, either one will result in the same conclusion. No matter how much you overthink what could've happened if X was Y and Y was Z and W didnt happen at all and L happened instead, reality will still await you once you open your eyes and step beyond the door of your home, your down the steps of a shrine, in the case of this story's context.

  Footnote - While reading I listened to the soundtrack to the animated adaptation, using this helpful wiki page to play the music in sequence with the corresponding scenes, thank you to the people who spent their time documenting that information. The soundtrack itself is pretty nice though nothing i'd describe as spectacular, however the biggest standout is definitely "まがいものそのものの女" for its minimalistic beauty and stands to test some of my previously established favorite tracks from prior installments. The rest is pretty standard soundtrack fare.

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