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Monogatari #5
KABUKIMONOGATARI
How far does one go to help a lost child? In the case of returning narrator Araragi, the answer is too far, across the veil of time. Dutifully (if unknowingly) following up on Hachikuji’s cheeky foreshadowing, he concerns himself with his young lady friend and her fate in this installment of the cult-hit series, heroically unable, once again, to find his own way home.
Thus the tale is also, or more so, about the journey itself, the dark honeymoon of a trip he takes into the past with the dweller in his shadow, Shinobu. Even among a cast that routinely disrespects chronology with their meta-commentary, she takes the cake, or the donut, by rewinding the clock for a perverse road movie, one that by and large goes nowhere, spatially.
It’s Kabuki not as in the theater, but with the character for “tilt”—as in a slanted attitude toward the world, the posture of a bohemian. Or, perhaps, of a legendary vampire who once sought death, and of a high school senior who once tuned out life doing their dandy best to attend to an embarrassing wealth of aberrations in a provincial town.
Thus the tale is also, or more so, about the journey itself, the dark honeymoon of a trip he takes into the past with the dweller in his shadow, Shinobu. Even among a cast that routinely disrespects chronology with their meta-commentary, she takes the cake, or the donut, by rewinding the clock for a perverse road movie, one that by and large goes nowhere, spatially.
It’s Kabuki not as in the theater, but with the character for “tilt”—as in a slanted attitude toward the world, the posture of a bohemian. Or, perhaps, of a legendary vampire who once sought death, and of a high school senior who once tuned out life doing their dandy best to attend to an embarrassing wealth of aberrations in a provincial town.
484 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 25, 2010
43 people are currently reading
705 people want to read
About the author
NisiOisiN
289 books984 followersNisio Isin (西尾維新 Nishio Ishin), frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel Kubikiri Cycle, which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age.
He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.
In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.
He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.
In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 10, 2013
"Do you regret it? Destroy the whole world just to save a girl?"
In my opinion, this book is currently the best in Monogatari series of Nisio Isin. It's so epic, the adventure of Araragi and Shinobu now affect the whole world, not some people like previous novels (and also next novels). In this book, we can see how much Shinobu love Araragi, which is not so obvious in other books in the series.
In my opinion, this book is currently the best in Monogatari series of Nisio Isin. It's so epic, the adventure of Araragi and Shinobu now affect the whole world, not some people like previous novels (and also next novels). In this book, we can see how much Shinobu love Araragi, which is not so obvious in other books in the series.
June 21, 2018
Wow, fucking time travel AND zombies? Maybe this series is moving too far, too fast.
Anyway, the novel is pretty good overall, but it seems to stray too far from the original vision of the series, just not to the positive extent of Nekomonogatari (White). Banter is somewhat downplayed in favor of actual plot progress, and this is realized by having Araragi and Shinobu travel back in time as something of a joke, with Shinobu suggesting the act in order to help out Araragi, who has procrastinated doing his summer homework all break. There is thus a little too much dialogue focused on arguing the nature of time travel, arguing on its logic, when ultimately Araragi seems to stop actively caring about time paradoxes and simply goes with the flow, leaning too heavily on the metafictional elements of the series to eschew any serious consideration of the implications of time travel. As is reasonable for the series, many bad things seem to be directly causally related to Araragi and Shinobu's actions, only to be revealed to be safely otherwise just pages later. And in the end, we take the Dragon Ball approach (Trunks is explicitly referenced in the novel) of having time travel occur in parallel universes, with the initial time travel in this novel being to a completely alternate universe set in a "past" reminiscent of the "past" of Araragi's "real" universe, whereupon the heroes, attempting to travel back to their "present" accidentally travel to the parallel universe's "future" (parallel to Araragi's original "present"), much as how Trunks travels back to fight Androids 17 and 18, only to encounter 19, 20, 16, and Cell, the latter from another "future," with Trunks eventually returning to his own timeline in order to vanquish an Imperfect Cell. Somewhat similarly, Araragi and Shinobu plan for a big showdown with a powerful enemy in order to save the parallel universe, having no apparent consequence for their timeline, only out of duty to Oshino and Hachikuji.
So the episode's title, "Mayoi Jiangshi," seems to suggest an overt focus on Hachikuji, much as the previous volume focused on Hanekawa to enough of an extent that she was even the narrator of that novel, but what we really get is another "Tsukihi Phoenix." That is, Hachikuji is mostly a plot device in this novel, not actually actively featured very much at all, just as "Tsukihi Phoenix" spent more time on the other sister, with Tsukihi herself getting merc'd halfway through, and the rest of the novel focusing on a fight against series newcomers Kagenui and Ononoki. Here, Araragi begins by searching for Hachikuji, having hung out with her at his home, where she accidentally left her backpack. He encounters a benign Ononoki, who muses on aberrations' interest in existence, including Araragi's undeath, her own rebirth from having previously been a corpse, and Hachikuji's lingering presence as a ghost. Hachikuji herself remains absent from Araragi's line of sight, though she stays on his mind when he time-travels with Shinobu, his thoughts of Hachikuji, we later learn, being the directions to which the time travel steers, and Araragi and Shinobu end up in a world eleven years in the past, one day before the Mother's Day during which Hachikuji was supposed to get killed by a random motorist. So the two, after some extensive dicking around, manage to save Hachikuji, and attempt to travel back to their present time. They believe fate may have ways of keeping certain events in place, to prevent too much time-fuckery, so it is assumed Hachikuji would have to be killed at some later date, possibly just hours after having been saved, but Araragi acted against this supposed futility, believing Hachikuji had a right to see her mother on Mother's Day, even if she'll still have to die.
Of course, things aren't good at all when Araragi and Shinobu return to the present, and instead they seem to enter a world devoid entirely of life. Looking for clues, they seem only to learn that everyone disappeared on June 14th, roughly two months in the past from their current present. Unfortunately still, it seems they cannot time-travel again because the shrine from which Shinobu gathered energy (the same shrine from "Nadeko Snake") has been sealed in this reality by a talisman that absorbs all aberrant energy, rather than disperse it, like the talisman Araragi and Kanbaru used in the "real" timeline. Unfortunately even still, it turns out no one's actually missing from the world, but that everyone has become an aberrant zombie that seems to exist only at night, in what seems like a pretty big shark-jump. After some consideration, Shinobu realizes the significance of June 14th and the saved life of Hachikuji: not having become a ghost, Hachikuji could not have met Araragi, thus Hachikuji was no longer there to notice Shinobu having ran away from Oshino's cram school building in June, thus Araragi would not have been able to search for the "missing" Shinobu, thus Araragi would have been killed by Black Hanekawa. It turns out the reason for Shinobu's running away from home was simply that she wanted Araragi to find her, the consequence being that if he failed she would kill all of humanity. With Araragi's death, the Shinobu of this timeline had no reason not to kill everyone (by her own logic), and, not being bound to Araragi any longer, she'd regained her strength, becoming Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade once more. With this increase in power, she sought to turn all of humankind into her thralls, enslaving everyone into joining her cause, the widespread death of humanity.
Our Shinobu believes the zombies to be the result of the other Kissshot having died, with her vampire servants thus degrading into mere zombies. Araragi and Shinobu later run into an older Hachikuji, in her early twenties, who hands them a later by the Meme Oshino of this timeline, spelling everything out for the reader in a massive info-dump, not nearly as magnificent as the similar letter in the previous volume, to date the series's high point. In the letter, we find that the past adventures of Araragi and Shinobu have reflected themselves as an urban legend, that this Oshino was easily able to learn that another Araragi-Shinobu set from another timeline time-traveled, that our Shinobu's prediction of events was indeed mostly correct, but that this Kissshot still lives, that the zombies were a result of her being too unfamiliar with creating thralls, a somewhat entropic thinning of her powers, that Oshino planned on teaming up with Kagenui and/or Kaiki to try to stop Kissshot (predicting that he'd died by the time Hachikuji handed over the letter), and ending his letter with a plea to save Hachikuji once more, saying it's useless to save a girl only to have her die so much later, saying it isn't necessary to stop Kissshot to save the world, but that she should be stopped to save this older Hachikuji.
As one may expect, based not only on previous installments but also on the page count at this point, we don't actually get a big fight against Kissshot. Of course, that's rarely the point of Monogatari. Instead, she gives up almost instantly. She'd clearly survived trying to kill herself by self-immolation via sunlight, having regretted what she'd done to humanity. The point of her rage was that she wasn't able to reach a true, positive connection with Araragi. Seeing the possibility as realized by the "real" timeline's characters, this Kissshot is perfectly find letting our Shinobu absorb her energy, killing Kissshot, freeing humanity from her control, and power Shinobu enough to cross back into the "real" universe, where everything turns out to be fine, except that Hachikuji's "meta" comments show far too much awareness of the events concerning her parallel self (as we should expect, given Hachikuji's character).
Anyway, it is clear Araragi has yet to catch up with the events seen in Nekomonogatari (White), so we have maybe a few novels before we catch up to the burning of the cram school, the reintroduction of Episode, and the introduction of Kanbaru's aunt.
There are neat, subtle references to the previous book, with a particularly interesting example being Araragi's respect for Mr. Hachikuji, whom he had previously believed was a less than savory father, thus learning what a father really is (not that Mr. Araragi is a bad guy, he just has zero screentime), in parallel to Hanekawa learning what a real father is in hanging out with Senjougahara.
Lastly, this installment more or less cements Shinobu as Best Girl, having come full circle from her Best Girl status as of Kizumonogatari (obviously before getting the "Shinobu" name), though of course Kizu- gave very strong love for Hanekawa as well, who was also fantastic in Neko- (White). And adult Hachikuji seems pretty cute, though of course we'd probably never see her again. So probably we can just rest easy with Shinobu, particularly in her guise as a little blonde Hanekawa.
Anyway, the novel is pretty good overall, but it seems to stray too far from the original vision of the series, just not to the positive extent of Nekomonogatari (White). Banter is somewhat downplayed in favor of actual plot progress, and this is realized by having Araragi and Shinobu travel back in time as something of a joke, with Shinobu suggesting the act in order to help out Araragi, who has procrastinated doing his summer homework all break. There is thus a little too much dialogue focused on arguing the nature of time travel, arguing on its logic, when ultimately Araragi seems to stop actively caring about time paradoxes and simply goes with the flow, leaning too heavily on the metafictional elements of the series to eschew any serious consideration of the implications of time travel. As is reasonable for the series, many bad things seem to be directly causally related to Araragi and Shinobu's actions, only to be revealed to be safely otherwise just pages later. And in the end, we take the Dragon Ball approach (Trunks is explicitly referenced in the novel) of having time travel occur in parallel universes, with the initial time travel in this novel being to a completely alternate universe set in a "past" reminiscent of the "past" of Araragi's "real" universe, whereupon the heroes, attempting to travel back to their "present" accidentally travel to the parallel universe's "future" (parallel to Araragi's original "present"), much as how Trunks travels back to fight Androids 17 and 18, only to encounter 19, 20, 16, and Cell, the latter from another "future," with Trunks eventually returning to his own timeline in order to vanquish an Imperfect Cell. Somewhat similarly, Araragi and Shinobu plan for a big showdown with a powerful enemy in order to save the parallel universe, having no apparent consequence for their timeline, only out of duty to Oshino and Hachikuji.
So the episode's title, "Mayoi Jiangshi," seems to suggest an overt focus on Hachikuji, much as the previous volume focused on Hanekawa to enough of an extent that she was even the narrator of that novel, but what we really get is another "Tsukihi Phoenix." That is, Hachikuji is mostly a plot device in this novel, not actually actively featured very much at all, just as "Tsukihi Phoenix" spent more time on the other sister, with Tsukihi herself getting merc'd halfway through, and the rest of the novel focusing on a fight against series newcomers Kagenui and Ononoki. Here, Araragi begins by searching for Hachikuji, having hung out with her at his home, where she accidentally left her backpack. He encounters a benign Ononoki, who muses on aberrations' interest in existence, including Araragi's undeath, her own rebirth from having previously been a corpse, and Hachikuji's lingering presence as a ghost. Hachikuji herself remains absent from Araragi's line of sight, though she stays on his mind when he time-travels with Shinobu, his thoughts of Hachikuji, we later learn, being the directions to which the time travel steers, and Araragi and Shinobu end up in a world eleven years in the past, one day before the Mother's Day during which Hachikuji was supposed to get killed by a random motorist. So the two, after some extensive dicking around, manage to save Hachikuji, and attempt to travel back to their present time. They believe fate may have ways of keeping certain events in place, to prevent too much time-fuckery, so it is assumed Hachikuji would have to be killed at some later date, possibly just hours after having been saved, but Araragi acted against this supposed futility, believing Hachikuji had a right to see her mother on Mother's Day, even if she'll still have to die.
Of course, things aren't good at all when Araragi and Shinobu return to the present, and instead they seem to enter a world devoid entirely of life. Looking for clues, they seem only to learn that everyone disappeared on June 14th, roughly two months in the past from their current present. Unfortunately still, it seems they cannot time-travel again because the shrine from which Shinobu gathered energy (the same shrine from "Nadeko Snake") has been sealed in this reality by a talisman that absorbs all aberrant energy, rather than disperse it, like the talisman Araragi and Kanbaru used in the "real" timeline. Unfortunately even still, it turns out no one's actually missing from the world, but that everyone has become an aberrant zombie that seems to exist only at night, in what seems like a pretty big shark-jump. After some consideration, Shinobu realizes the significance of June 14th and the saved life of Hachikuji: not having become a ghost, Hachikuji could not have met Araragi, thus Hachikuji was no longer there to notice Shinobu having ran away from Oshino's cram school building in June, thus Araragi would not have been able to search for the "missing" Shinobu, thus Araragi would have been killed by Black Hanekawa. It turns out the reason for Shinobu's running away from home was simply that she wanted Araragi to find her, the consequence being that if he failed she would kill all of humanity. With Araragi's death, the Shinobu of this timeline had no reason not to kill everyone (by her own logic), and, not being bound to Araragi any longer, she'd regained her strength, becoming Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade once more. With this increase in power, she sought to turn all of humankind into her thralls, enslaving everyone into joining her cause, the widespread death of humanity.
Our Shinobu believes the zombies to be the result of the other Kissshot having died, with her vampire servants thus degrading into mere zombies. Araragi and Shinobu later run into an older Hachikuji, in her early twenties, who hands them a later by the Meme Oshino of this timeline, spelling everything out for the reader in a massive info-dump, not nearly as magnificent as the similar letter in the previous volume, to date the series's high point. In the letter, we find that the past adventures of Araragi and Shinobu have reflected themselves as an urban legend, that this Oshino was easily able to learn that another Araragi-Shinobu set from another timeline time-traveled, that our Shinobu's prediction of events was indeed mostly correct, but that this Kissshot still lives, that the zombies were a result of her being too unfamiliar with creating thralls, a somewhat entropic thinning of her powers, that Oshino planned on teaming up with Kagenui and/or Kaiki to try to stop Kissshot (predicting that he'd died by the time Hachikuji handed over the letter), and ending his letter with a plea to save Hachikuji once more, saying it's useless to save a girl only to have her die so much later, saying it isn't necessary to stop Kissshot to save the world, but that she should be stopped to save this older Hachikuji.
As one may expect, based not only on previous installments but also on the page count at this point, we don't actually get a big fight against Kissshot. Of course, that's rarely the point of Monogatari. Instead, she gives up almost instantly. She'd clearly survived trying to kill herself by self-immolation via sunlight, having regretted what she'd done to humanity. The point of her rage was that she wasn't able to reach a true, positive connection with Araragi. Seeing the possibility as realized by the "real" timeline's characters, this Kissshot is perfectly find letting our Shinobu absorb her energy, killing Kissshot, freeing humanity from her control, and power Shinobu enough to cross back into the "real" universe, where everything turns out to be fine, except that Hachikuji's "meta" comments show far too much awareness of the events concerning her parallel self (as we should expect, given Hachikuji's character).
Anyway, it is clear Araragi has yet to catch up with the events seen in Nekomonogatari (White), so we have maybe a few novels before we catch up to the burning of the cram school, the reintroduction of Episode, and the introduction of Kanbaru's aunt.
There are neat, subtle references to the previous book, with a particularly interesting example being Araragi's respect for Mr. Hachikuji, whom he had previously believed was a less than savory father, thus learning what a father really is (not that Mr. Araragi is a bad guy, he just has zero screentime), in parallel to Hanekawa learning what a real father is in hanging out with Senjougahara.
Lastly, this installment more or less cements Shinobu as Best Girl, having come full circle from her Best Girl status as of Kizumonogatari (obviously before getting the "Shinobu" name), though of course Kizu- gave very strong love for Hanekawa as well, who was also fantastic in Neko- (White). And adult Hachikuji seems pretty cute, though of course we'd probably never see her again. So probably we can just rest easy with Shinobu, particularly in her guise as a little blonde Hanekawa.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2018
Another fantastic book in the series. I can't wait for the next book this month. I'm glad they are being translated and released on a pretty regular schedule now. Mayoi comes back in to focus as this story revolves around her past, but it truly is about Araragi and Shinobu's relationship overall. It was nice to see just where they are now due to their connection with each other. Can't wait for the next book! At least it comes out very soon!
I will repeat what I always do when talking about Nisioisin books... READ THEM! His writing is top notch, and the translations that Vertical is doing with his books are super well done.
I will repeat what I always do when talking about Nisioisin books... READ THEM! His writing is top notch, and the translations that Vertical is doing with his books are super well done.
June 26, 2018
"Then please allow me to state the obvious. I think you'll find it really quite interesting. When the world is awash in the red lights that indicate danger, it's actually safer than at any other time, while a world awash in green lights that indicate safety is the most dangerous place of all. It's a contradiction-erring on the other side of the danger signal creates a safe haven, and erring on the side of safety signal creates a lawless space where it's tough to survive for even one second, let alone three."
This book is a book story of travelling, either time-wise or space-wise and then got lost too far, into another world. Our returning narrator Koyomi Araragi ventured into an unforgettable adventure with fan-favorite vampire Shinobu Oshino as they tried to save the poor soul of a certain ghost girl, Mayoi Hachikuji. However, things began to escalate on a massive scale.
Like every time-travel book, KABUKIMONOGATARI tells us how changing something in the past could alter the present into something we might not know about, but this turn of event has become a "trauma" for our Araragi, despite that, without this whole thing, he wouldn't know how precious relationships are. Hence the quote above from a new suspicious character, Ogi Oshino, the world without dramas, accidents and dangers would be a harsh place to live after all.
This book is a book story of travelling, either time-wise or space-wise and then got lost too far, into another world. Our returning narrator Koyomi Araragi ventured into an unforgettable adventure with fan-favorite vampire Shinobu Oshino as they tried to save the poor soul of a certain ghost girl, Mayoi Hachikuji. However, things began to escalate on a massive scale.
Like every time-travel book, KABUKIMONOGATARI tells us how changing something in the past could alter the present into something we might not know about, but this turn of event has become a "trauma" for our Araragi, despite that, without this whole thing, he wouldn't know how precious relationships are. Hence the quote above from a new suspicious character, Ogi Oshino, the world without dramas, accidents and dangers would be a harsh place to live after all.
January 21, 2022
3/5 Stars: ‘Kabukimonogatari’ (Book #5 of ‘Monogatari’) by NisiOisiN.
→ Age Range: Young Adult.
→ Genre: Comedy, Urban Fantasy.
→ Book Type: Light Novel.
Favourite Quote: ‘Unhappiness can’t be transformed into happiness. But in addition to unhappiness – there was also happiness. Not as two sides of the same coin – separately.’
In-depth Rating:
→ Plot: ★★
→ Character Development: ★★★★
→ Setting: ★
→ Entertainment Level: ★★★
→ Writing: ★★★
General Comments: The Fifth Novel in the Monogatari Series. Translated by Daniel Joseph. Unlike its predecessors, this particular volume isolates Shinobu Oshino and Araragi Koyomi from the supporting cast of characters – across the course of nine books. The information provided on Time Travel is well-explained for newcomers, who might not be familiar with the usual tropes, through natural conversation. It embraces the fantasy theme, keeping you on your toes, without feeling stale. Just slightly predictable.
Time Read: No.
→ Audiobook: -
→ Audiobook Narrator: -
Re-Read: No.
→ -:
→ -:
Trigger Warnings:
→ Suicide (Mentioned).
→ Lolicon.
→ Death.
→ Age Range: Young Adult.
→ Genre: Comedy, Urban Fantasy.
→ Book Type: Light Novel.
Favourite Quote: ‘Unhappiness can’t be transformed into happiness. But in addition to unhappiness – there was also happiness. Not as two sides of the same coin – separately.’
In-depth Rating:
→ Plot: ★★
→ Character Development: ★★★★
→ Setting: ★
→ Entertainment Level: ★★★
→ Writing: ★★★
General Comments: The Fifth Novel in the Monogatari Series. Translated by Daniel Joseph. Unlike its predecessors, this particular volume isolates Shinobu Oshino and Araragi Koyomi from the supporting cast of characters – across the course of nine books. The information provided on Time Travel is well-explained for newcomers, who might not be familiar with the usual tropes, through natural conversation. It embraces the fantasy theme, keeping you on your toes, without feeling stale. Just slightly predictable.
Time Read: No.
→ Audiobook: -
→ Audiobook Narrator: -
Re-Read: No.
→ -:
→ -:
Trigger Warnings:
→ Suicide (Mentioned).
→ Lolicon.
→ Death.
March 16, 2022
5
This is probably the best Monogatari book so far! (I don't remember what I rated the previous books. So maybe this is just one of) Usually, the books are filled with characters but I loved the fact that we only follow two for most of the book. This book made me love Araragi and Shinobu. I don't have any bad points about this volume (I usually always have one or two problems with a Monogatari novel but this one was actually perfect). As usual, Nisioisin is awesome at writing stuff. He goes on and on writing stuff and I go on and on reading them happily. I hope there are more 5/5 books in this series and I get to see more of the same Araragi, Shinobu and Hachikuji I read in this volume. :)
This is probably the best Monogatari book so far! (I don't remember what I rated the previous books. So maybe this is just one of) Usually, the books are filled with characters but I loved the fact that we only follow two for most of the book. This book made me love Araragi and Shinobu. I don't have any bad points about this volume (I usually always have one or two problems with a Monogatari novel but this one was actually perfect). As usual, Nisioisin is awesome at writing stuff. He goes on and on writing stuff and I go on and on reading them happily. I hope there are more 5/5 books in this series and I get to see more of the same Araragi, Shinobu and Hachikuji I read in this volume. :)
July 22, 2020
Every time I picked this up to read, I found myself nodding off. There remains an inordinate amount of chaff to wheat in these books. If you flip to the Oshino letter at the end of the narrative, even that summary of this volume feels bloated with excess. What I enjoyed about the early volumes was NisiOisin’s ability to reimagine folktales as contemporary teen fables. These later volumes devolve into reams of same-speak dialogue—from cringe worthy fan service to elementary discourse on pop-philosophies (utilitarianism takes its turn here). At least it provides a fair salve for insomnia.
February 3, 2020
I think this is the point where I bow out of this series. It’s not that this is a bad book; it’s that this series isn’t interesting to me anymore. The time travel thing has been done to death, the book feels bloated like crazy and I just do not have an interest in who these characters gave become.
May 26, 2020
This novel is not what you might think it is after reading the blurp and having a look at the cover illustration(s). In the very first paragraph, Araragi tells us that Mayoi - contradictory to what she herself told us in the previous volume - will not appear in the story. At first I thought that this was Nisioisin's usual tongue-in-cheek literary humour. However, when you read the afterword, it becomes clear that this novel was written under heavy time pressure and turned out way different from what Isin planned. Which made me wonder: Is there a deadline you absolutely have to meet with Light Novels? Given the Japanese publishing industry which basically condemns you to self-incarceration if you become a mangaka (manga being another form of popular YA fiction in Japan, just like Light Novels) I wouldn't put it beyond Japanese publishing houses to have their LN authors shackled to murderous deadlines. What a sad world we live in.
The novel itself turned out to be surprisingly good. For the most time, I thought of it as a solid three stars, the ending, however, propelled it into four-star-territory. Araragi is back as the narrator and more funny and human than ever. I was at first a bit bummed that Mayoi didn't act as the narrator this time - I was under the impression that in the Second Season, each volume would be narrated by one of the girls instead of Araragi. Though, given the story, it would have been a real trick to make Mayoi function as the narrator AND keep the tension alive.
This novel focusses heavily on Araragi and Shinobu - and maybe unintentionally so, given that Isin (seemingly) had to turn a 180 on his plans for this novel for whatever reason. It really made me cherish and feel their relation way more; I think this is the most "screen-time" in any novel that both of them had together, and you can really feel the history that they share.
Ultimately, this novel was rather uneventful and didn't focus much on Mayoi. Nevertheless, it is brilliantly written, has Nisioisin's trademark banter filling page after page, and has a rather bittersweet ending which makes you aware just how strong and loving the relationship of Shinobu and Araragi has become.
The novel itself turned out to be surprisingly good. For the most time, I thought of it as a solid three stars, the ending, however, propelled it into four-star-territory. Araragi is back as the narrator and more funny and human than ever. I was at first a bit bummed that Mayoi didn't act as the narrator this time - I was under the impression that in the Second Season, each volume would be narrated by one of the girls instead of Araragi. Though, given the story, it would have been a real trick to make Mayoi function as the narrator AND keep the tension alive.
This novel focusses heavily on Araragi and Shinobu - and maybe unintentionally so, given that Isin (seemingly) had to turn a 180 on his plans for this novel for whatever reason. It really made me cherish and feel their relation way more; I think this is the most "screen-time" in any novel that both of them had together, and you can really feel the history that they share.
Ultimately, this novel was rather uneventful and didn't focus much on Mayoi. Nevertheless, it is brilliantly written, has Nisioisin's trademark banter filling page after page, and has a rather bittersweet ending which makes you aware just how strong and loving the relationship of Shinobu and Araragi has become.
May 26, 2024
Slow? Certainly. Boring? Not by a long shot.
Little aside: contrary to what the cover might suggest, Hachikuji is not the protagonist of this story and only appears towards the end. The protagonists this time are Araragi and Shinobu.
It took me a long time to finish this one. I don't know exactly why, but I wasn't captivated enough to want to read one chapter after another. I feel it could have been considerably shorter without it being detrimental, which may be ironic when I remember how short the adaptation was with only 4 episodes dedicated to it.
Despite this, it can be considered impressive if you consider, as he himself says in the "afterwords", that Kabukimonogatari was written entirely under pressure and the story it tells was not the one he originally planned. Perhaps the secret to this was to be restrained.
For example, despite having time travel, it only served to fulfill its narrative purpose. It's simple enough to understand and Nisiosin himself has a good idea of what a fuss it could be, considering that he even joked about it in the dialogues between Araragi and Shinobu.
Of course, that doesn't stop it from being a bit forced. Oshino's letter at the end, mysteriously knowing 100% of the details that would/will happen, is an example of this, even though it's still in character (it may be hypocritical to say so, but I could totally imagine Oshino giving one of those).
At least it was put to good use in creating various scenes and dialogues that were somewhat comical, as well as the meta references we're already used to. However, I'm not going to lie: there's a lot here that would be (and ended up being) better used visually in an anime.
Little aside: contrary to what the cover might suggest, Hachikuji is not the protagonist of this story and only appears towards the end. The protagonists this time are Araragi and Shinobu.
It took me a long time to finish this one. I don't know exactly why, but I wasn't captivated enough to want to read one chapter after another. I feel it could have been considerably shorter without it being detrimental, which may be ironic when I remember how short the adaptation was with only 4 episodes dedicated to it.
Despite this, it can be considered impressive if you consider, as he himself says in the "afterwords", that Kabukimonogatari was written entirely under pressure and the story it tells was not the one he originally planned. Perhaps the secret to this was to be restrained.
For example, despite having time travel, it only served to fulfill its narrative purpose. It's simple enough to understand and Nisiosin himself has a good idea of what a fuss it could be, considering that he even joked about it in the dialogues between Araragi and Shinobu.
Of course, that doesn't stop it from being a bit forced. Oshino's letter at the end, mysteriously knowing 100% of the details that would/will happen, is an example of this, even though it's still in character (it may be hypocritical to say so, but I could totally imagine Oshino giving one of those).
At least it was put to good use in creating various scenes and dialogues that were somewhat comical, as well as the meta references we're already used to. However, I'm not going to lie: there's a lot here that would be (and ended up being) better used visually in an anime.
December 5, 2018
Lost a star because Araragi is the narrator again! Bring back Hanekawa as the narrator :D
Kabukimonogatari was a weird trip. While the author seemed keen on grossing the reader out by mentioning Araragi's loli tendencies, as the book progressed I started to interpret that as Shinobu's influence on him. As Araragi is the narrator, he keeps mentioning how his moods/feelings/thoughts affect the vampire living in his shadow. He even mentions how it is a two way street. But he never stops to think just how much Shinobu is influencing him.
The first 100 pages, as with any Monogatari book, consisted of random dialogues and banter. I always struggle to get through those. After that, when we get into the proper story, it is hard to put down. And while somewhat predictable, I really liked the moral of the story! Loved it actually!
AND, although Hashikuji is in the cover of the book, this one is mostly dedicated to Araragi and Shinobu and their relationship!
While writing this, I actually thinks this deserves the 5 stars... and as a crappy narrator like Araragi I'll give it back the star I took!
Kabukimonogatari was a weird trip. While the author seemed keen on grossing the reader out by mentioning Araragi's loli tendencies, as the book progressed I started to interpret that as Shinobu's influence on him. As Araragi is the narrator, he keeps mentioning how his moods/feelings/thoughts affect the vampire living in his shadow. He even mentions how it is a two way street. But he never stops to think just how much Shinobu is influencing him.
The first 100 pages, as with any Monogatari book, consisted of random dialogues and banter. I always struggle to get through those. After that, when we get into the proper story, it is hard to put down. And while somewhat predictable, I really liked the moral of the story! Loved it actually!
AND, although Hashikuji is in the cover of the book, this one is mostly dedicated to Araragi and Shinobu and their relationship!
While writing this, I actually thinks this deserves the 5 stars... and as a crappy narrator like Araragi I'll give it back the star I took!
September 2, 2022
This was a hell of an experience I don’t even know how to explain just how much I enjoyed this.
I had many doubts about how the story could end, but no one them were accurate. It was such a twist of events that it left me shock. I legitimately just sat there after I finished the book, because what?
This book was also somewhat hard for me to read, because I didn’t understand some words, but that not important.
I also adored the writing style. It made me feel like I was there. Like, actually there. Not there in a sense that I identified myself as the main character or any character in the book, but I felt as though I was in an extended character.
All in all, I really loved this book.
I had many doubts about how the story could end, but no one them were accurate. It was such a twist of events that it left me shock. I legitimately just sat there after I finished the book, because what?
This book was also somewhat hard for me to read, because I didn’t understand some words, but that not important.
I also adored the writing style. It made me feel like I was there. Like, actually there. Not there in a sense that I identified myself as the main character or any character in the book, but I felt as though I was in an extended character.
All in all, I really loved this book.
June 5, 2021
Another case where I liked the concept, but the execution was kinda messy. I loved that we had a time travel here and how it connected to previous books but I expected more presence of Hachikuji, which it didn’t happen, making me dissatisfied. However, this message touched me a lot, especially with the last page because regardless of how uncomfortable Hachikuji and Araragi’s interactions may be sometimes, their relationship is very genuine. Overall I didn’t have the best time with this book, considering in first season the second book had two great tales(Hitagi crab and Mayoi snail), I appreciate the message and how heartwarming this end was.
January 6, 2022
Araragi elfelejti elkészíteni a nyári háziját, ezért visszamegy az időben Shinobuval, de véletlenül egy nap helyett tizenegy évet ugranak vissza. Ha már ott járnak, megmentik Mayoi életét, de ennek következtében kiderül, hogy elpusztították a világot. Szóval a szokásos random ökörködés a könyv. A felvezetés ezúttal is túl hosszú, lassan helyezkedtem bele a sztoriba, de egy idő után meglett a megfelelő ritmus. Ismét sokat váltogat a komoly filozófia, és az agyament poénok között. A sorozat rajongóinak így a szokásosat hozza. Bár azért jó lenne, ha visszatérne a Kizumonogatari színvonala.
March 2, 2019
While a few conversations felt useless and too long (the time travel ones mostly), and the ending a bit forced (the letter from Oshino had a bit too much insight), the book as a whole was still very fun. Not my favorite from this author, or this series, but a good one anyway.
January 5, 2020
Light Novel პირველი იყო, რაც წავიკითხე და მართლა მსუბუქი საკითხავი იყო. მაგრამ ბევრად უფრო აზრიანი იყო ვიდრე ველოდი. ზოგადად ამ ავტორის თხრობა, სტილი და იუმორი ძალიან მომწონს. ანიმეც კარგად არის გადაღებული - ავტორის სტილი არ დაკარგულა
December 8, 2020
Leído un poco en diagonal. La verdad es que no es malo, da menos grima que muchos otros episodios, pero es una historia "tramposa": los personajes avanzan, pero toda la trama se queda perdida en un tiempo paralelo, como si no hubiera ocurrido nunca...
October 15, 2021
Great as always, Hachikuji is ones of my favourite characters and it’s nice to see her backstory in more detail, I feel so bad for her parents but I’m also happy we got to meet Hachikuji as she is now.
October 17, 2023
I think it's one of the best novels. But it's also the one with the most action and 'drama' which makes it more straightforward to read. Time travel is certainly overdone, but I think with the added twist here it was handled well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 26, 2023“We engaged in our usual stupid banter, and every once in a while I looked over my shoulder, took a wrong turn, or got a little lost, but putting one foot solidly in front of the other, and facing ahead, we continued to walk. This route”
February 10, 2025
How do you follow up the best book in your series thus far? By not even trying apparently.
Couple decent moments and a heartening resolution but not enough to justify how much of a slog this was. On to the next…
Couple decent moments and a heartening resolution but not enough to justify how much of a slog this was. On to the next…
December 20, 2018
If past traumas help you to become who you are, then writing the toothbrush scene clearly made Nishioishin a better author. This is one of the best and most thoughtful books in the series.
February 22, 2020
The time travel aspect in this novel was done very well.
July 13, 2022
One of my favourite so far, vampires, zombies, time travel; it has it all!
January 27, 2023
2.5 stars
Hachikuji fans were robbed, swindled even. The girl in question doesn't feature much in this novel despite being on the cover! Shinobu steals all the page time...
Hachikuji fans were robbed, swindled even. The girl in question doesn't feature much in this novel despite being on the cover! Shinobu steals all the page time...
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July 19, 20245:56
February 1, 2025
great but not really better than the stuff before it tbh
June 25, 2025
great book, it's hard to compete with the previous one. But still a really funny adventure with a lot of twists of the monogatari series.
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