Welcome to my lament.
First of all I should be studying right now for a test on Thursday, and second there's no actual bedtime story in this post, though there are a few (or a lot) of snippets of stories that are worthier reading included. So I'm sorry if you came here thinking I used my overestimated prowess to write stories expecting an actual bedtime story about Olympus and Asgard waging war against each other to get the favor of an all-powerful immortal human.
I'm just doing this for my own selfish reason which is primarily to be able to sleep soundly tonight, but at this point the revelations I read earlier will likely keep me thinking and force me to just roll around my bed painfully waiting for sleep to overcome me. I don't know. I have a headache right now maybe that'll help.
By the way I don't think I'll be able to bore you to death with this post, the best I can do is make you yawn and consider going to sleep earlier than usual.
Also spoiler alert.
...
...
See, you're yawning right now.
Anyway, ready?
Two years ago Shaft aired its second season anime adaptation of NisiOisin's Monogatari novel series titled Monogatari series Second Season. The second season covers Nekomonogatari White, Kabukimonogatari, Otorimonogatari, Onimonogatari, and Koimonogatari, with Hanamonogatari acting as a follow up OVA series. The stories aren't exactly in chronological order but the majority of the events covered either overlap each other or run in parallel, either way the majority of the stories eventually play a role to the outcome of the whole story. I'll get to that later (you guys sleepy yet? Stay with me here).
Apparently two years ago something strange became of me and despite claiming the Monogatari series (at the time I considered Bakemonogatari as representative of the series not Nisemonogatari) as one of my Top 30 Anime, I dropped the second season. Bakemonogatari (though I took the whole series in general) ranks on the upper half of my Top 30 and I'm proud of that ranking. I think it shows I have good taste in anime and storytelling? You tell me.
Anyway, I don't know what I ate or if a stray baseball hit me in the head but for some reason I dropped the series leaving the story hanging at Nadeko Medusa (Otorimonogatari).
Three weeks ago, as I lamented about not being able to watch Owarimonogatari (due to my impressively slow internet connection) which aired on October 3, I decided to continue watching Monogatari series Second Season. I immediately regret the decision I made two years ago but my decision to continue watching three weeks ago more than made up for it.
NisiOisin is a great storyteller, and Shaft is an amazing animation studio - I knew that long ago but now I felt like I really need to say it.
I just finished episode 20, the final episode of Shinobu Time and that ending gave me a feeling of unrest. Mayoi Hachikuji, a character who greatly developed in this season, an already dead character, classified as an oddity haunting people who don't want to go home and forcing them to get lost, has made her way to the afterlife. It's painful, really painful. So painful that I can't even move on to the next episode. Not after all that.
What I did instead was I searched 'Mayoi Hachikuji' on google and read about her fate in the series. After all that can't be it. Mayoi is an important character, so important that Koyomi even volunteered to 'stay lost' with her for the duration of his life as a half-vampire just so she could remain as an oddity in the human world.
In searching for Hachikuji, what I got was the story of Owarimonogatari, well more accurately I got the synopsis. At that point earlier I didn't care for spoilers. I just wanted to know Hachikuji's fate and in doing so I got the general overview of Owarimonogatari from Ougi Formula to Ougi Dark. I don't know how detailed the synopses are in the wikia since I don't have any copy of any of the translated novels, but I understood the story and where it was headed. More importantly my focus was diverted from Mayoi Hachikuji to Ougi Oshino. The anime adaptation of Owarimonogatari is airing already anyway so this is just my method of 'catching up'. Ougi Formula's story is connected to Sodachi's arcs. While Sodachi's story is tragic and heartrending in its own I couldn't help but read on eventually reaching Shinobu Mail, Mayoi Hell, Hitagi Rendezvous, and Ougi Dark.
Shinobu Mail partly explains some of the events that happened in Tsubasa Tiger since both stories run in parallel. But more than connecting itself to the events of Tsubasa Tiger, it also brings to light part of Gaen Izuko's plan by explaining the reasons for the three favors she asked in return for helping Koyomi during the events of Shinobu Time (the arc that started this series of revelations to me in the first place). It was also in this arc where Shinobu's past comes back to haunt her in the form of her first minion, Seishirou.
After Shinobu Mail the story skips a large chunk of events that have already been told (particularly Ougi Formula to Sodachi's arc, Nadeko Medusa, Hitagi End, and Yotsugi Doll). Mayoi Hell has the answer that I was originally looking for - the fate of Mayoi Hachikuji. Koyomi was on his way to to take his college entrance exam when he decided to stop by the Kitashirahebi Shrine. On the way he suddenly meets Mayoi Hachikuji. You guys don't know how happy I was when I read those lines. Koyomi Araragi again meets Mayoi Hachikuji. But why and how, after moving on to the afterlife during the conclusion of Shinobu Time? Turns out Koyomi died and is in hell, his sin being he saved Kiss-shot, an oddity, that fateful day during spring break. Mayoi on the other hand is in hell because she died first before her parents. Koyomi was killed by Gaen Izuko using a copy of Kokorowatari that she forged using Seishirou's armor.
The reason why Gaen killed Koyomi is a bit complex and I need to reread the synopsis to get a better grasp of the story. Actually the whole story from this point on (Mayoi Hell) got a little complex with only reading the synopsis. Anyway during the events of Mayoi Hell Koyomi's vampiric traits were removed, and was revived by Gaen using Yumewatari afterwards. As Koyomi was pulled out from hell he caught Mayoi as well bringing her back to the human world.
Back in the human world, since Koyomi died, Shinobu has regained her full power but still opted to stay connected with Koyomi. It was a happy ending overall in the conclusion of Mayoi Hell.
The next story is why I think I'm going to have a hard time sleeping later. I'm just going straight to the point this time before I go on babbling about what I understood from the story.
Anyway, you guys still with me? Reading from the wikia is much easier you know. These are all just my internal laments about technically reading the remaining stories up to the end.
So for a second anyway, here we go:
Why and how, well, I don't think I'm in any position to explain. Best I can do is revisit the premise.
The premise of Ougi Dark brings to light every mystery that has been hanging since Shinobu Time through Gaen. Here it was revealed that the village Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-Under-Blade visited 400 years ago is presently the town where the whole Monogatari series takes place in.
The lake she emptied when she arrived housed an entirely different apparition but her arrival and subsequent act as being a god instead of an oddity erased the existence of the previous god which was a Snake god. Kiss-shot's act as a god forced the arrival of Darkness - essentially the Rule which punishes lies by devouring them. Kiss-shot's lie being that she was revered as a god when in fact she's a vampire, an oddity. In order to not get devoured and disappear Kiss-shot literally jumps back to Antarctica leaving the village without a god to protect it from apparations. This Darkness is reintroduced in this story (Ougi Dark).
Gaen Izuko's initial plan was to have Shinobu (in her full power as Kiss-shot) to become the god of the town in order to prevent any more oddities from appearing. However, since Koyomi managed to bring Mayoi back to the human world, Gaen decided that Mayoi was the better candidate. Unfortunately there was Darkness, the Rule that feeds on lies. Mayoi's existence as a lie back in the human world was sure to attract Darkness but if she was to become the god of the Kitashirahebi Shrine then Darkness wouldn't have any reason to devour her. That solved, another problem surfaced, Ougi Oshino - the Fake Darkness.
While the true Darkness won't devour Mayoi when she becomes a god, Ougi still will which brings the story to its climax and conclusion which I will not opt to tell in this mediocre blog post.
Know this though, there is nothing 'exact' in NisiOisin's Monogatari series. How he twists the story and connect previous events to the present boggled me and bit by bit as I understood his whole Monogatari, and especially how he ended it with Ougi Dark, made me really, really happy.
My fountain of words is shallow but if can be straightforward and just say what my mind and body is feeling right now it's euphoria. Not just the literal euphoria, it's the kind that I felt when I crossed the finish line after my very first (and so far only) 10 km run, the kind that I felt after I passed my first exam in mathematics in high school, the kind I feel when I finally arrive home after a long bus trip, the kind I felt after attending my first anime/cosplay convention.
It's an amazing kind of happiness, and I'm f***ing regretting I read this in the evening just two days before a major friggin' exam. How do you expect me to focus right now.
I'm totally wasted.
But, again, I'm really happy.
Happy for Mayoi.
Happy for Shinobu, the rest of Koyomi's harem.
Happy for Ougi.
And also for the development of Koyomi's character throughout the series.
I'm also a little sad knowing that NisiOisin has completed his masterwork and I just read the synopsis of each remaining stories. Reading his stories made me realize that I still have plenty of chapter 1s to finish from all the novels I proudly wrote about here years ago.
I just wish a story like this that makes me feel a lot of things that I can't help but write a blog post about it out of impulse doesn't end. But, well, sadly this world, at least from my perspective, is very much unlike Koyomi's. His, though plagued with plenty of supernatural troubles, is much more interesting. What I wouldn't give to be in Koyomi's position (no actually that's pretty brutal, I should take it back...maybe). Stories here always have to have epilogues and conclusions. After all, every green light eventually turns red right? But then again every red light eventually turns green.
After Ougi Dark there's still Zokuowarimonogatari which tells the story of Koyomi Reverse where he Koyomi 'enters' the mirror world and experience the reverse of his own world. But in reality Koyomi remained in his world and he brought the 20% of the reflection that is absorbed by mirrors. This 20% contained the inner regrets and desires of the people Koyomi interacted with. It's also a story with a hard punch to the gut with incredible feelings. This, at least from what I've read, is the final story of Koyomi Araragi and NisiOisin's Monogatari series...at least the main series. It seems NisiOisin isn't completely parting with the story, which is great, with some 'Off-Season' stories following Zokuowarimonogatari.
So, I finally spoke at least part of what's been bothering me. I still have a headache so that'll at least help me with my sleep.
I still can't believe I spent time for studying for this blog post. I didn't plan any of this. When I wrote a long-as* blog post like this I usually plan it for weeks. Well, anyway if you're still reading thanks for keeping me (my past self who wrote this) company. I'll probably be way out in the horizon come tomorrow. It'll be a long while before I get over this hangover.
It's already 11 pm. I should be tired enough to merit seven hours of quality sleep. I'll at least start questioning my whole existence and how every decision I made led me to posting this for a while.
Sigh.
I hope I didn't waste any of your time as I have.
No. I don't think it's a total waste. There's a difference between wasting and spending. If anything, I just spent time for another matter doing this. It's not a waste. Something came of it.
I hope you enjoyed reading even you got lost along the way. I just have a way of explaining things that gets people more lost than enlightened.
Anyway, I'll shut up now.
Goodnight.
------------------------------------------------------------------
*One final note:
As I'm currently editing photos to make this blog more reader friendly I saved a backup of this post to Microsoft Word and found that at Arial 11, 1.5 spacing, this post is worth seven pages (without pictures). It's funny because last Monday I struggled to write the RRL of my Eng 10 proposal and it took me ten hours to write eight pages. Whereas this blog post, worth seven pages, only took me an hour and in some way it does act as a review (a little) to NisiOisin's work.
I really need to reevaluate my life choices.
Again, goodnight.
First of all I should be studying right now for a test on Thursday, and second there's no actual bedtime story in this post, though there are a few (or a lot) of snippets of stories that are worthier reading included. So I'm sorry if you came here thinking I used my overestimated prowess to write stories expecting an actual bedtime story about Olympus and Asgard waging war against each other to get the favor of an all-powerful immortal human.
I'm just doing this for my own selfish reason which is primarily to be able to sleep soundly tonight, but at this point the revelations I read earlier will likely keep me thinking and force me to just roll around my bed painfully waiting for sleep to overcome me. I don't know. I have a headache right now maybe that'll help.
By the way I don't think I'll be able to bore you to death with this post, the best I can do is make you yawn and consider going to sleep earlier than usual.
Also spoiler alert.
...
...
See, you're yawning right now.
Anyway, ready?
Two years ago Shaft aired its second season anime adaptation of NisiOisin's Monogatari novel series titled Monogatari series Second Season. The second season covers Nekomonogatari White, Kabukimonogatari, Otorimonogatari, Onimonogatari, and Koimonogatari, with Hanamonogatari acting as a follow up OVA series. The stories aren't exactly in chronological order but the majority of the events covered either overlap each other or run in parallel, either way the majority of the stories eventually play a role to the outcome of the whole story. I'll get to that later (you guys sleepy yet? Stay with me here).
 |
| from top left to bottom right: Shinobu, Hanekawa Tsubasa, Hitagi Senjougahara, Mayoi Hachikuji, Suruga Kanbaru, Nadeko Sengoku, Karen Araragi, and Tsukihi Araragi |
Anyway, I don't know what I ate or if a stray baseball hit me in the head but for some reason I dropped the series leaving the story hanging at Nadeko Medusa (Otorimonogatari).
Three weeks ago, as I lamented about not being able to watch Owarimonogatari (due to my impressively slow internet connection) which aired on October 3, I decided to continue watching Monogatari series Second Season. I immediately regret the decision I made two years ago but my decision to continue watching three weeks ago more than made up for it.
NisiOisin is a great storyteller, and Shaft is an amazing animation studio - I knew that long ago but now I felt like I really need to say it.
I just finished episode 20, the final episode of Shinobu Time and that ending gave me a feeling of unrest. Mayoi Hachikuji, a character who greatly developed in this season, an already dead character, classified as an oddity haunting people who don't want to go home and forcing them to get lost, has made her way to the afterlife. It's painful, really painful. So painful that I can't even move on to the next episode. Not after all that.
What I did instead was I searched 'Mayoi Hachikuji' on google and read about her fate in the series. After all that can't be it. Mayoi is an important character, so important that Koyomi even volunteered to 'stay lost' with her for the duration of his life as a half-vampire just so she could remain as an oddity in the human world.
In searching for Hachikuji, what I got was the story of Owarimonogatari, well more accurately I got the synopsis. At that point earlier I didn't care for spoilers. I just wanted to know Hachikuji's fate and in doing so I got the general overview of Owarimonogatari from Ougi Formula to Ougi Dark. I don't know how detailed the synopses are in the wikia since I don't have any copy of any of the translated novels, but I understood the story and where it was headed. More importantly my focus was diverted from Mayoi Hachikuji to Ougi Oshino. The anime adaptation of Owarimonogatari is airing already anyway so this is just my method of 'catching up'. Ougi Formula's story is connected to Sodachi's arcs. While Sodachi's story is tragic and heartrending in its own I couldn't help but read on eventually reaching Shinobu Mail, Mayoi Hell, Hitagi Rendezvous, and Ougi Dark.
Shinobu Mail partly explains some of the events that happened in Tsubasa Tiger since both stories run in parallel. But more than connecting itself to the events of Tsubasa Tiger, it also brings to light part of Gaen Izuko's plan by explaining the reasons for the three favors she asked in return for helping Koyomi during the events of Shinobu Time (the arc that started this series of revelations to me in the first place). It was also in this arc where Shinobu's past comes back to haunt her in the form of her first minion, Seishirou.
After Shinobu Mail the story skips a large chunk of events that have already been told (particularly Ougi Formula to Sodachi's arc, Nadeko Medusa, Hitagi End, and Yotsugi Doll). Mayoi Hell has the answer that I was originally looking for - the fate of Mayoi Hachikuji. Koyomi was on his way to to take his college entrance exam when he decided to stop by the Kitashirahebi Shrine. On the way he suddenly meets Mayoi Hachikuji. You guys don't know how happy I was when I read those lines. Koyomi Araragi again meets Mayoi Hachikuji. But why and how, after moving on to the afterlife during the conclusion of Shinobu Time? Turns out Koyomi died and is in hell, his sin being he saved Kiss-shot, an oddity, that fateful day during spring break. Mayoi on the other hand is in hell because she died first before her parents. Koyomi was killed by Gaen Izuko using a copy of Kokorowatari that she forged using Seishirou's armor.
The reason why Gaen killed Koyomi is a bit complex and I need to reread the synopsis to get a better grasp of the story. Actually the whole story from this point on (Mayoi Hell) got a little complex with only reading the synopsis. Anyway during the events of Mayoi Hell Koyomi's vampiric traits were removed, and was revived by Gaen using Yumewatari afterwards. As Koyomi was pulled out from hell he caught Mayoi as well bringing her back to the human world.
The next story is why I think I'm going to have a hard time sleeping later. I'm just going straight to the point this time before I go on babbling about what I understood from the story.
Anyway, you guys still with me? Reading from the wikia is much easier you know. These are all just my internal laments about technically reading the remaining stories up to the end.
So for a second anyway, here we go:
Ougi Oshino is Koyomi Araragi
Why and how, well, I don't think I'm in any position to explain. Best I can do is revisit the premise.
The premise of Ougi Dark brings to light every mystery that has been hanging since Shinobu Time through Gaen. Here it was revealed that the village Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-Under-Blade visited 400 years ago is presently the town where the whole Monogatari series takes place in.
 |
| Gaen Izuko |
 |
| Darkness |
While the true Darkness won't devour Mayoi when she becomes a god, Ougi still will which brings the story to its climax and conclusion which I will not opt to tell in this mediocre blog post.
Know this though, there is nothing 'exact' in NisiOisin's Monogatari series. How he twists the story and connect previous events to the present boggled me and bit by bit as I understood his whole Monogatari, and especially how he ended it with Ougi Dark, made me really, really happy.
It's an amazing kind of happiness, and I'm f***ing regretting I read this in the evening just two days before a major friggin' exam. How do you expect me to focus right now.
I'm totally wasted.
But, again, I'm really happy.
Happy for Mayoi.
Happy for Shinobu, the rest of Koyomi's harem.
Happy for Ougi.
And also for the development of Koyomi's character throughout the series.
I'm also a little sad knowing that NisiOisin has completed his masterwork and I just read the synopsis of each remaining stories. Reading his stories made me realize that I still have plenty of chapter 1s to finish from all the novels I proudly wrote about here years ago.
I just wish a story like this that makes me feel a lot of things that I can't help but write a blog post about it out of impulse doesn't end. But, well, sadly this world, at least from my perspective, is very much unlike Koyomi's. His, though plagued with plenty of supernatural troubles, is much more interesting. What I wouldn't give to be in Koyomi's position (no actually that's pretty brutal, I should take it back...maybe). Stories here always have to have epilogues and conclusions. After all, every green light eventually turns red right? But then again every red light eventually turns green.
 |
| timeline from a Reddit thread |
So, I finally spoke at least part of what's been bothering me. I still have a headache so that'll at least help me with my sleep.
I still can't believe I spent time for studying for this blog post. I didn't plan any of this. When I wrote a long-as* blog post like this I usually plan it for weeks. Well, anyway if you're still reading thanks for keeping me (my past self who wrote this) company. I'll probably be way out in the horizon come tomorrow. It'll be a long while before I get over this hangover.
It's already 11 pm. I should be tired enough to merit seven hours of quality sleep. I'll at least start questioning my whole existence and how every decision I made led me to posting this for a while.
Sigh.
I hope I didn't waste any of your time as I have.
No. I don't think it's a total waste. There's a difference between wasting and spending. If anything, I just spent time for another matter doing this. It's not a waste. Something came of it.
I hope you enjoyed reading even you got lost along the way. I just have a way of explaining things that gets people more lost than enlightened.
Anyway, I'll shut up now.
Goodnight.
------------------------------------------------------------------
*One final note:
As I'm currently editing photos to make this blog more reader friendly I saved a backup of this post to Microsoft Word and found that at Arial 11, 1.5 spacing, this post is worth seven pages (without pictures). It's funny because last Monday I struggled to write the RRL of my Eng 10 proposal and it took me ten hours to write eight pages. Whereas this blog post, worth seven pages, only took me an hour and in some way it does act as a review (a little) to NisiOisin's work.
I really need to reevaluate my life choices.
Again, goodnight.
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