Highlights
- Monogatari Off & Monster Season premieres strong, with an intriguing narrative and unique character growth.
- Orokamonogatari showcases Nadeko’s evolution from a simplistic archetype to a complex character.
- New director, Midori Yoshizawa, brings fresh energy and stunning visuals to elevate the Monogatari Series.
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Title |
Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season |
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Director |
Midori Yoshizawa, Akiyuki Shinbo (Chief Director) |
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Studio |
Shaft |
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Episode Air Date |
7/6/2024 |
Warning: This following contains minor spoilers for Monogatari Series Off & Monster Season, Episode 1, “OROKAMONOGATARI Tsukihi Undo,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Monogatari is fascinating, because it might not be discussed as widely as the seasonal hits or yearly sensations, but it’s by no means niche; it’s still one of the best-selling TV anime of the 21st century. Five years after Zoku Owarimonogatari, Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season effortlessly fills the void left by the last installment with one of the best premieres since Bakemonogatari.
Based on the novel series by Nisio Isin, Monogatari is a supernatural mystery/drama primarily centered around young women afflicted by apparitions that prey on their trauma and anxiety. After series protagonist Koyomi Araragi graduates from high school and goes off to college, the girls whose lives he changed forever remain, their stories being the centerpiece of these new seasons.
An Instantly Fascinating Premiere
Monogatari Has Never Had Such A Strong Start
How Monogatari Excels From The First Frame
This franchise’s ability to grab one’s attention within the first minute never ceases to amaze. Contextually, Yotsugi Ononoki’s opening narration is nothing more than a report reiterating her mission to observe Tsukihi Araragi while pretending to be a life-sized doll. But Nisio Isin’s prose, as adapted for the screen by Akiyuki Shinbo and Fuyashi Tou, never comes across as simple exposition. Even read by one as monotone and robotic as Yotsugi, it reads like poetry.
Yotsugi describes the very nature of Tsukihi; an apparition in the form of a young woman living on instinct who does what she likes and refuses to do what she doesn’t. She’s uniquely unpredictable and, in the eyes of Yotsugi and her superiors, this makes her dangerous, like a creature that attracts chaos. As succinctly as Yotsugi describes her quarry, she also frames herself as the opposite; an apparition operating on learned behavior, whose existence is contingent on imitating humanity.
“My Plushie Is Eating Ice Cream!?”
Just as Monogatari strives to make every single shot look interesting, almost every line spoken contributes to a theme, the bones of which often become apparent in the opening monologue. Thus, even through the dense body of text comprising the characters’ banter, there is an idea that even a newcomer to this franchise can latch onto. In the case of “Tsukihi Undo,” this story contrasts the nature of its central characters to teach a lesson about what it means to live.
When the ever-unpredictable Tsukihi decides not to go to school, she returns home to find Yotsugi – whom she only knows to be a lifeless doll – eating some ice cream that Araragi gifted her. Unable to play it off as some hallucination, Yotsugi concocts a lie that she is a magical girl using Tsukihi’s doll as a vessel to defeat a monster. But when Tsukihi insists on helping Yotsugi defeat the monster, the latter seeks help from Sengoku Nadeko to help sell this increasingly convoluted lie.
This Is Peak Monogatari
Orokamonogatari Emphasizes How Much Nadeko Has Changed
As early as Bakemonogatari, Nadeko was never much of a real character, and this seemed by design the longer the series went on. She was an archetype – a cutesy young girl obsessed with an older boy, but it wasn’t until Monogatari Series: Second Season that the narrative began to interrogate who she truly was as a person. The best part about seeing her in Orokamonogatari is observing how much she has grown now that she’s focused on her passions.
A lot is conveyed in Monogatari just from the setting, and this is especially true of the girls’ bedrooms, of which Nadeko’s has had perhaps the most radical overhaul. Her many bookshelves, cluttered floor, and cozy workspace convey her aspirations as a manga artist with so much personality. While her time in this arc is brief, Nadeko leaves a huge impression in this episode, delivering its most important lesson:
I’m very glad that this world is not such an easy place to live in.
By its very title, “Tsukihi Undo” is a false promise. Yotsugi makes a mistake that can’t be undone, and in the process of trying to fix it, struggles a great deal, no matter how careful or cunning she is. In that, there is a lesson about how life’s difficulties are integral to the human experience and how people learn and heal from the uncertainty and pain that plague them. It’s such a cleverly constructed story that leaves one thinking about each character in a new light.
Is It Better than Ever? Or Has It Just Been a While?
This might be the most excitement we’ve felt watching the premiere of a Monogatari entry since the franchise first started. Maybe it’s just been the long wait for a new entry, but something felt different this time. Its premise was charming and brought out the best in the characters, but what seemed to set it apart was how it accomplished everything so efficiently in a single episode while sacrificing little substance.
Granted, Monogatari is not opposed to moving quickly and, frankly, the franchise’s frenetic visual language and quick-witted script are what keep prolonged monologues or sequences of banter from going stale. Yet “Tsukihi Undo” felt uniquely well-paced compared to more patient storytelling in past arcs that could – on occasion – be a tad slow. This is largely thanks to a slightly longer runtime than a typical TV-length episode.
Just as likely responsible for this refreshing sensation is the new series director, Midori Yoshizawa, known for Season 1 of the Madoka Magica spinoff, Magia Record. Every Monogatari director has their signature nuances and while it might take some time to put a finger on what Yoshizawa’s style sets her apart, it doesn’t take long to see that she’s good at it.
It looks gorgeous, which was to be expected, but animators like Hiroto Nagata, who created the premiere’s most dazzling cut, show that there are heights yet to be reached by this series and Studio Shaft. While it’s only recently begun, Monogatari Off & Monster Season is as strong as this franchise deserves, and looking ahead, it even has the potential to be a little stronger.
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