Monogatari (series)
is a Japanese light novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Vofan. The plot centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who survives a vampire attack and finds himself helping girls involved with a variety of apparitions, ghosts, beasts, spirits, and other supernatural phenomena, which often serve as proxies for their emotional and mental issues. Since November 2006, Kodansha published 29 volumes in the series under its Kodansha Box imprint. All of the series' story arcs share the common title suffix.
Shaft has animated the Monogatari series several times since 2009. The "first season" of the anime adaptation consists of 30 episodes, which were broadcast in Japan between July 2009 and December 2012. The second season consists of 28 episodes broadcast between July and December 2013, and the "final season" consists of 42 episodes broadcast between December 2014 and June 2019. A prequel anime film trilogy, Kizumonogatari, was released in 2016 and 2017. An anime adaptation of the "Off Season" and "Monster Season" novels aired from July to October 2024. A manga adaptation, illustrated by Oh! great and titled Bakemonogatari, was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from March 2018 to March 2023.
Synopsis
Setting
Most heroines have an item that symbolizes their spectres, such as Hitagi's stapler, Mayoi's backpack, Suruga's arm, Nadeko's hat and jacket, and Karen's black and yellow tracksuit. Although it incorporates elements of fantasy, horror, and action, the series primarily focuses on relationships and conversations between its characters, which make heavy use of Nisio Isin's signature word play and metahumor.Premise
The Monogatari series revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who has almost restored his humanity after briefly becoming a vampire during spring break. One day, a classmate of his, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara, falls down a flight of stairs at school into Koyomi's arms. To his surprise, he discovers that Hitagi weighs almost nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened to keep away, Koyomi offers his help and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned cram school who helped reverse his vampirism. Once Koyomi helps solve Hitagi's problem, she decides to become his girlfriend.As the series progresses, Koyomi finds himself involved with other girls afflicted by "oddities": a child named Mayoi Hachikuji; his underclassman Suruga Kanbaru; Nadeko Sengoku, a friend of his sisters; his classmate Tsubasa Hanekawa; and his own younger sisters Karen and Tsukihi. To deal with the apparitions, which feed on human emotions and often take forms symbolically represented by animals, Koyomi relies on supernatural guidance from Oshino and, later, from Shinobu, the once-powerful blonde vampire who attacked him and later assumed the appearance of an eight-year-old girl.
Production
As Nisio Isin's previous work, the Zaregoto series, had been accepted as a light novel, he decided to write the first Monogatari short story, "Hitagi Crab", with a more formal approach in mind. It was not a simple transition from light novels to formal literature, but rather an experiment to see if he could write a light novel without illustrations. However, by the series' third story, "Suruga Monkey", it was decided that illustrations would be included in publication, and he changed his approach accordingly. He has stated that the atmosphere between Kizumonogatari and Nisemonogatari differed due to his knowledge that the latter would be adapted as an anime.Media
Light novels
The Monogatari series was first written by Nisio Isin as a series of short stories without illustrations for Kodansha's literary magazine Mephisto. The first three stories were printed in the magazine's September 2005, January 2006, and May 2006 issues, respectively; they were later collected in a light novel volume entitled Bakemonogatari on November 2, 2006. A second volume of Bakemonogatari, containing two new chapters, was released in December 2006. Both volumes were published under the Kodansha Box imprint and featured original art by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan, who would illustrate all following releases.A prequel story to Bakemonogatari entitled "Koyomi Vamp" was published in the February 2008 issue of Pandora magazine. It was later released as a light novel volume entitled Kizumonogatari in May 2008. The next story arc, Nisemonogatari, was released as two volumes in September 2008 and June 2009. The first volume of Nekomonogatari, subtitled Kuro, was released in July 2010, and consists of a prequel story to Bakemonogatari entitled "Tsubasa Family".
The second Monogatari saga, referred to as the "Second Season", released between 2010 and 2011, delves further into Koyomi's relationship with each of the heroines. The second volume of Nekomonogatari, subtitled Shiro, was released in October 2010. It was followed by five story arcs published in five volumes: Kabukimonogatari in December 2010, Hanamonogatari in March 2011, Otorimonogatari in June 2011, Onimonogatari in September 2011, and Koimonogatari in December 2011.
The third Monogatari saga, referred to as the "Final Season", released between 2012 and 2014, deepens the history of the character Ōgi Oshino, a supposed relative of Meme Oshino. It is composed of four story arcs published in six volumes: Tsukimonogatari in September 2012, a collection of 12 short stories entitled Koyomimonogatari in May 2013, three volumes of Owarimonogatari in October 2013, January 2014, and April 2014, and Zoku Owarimonogatari in September 2014.
The fourth Monogatari saga, referred to as "Off Season", released between 2015 and 2017, contains side stories focusing on various characters. It is composed of four story arcs published in four volumes: Orokamonogatari in October 2015, Wazamonogatari in January 2016, Nademonogatari in July 2016, and Musubimonogatari in January 2017.
The fifth Monogatari saga, referred to as "Monster Season", released between 2017 and 2021, follows Koyomi's life as a university student. It is composed of six story arcs published in six volumes: Shinobumonogatari in July 2017, Yoimonogatari in June 2018, Amarimonogatari in April 2019, Ōgimonogatari in October 2020, and two volumes of Shinomonogatari in August 2021.
The sixth Monogatari saga, referred to as "Family Season", began in 2023. So far, only two volumes have been published: Ikusamonogatari in May 2023, and Tsugimonogatari in October 2025. Tsugimonogatari had initially been announced for release in 2015, as part of Off Season. Two further novels, Torimonogatari and Ootorimonogatari, have been announced, with no release date given yet.
In 2015, Vertical licensed the novel series for English release. The company began its paperback line with Kizumonogatari on December 15, 2015, and later released the Bakemonogatari novels in three volumes: the first in December 2016, the second in February 2017, and the third in April 2017. As of December 2020, the novels in the series up to Zoku Owarimonogatari have been translated.
The English audiobook version of Kizumonogatari was released on May 25, 2016, by Bang Zoom! Entertainment with narration done by Keith Silverstein, Eric Kimerer, and Cristina Vee. The audiobook for Nekomonogatari was released on April 9, 2019, with narration done by Cristina Vee, Eric Kimerer, and Erica Mendez. The audiobook for the three volumes of Bakemonogatari was released on March 24, 2020, with narration done by Eric Kimerer, Cristina Vee, Erica Mendez, and Keith Silverstein.
The Japanese audiobook version of the entire series began release by Kodansha via Audible on February 17, 2021. Each novel features narration by the voice actors/actresses of the anime adaptation. It released one novel each month until June 16, 2023, with the second volume of Shinomonogatari.
Anime
An anime adaptation of Bakemonogatari was announced in April 2008, and broadcast between July 3 and September 25, 2009, on Tokyo MX. The 15-episode series was animated by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and series director Tatsuya Oishi, with series composition by Shinbo and Shaft staff under the collective pen name of Fuyashi Tō, character designs by Akio Watanabe based on Vofan's original concepts, and scripts edited by Yukito Kizawa and Muneo Nakamoto. The music for the series was composed by Satoru Kōsaki. Only the first 12 episodes were broadcast on television; the remaining three episodes were distributed on the anime's website between November 3, 2009, and June 25, 2010. At Sakura-Con 2012, Aniplex of America announced that it had acquired Bakemonogatari for release in North America. All 15 episodes were released on Blu-ray with English subtitles on November 20, 2012.An 11-episode anime adaptation of Nisemonogatari aired from January 8 to March 18, 2012, produced by the same staff as Bakemonogatari, but with Tomoyuki Itamura replacing Tatsuya Oishi as director. A four-episode anime television series adaptation of Nekomonogatari aired back-to-back on December 31, 2012. Two Blu-ray and DVD compilation volumes were released: the first on March 6, 2013, and the second on April 3, 2013. A 26-episode anime television series titled Monogatari Series Second Season, spanning five of the six novels from Nekomonogatari to Koimonogatari, aired between July 7 and December 29, 2013. Aniplex USA later released the Blu-ray on April 22, and June 24, 2014. Kabukimonogatari and Onimonogatari featured Naoyuki Tatsuwa and Yuki Yase as series directors for those respective arcs under Itamura and Shinbo. Five episodes of the Second Season, adapting the Hanamonogatari story arc from the novels, were delayed from the original broadcast due to production issues and aired as a marathon on August 16, 2014.
A four-episode adaptation of the first novel of the third series, Tsukimonogatari, aired in a marathon on December 31, 2014. A 13-episode anime television series adapting two more novels of the third series, titled Owarimonogatari, aired between October 3 and December 19, 2015. A series of three films adapting the prequel novel Kizumonogatari were produced, with the first one, Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu, premiering on January 8, 2016, the second film, Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu, premiering on August 19, 2016, and the third and final film, Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu, premiering on January 6, 2017. A web anime series adapting Koyomimonogatari became available for download on the App Store and Google Play from January 9, 2016. A seven-episode anime television series, an adaptation of the third Owarimonogatari novel, aired on August 12 and 13, 2017. An adaptation of Zoku Owarimonogatari was released in theaters on November 10, 2018 and as two Blu-ray and DVD volumes on February 27, 2019 and March 27, 2019. It aired on TV as six episodes between May 18 and June 22, 2019.
In January 2024, an adaptation of both "Off Season" and "Monster Season" was announced, with chief director Shinbo, character designer Watanabe, and studio Shaft returning. Midori Yoshizawa is directing. It aired on Abema from July 6 to October 19, 2024. Crunchyroll licensed the series. A new episode of Off & Monster Season was announced in July 2025.
The anime adaptation does not follow the order of the novels. Kizumonogatari was planned to be released in 2012 after Bakemonogatari, but due to production issues, it was delayed until 2016. Hanamonogatari was originally planned to be animated in its original place from the novels, but it got postponed to air after Monogatari Series Second Season. In the Blu-ray box set of Monogatari Series Second Season though, Hanamonogatari is listed as the third arc. Koyomimonogatari in the novels was released before Owarimonogatari, but in the anime adaptation, it was released on the App Store and Google Play app after Kizumonogatari I and Owarimonogatari.