Monogatari Series: First Season

Monogatari Series: First Season is a collection of light novels written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Vofan. It is the first part of the Monogatari series, which is a story about a high school student named Koyomi Araragi who encounters various supernatural phenomena and helps people who are affected by them. The novels are known for their witty dialogue, wordplay, and metafictional elements¹.

The First Season consists of six novels: Bakemonogatari, Kizumonogatari, Nisemonogatari, Nekomonogatari Black, Nekomonogatari White, and Kabukimonogatari. They cover the events from April to August of Araragi’s third year in high school. The novels introduce the main characters of the series, such as Hitagi Senjougahara, Tsubasa Hanekawa, Suruga Kanbaru, Nadeko Sengoku, Shinobu Oshino, and Mayoi Hachikuji. Each novel focuses on a different character and their encounter with a supernatural creature or phenomenon, such as a vampire, a crab god, a snail ghost, a monkey’s paw, a snake curse, or a time paradox.

The novels have been adapted into anime by Shaft under the direction of Akiyuki Shinbo. The anime adaptation follows the chronological order of the novels, except for Kizumonogatari, which was released as a trilogy of films in 2016 and 2017. The anime is praised for its unique visual style, faithful adaptation of the source material, and voice acting. The anime is available for streaming on Funimation Now and Crunchyroll. Read Monogatari Series: First Season summary below.

Monogatari Series: First Season summary

Monogatari Series: First Season with Bakemonogatari, which tells the story of how Koyomi Araragi, a former vampire, meets and helps five girls who are afflicted by different supernatural problems. The first girl is Hitagi Senjougahara, who has lost her weight and emotions due to a crab god. Araragi helps her confront the god and restore her normality. The second girl is Mayoi Hachikuji, who is a ghost of a lost child who can’t reach her mother’s house. Araragi and Senjougahara help her find peace and move on to the afterlife. The third girl is Suruga Kanbaru, who is a former rival of Senjougahara and has a monkey’s paw that grants wishes with terrible consequences. Araragi helps her get rid of the paw and reconcile with Senjougahara. The fourth girl is Nadeko Sengoku, who is a childhood friend of Araragi’s sister and has a snake curse that will kill her. Araragi and Kanbaru help her exorcise the curse and save her life. The fifth girl is Tsubasa Hanekawa, who is the class president and Araragi’s friend, and has a cat spirit that takes over her body when she is stressed. Araragi and Shinobu Oshino, his vampire companion, help her deal with the spirit and her family issues.

The novel continues with Kizumonogatari, which is a prequel that tells the story of how Araragi became a vampire and met Shinobu, Oshino, and Hanekawa. During spring break, Araragi encounters a beautiful blonde vampire named Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, who has been mutilated by vampire hunters. She asks him to save her life by giving her his blood, which turns him into a vampire as well. He then learns that he has to retrieve Kiss-shot’s limbs from the hunters in order to become human again. With the help of Oshino, a mysterious man who knows about the supernatural, and Hanekawa, who becomes his friend and ally, he faces the hunters in a series of battles. However, he also learns the truth about Kiss-shot’s past and faces a dilemma about his own humanity.

Monogatari Series: First Season follows with Nisemonogatari, which focuses on Araragi’s sisters Karen and Tsukihi, who are self-proclaimed justice fighters known as the Fire Sisters. They get involved in two cases related to two con artists: Deishuu Kaiki and Yozuru Kagenui. Kaiki is an old enemy of Senjougahara and Oshino, who scams people by selling fake charms and curses. He targets Nadeko and tries to make her pay for his services. Karen confronts him and gets poisoned by his bee apparition. Araragi tries to save her by asking for Kaiki’s help, but also has to deal with his own feelings for Senjougahara and Hanekawa. Kagenui is an old acquaintance of Oshino, who hunts down immortal beings with her shikigami Yotsugi Ononoki. She targets Tsukihi, who is revealed to be a phoenix in human form. Araragi tries to protect her by fighting against Kagenui and Ononoki, but also has to accept his sister’s true nature.

Monogatari Series: First Season proceeds with Nekomonogatari Black, which is another prequel that tells the story of how Araragi and Hanekawa first encountered the cat spirit during Golden Week. Hanekawa was suffering from stress due to her abusive parents and her unrequited love for Araragi. The cat spirit manifested itself as an alter ego of Hanekawa that attacked people at night. Araragi tried to stop the cat with the help of Oshino and Shinobu, but also had to face his own feelings for Hanekawa.

The novel concludes with Nekomonogatari White and Kabukimonogatari, which are narrated by Hanekawa and Shinobu respectively. In Nekomonogatari White, Hanekawa travels around the world after graduating from high school, looking for Oshino. She encounters another cat spirit named Black Hanekawa, who claims to be her true self. She also meets a tiger apparition that burns down her house and threatens her life. She tries to solve the mystery of the tiger with the help of Senjougahara, Araragi, Shinobu, and Ononoki. In Kabukimonogatari, Shinobu tells Araragi about her past as Kiss-shot, when she was the most powerful vampire in history. She also asks him to accompany her to a time-traveling shrine, where they end up in an alternate timeline where Mayoi Hachikuji was never killed by a car. They discover that this timeline is a dystopia where most of their friends are dead or missing, and they have to find a way to return to their original timeline.

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