Monogatari

Series · 23

books · 2006-2017

By NisiOisiN, 西尾維新

Books in series

化物語 (上) [Bakemonogatari]

2006

化物語 (下) [Bakemonogatari]

2006

高三生阿良良木曆，遇上從天而降的戰場原黑儀，開啓了一連串「怪異」的事件－－此時，出現在阿良良木面前的，是完美無缺的班長．羽川翼，魅惑著她的「怪異」究竟是－－？

KIZUMONOGATARI

Wound Tale

2008

Around midnight, under a lonely street lamp in a provincial town in Japan, lies a white woman, a blonde, alone, robbed of all four limbs, yet undead. Indeed, a rumor's been circulating among the local girls that a vampire has come to their backwater, of all places. Koyomi Araragi, who prefers to avoid having friends because they'd lower his “intensity as a human," is naturally skeptical. Yet it is to him that the bloodsucking demon, a concept “dated twice over," beckons on the first day of spring break as he makes his way home with a fresh loot of morally compromising periodicals. Always disarmingly candid, often hilariously playful, and sometimes devastatingly moving, KIZUMONOGATARI: Wound Tale is the perfect gateway into the world of author NISIOISIN, the bestselling young novelist in Japan today. The prequel to BAKEMONOGATARI (“Monster Tale"), this is where the legendary MONOGATARI series, whose anime adaptations have enjoyed international popularity and critical acclaim, begins. A theatrical feature based on KIZUMONOGATARI is due to be released in Japan in January 2016.

NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2

Fake Tale

2009

Originally planned to be the series’ conclusion, “final” chapter “Tsukihi Phoenix” invites us back to the seemingly eventless country burg where supernatural afflictions abound and characters change their trademark hairstyles at the drop of a hat. Rest assured, dear reader, that the story continued in Japanese and will do so in translation. In the first half of Fake Tale, lost soul Araragi helped resolve his bigger little sister Karen’s feverish run-in with a fraud. In this second half, he must attend to his littler little sister Tsukihi’s issues, but not before staging the Toothbrush Episode that the acclaimed anime adaptation’s viewers find quite memorable—whether they like to or not. As fraught with ominousness as a dark empty street, as unexpectedly full of feeling as an acid-tongued girlfriend, as sidesplittingly funny as a horny retired jock, and (maybe even) as educational as college in the best MONOGATARI tradition, this volume also introduces us to “ghostbusters” Yozuru Kagenui and Yotsugi Ononoki.

Bakemonogatari, Part 1

2006

Narrated by: Eric Kimerer, Cristina Vee, Erica Mendez, Keith Silverstein There’s a girl at their school who is always ill. She routinely arrives late, leaves early, or doesn’t show up at all, and skips gym as a matter of course. She’s pretty, and the boys take to whispering that she’s a cloistered princess. As the self-described worst loser in her class soon finds out, they just don’t know what a monster she is. So begins a tale of mysterious maladies that are supernatural in origin yet deeply revealing of the human psyche, a set of case files as given to unexpected feeling as it is to irreverent humor. So begins the legendary novel that kicked off the MONOGATARI series, whose anime adaptations have enjoyed international popularity and critical acclaim. This first of three parts introduces Senjogahara and Hachikuji, and fans of the blockbuster prequel KIZUMONOGATARI will be delighted to meet their favorite crazies again: the weirdly reliable narrator Araragi, class president among class presidents Hanekawa, shady problem-solver Oshino, and a certain pale, blonde former vampire.

NISEMONOGATARI, Part 1

Fake Tale

2008

Unlike ne’er-do-well former vampire Araragi, his two younger sisters Karen and Tsukihi, who attend a private junior high, are little balls of energy and charisma that their peers look up to. That the “ka” in Karen and “hi” in Tsukihi are both written with the character for “fire” isn’t the only reason they’ve come to be known as the Fire Sisters. Karen is the brawn and Tsukihi the brains of a vigilantism that the pair sees not merely as defending justice but as justice itself. They can’t encounter a harmful fad without trying to hunt down a specific source that had a motive for spreading it. In their big brother’s humble opinion, there is something fake and precarious about it all. In this first of two parts, the immediate sequel to the legendary BAKEMONOGATARI plunges us into the middle of summer vacation in the mostly peaceful rural town where the series is set. As our hero and narrator can say from experience, however, teenagers with too much free time on their hands can get stung pretty badly.

Bakemonogatari, Part 2

Monster Tale

2006

Bakemono, literally "altered thing," which translates as "monster." Monogatari, literally "thing narrated," which translates as "tale." Combined into a neologism by he of the reversible nom de plume, they yield BAKEMONOGATARI, the monster tale that kicked off a series whose anime adaptations have enjoyed international popularity and critical acclaim. A self-described loser, Koyomi Araragi is struggling at a prep school that he should never have gotten into. He has all but quit caring, but as a senior, he faces the chilling scenario of not being able to graduate. It's time to cram, but the supernatural aberrations that keep on popping up in his provincial town won't let him be. Previously, our hero turned into a vampire and back, gained an acid-tongued girlfriend, and couldn't find his way home thanks to a lost child. In this second of three parts, which introduces Suruga Kanbaru and Nadeko Sengoku, he becomes embroiled in a case that riffs on a classic English story from 1902.

猫物語 (白) [Nekomonogatari]

2010

完美無缺的班長，羽川翼。在第二學期首日，受到一隻巨虎瞪視—— 這是空虛的獨白，無人聆聽的告白……

NEKOMONOGATARI (BLACK)

Cat Tale

2010

Following up on the high note of family ties on which the previous installment concluded, but preceding it chronologically, we find Araragi and his little sister Tsukihi, the heroine of the last volume, in full sibling rivalry mode as they bicker about love. The conversation that cannot end unfolds in its unabashed original glory herein. Like KIZUMONOGATARI, which delved into our narrator’s disastrous spring break, Cat Tale (Black) is a prequel about another catastrophe, mentioned often yet never recounted even in a foregoing chapter dedicated to Miss H.: namely, the model student’s rampage over Golden Week, a string of holidays starting at the end of April. Closing out what has come to be known as the “First Season” of the series, this episode of ’GATARI, as rich as ever in silly banter and poignant profundities, richer than usual in snide meta comments about the anime, will make you laugh and cry, or just put a grownup smile on your face, maybe, but is guaranteed to stay with you forever.

Bakemonogatari, Part 3

Monster Tale

2006

A class president among class presidents, a bespectacled model student who soars to the top of honors lists without fail, Tsubasa Hanekawa also happens to be a decent human being. True, she does have a habit of making single-minded assumptions, but they come from a good place and turn out to be fortuitous as often as not. Loser extraordinaire Koyomi Araragi owes her his post of class vice president and a more significant debt of gratitude for her unstinting support during the darkest spring break of his life. All of it has blinded him to the possibility that his saintly classmate’s family situation might be no less adverse than that of his other lady friends. Thus, at last, we face Hanekawa’s unlikely aberration in “Tsubasa Cat”—the concluding part of the legendary novel that captured the sensibilities of a new generation in the aught years and spawned an animated series that has won international popularity and acclaim—before the story continues with a Fake Tale…

傾物語 [Kabukimonogatari]

2010

100パーセント修羅で書かれた小説です……。――西尾維新 “変わらないものなどないというのなら――運命にも変わってもらうとしよう” 迷子の小学生・八九寺真宵(はちくじまよい)。阿良々木暦(あららぎこよみ)が彼女のために犯す、取り返しのつかない過ちとは――!? <物語>史上最強の2人組(ツーマンセル)が“運命”という名の戦場に挑む! これぞ現代の怪異! 怪異! 怪異! 君の影、探してまよう帰り道。

花物語 [Hanamonogatari]

2011

「不成藥，便成毒。否則妳只是普通的水。」阿良良木畢業後，神原駿河升上高中三年級。獨自留在直江津高中的她，聽聞某個「惡魔大人」可以實現任何願望……

囮物語 [Otorimonogatari]

2011

「明明是神，卻是大騙子。」曾經被蛇糾纏附身的少女──千石撫子。純白的使者，出現在心儀阿良良木曆的她面前。這名「使者」的真面目是……？

鬼物語 [Onimonogatari]

2011

It, like the dark that makes up most of the cosmos, is not an aberration. Nonbeing can swallow you whole, yet if anything, it’s the anti-aberration. Darkness, in fact, is the Law, an executioner from whom a mark can try to run and hide, but only for so long. When it comes calling, the fortunate just might have the time to say goodbye. And the Darkness is—here now. Before ever visiting Japan to find a place to die, four centuries, indeed, before her failed suicide attempt, the legendary vampire Kissshot literally stepped foot on the land of the rising sun with an epic jump that ended a lonely sojourn in Antarctica. It was back in those days that the proud noble created her first thrall. It was then, too, that she first met the Darkness. Having messed with a more recent past with her help, and returning to the present to reunite with two more characters that look like little girls but are actually his elders, Thrall No. 2 Araragi reclaims the mic only to cede it in large part to the bloodsucking demon who goes by “Shinobu” these days. Her story, though, may not even be the most poignant one told herein.

恋物語 [Koimonogatari]

2011

「若能永遠單戀……不覺得比兩情相悅還幸福嗎？」為了保護阿良良木曆，和神進行生命交易的少女──戰場原黑儀。約定「忌日」將近的寒假，她選擇的是最黑、最惡劣的手段…… 〈物語〉承受重壓而軋轢、扭曲、哀號──這就是現代的怪異！怪異！怪異！青春，是為了和你相戀。

#10

憑物語 [Tsukimonogatari]

2012

“頼むからひと思いに―人思いにやってくれ”少しずつ、だがしかし確実に「これまで目を瞑ってきたこと」を清算させられていく阿良々木暦。大学受験も差し迫った2月、ついに彼の身に起こった“見過ごすことのできない”変化とは…。「物語」は終わりへ向けて、憑かれたように走りはじめる―これぞ現代の怪異!怪異!怪異!青春に、別れの言葉はつきものだ。

#11

暦物語 [Koyomimonogatari]

2013

「即使如此，只要自己做得到，還是會想全部試試看吧？」自從遇見美麗吸血鬼的春季夜晚，阿良良木曆就逐漸受到怪異的吸引。時光荏苒，走過十二個月的現在，〈物語〉終於迎接關鍵的早晨──！這就是現代的怪異！怪異！怪異！青春，絕對不是只由上天預先註定。

#12

終物語(上) [Owarimonogatari]

2013

「你什麼都不記得喔──阿良良木。不知道自己是以什麼東西組成的。」雙眸漆黑的轉學生──忍野扇。她面帶微笑娓娓道來的，阿良良木曆的「起點」是……？高中一年級的那一天，少年嚐到絕望的滋味──這就是現代的怪異！怪異！怪異！青春，蒙上宣告終結的陰影。

#12

終物語中 [Owarimonogatari vol. 2]

2014

From the best selling novel series comes the latest book of the final season of the Monogatari Series. When an old flame who gave up on life and chose to go up in flames—because he wanted to leave you but couldn’t—comes crawling back after four hundred years, you might not appreciate it, especially if you’re in a new relationship. But nothing’s ever simple between people, and that’s even truer between monsters. For the first time in months, our heroic loser Araragi is human, parted by previous events from the ex-legendary vampire bound to his shadow. Before he, the second-ever thrall of the former Kissshot, can resume his partnership with the donut-loving waif that she’s turned into, she must make a choice—about that first-ever. Before the End Tale can end, some loose ends must be tied, and in this volume, the fixer Gaen calls in her favor, requesting an introduction to her niece; the errand of the amulet that Araragi ran with Kanbaru comes into crisp focus; and the time-traveling and -spanning Dandy and Demon Tales see their devastating resolution.

#12

終物語下 [Owarimonogatari vol. 3]

2014

From the best selling novel series comes the latest book of the final season of the Monogatari Series. No good deed goes unpunished, they say, and so does friendship and lowering your intensity as a human, they don’t say—alas, for all his literally painful hustle and inveterate need to save others, our brave fool of a hero ends up in hell, a conception of the inferno in its full Buddhist glory, and muses (lol) if there’s a return ticket. Told in three chapters, the final part of End Tale concludes the story proper and resolves the series’ panoply of ongoing the dues of a do-gooder for relying on a power not his own, the identity of a shady transfer student, the outcome of a class president’s questing abroad, and even the true name of a park. Araragi, indeed, is the one who knows, but along the way he meets old faces, really every last one of them, who aid him on his journey for understanding, and perhaps for salvation, and you for one might not be surprised if he had another rendezvous with an erstwhile “cloistered princess” before it—guess what it is—sees an end.

#13

ZOKU OWARIMONOGATARI

End Tale

2014

Just when we thought the darkness menacing the town had been identified, named, and tamed, clear and unclear mysteries of seasons past looming or surfacing, then resolving, not without tears, not without bittersweetness, of course, but satisfyingly, in a tripartite finale, all loose ends tied up into, or at least with, a bow… The End Tale continues—if only for one last time, in a bonus stage for the ages, as our softie of a protagonist who wished for all parties involved, including himself, maturely enough, to end up happy, sees his reflected image freeze in a mirror and regretfully, regrettably, reaches for it to find himself through the looking glass. In an alternate reality where bits of the world have been flipped around, the hero comes face to face with the hidden side(s) of familiar faces, along with author NISIOISIN, whose bravura attempt to reimagine character possibilities concludes, with signature flair, the MONOGATARI series proper—thank you for reading.

#16

撫物語 [Nademonogatari]

2016

かつて神様だった少女・千石撫子。夢を追い、現実に追いつめられる彼女は、式神童女・斧乃木余接の力を借りて、分身をつくることに成功する。しかし4人の「撫子」達は、ばらばらに逃げ出してしまい……? これぞ現代の怪異! 怪異! 怪異! 自分さえ、手に負えないのが青春だ。

#17

結物語 [Musubimonogatari]

2017

Authors

NisiOisiN

Author · 71 books

Nisio 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.

西尾維新

Author · 4 books

NisiOisiN 1981年生まれ。2002年に『クビキリサイクル』で第23回メフィスト賞を受賞し、デビュー — 1981年生，立命館大學肄業。 2002年以《斬首循環-藍色學者與戲言跟班》獲得講談社第二十三回「梅菲斯特獎」並以同作品出道。 2005年之前，除了在出道作為基礎延伸的「戲言系列」之外，另有「世界系列」、「人間系列」等多種嘗試挑戰之作。 2006年出版的「物語系列」在2009年夏天電視動畫化之後，原作因富有獨特韻律節奏的文體與充滿思考趣味的世界觀，備受文壇矚目，在日本年輕讀者間蔚為話題，並被視為日本〇〇年代文學代表性作家之一。其奔放旺盛的寫作意欲，年紀尚輕便已著作等身。 2014年推出「忘卻偵探」系列，集過往創作之大成，《掟上今日子的備忘錄》甫一上市便深獲好評，並於2015年十月影視、漫畫化。

Books in series

化物語 (上) [Bakemonogatari]

化物語 (下) [Bakemonogatari]

KIZUMONOGATARI

NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2

Bakemonogatari, Part 1

NISEMONOGATARI, Part 1

Bakemonogatari, Part 2

猫物語 (白) [Nekomonogatari]

NEKOMONOGATARI (BLACK)

Bakemonogatari, Part 3

傾物語 [Kabukimonogatari]

花物語 [Hanamonogatari]

囮物語 [Otorimonogatari]

鬼物語 [Onimonogatari]

恋物語 [Koimonogatari]

憑物語 [Tsukimonogatari]

暦物語 [Koyomimonogatari]

終物語(上) [Owarimonogatari]

終物語 中 [Owarimonogatari vol. 2]

終物語 下 [Owarimonogatari vol. 3]

ZOKU OWARIMONOGATARI

撫物語 [Nademonogatari]

結物語 [Musubimonogatari]

Authors

終物語中 [Owarimonogatari vol. 2]

終物語下 [Owarimonogatari vol. 3]