Monogatari - La série

Le temps est venu pour moi, Koyomi Araragi, de vous parler de Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-under-Blade, et du vol sanglant de ses quatre membres. Durant les vacances de printemps, j’ai été confronté à cette créature mythique appelée “vampire”. Une rencontre aussi choquante que dévastatrice qui m’a fait traverser un véritable enfer. Seule la délicieuse Hanekawa, élève modèle et déléguée de classe, se révéla d’une aide précieuse. Je vais vous conter ici l’histoire de la blessure de Kiss-Shot, vampire vieux de 500 ans, et comment je me suis retrouvé lié à elle.

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.

Après avoir aidé Hitagi à se débarrasser de la chimère crabe qui lui avait volé son poids et apaisé l’esprit solitaire de la petite Mayoi, j’aspirais à souffler un peu. Mais c’était sans compter sur ma chance légendaire, qui me vaut d’être brutalement agressé par un inconnu doté d’une curieuse patte de singe en guise de bras gauche ! Or, quelque chose me dit que ça pourrait bien avoir un lien avec cette élève de première, Suruga, à l’attitude plus que suspecte… Parallèlement, j’ai aussi fort à faire avec Nadeko, l’amie de ma petite sœur, qui semble quant à elle atteinte d’un mal étrange dont je compte bien trouver l’origine ! Plongez avec moi dans deux épineuses affaires à l’amer goût de rancune, où jalousie et malédiction s’entremêlent…

Ma première rencontre avec une chimère remonte à la Golden Week, une semaine censée être reposante. Avant même de faire la connaissance de Hitagi ou de me retrouver confronté aux curieuses affaires impliquant Mayoi, Suruga ou Nadeko. Cette chimère, c’était celle qui avait pris possession de ma déléguée favorite, Tsubasa Hanekawa. Une chimère dont la puissance et le pouvoir destructeur n’avaient d’égale que la beauté. Une chimère qui se faisait, une fois de plus, l’écho d’un mal-être latent. Je pensais tout ça derrière nous. Je m’étais trompé. Aujourd’hui, et pour une raison que j’ignore, la voilà de retour. Aujourd’hui, il est temps de l’affronter.

Après avoir survécu à la morsure d’une sublime vampire, m’être frotté à des chimères plus puissantes les unes que les autres et avoir su délivrer mes amies de leur emprise, je me pensais prêt à affronter n’importe quoi. J’avais tort. Parce que cette fois-ci, le nouvel adversaire qui se dresse sur ma route se situe à la croisée des mondes : un escroc doublé d’une chimère, aux intentions tout sauf louables. Son objectif ? Infliger à ma famille le sort qu’il a réservé à celle de ma petite amie, Hitagi, encore traumatisée. Sa cible ? Karen, ma petite sœur adorée, sur laquelle il a jeté son dévolu. Voici l’avènement d’un nouveau genre d’anomalies qui vient remettre en question tout ce que je croyais savoir d’elles. Vous pensiez les chimères de Bakemonogatari les plus dangereuses qui soient ? NisiOisiN revient pour vous prouver qu’il n’en est rien.

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.

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.

Officially the start of Monogatari's second arc, Nekomonogatari (White) is written in Hanekawa's perspective. It is the first story in the series that's told from a different perspective than Araragi. After months since her last time turning into Black Hanekawa, Hanekawa finds a new oddity problem in the form of a white tiger that burns down buildings she had slept in the night before. The tiger is an oddity Hanekawa accidentally produced herself after years of domestic abuse that kept her from having her own room.

Officially the second part of MONOGATARI's second arc, KABUKI dives into the past of one of the MONOGATARI's first heorines - Mayoi Hachikuji. With an animated series by SONY, KABUKIMONOGATARI is a must read for BAKE fans, and a must for fans of Japanese YA fiction. A few months after he first met Mayoi Hachikuji (BAKEMONOGATARI), Araragi set out to deliver something to the young lady. Unable to find her, Araragi gives up and heads home and realizes that he has not done any of his summer assignments even though today is the last day of summer break. With help from Shinobu, Koyomi travels back to the past so that he can finish them, but instead, they end up traveling back a full eleven years! The current date is May 13th. It is the day before that Mother's Day when Mayoi left to go see her mother. Koyomi realizes that he has an opportunity to save Mayoi! But is he aware of what may result when you change the past like that...

One morning, Suruga Kanbaru hears a rumor of "the Lord Devil" that grants any wish. Suruga is worried that the identity of the Lord Devil is none other than herself because she made a wish on "the Monkey's Paw." The item was left behind by her mother, and turned Suruga into a Rainy Devil and made her try to kill Koyomi Araragi.

Nadeko encounters a giant snake who claims to be a deity named Kuchinawa. Kuchinawa promises Nadeko that he would grant her wish if she aids him in the search of his object of worship. Little does Nadeko know that obtaining the object of worship will cost her more than what she expected. Koyomi tries to convince Nadeko to let go of the object of worship, but it's too late, and Nadeko swallows the object and becomes a snake apparition! To make things worse, now Nadeko wants to kill Koyomi and Shinobu Oshino!

On his way back home after the time-traveling adventure, Araragi has a chat with Hachikuji Mayoi. When they arrive at his house however, they find themselves running for their lives after a mysterious darkness started following them.

On January 1st, Hitagi Senjyogahara calls her nemesis, the con-artist Deishu Kaiki, to request his services. "There is someone I'd like you to deceive." The request is a bitter one for her to make, but one that would save her and her dear Koyomi Araragi from a "death sentence." Kaiki starts to research his target, Nadeko Sengoku, the junior high school girl who became a god of North Shirahebi Shrine. As Kaiki investigates her background, he finds her secret, which she has never told anyone, including her beloved Koyomi Araragi. Can Kaiki save Hitagi and Koyomi before time is up?! Hitagi Senjougahara made a deal with the gods with her life in order to protect Koyomi Araragi. As winter holidays approach with the promised "destined day", she chose the darkest and the worst option...

Koyomi Araragi is studying hard in preparation for his college entrance exams when he begins to notice something very strange: his reflection no longer appears in a mirror, a characteristic of a true vampire. Worried about the state of his body, he enlists the help of the human-like doll Yotsugi Ononoki and her master Yozuru Kagenui, an immortal oddity specialist. Quickly realizing what is wrong with him, Yozuru gives him two choices: either abstain from using the vampiric abilities he received from Shinobu Oshino, or lose his humanity forever.

Koyomi is presented with a mystery posed by one of the female characters from the story, which he then investigates on his own or helps them solve.

Koyomi is presented with a mystery posed by one of the female characters from the story, which he then investigates on his own or helps them solve.

During his third year in high school, Koyomi Araragi is introduced to a transfer student named Ougi Oshino Ougi tells Koyomi that there is something odd about Naoestu High School... a secret room on thats not on the map. What will Koyomi and Ougi find in this hidden room?

During his third year in high school, Koyomi Araragi is introduced to a transfer student named Ougi Oshino Ougi tells Koyomi that there is something odd about Naoestu High School... a secret room on thats not on the map. What will Koyomi and Ougi find in this hidden room?

Au cours de sa troisième année au lycée, Koyomi Araragi est présenté à un étudiant de transfert nommé Ougi Oshino Ougi dit à Koyomi qu’il y a quelque chose d’étrange dans le lycée Naoestu... une pièce secrète sur qui n’est pas sur la carte. Que trouveront Koyomi et Ougi dans cette pièce cachée ?

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.