First Impressions / Monogatari Series / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「perfect slumber」 by 堀江由衣 (Horie Yui)

「こよみストーン」 (Koyomi Sutōn)
“Koyomi Stone”

So, the Monogatari Series is back, and apparently all the way back. As I noted in the preview, Koyomimonogatari is a collection of short stories from throughout the Monogatari continuum and this one, Koyomi Stone, is apparently from before even Bakemonogatari. This means it’s a blast from even beyond the past, making for a very strange sense of nostalgia. Meme is still around (I sure have missed that guy). Shinobu’s still squatting silently in her corner (but where’s her helmet? Has she not acquired it yet?). And Hanekawa Tsubasa is still sporting her frumpy look. And perhaps to drive home the point that everything old is new again, this episode seems to stitch in old scenes as well. Araragi and Hanekawa chatting in the classroom? Perhaps you’re getting the nagging feeling that you’ve seen it before. The OP? I know you’ve seen it before. It’s the exact same one as Nekmonogatari Kuro! Oh, but with one, all important difference. There. That’s better. Now we’re completely original.

I must confess myself oh so slightly offended by SHAFT’s recycling project. The Nekomonogatari Kuro OP was certainly one of my favourites, and I didn’t particularly mind seeing it again, but by trying to pass it off as a Koyomi Stone is insulting to the viewer’s intelligence, is it not? Even if you don’t quite remember this song or opening sequence, you probably at least had the suspicion that the OP did not really fit with the actual episode—which, while featuring Tsubasa certainly did not cast her in a central role. You remember the convention, right? If the episode is about a character, it will have her name on it. Monogatari is straightforward like that. Why would they even bother having an OP, if they’re just going to phone it in with a copy + paste job? It baffles.

So yeah, slightly offended. But then I remembered that Bakemonogatari was not above cutting corners like it was child-proofing furniture, either. Ah right, we were being retro. Just keeping with the spirit, I suppose. Of course.

As for Koyomi Stone itself, it was a very simple mystery, with little of the supernatural in it at all. I remember the Japanese idiom I learnt from Hyouka: ‘the ghost, when examined, was just withered flowers’. The supernatural is just the mundane looked at from a specific direction. That’s always kinda been an undercurrent of Monogatari, what with the oddities always being linked to some real world trouble or flaw in a character. Here, in Koyomi Stone, it’s simply a point of reflection for Araragi. The stone’s potential journey from ordinary rock to object of worship to just a familiar sight on campus is a parallel to Araragi’s journey from just an ordinary kid to vampire to just a student. So easily does normal become normal then back to normal.

Of course, worshipped stone was still just nothing but a slab of concrete. Make of that what you will.

Once again, though, I am reminded that Kizumonogatari is still out there. This would have made a nice epilogue story of sorts to Kizumono-, I’m sure, and perhaps was even intended to be. The timeframe would seem about right. So it’s a shame that we’re sort of experiencing the story out of order. Maybe that’s why it feels like there’s something missing from Koyomi Stone? Or, at least, that it’s a bit compressed? There seems to have been a bit of a leap of logic, at least, to the solution of the mystery. But I suppose we should remember that Koyomimonogatari is still just a series of short episodes packaged as part of a calendar app; as it’s bonus promotional material at best, I don’t think we can expect as much flesh as a TV series. If we get a neat little side story out of it, then that’s perhaps good enough.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「whiz」 by TrySail

14 Comments

  1. The reason it had the same op was to tell the viewer where it fits in the timeline, not out of laziness. This occurred right before Nekomonogatari Black, so it makes sense that the op is the same to cue the viewer in. I imagine the op will change as we jump through the timeline with these stories.

    The Big Guy
    Reply

    1. I guessed the same. If that turns out to be their plan. I don’t mind. Recycle one opening for the whole series and people will call you lazy. Recycle one opening per episode and people will be full of nostalgia. If we take this episode alone, Koyomimonogatari is going to play with nostalgia a lot. This screamed “remember Bakemonogatari! Heck, just remember the first episode minus Hitagi!”.

      Also, these are shorts for mobile based on a promotional collection of side stories. I don’t expect much. Their energies are probably being saved for Kizumonogatari and the last part of Owarimonogatari.

      Mistic
      Reply

  3. So…I assume we’ll be getting a bundle of 12 short stories, packaged as Koyomimonogatari then?

    Btw, is anybody going to marathon the entire Monogatari series in chronological (not broadcast) order once its all done and over with?

    Techim
    Reply

  4. I read up a bit on Koyomimonogatari out of curiosity, and it’s said that these short stories are self-contained and therefore have zero relevance to the arcs that they fall in between. I’ll probably watch this series for nostalgia, I almost forgotten how Meme’s voice sounded like.

    According to the timeline, Koyomi Stone falls between Kizumonogatari and Nekomonogatari: Kuro.

    The ED was an instant hit with me, the foreshadowing in it was very strong though.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Azsurance
    Reply

  5. Actually, before the episode started, Shaft placed a “countdown to replay”, so I think it’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek apology to fans that they will be using recycled OPs.

    Yukie
    Reply

  7. I’m glad I watched it from the beginning when Bake first airs. It’s a pain in the ass to marathon this or to people whom now want to start watching this series. It’s been like what ? 6 years since it started. We’ve been in this journey and story for so long. Plus there’s more (Kizu & Zoku), so it takes maybe 3 more years until the end of our journey ?

    For those who’s asking which order should you watch (There’s always people asking this question so I always told them to watch in broadcast order). Watch it in broadcast order not chronological order, it is meant to be that way. The same goes for Star Wars (Eps 4561237).

    Broadcast order :

    Bakemonogatari
    Nisemonogatari
    Nekomonogatari (Kuro)
    Monogatari 2nd season
    Hanamonogatari
    Tsukimonogatari
    Owarimonogatari
    Koyomimonogatari
    Kizumonogatari
    Zoku-Owarimonogatari

    Min
    Reply

  9. I was surprised to see no mention of Magritte. A lot of the imagery I see in the screen caps is heavily in the style of surrealist painter Rene Magritte. Some of the images are almost, but not quite, directly copied from his paintings. Really neat to see!

    Nasost
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *