50 Fun Facts About Monogatari Series

What does a giant crab steal from Hitagi Senjougahara in Bakemonogatari, a secret Koyomi Araragi learns by catching her?

Her weight went with the crab, so she lands in his arms weighing almost nothing. Ever since, she has avoided her classmates and threatened anyone who discovers the truth.

Which animation studio, also behind March Comes In like a Lion, has produced the Monogatari anime since Bakemonogatari?

Shaft began in 1975 doing subcontracted work, such as cel painting, for larger studios. Decades later the Tokyo Anime Award Festival chose its Bakemonogatari as the best anime series of 2009.

Which Japanese novelist, a Mephisto Prize winner at twenty for his debut, writes the Monogatari light novels?

Nisio Isin often styles his pen name NISIOISIN, to show that it reads the same forwards and backwards. Monogatari began as short stories he wrote for a literary magazine.

Which real doughnut chain is Shinobu Oshino spotted at in Bakemonogatari before she slips into Koyomi's shadow?

Mister Donut is Japan's largest doughnut franchise, though most of its North American shops became Dunkin' Donuts decades ago. Once in his shadow, Shinobu shares Koyomi's emotions and senses.

Which Bakemonogatari opening, sung by Kana Hanazawa as Nadeko Sengoku, later resurfaced worldwide through TikTok?

Renai Circulation has Hanazawa rapping gently over a funky tune, an idea its composer drew from Shibuya-kei music. Fans on Niconico were dancing to it years before TikTok found it.

What colour does Tsubasa Hanekawa's hair turn in Bakemonogatari when the cat oddity takes over as Black Hanekawa?

White hair and cat ears mark the change. The cat is a weak spirit by itself, but with Tsubasa's knowledge it grows cunning enough to rival a vampire.

During which school holiday is Koyomi Araragi turned into a vampire, shortly before the story of Bakemonogatari begins?

Spring break is when he meets a dying vampire and offers her his blood. Meme Oshino later helps him become human again, though his wounds still heal unnaturally fast.

Mayoi Hachikuji's oversized backpack in the Monogatari series stands for the shell of which creature?

Snail imagery follows Mayoi everywhere: she is the ghost of a lost fifth-grader, seen only by people who do not want to reach their destinations.

Which anime character type does the sharp-tongued Hitagi Senjougahara openly call herself in Bakemonogatari?

Tsundere is the label she gives herself, the type that is hard on the outside and soft inside. Bakemonogatari is now listed beside Love Hina and Evangelion as a home of the archetype.

Which Japanese holiday period, retold in Nekomonogatari (Black), sees Tsubasa Hanekawa first possessed by a cat oddity?

Golden Week brings out the cat after years of strain at home, and it takes Shinobu's help to end the rampage. The cure costs Tsubasa her own memories of the week.

Which stationery item is Hitagi Senjougahara's symbol in the Monogatari series, standing for the claw of a crab?

A stapler opens the romance on a painful note: she staples the inside of Koyomi's mouth to frighten him into keeping her secret. The wound heals within minutes, which is how she learns he is no ordinary boy.

A classmate's curse in Bakemonogatari leaves Nadeko Sengoku slowly strangled by which invisible creature?

A snake, and in fact two of them: one was set on her by a boy she turned down, the other by a girl who was in love with that boy. Koyomi manages to remove only the first.

Nisemonogatari reveals that Koyomi's youngest sister, Tsukihi Araragi, is in truth which legendary creature?

A phoenix entered Tsukihi before she was even born, and the two minds have long since become one. No injury can kill her; only old age can end her life.

In the Monogatari series, which nickname do the karate devotee Karen Araragi and her sibling Tsukihi share at school?

The Fire Sisters of Tsuganoki Second Junior High work as a pair until Karen moves up to high school, when the duo is disbanded. Tsukihi admits she mostly used Karen's crusade as an excuse to run wild.

In which kind of abandoned building does the oddity specialist Meme Oshino live during Bakemonogatari?

A cram school that went out of business is his base, and the weakened vampire Shinobu lives there with him. He solves other people's oddity troubles, but always asks for fair payment in return.

In Bakemonogatari, Suruga Kanbaru, the underclassman with a bandaged left arm, stars for which school sports team?

Basketball is where Suruga shines as the school's star player, and an old rival from the court, Rouka Numachi, comes back to trouble her in Hanamonogatari.

Which Monogatari prequel reached cinemas as three films subtitled Tekketsu, Nekketsu and Reiketsu?

Kizumonogatari was first promised for 2012, but the films slipped by four years. Their subtitles mean iron-blooded, hot-blooded and cold-blooded.

Which sound does Black Hanekawa slip into her words as a verbal tic in the Monogatari series?

Nya takes the place of every na, a tic that shows the cat is the one talking. The spirit behind the voice is male, although the body it borrows is Tsubasa's.

Which voice actor, also heard as Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan, plays Koyomi Araragi in the Monogatari anime?

Hiroshi Kamiya found Koyomi hard to play, because the scripts pile narration and monologue on top of ordinary dialogue. He kept reading the novels to understand the character better.

Which band released Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, the ending theme of Bakemonogatari, as its first major-label single?

Supercell had made its name with songs voiced by the singing synthesizer Hatsune Miku. This single was its first release with a human vocalist, Nagi Yanagi.

Which black-suited con man swindled Hitagi Senjougahara's family before returning to scam schoolgirls in Nisemonogatari?

Deishu Kaiki says he prefers fakes, because a fake that strives to be real ends up surpassing the real thing. He loves money and distrusts anything it cannot buy.

Which Taiwanese illustrator has drawn the art for the Monogatari light novels ever since the first volume?

Vofan also designed Koyomi, who never appears on the novel covers. When rumours claimed the hero had never been drawn for the books, the artist posted his early illustration to settle it.

Which director, also behind Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, has overseen the Monogatari anime since Bakemonogatari?

Akiyuki Shinbo was at first the only director, but he asked for Tatsuya Oishi to join him as series director on Bakemonogatari. Oishi went on to make the prequel films.

Which manga artist, creator of Air Gear and Tenjho Tenge, drew the manga adaptation of Bakemonogatari?

Oh! great is a pun: the artist's real name, Ogure Ito, sounds like the English phrase when said in Japanese order. His version of the story ran to 22 volumes.

Which stoic Monogatari character is a shikigami, brought back from the dead by student specialists as a school project?

Yotsugi Ononoki was once human, and her makers shared ownership of her until most gave up their claims. She speaks of herself with the boyish pronoun boku and fights beside Yozuru Kagenui.

The onmyoji Yozuru Kagenui pays for her immense strength in the Monogatari series by never touching what?

The ground is off limits to her as the price of that strength. She hunts immortal oddities and, unlike her fellow specialists, does the work for free.

In the Monogatari series, what relation is the know-it-all specialist Izuko Gaen to Suruga Kanbaru?

Her aunt, a tie Gaen asks Koyomi to keep secret when she has him arrange an introduction. She takes her payment in favours, building a network of people who owe her one.

As which relative of Meme Oshino does the mysterious Ougi Oshino introduce herself in the Monogatari series?

His niece is the claim, but a university friend of Meme's insists that he has no family at all. Owarimonogatari finally reveals where she really came from.

Which mathematician's name does the maths-loving Sodachi Oikura want as her school nickname in the Monogatari series?

Euler is what she asks for, but classmates call her How Much instead, a pun on Oikura. She despises Koyomi, who once scored 100 on a class maths test to her 99.

In the Monogatari series, what job do both of Koyomi Araragi's parents hold, one he later takes up himself?

Police officers, both in senior posts. Koyomi follows them into the force and joins a squad that handles rumours of oddities, and his sister Karen becomes an officer too.

A 2015 Tokyo exhibition by the Monogatari anime's studio paired the series with which of its other shows?

Puella Magi Madoka Magica shared the bill at an exhibition named Madogatari, which sold prize figures of the two casts in each other's outfits. It later travelled to Osaka and Sapporo.

Which Japanese duo performs Undead, the theme song of the Monogatari anime that returned in 2024?

Yoasobi built the song on two short stories by the novels' author. Its composer, Ayase, says Bakemonogatari is his answer whenever he is asked to name a favourite anime.

What do three vampire hunters take from Kiss-shot in the Monogatari prequel films, forcing Koyomi to fight each one?

Her limbs are won back fight by fight: Dramaturgy gives up a leg, and the human priest Guillotine Cutter holds both arms. She grows older in form as she consumes them again.

The first Monogatari novel, Bakemonogatari, carries an English title that translates it as which kind of tale?

Monster Tale is the plain rendering; a literal one that keeps the Japanese pun would be Monstory. The book gathered tales first printed in the literary magazine Mephisto.

On which holiday does Koyomi Araragi first meet the lost ghost Mayoi Hachikuji in a park in Bakemonogatari?

Mother's Day is bitterly apt: Mayoi died in a traffic accident on the way to her mother's home and has been trying to get there ever since.

In Monogatari Series Second Season, Tsubasa Hanekawa's envy of her parents becomes which giant talking animal?

A tiger named Kako, which Shinobu is sure Tsubasa modelled on the kasha of folklore without knowing it. The arc is told from Tsubasa's point of view, not Koyomi's.

Which voice actress, also Tohru Honda in the 2001 Fruits Basket, plays Tsubasa Hanekawa in the Monogatari anime?

Yui Horie's official fan club happens to be called the Black Cat Alliance. She is a pop singer too, and performs the opening theme for her character's arc in Bakemonogatari.

In Otorimonogatari, what does Nadeko Sengoku become after finding a talisman hidden in Koyomi Araragi's room?

A god, though the whole affair is a trap: Ougi Oshino had let slip where the talisman was being kept.

In Kabukimonogatari, Koyomi and Shinobu return from a trip into the past to find their town overrun by what?

Zombies fill the town because, in the history they changed, Koyomi died and a grieving Shinobu set out to destroy the world. The pair had landed eleven years back by accident and kept Mayoi from dying.

The wandering specialist Meme Oshino is known in the Monogatari series for never saying which everyday word?

Goodbye is the word he avoids, and he holds just as firmly that people can only save themselves. He stayed in town longer than planned because he grew attached to Koyomi.

Which voice actress, first known as Hitomi in The Vision of Escaflowne, voices Shinobu Oshino in the Monogatari anime?

Maaya Sakamoto had little to say at first, because Shinobu speaks openly to no one until Nisemonogatari. A drama CD gave the role to Aya Hirano instead.

Which Japanese publisher releases the Monogatari novels under an imprint with Box in its name?

Kodansha also serialised the manga version in its Weekly Shonen Magazine. Its Box imprint once issued another series by the same author as twelve books in twelve months.

How does Black Hanekawa harm the people she attacks around town during her first rampage in the Monogatari series?

Draining their energy is her method, and Tsubasa's own parents are among those left unconscious. Shinobu ends the rampage by biting her and draining the cat in turn.

Which career does the shy Nadeko Sengoku pursue after middle school in the later Monogatari novels?

Drawing manga becomes her life: she creates shikigami to help her practise, then has to capture them when they escape. Her published work is described as cute but dark.

Suruga Kanbaru of Bakemonogatari made wishes on an inherited object that she took for which legendary item?

A monkey's paw, she thought, until wishing on it made an ape-like paw grow over her own left arm. Koyomi later frees her from what proves to be the curse of the Rainy Devil.

What is missing from the dead cat that Tsubasa Hanekawa buries by the roadside in Nekomonogatari (Black)?

Its tail is gone, and the burial proves costly: Meme Oshino recognises a sawarineko, a cursed cat, and by that night its spirit has possessed Tsubasa.

Koyomimonogatari, a run of short Monogatari episodes, was first released to fans through which unusual channel?

A mobile app delivered the episodes, offered through the App Store and Google Play. In the novels the same tales were published before Owarimonogatari, not after it.

Which publisher licensed the Monogatari novels for English release in 2015, opening with the prequel volume?

Vertical opened its run with the prequel, then split the first novel across three paperbacks. It has also reissued the same author's Zaregoto books.

Where do Koyomi Araragi and the restored Kiss-shot fight their final duel in the third Monogatari prequel film?

An Olympic stadium in Tokyo is the arena, where the two vampires keep tearing each other apart and regenerating. Kiss-shot, it turns out, has been planning to lose.

Which car belongs to Koyomi Araragi in the later Monogatari stories, after he has left high school?

A VW Beetle: Ougi Oshino borrows it to drive Nadeko around town while she hunts for her runaway shikigami.