The reason it took me three years to battle my way through the show, and to review it, was not only due to lack of legal access, but also sheer exhaustion. With its languid pacing, endless circular conversations, and relentlessly suggestive and transgressive fanservice, Monogatari is a lot to take in, and requires not only patience from the viewer, but a significant time buy-in and a lot of moral leeway. To buy the Aniplex USA releases in their entirety costs thousands of dollars, the MVM releases hundreds of pounds.Ĭompared to ultra-popular franchises like Attack on Titan, Death Note, One Piece, Demon Slayer etc, Monogatari doesn’t have the same widespread name recognition, and its very unique Japanese-ness makes it impenetrable to those without a decent grounding in Japanese otaku culture. It’s popular enough that both novels and anime have been widely released, but it’s a hard show to get into, to stick with, and to even access. Although Monogatari may be more or less mainstream in Japanese anime fandom, where NisiOisin is a celebrated and wildly successful author, I don’t think you can say the same in the West. Recently, I’ve been contributing articles to Anime News Network, and my latest was “ The Skeptic’s Guide to Monogatari”, so titled because my experience with the franchise has had its ups and downs. The movies remain exclusive to Amazon Prime Video, but require extra payment over and above the subscription fee. I bought many of my volumes second-hand from either CEX or Amazon.Įven streaming is hit-and-miss, with certain segments completely unavailable anywhere ( Nekomonogatari Black and Zoku Owarimonogatari), and those that are available are alternately split between Crunchyroll and Funimation, requiring a dual subscription even in these post-merger times. In the US, physical releases are held to ransom by Aniplex USA and their obscene prices, whereas in the UK the blu-ray volumes from MVM frequently disappear from stock for long periods of time, excepting for the occasional reprint/re-release.
There are multiple potential viewing order flowcharts, with good arguments for following several of them. It’s difficult to know where to start, and even where to access the anime.
Expensive, but not as ridiculous as Aniplex USA’s prices.Įmbarking on a complete watch of Monogatari can be a frustrating experience for new fans. All 20 UK disc releases (some are blu-rays, some are DVDs, depending on what was easiest to acquire), plus all 20 novels, covering first, second, and final seasons.
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