(L) Monogatari Series Light Novel discussion

[shinobu-chan]

Originally Posted by Romanticide

What period/year did you think the first servant was from?

Spoiler for blah:

As far as I can remember, it was 400 years before she made Araragi a subordinate.

[Romanticide]

I meant what time period, like Edo, etc. I'm trying to think of what the First Servant's armor looked like.

[omimon]

Originally Posted by Romanticide

I meant what time period, like Edo, etc. I'm trying to think of what the First Servant's armor looked like.

400 years ago would be around the beginning of the Edo period. Might be a few years before it.

[Romanticide]

Thanks everyone.

[shinobu-chan]

Questions for Kizu:

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

Just want to clarify a few.

1) So basically, Oshino took the heart from Kiss-Shot to bring balance, to make the fight between the three, and her 50-50. He said it should have ended with her dying but then Araragi came, so it's basically a reset. But I don't get why he returned the heart? Is it an atonement for what happened with the deal with Guillotinecutter? For what happened to Hanekawa? He said he should have been the "Final Boss".

2) For the fight with Guillotinecutter, as far as I can remember, the conditions for one to win was by making the other party surrender. However, I remember Oshino saying to Araragi to give up his humanity? What does that mean? Is it because Guillotinecutter can be killed with just one blow?

One last thing, Kiss-shot went to find a place to die right? However when those three fought with her, the dice favored them, and they took out her limbs. She was at the verge of dying but then she realized she can't just die like that, and she met Araragi, turning him into a subordinate to gather back her limbs and gain back her power, and turn Araragi into a human again by killing her. She thought this could be her atonement for not turning back her first subordinate into a human, and finally find a place to die. Is this what happened?

[omimon]

Originally Posted by shinobu-chan

Questions for Kizu:

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

Just want to clarify a few.

1) So basically, Oshino took the heart from Kiss-Shot to bring balance, to make the fight between the three, and her 50-50. He said it should have ended with her dying but then Araragi came, so it's basically a reset. But I don't get why he returned the heart? Is it an atonement for what happened with the deal with Guillotinecutter? For what happened to Hanekawa? He said he should have been the "Final Boss".

2) For the fight with Guillotinecutter, as far as I can remember, the conditions for one to win was by making the other party surrender. However, I remember Oshino saying to Araragi to give up his humanity? What does that mean? Is it because Guillotinecutter can be killed with just one blow?

One last thing, Kiss-shot went to find a place to die right? However when those three fought with her, the dice favored them, and they took out her limbs. She was at the verge of dying but then she realized she can't just die like that, and she met Araragi, turning him into a subordinate to gather back her limbs and gain back her power, and turn Araragi into a human again by killing her. She thought this could be her atonement for not turning back her first subordinate into a human, and finally find a place to die. Is this what happened?

1)He returned the heart because he believed he failed as a middle-man because of what happened with Guilliotinecutter and Hanekawa. He said he should have been the final boss because if what happened didn't happened then Araragi would have had to fight him to get back the heart.

2)Araragi had to give up his humanity because he was still new to his vampire powers and in order to shapeshift into a tree he had give up being restrained to human limits and see himself as a tree.

3)Yes, that's basically it.

[Shikijin]

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

1) So basically, Oshino took the heart from Kiss-Shot to bring balance, to make the fight between the three, and her 50-50. He said it should have ended with her dying but then Araragi came, so it's basically a reset. But I don't get why he returned the heart?

Because Kissshot wanted to turn back Araragi into a human, and it seems she couldn't have done it without having a complete body, so she needed her heart. For the same reason Guillotinecutter returned Kissshot's arms.

In short, by turning back Araragi into a human Kissshot was going to die, and Oshino thought that was better for humans, so he had no problems giving back the heart.

2) For the fight with Guillotinecutter, as far as I can remember, the conditions for one to win was by making the other party surrender. However, I remember Oshino saying to Araragi to give up his humanity? What does that mean?

That part was hard to translate. The concept is that Araragi had to give up his identity as a human, that is to accept he is a vampire and that therefore he can do the things vampires do and humans can't, namely to shape-shift the form of his arms.

One last thing, Kiss-shot went to find a place to die right? However when those three fought with her, the dice favored them, and they took out her limbs. She was at the verge of dying but then she realized she can't just die like that, and she met Araragi, turning him into a subordinate to gather back her limbs and gain back her power, and turn Araragi into a human again by killing her. She thought this could be her atonement for not turning back her first subordinate into a human, and finally find a place to die. Is this what happened?

Basically Kissshot wanted to die, but she when the time came she couldn't, she clinged to her life. The meeting with Araragi happened by chance, she thought he was gallant and spared his life, but in the end she still wanted to die. She thought of turning back Araragi into a human as an atonement, but that was not the original plan. Originally it seems she just planned to get killed by vampire hunters or something like that.

[shinobu-chan]

Spoiler for Kizu:

Originally Posted by omimon

2)Araragi had to give up his humanity because he was still new to his vampire powers and in order to shapeshift into a tree he had give up being restrained to human limits and see himself as a tree.

The reason why he turned into a tree is because he just wants to make Guillotinecutter faint right?

[omimon]

Originally Posted by shinobu-chan

Spoiler for Kizu:

The reason why he turned into a tree is because he just wants to make Guillotinecutter faint right?

A tree because he had always wanted to be one.

[shinobu-chan]

Originally Posted by omimon

A tree because he had always wanted to be one.

Spoiler for blah:

Why does he have to be a tree? Can't he just strangle Guillotinecutter like what he did to Episode?

[omimon]

Originally Posted by shinobu-chan

Spoiler for blah:

Why does he have to be a tree? Can't he just strangle Guillotinecutter like what he did to Episode?

For the past three years he had being separating himself from society. He didn't want any part with things like friends, he wanted to be a plant so he could just ignore everything. He was able to relate being a tree the most so that's why he chose to shape-shift into a tree. As for why he didn't try to strangling him......he had a hostage?

[Romanticide]

Doesn't Araragi also mean Yew Tree?

Spoiler for Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade's meaning:

Does anyone know what Kiss Shot and Heart Under Blade mean? I looked up Acerola and it's a spanish cherry, orion is from the warrior constellation

i was wondering since everyone else's name seems to have a pun/meaning.

[Shikijin]

Originally Posted by Romanticide

Doesn't Araragi also mean Yew Tree?

Yeah, the Japanese yew, although not written in the same way. Maybe that's why Araragi wanted to turn into a plant.

In Japanese his name is 阿良々木 暦

阿 (a) can mean many things. For example it is the first kanji of "ahou", which means "simpleton".
良 (ra) is "good".
々 (ra) repeats what comes before. I'm not sure if you can really find this kanji in surnames.
木 (gi) effectively means tree, and it seems to be a common last kanji in surnames, so I don't think it is very meaningful.
暦 (koyomi) is "calendar", possibly referring to the fact there is a chronology.

Spoiler for Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade's meaning:

Does anyone know what Kiss Shot and Heart Under Blade mean? I looked up Acerola and it's a spanish cherry, orion is from the warrior constellation

i was wondering since everyone else's name seems to have a pun/meaning.

I looked it up, and maybe there is a meaning, but I've yet to find it.

Heart Under Blade is 忍, the kanji of heart under the kanji of blade. Incidentally, 忍 is part of Oshino's name, 忍野. It seems that naming a Kaii after yourself bears some importance, anyway 忍 could also be read as "shinobu", so in the end she became Oshino Shinobu (忍野忍).

The rest of the name looks something like what you could get if you translated separatedly the radicals that compose the kanji of a Japanese name. I've tried to see if I could come up with something, but either the joke is very oscure (I didn't manage to find any kanji for kiss, for example) or it simply never meant anything at all.

Incidentally, there is a joke in Hitagi's name. Hanekawa commented that the name sounded like something related to public works.

"Public works" is written 土木 (soil + tree)
The name "Hitagi" in kanji can only be written as 肥田木 (fertilizer + field + tree)
By the way, the name of Bakemonogatari's character is written in hiragana, therefore it has no meaning associated

[AutumnLeaf]

Question!

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

If the three vampire exorcists wanted to kill Kiss-Shot from the start, why didn't they killed her when they took out her limbs?

[omimon]

Originally Posted by AutumnLeaf

Question!

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

If the three vampire exorcists wanted to kill Kiss-Shot from the start, why didn't they killed her when they took out her limbs?

Yea, that was what I thought too. Sort of a plothole. If I remember correctly what happened was that when they cut off her limbs they did something where she couldn't regenerate her limbs. Basically they wanted her to bleed to death.

[Romanticide]

When Koyomi takes Kokorowatari into his body, why does it pain him? Is it because the sword was made for Kiss Shot and she carried it in her body for centuries or because he isn't a full vampire?

[Athena]

Question:

Which character seems to have improven her relationshipi the most with Araragi during the second season? So far, from what I've quickly read in Chinese, it seems to be Shinobu, but I'm not sure.

[Shikijin]

@AutumnLeaf

Spoiler for Kizumonogatari:

If the three vampire exorcists wanted to kill Kiss-Shot from the start, why didn't they killed her when they took out her limbs?

I can only guess she escaped from the fight, possibly turning into fog or something like that.

@Romanticide

Spoiler for Nekomonogatari Kuro:

When Koyomi takes Kokorowatari into his body, why does it pain him? Is it because the sword was made for Kiss Shot and she carried it in her body for centuries or because he isn't a full vampire?

I think Kissshot kind of summon it from/to another dimension or something like that. Kokorowatari is an oodachi, with an overall length of 2 meters. It would normally be impossible to hide a sword that big in your body. Araragi had to stand still. I think he just can't do advanced vampire stuff.

@KiRa08o2

Which character seems to have improven her relationshipi the most with Araragi during the second season? So far, from what I've quickly read in Chinese, it seems to be Shinobu, but I'm not sure.

Season? Do light novels have seasons? Anyway, your question is still too vague. For example, Hanekawa actually daydreamed of being his wife. Maybe you would like to know what Araragi thinks of the girls. The only thing certain is that Nadeko at the moment comes dead last, but who knows, maybe she can still reverse her situation with a surprise plot twist

[omimon]

Originally Posted by Romanticide

When Koyomi takes Kokorowatari into his body, why does it pain him? Is it because the sword was made for Kiss Shot and she carried it in her body for centuries or because he isn't a full vampire?

The reason why it hurts Araragi first of all is because Kokorowatari is a sword made specifically to slay Kaiis. It can't hurt humans but it can destroy all forms of Kaiis. Anyways when Kissshot hides the sword she does it in a way where she turns her body in a sheath for the sword so it doesn't cut her. Araragi still don't know how to use his powers so he directly stuck the sword through himself flesh and all. When the sword was in him it was cutting him in an infinite loop where he was getting cut and regenerating at the same time.

[HasuMasu]

Originally Posted by Romanticide

When Koyomi takes Kokorowatari into his body, why does it pain him? Is it because the sword was made for Kiss Shot and she carried it in her body for centuries or because he isn't a full vampire?

Because sir, it is a sword, and swords, as we know, cut things.

All joking aside though, he probably just doesn't know how to hide it like Kissshot can, him not being very skilled.