A specialist in child abuse: Araragi Koyomi
A specialist in helping Araragi: Tsubasa Hanekawa
A specialist in training: Nadeko Sengoku
Amarimonogatari felt the most Zaregoto like of a novel from Isin. I'll go into why I think this later on (with spoiler tags as I know many of you may not have read any of Zaregoto, Nisioisin's debut work). It is amazing to see Isin go back to his roots with his 99th novel published and at that time there was no 10th novel for Zaregoto as we have now (even if it still hasn't been translated tears).
I love this interesting set-up that Isin has been doing for Nadeko as she takes on the role of a specialist in training with these epilogue to an epilogue mini arcs after the main story completes within the arc. I'd say it's slightly similar to how Ougi would show up randomly in Second Season as build up for the Final Season's worth of material; however, Ougi really felt like they were working in the shadows and behind the scenes while Nadeko's takes on a completely different approach as even if its the aftermath of events from Koimonogatari -> Nademonogatari -> what I am assuming is the final arc of Monster Season. 2 entries in a row do we have a Nadeko centric brief adventure. I wonder why we didn't get one with the opening novel of Monster although as I mentioned in Shinobumonogatari's review that the perpetrator was compared to Nadeko there so maybe that was what was the throughline so far. We shall see if Ougimonogatari will continue with this Nadeko arc. Since the Monster & Off Anime Season is projected to come out in about a month of writing this (it is June 2024 and the first episode will be July 2024), I wonder if these Nadeko moments will be compiled and moved into one whole thing. How does that affect their relationship with the arc or novel they are a part of?
I think these mini arcs structurally play a very interesting role to both Nadeko as a character as well as the overall theme for Amarimonogatari. Leftover Story could pertain to almost every arc that comes after Final Season as these characters have to deal with the ending of one part of their life to the beginning of something new. There's always something remaining that can never truly be resolved for a multitude of reasons whether it's because not enough time as passed or the person themselves is holding back in any sort of way. Off Season's nature is that suspended state which jumps around to all these static moments of the characters that we have seen change tremendously. While Monster Season is going very chronologically in terms of Araragi's acclimation to adulthood. While not real adulthood since the age of 20 is what Isin considers it but as Araragi is now a university student, it is a different ballgame compared to that final year of high school that we spent 3 seasons on. The teacher in this arc is not fully human and not fully oddity which you could attribute to Nadeko. Yoimonogatari was Mayoi's training arc while Yostugi Shadow could be considered Nadeko's training arc as well but a little delayed by one novel similar to how the teacher in Yotsugi felt delayed in their growth or progression. And of course the entire nature of Monster Season is focused around humans who revolve around the front and back side of victim and perpetrator which of course Nadeko is the token example of from the Monogatari Series. I hope that the mini arcs continue to follow Nadeko's growth.
Zaregoto Spoilers:
Isin still got that dog in him. A mystery where
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