Ka Ka Its been around a month Written a month after the original review but got delayed to now so its a great time as any to finally review the next volume in the Off Season Spring break is also coming so Ill also get the chance to review the movies and light novels. Look forward to all that is coming Note: Spoilers for Kizumonogatari Owarimonogatari both seasons and Zoku Owarimonogatari Princess Beatuy and Acerola Bon Apptit: Shinbous backstory has always been something that has been hinted at and explored time and time again. In Kizumonogatari we learn that she was once a human and the second season/of Owarimonogatari shows the tale of her first servant. However its never been stated how this loveable blond loli turned into a vampire. You could only assume the details through rewatches and reading through the Japanese text to piece together your own headcanon. Until of course you read this. It starts off with a wellwritten fairy tale about this beautiful princess. Everyone who saw her fell in love instantly and would give her everything she deserved or even hinted at wanting. It became so much that she wanted to get rid of her beauty and at least show the world what makes her beautiful inside. So after a witch casts that spell on her the inside of her is even more beautiful than people start to kill themselves feeling unworthy to live on the same planet as her and then the country precedes to be annihilated because this one woman was too beautiful for them. You think the witch would have messed up the spell or done this on purpose but she was actually the first victim as she is seen dead before this princess eyes. And this tale begins to spread around warning countries of their doom if she ever wanders to them. Though whats so strange about the rest of the chapters is we still dont get Shinbous thoughts because if youve seen Zoku Owarimonogatari you know the princess is Shinbou. Instead a new character is introduced: The Deathprepared Deathinevitable Deathcertain vampire Deathtopia Virtuoso SuicideMaster. Whats pretty ironic is that we are first introduced to her after she died of starvation. However it is with her introduction you noticed where Shibou gained her habits and personality. The laugh the ideals the stubbornness and everything else came from her. It is also learned that usually when you turn a person into your servant/vampire they transfer certain traits over such as the iconic blond hair Shinbou has. We learn this throughfuck his name is really weird but Tropicalesque HomeAWave DogStrings. Im not joking thats his name. Its because of his extremely loyalty that he is essentially a dog. However that loyalty is tested by the main plot of this story. The princess wants to die and SuicideMaster wants to eat her. Problem? Shes so beautiful that SuicideMaster kills herself before she can attempt to eat her. Although I wont reveal how the rest of the story continues onward. So far in this offseason this is by far the best story with the reveal of Shinbous inner personality and shows why she behaves in the way she does in Kizumonogatari and the rest of the stories. But I will say that if youre debating on reading off season or not you should definitely read this at least. Princess Beatuy and Acerola Bon Apptit: 95/100 Karen Orge: This part of the novel was a drag to read at times if I can be upfront. I like Karen as a character but shes the type of character that only works as a side character. Once theyre given the spotlight it ruins the brilliance of their character. I.e. the fact shes a hollow puppet of justice. The whole story is based on the fact Karen is on a journey of selfdiscovery. Shes moving up in life and is about to enter high school. With that she graduates from her training for material arts and her sensei tells her to climb three mountains while discovering her true self. Thing is Karen isnt all too excited about graduating nor the idea of climbing mountains. But its her sensei so she belts up and travels onward. Though and I cant express this enough Karens a fucking dumbass. Pardon my language but Koyomi aint kidding when he says shes dumb. Not only does she not plan out her trip but also forgets necessary supplies AND is a complete novice to mountain climbing she almost dies many times. Thats why Koyomi with all the brain cells Karen is missing uses Shinbou to ensure she doesnt die. This happens quite often and Shinbou makes the dumbest lie of all time saying each version of her is just her cousin and not the same person. Karen believes this even though Shinbou messes up the lie tons of times and contradicts herself in the process. It creates a very frustrating tale of a girls journey to find herself while trying not to die. Even in the end she doesnt really discover herself or more that it didnt feel as if she learned something. If this was Araragi Senjougahara Oshino or any other character their journey through a mountain would make us understand her. But Karen isnt that kind of interesting character. In the end I rather not climb the mountain with her. Karen Orge: 50/100 Tsubasa Sleeping: Three words: Hanekawa finds Dramaturgy. Holy shit you may be saying This is going to be incredible Unbeknownst to you Nisioisin has no idea how to make this interesting at all. Well to be fair to the lad its not like he has no idea but he most likely went in with the same thought. However let me set the scene. This story takes place when Hanekawa finally finds Oshino so right around the Owarimonogatari anime and novels. In order to convince Oshino to help Araragi she tells him the story of how one of her journeys to him went. The event was helping Dramaturgy capture two rogue vampires. The setup is intriguing in itself but the unfortunate mistake lies in Dramaturgys character. Hes dull. Dramaturgys the kind of guy who if given the task to buy some milk would come back with milk and have nothing else to say or do. He has the mission of capturing the vampires so he does that. Nothing more nothing less. The statement is proven true when throughout the strangely short story Oshino starts to speak out side comments during his dialogue with Hanekawa begging to no avail for Oshino to shut up. It turns into the Oshino and Hanekawa show rather than the original tale. Honestly get the impression that Nisioisin got bored of the original idea and decided to turn it into this. Thankfully he did since I enjoyed that a lot more. Even the ending is merely glanced at as the last chapters are filled with that dialogue. The story I was most excited about turned into a disappointing but fun read. Tsubasa Sleeping: 65/100 In conclusion: This novel was a lacklustre sequel to Orokamonogatari. The first story is the only real reason anyone would want to read this. After that its an enjoyable read that you can do without. If there was a problem that connected everything it would be the push of Shinbou away as the novel went on. The first tale was so good that it seems as if Niso thought to include traits of Kizumonogatari in each chapter but fill it in ideas that arent exactly worth 10 chapters or 1 chapter. Although I enjoyed it it is the weakest novel in the off season by far. I look forward to the next one Have a good day and keep trying to enjoy life Kishbokai P.S. Please Shaft make more Monogatari Orokamonogatari reviewhttps://anilist.co/review/15048