Originally I had planned to write out a lengthier partialanalysis of the work because I had just finished reading it but 30 minutes into it I had forgotten a lot of my points. Though this was intended to be put into a google doc a private my eyes only document I felt it would be more satisfying to release it as its practically a recurring gag that my memory is my worst quality. Maybe a recurring villain? Returning illness? Feel free to ignore this if youd rather read a more intelligently formatted review and feel free to read to your hearts content if youre unbothered by such a large load of waffle. I am grateful for your time regardless. The novels biggest shortcoming is its length. The first 200 or so pages are mostly just build up with very little in the way of theme exploration or character exploration. It took me around a week and half to finish this book in comparison to the previous novels taking 34 days each. The last 100 pages of this novel took me only 23 days to finish since that was when the book actually gripped me. There are 23 chapters within the first 200 pages containing nonstop useless banter in this book such scenes would not be known of by those whod only seen the anime because theyd been thankfully cut from the adaptation. The themes themselves are very fun to digest and comprehend upon reaching the actual meat of the story nearly 2/3s into the novel the unrelated at first dialogue with Ougi at the start holding heavy weight throughout the story giving some examples of its brilliantly creative usage: Araragis attempts to save Hachikujis past self from death avoid her being hit by a truck during a red light opposed to the original green light of her route A death this red light also indicating that the future can still remain safe though Hachikuji is momentarily in danger establishing a new green light of safety catching him off guard when he returns to the present only to find its been destroyed and infested with zombies a new red light is established. Araragi and Shinobu hovering in the sky until dawn when the Zombies retreat is no different from waiting for the next cross signal for the next promise of safety. The zombies then reappear during a cloudy day. Still daytime but the weather conditions block out the sun allowing the zombies to avoid their greatest weakness the swerving car nearing a collision with our two protagonists walking across the street during their green light. This also later applies to the cause of the zombies the result of route B Araragi not knowing of Shinobus disappearance because Hachikuji hadnt been there to alert him and his lack of urge to forge a connection with the vampire hed abandoned had resulted in him creating a red light waiting for the green to finish. Thus the vampire caused the end of the world because of his mindlessness his sense of caution numbed by the glow of a green light signifying safety. Of course the idea brought up by NisiOisiN himself at the end of the novel that the idea that pain is what causes growth as a person is a very obvious but well explored theme throughout the novel that actually gives some cool insight into Araragi as a character. Someone so selfless hed go back in time and willingly prevent himself from meeting the person whod made him want to go back in time and mend the wounds that lead them to him. So selfless that it loops back around and becomes selfish again. theres a moment in which he discusses how hed want to save Senjougahara or Hanekawa before theyd come forth to him with their problems forsaking the people he loves their present selfs stitched together collages of positive and negative wanting to purify and create the perfect positive experience for them what he believes to be uprooting the source of the weed would actually be more equivalent to unwinding the string that binds them together. What would be the point in saving them is something Araragi failed to realize. They would only meet further maybe even greater hardships in the future and the person you wanted to save because that was the person you knew they became as a result of the fire you suffocated would not longer exist. It does actually reshape his perspective on Oshinos philosophy however that saving someone will result in them taking steps to ensure being saved is not necessary in the future. Thus theyd saved themselves all on their own. Araragi also fails to realize that hes already done such things in his own present. One more misc. detail: a recycled gag of Araragi and Shinobu arguing upon arriving in the past is whos fault it is that theyd ended up 11 years prior. With Araragi deciding theyre to share a circular blame so as to not have anyone to shoulder the responsibility of mistake but each other. This returns later upon Shinobus realization of her route B versions actions and Araragi consoles her by claiming its because of his changing the past that this situation has resulted in the way it has. The two guilts reside in far apart contexts its harder to weave them together as he did previously coming off much more desperate this time. willingly degrading himself to soften the blow on others in a way hes doing exactly what he did by saving Hachikuji he cant allow someone he cares about to feel hurt but that urge to mend tampers with their growth as people. you could even say Araragi is the bad guy for trying to force his kindness on others. That of course isnt true its just his methods which are flawed if he were to outsource to an ally for assistance hed likely receive it and could maybe even achieve a sort of compromise. Things like this are too much to weigh on a still emotionally maturing highschool student after all. The final thought to round off this story: regretting past mistakes is natural. Its human to regret and its even more human to want to change them but to change your past is to cease to be yourself in the present. You can call Araragis adventure into the past a onceinalifetime lucky break or a metaphor for escapist fantasies either one will result in the same conclusion. No matter how much you overthink what couldve happened if X was Y and Y was Z and W didnt happen at all and L happened instead reality will still await you once you open your eyes and step beyond the door of your home your down the steps of a shrine in the case of this storys context. Footnote While reading I listened to the soundtrack to the animated adaptation using this helpful wiki pagehttps://bakemonogatari.fandom.com/wiki/ListofMusicUsedinEachEpisodeMonogatariSeriesSecondSeason to play the music in sequence with the corresponding scenes thank you to the people who spent their time documenting that information. The soundtrack itself is pretty nice though nothing id describe as spectacular however the biggest standout is definitely for its minimalistic beauty and stands to test some of my previously established favorite tracks from prior installments. The rest is pretty standard soundtrack fare.