Thematic exploration is one of the most significant among the tremendous amount of feats Monogatari Series executes. Through this segment, I will analyze and mention the core/significant thematic punches this anime delivers without diving too deep into the intricacies. In this article, I’ll be covering the second season of this franchise which comprises of two installments, Monogatari Series: Second Season and Hanamonogatari. I recommend reading Part 1 before reading this one. THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM THE SERIES.

While Bakemonogatari explores the theme of escapism, Monogatari Series Second Season concerns a topic close to it, ‘acceptance’. There is a gradual transition of the theme from Bakemonogatari to this theme in SS. The last arc of Bakemonogatari gets Hanekawa to still put up with her problems while addressing her escapism from love confession. Nisemonogatari is about embracing the imposter in us, which is the same as accepting ourselves for the imposters we are. Nekomonogatari Kuro is where Hanekawa was forced to suck up to her situations and in the first arc of Second Season, she fully accepts all her egos and strives for change.

And so the theme gradually develops from escapism to acceptance as the story proceeds towards season 2. The first installation in this season is literally named Monogatari Series Second Season. I’ve already covered the first arc, Nekomonogatari Shiro in the first part of this segment. Along with what I said in the last para, there isn’t anything basic to add anymore as far as I know. So I’ll start with the second arc.

Mayoi Jiangshi: The second arc of Second Season is the time travel arc. This arc deals with the theme of fate/destiny. Here, it’s shown that it’s impossible to change what has already happened. Even if Araragi did end up saving Hachikuji, it created a different timeline so the Hachikuji of the original route remains dead. But he’s still happy to see that the Hachikuji of the alternate timeline lived on.

Araragi decides to save the world of the new timeline not because Oshino requested, but because he won’t let the route where Hachikuji lived to be a route where the world is annihilated. He won’t accept the logic that because she lived that the world was annihilated, he decides to fight his best to change the future. This arc’s message is that we should accept what has happened but we can, however, and should strive for a better future. We should savor each and every step we take along the route to our future. We may have regrets about the bad things that happened, but we should appreciate the good things that happened as well.



This arc also emphasizes on the importance of compromising. As Shinobu didn’t open up to Araragi, keeping herself shut, they couldn’t get close to each other earlier. So Araragi couldn’t understand her back then and failed to find her without Hachikuji’s help. And it led to his death, followed by humanity’s annihilation and Kiss-Shot’s complete breakdown. This arc tells us that many of the problems in our relationship can be easily solved if we only compromise, if we only sacrifice a little of our selfishness and open up to each other.

Nadeko Medusa: While this arc sheds light on how nobody is purely a victim, the ultimate thematic punch of the entire Nadeko storyline is yet to be delivered. This arc does have its own punch, however. Nadeko, after being pointed out by Oshino Ougi and especially Kuchinawa (who was nothing more than Nadeko’s own conscience), she realizes that she wasn’t just a victim. She was a wrongdoer as well, the role between the victim and the wrongdoer can be swapped quite easily. And when Kuchinawa faced her, instead of asking for forgiveness, she asks an insincere question like what she could do to compensate for her sins.

Afterwards, it’s revealed that all of this was simply a story she herself made up to shift all the blame on once again, others, such as Araragi, Senjougahara and even Shinobu. She is aware of her guilt, but she doesn’t do anything to actually better herself, and instead tries to shift the blame for the problems she faces now on others. And she even used her previous guilt for this. The lesson here is that being self aware but doing nothing to change the faults doesn’t make the situation better, in fact, it might make things even worse. This arc showcases the terrifying nature of acceptance of one’s flaws without putting efforts on improvements.

Shinobu Time: The thematic route this arc takes is ‘pretentiousness’. As Shinobu reminisces about what happened last time she appeared in Japan 400 years ago, we get to know that she started being revered as a god. She didn’t claim to be a god herself, but she didn’t clear the misunderstanding by telling people that she’s not a god but rather a demon, and “not trying to undo misunderstanding is the same as telling a lie”. The world in this anime, quite like our own which doesn’t allow one to pretend to be something else, rejects the existence of such apparitions that stray from the path of apparition. The rules of the world manifests itself in the form of “the darkness”, the anti-existence, the anti-apparition.

Similarly, when Hachikuji still pretended to be a ghost even though she had been freed and was supposed to move on to the afterlife, the darkness appeared. She had no choice but to comply. Even though Araragi wanted to do his best, he still couldn’t keep Hachikuji in this world anymore. The world wouldn’t allow her to stay being an entity as ridiculously convoluted as ghost of a ghost. She can’t pretend to be what she no longer is.

It ties to the theme that you can’t save everyone, you can’t choose everything. If Araragi needed to have Hachikuji stay with him, he’d have to abandon everything and everyone else, staying forever lost with the Lost Cow. But he can’t possibly do that because there are a lot many other connected things at stake. And Hachikuji herself accepted the fate, so he couldn’t do anything to save her. Hachikuji didn’t just accept it but also said that the world was rather kind to have let such a ridiculous entity like her keep existing for such a long time and that she was happy to spend the “bonus” time with Araragi. Although Araragi called it a simple wordplay (reminded me of that time when they talked about wordplay making lame things sound cool, ahh this anime’s gonna kill me someday).

This arc showcases how some things cannot be avoided. It’s impossible to elude from something inevitable. A cruel execution of how there are cases where there is no other choice than to accept one’s fate. It also shows that you can’t save everyone, tying to the overarching theme of salvation. And you can’t choose to have everything, foreshadowing or initializing the theme of priorities in the next arc.

Hitagi End: This arc has a rather large thematic area but the dot connecting it all is ‘Priority’. The characters are constantly challenged to prioritize something. When Hitagi asked Kaiki to help her offering the meager amount she was capable of managing, Kaiki had thought from several viewpoints that he could use for justifying him taking the job of saving Senjougahara and Araragi’s lives. He actually cared for her safety and was basically looking excuses to help her. Although the sake of Kanbaru was an excuse he needed, it was the only excuse that he thought would properly justify his decision to help her, foreshadowing Suruga’s importance to him.

Later on, he’s faced with the question of whether or not he’d listen to Gaen senpai and pull out of his case. It’d earn him the 3 million she offered but he would end up abandoning Araragi and Senjougahara. Not to mention, rejecting would mean getting on the bad side of Gaen Izuku. He chooses the option that satisfies him of course. Which is accepting Gaen’s offer while actually deceiving her and continueing on the case using her money.



When Hanekawa and Kaiki met and talked, they each asked the other their opinion on the matter. Hanekawa said that she wants Araragi and Senjougahara to be saved. She doesn’t necessarily want to be the one to save them. Who saves them is a secondary concern to her. Basically, she ‘prioritized’ their safety.

Sengoku Nadeko, however, was never sincere to anything and just went on with anything that came. She kept her true wish hidden, but gave no effort to realize that wish. She was a puppet of her perception of people’s perception of her, assuming what people thought her to be and playing that role. When it was fitting that she was considered a victim, she acted like a victim, fulfilling the expectations. When she was pointed out to be a hypocrite, she also embraced that role and she chose to be a villain when it seemed fitting.

She does this so that she can once again, avoid responsibilities of her actions as she never took actions on her own for her own sake, because she was afraid of the responsibilities. But she wouldn’t be the one responsible if she chose to be what people think of her, rather the people who think such of her would, or so she thinks; that’s her basis for her decisions. She didn’t prioritize what she truly wishes, didn’t try to be what she truly wants to be (a mangaka). She was even reluctant to discard the position of a god even though she didn’t want it (she enjoyed it tho), just because “it’s such a grand power that not everyone gets”. Basically, she judged the value people sees in it over what she truly desires.

Kaiki tells her that if you don’t try to do something, you cannot do it. You are the only one who truly knows your wishes and dreams, so you’re the only one who can fulfill them. He told Nadeko (and later on, Araragi) that happiness is not the primary objective for people to live and that she doesn’t need to succeed in her passion. Just because she fails in doing what she wants doesn’t mean that it’s the end. There are many things in life to enjoy, many things that we truly want to do.

If one doesn’t work out, it’s okay to move on to the next. He uses Senjougahara’s example of how she always treats her current lovers like they’re her first love. Now whether or not she was really in love with Kaiki in the past is a topic for a different discussion. The message in it is to move on forward. As long as you keep on living, maybe something good will happen in due time.

Nadeko is passionate about being a mangaka which is shown through her fabrication of a whole story to get to the talisman in Araragi’s possession. So this time, Sengoku Nadeko finally makes a decision for herself, she decides to be deceived by Kaiki and put efforts into her passion. After all the thematic execution of priorities, anti-escapism and acceptance, the final thematic punch this show provides is an embodiment of individualism and being true to oneself. There is no inherently right decision to any situation, that’s why going with your heart’s desire is the best course of action. Even if it brings you sadness and pain, it is a decision you made yourself and that is what truly matters.

Hanamonogatari culminates many earlier thematic points to explore a rather large area of themes. Rather than executing one or two thematic punches, this segment explores “Adolescence” in a very intricate and complex manner. But being a considerate writer, Nisio Isin added one line that simplifies all of its thematic execution. That line sums up the entire arc’s theme exploration, while telling the viewers not to be too worked up deciphering the themes in the arc.



Araragi Koyomi teached Suruga that it’s fine to try to meet someone else’s expectations if its something you yourself decided. But if that person is in the wrong, one should try and correct her/him. Araragi himself wanted to live up to Kanbaru’s expectations being an ideal senpai to her. But he also fought her, Senjougahara, Hanekawa and others when he couldn’t agree with their ways. He told Kanbaru that she should protest if she finds something wrong because she has the strength, she still has her youth.

Kanbaru Suruga then stops Numachi’s ghost and releases her from this world, because she couldn’t agree with her existence. She had to make sure that she wouldn’t have been the same under different circumstances. Her actions may receive different opinions from others, but it doesn’t matter. Because she followed her own opinion using her youthful strength, doing what she deemed right. She was simply spending her adolescence.

In this segment, Kaiki also gave her a lesson. No matter how hard she tried to hate Kaiki as the enemy of her upperclassmen, she couldn’t think of him as anything other than a grumpy but caring uncle. Just because you try to hate someone doesn’t mean that they will hate you in return or even let you hate them. Nobody is inherently good or bad. No one is always the same.

Learning all these, our flower bud, Kanbaru Suruga moved forward to bloom into a full flower. As she grows up, she decides to continue basketball. This segment is a coming of age story in essence. Flower symbolizes youth, it’s blooming symbolizes growing up. That’s why this segment is called Hanamonogatari, which translates to “Flower Story”.

Throughout this season, this anime explores “acceptance” quite intricately. It shows that we must learn to accept the inevitable. But if we have the ability to change what we can’t accept, we should strive for the better. If we want to better ourselves and our situations, we must at first accept ourselves and our desires. Simply accepting is not adequate, we must strive to realize our wishes as well.

This concludes my thematic analysis of the second Monogatari Series season. Give it a like if you liked it. Comment your thoughts regarding the topic and the article. Follow the blog for more such contents.