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4.44 AVERAGE
4.44 AVERAGE
I feared going in to Nekomonogatari: Cat Tale (White), that it would come off awkward and wouldn't live up to previous novels due to the switch from Araragi's perspective over to Hanekawa's. While the book isn't nearly as comedic, or filled with the banter I love from Nisiosin's books, this one is a much deeper book overall.
After seeing a tiger on the way to school, Hanekawa's house burns down and she has no desire to stay with her parents whom she feels no connection to. She decides to survive on her own, but only lasts a night before Senjogahara takes her in, and eventually Araragi's family. Black Hanekawa (AKA Afflicting Cat) comes out in a much softer demeanor through out the book.
While I knew Hanekawa had more layers as a character than previously let on, I didn't think she could be interesting enough for a whole book. Nisiosin tosses those worries aside pretty quickly. The way he crafts her voice to be the sole focus is superb. Whether it is as her or Black Hanekawa, he knows just how to draw you in and keep you glued to the pages.
This book is all about Hanekawa being forced to look inward at herself in terms of emotions, struggles, and who she wants to be. She spends much of this book in a state of confusion, trying to figure out why she is black out again, what the tiger is as an aberration. As she works this out, we get a look at just how disconnected she has been in her life when dealing with stress, abuse, and other problems.
Nisioisin could have easily stuck to the tried and true of Araragi as the lead in Nekomonogatari: Cat Tale (White), but showed that taking chances can work out brilliantly. Fans of the series should be prepared for a fresh look with the perspective of Hanekawa. I kept reading along furiously with little pause as I became engrossed with her story of awakening to whom she always should have been.
Cover Thoughts: Has VOFAN ever let us down? The cover art of Black Hanekawa and the tiger is beautiful, sexy, and fierce all at once.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Beers
After seeing a tiger on the way to school, Hanekawa's house burns down and she has no desire to stay with her parents whom she feels no connection to. She decides to survive on her own, but only lasts a night before Senjogahara takes her in, and eventually Araragi's family. Black Hanekawa (AKA Afflicting Cat) comes out in a much softer demeanor through out the book.
While I knew Hanekawa had more layers as a character than previously let on, I didn't think she could be interesting enough for a whole book. Nisiosin tosses those worries aside pretty quickly. The way he crafts her voice to be the sole focus is superb. Whether it is as her or Black Hanekawa, he knows just how to draw you in and keep you glued to the pages.
This book is all about Hanekawa being forced to look inward at herself in terms of emotions, struggles, and who she wants to be. She spends much of this book in a state of confusion, trying to figure out why she is black out again, what the tiger is as an aberration. As she works this out, we get a look at just how disconnected she has been in her life when dealing with stress, abuse, and other problems.
Nisioisin could have easily stuck to the tried and true of Araragi as the lead in Nekomonogatari: Cat Tale (White), but showed that taking chances can work out brilliantly. Fans of the series should be prepared for a fresh look with the perspective of Hanekawa. I kept reading along furiously with little pause as I became engrossed with her story of awakening to whom she always should have been.
Cover Thoughts: Has VOFAN ever let us down? The cover art of Black Hanekawa and the tiger is beautiful, sexy, and fierce all at once.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Beers
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
5/5 Stars: ‘Nekomonogatari: White’ (Book #7 of ‘Monogatari’) by NisiOisiN.
→ Age Range: Young Adult.
→ Genre: Fantasy, Light Novel.
→ Trigger Warnings: Depression, Abuse, Undiagnosed PTSD.
In-depth Rating:
→ Plot: ★★★★★
→ Character Development: ★★★★★
→ Setting: ★★★★★
→ Entertainment Level: ★★★★★
→ Writing: ★★★★★
General Comments: While not the most substantial in terms of strengthening character relationships, or the most complex plot-wise, it nonetheless presents strong intra-personal emotional conflict, exhibiting strong semantic precision and density. The quality of writing is strong; it excels at progressively delving into innate goodness and overcoming outward feelings of inferiority (stemming from purity).
Favourite Quote: ‘A parent’s love for a child isn’t a duty to be fulfilled, it’s a feeling, and you shouldn’t get married or have children if you aren’t capable of feeling it.’
Time Read: One Day.
→ Audiobook: No.
→ Audiobook Narrator: -
→ Age Range: Young Adult.
→ Genre: Fantasy, Light Novel.
→ Trigger Warnings: Depression, Abuse, Undiagnosed PTSD.
In-depth Rating:
→ Plot: ★★★★★
→ Character Development: ★★★★★
→ Setting: ★★★★★
→ Entertainment Level: ★★★★★
→ Writing: ★★★★★
General Comments: While not the most substantial in terms of strengthening character relationships, or the most complex plot-wise, it nonetheless presents strong intra-personal emotional conflict, exhibiting strong semantic precision and density. The quality of writing is strong; it excels at progressively delving into innate goodness and overcoming outward feelings of inferiority (stemming from purity).
Favourite Quote: ‘A parent’s love for a child isn’t a duty to be fulfilled, it’s a feeling, and you shouldn’t get married or have children if you aren’t capable of feeling it.’
Time Read: One Day.
→ Audiobook: No.
→ Audiobook Narrator: -
Tsubasa Hanekawa.
Overachiever.
Model Student.
A Class President among Class Presidents.
Complete impostor.
Hanekawa is probably the most multi-layered and compelling character in all of the Monogatari series.
Her history of abuse and her ways of dealing with it have made some of the most memorable parts of the franchise.
In this installment, we get to know the events after Golden Week and the Culture Festival told from her perspective.
"A family isn't something that you need to have, but it should be a happy one if it exists."
Her experiences make her also the most relatable character of Monogatari.
"A parent's love for a child isn't a duty to be fulfilled, it's a feeling, and you shouldn't get married or have children if you aren't capable of feeling it."
Her character arc is a testament on how a broken home can break you.
Sometimes parents who beat you aren't even the worst.
"They'd abused me in the most heinous way, by not loving me."
When it comes to depth and impact, Nekomonogatari [White] ranks second right after Kizumonogatari, which is, in my opinion, still the most intriguing entry in the series.
Overachiever.
Model Student.
A Class President among Class Presidents.
Complete impostor.
Hanekawa is probably the most multi-layered and compelling character in all of the Monogatari series.
Her history of abuse and her ways of dealing with it have made some of the most memorable parts of the franchise.
In this installment, we get to know the events after Golden Week and the Culture Festival told from her perspective.
"A family isn't something that you need to have, but it should be a happy one if it exists."
Her experiences make her also the most relatable character of Monogatari.
"A parent's love for a child isn't a duty to be fulfilled, it's a feeling, and you shouldn't get married or have children if you aren't capable of feeling it."
Her character arc is a testament on how a broken home can break you.
Sometimes parents who beat you aren't even the worst.
"They'd abused me in the most heinous way, by not loving me."
When it comes to depth and impact, Nekomonogatari [White] ranks second right after Kizumonogatari, which is, in my opinion, still the most intriguing entry in the series.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hanekawa Tsubasa's tale continues in Nekomonogatari (White). This isn't a sequel for Nekomonogatari (Black) though, just another tale that involves Hanekawa and her aberrations. And as NisiOisiN pointed out in the afterword, both books can be read independently of each other.
This is probably the only Monogatari book (well, of the ones officially translated and I've read) that isn't told in Araragi's POV and boy does the novel get an instant extra star just for that alone! Gone are the pages upon pages of panties. Hanekawa tries her best to do the boke/tsukkomi routine with everyone, but alas, that's not really her forte even if her conversations with Senjogahara were a treat to read. Of course, Araragi's still mentioned and very much loved. And I guess from Hanekawa's point of view I can see the appeal--But also it looks like Araragi himself had some things going on when he was in middle school, and I think that's a tale for another novel?
Episode makes a surprising return and reveals he's actually seven years old (for some reason he seems to have lost his sanpaku eyes, but maybe Hanekawa didn't pay as much attention as Araragi?). That was such a bizarre conversation, but we'll see what part he plays later on I guess.
Where (Black) tells us about the events of Golden Week and Black Hanekawa, (White) is about a tiger aberration that appears in town right at the start of the term. Hanekawa is worried about it, but thoughts of aberrations are pushed from her mind when she sees her house burn down from the school window. Her 'parents' rent a hotel room to stay at while their house gets rebuilt, but unable to spend the time with the two adults who don't give two pins about her, Hanekawa decides to rough it out in the cram school. Senjogahara will have none of this and invites Hanekawa to her house, and then later on to Araragi's own home (Araragi is absent for 98% of the novel and Hanekawa sleeps in his room).
While my fave bits are definitely Hanekawa and Senjogahara's interactions, I also loved how this novel gets into Hanekawa's psyche. We get to see why Meme Oshino thinks of her as a monster when we see nothing but a perfect human being from Araragi's POV: there's something scary about how little she cares about herself but at the same time protecting herself through seriously unhealthy coping methods. I've always said that I had to kill parts of myself in order to survive, but what Hanekawa did was throw everything into the side, the feelings that later find release in Black Hanekawaand later on, the Tyrannical Tiger. Perhaps this coping method is not as bad? In the end, Hanekawa might not be the same person as she's been in the previous books, but she's still very much herself.
I think the question of selfhood is very much a theme here. And how to deal with stress and intrusive thoughts.
This is probably one of my faves in this series, along with the Nise ones.
This is probably the only Monogatari book (well, of the ones officially translated and I've read) that isn't told in Araragi's POV and boy does the novel get an instant extra star just for that alone! Gone are the pages upon pages of panties. Hanekawa tries her best to do the boke/tsukkomi routine with everyone, but alas, that's not really her forte even if her conversations with Senjogahara were a treat to read. Of course, Araragi's still mentioned and very much loved. And I guess from Hanekawa's point of view I can see the appeal--But also it looks like Araragi himself had some things going on when he was in middle school, and I think that's a tale for another novel?
Episode makes a surprising return and reveals he's actually seven years old (for some reason he seems to have lost his sanpaku eyes, but maybe Hanekawa didn't pay as much attention as Araragi?). That was such a bizarre conversation, but we'll see what part he plays later on I guess.
Where (Black) tells us about the events of Golden Week and Black Hanekawa, (White) is about a tiger aberration that appears in town right at the start of the term. Hanekawa is worried about it, but thoughts of aberrations are pushed from her mind when she sees her house burn down from the school window. Her 'parents' rent a hotel room to stay at while their house gets rebuilt, but unable to spend the time with the two adults who don't give two pins about her, Hanekawa decides to rough it out in the cram school. Senjogahara will have none of this and invites Hanekawa to her house, and then later on to Araragi's own home (Araragi is absent for 98% of the novel and Hanekawa sleeps in his room).
While my fave bits are definitely Hanekawa and Senjogahara's interactions, I also loved how this novel gets into Hanekawa's psyche. We get to see why Meme Oshino thinks of her as a monster when we see nothing but a perfect human being from Araragi's POV: there's something scary about how little she cares about herself but at the same time protecting herself through seriously unhealthy coping methods. I've always said that I had to kill parts of myself in order to survive, but what Hanekawa did was throw everything into the side, the feelings that later find release in Black Hanekawa
I think the question of selfhood is very much a theme here. And how to deal with stress and intrusive thoughts.
This is probably one of my faves in this series, along with the Nise ones.