The Genius of the Dialogue in Monogatari

"Hey, what do you think was written?"

The Monogatari Series has- and will always be- one of my favorite pieces of art (anime or not) I’ve ever seen, hands down, no questions asked. Everything that I look for in a story is present throughout the 80-odd episodes it has under its belt: strong characters, artistic and well-thought-out visuals, and a depth that no other series can even dream of matching. However, there is one aspect of all the seasons in the Monogatari franchise that trumps nearly everything I have listed about 10 times over: the dialogue. Not just the hidden puns and metaphors it’s stuffed with, either, but how these intricately-adapted words can reveal not only huge aspects of the plot, but completely define a character as well.

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The opening line to Hanamonogatari (spoken by Kanbaru Suruga’s mother) already tells us more about the tone and, subsequently, Suruga’s backstory than any other line we could have dreamed of. So what does it tell us? Well, for one, it tells us that Suruga’s mother wasn’t really much of a good mother at all (something further elaborated upon in some quick text flashes saying things like “I don’t think she was a good mother,” among other things), but it also tells us that those aspects are all of what Suruga remembers of her. In the following seconds, we good more of the same- text flashes, quotes from Suruga’s mother, but, even when in downtime, the dialogue picks back up with the quote “When she and my dad died, my grandparent’s on my dad’s side took me in,” simultaneously reminding us of a backstory we already knew and giving more information on the mother herself (her parents are as non-supportive, they are possibly dead, etc.).

Reinforcing this trend of quickly (but strongly) building Suruga and her deceased mother’s relationship is the pinnacle line of dialogue “I remember my dad used to say, ‘That girl is in the place of a God,’” after which Suruga responds with “I cannot agree with his opinion,” which is the perfect place to, officially, state why this introduction is just so, so good: this dialogue is a complete 180-degree-turn from the Suruga we, as the audience, have come to known. Instead of the super-cheerful, playful Suruga in previous iterations, this variant of her character is a rather mellow girl who grew up mainly by herself.

Nearing the end of the scene, we have no choice but to go back to another quote from Suruga’s mother, one that further blurs the line of morality this installment has done so already, saying that there is little to no difference between gods and demons. However, quickly after this, though, the scene ends- with Suruga waking up from a nightmare.

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Onto one of my favorite scenes of Monogatari Series: the introduction of Oikura Sodachi. Though we got a glimpse of her personality and her distasteful feelings towards our main character Araragi in the previous arc, Ougi Formula, this introduction is much, much more bitter.

We start off the scene with Araragi pretending like seeing a student in his classroom whom he hasn’t seen for two years isn’t any big deal, with him saying things like, “Oh? Is that Oikura, my previous classmate? I’m sure you haven’t remembered me,” and the likes. However, after about 30 seconds of light filler conversation starters, Oikura responds with a much different response: “I do remember. Of course. You are someone… that I would never forget about. Araragi,” prompting everyone watching to get the same simultaneous chill down their spines. Obviously, this isn’t something as simple as a simple rivalry, no: this is full, raw hatred, which also strongly hints that there is more history to these two than initially explained.

The conversation continues to go into a steady down-spiral, with Oikura further comparing Araragi’s enviable, happy life to hers, even to the point of saying Araragi has no idea where his happiness comes from (something that gets fully explained later in the season). Be thankful for this, though, since what spawns from this is one of the finest monologues Monogatari has to offer.

I wish I could have cut that down, but I just couldn’t: this scene is so expertly done, so intelligently written, that you, as a viewer, have no choice but to take it all in.

What makes this scene work so well is just all of the little details that are slipped in: some of the dialogue hints at a mystery towards what really happened in those two years past, some of it hints towards a more complicated relationship between Oikura and Araragi, and some of it hints towards what is really going on with Oikura’s mental state. And all the while, the scene is handled with great animation and a stellar performance from Oikura voice actor Marina Inoue. Overall, this is just a really, really well-written scene.

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And, yet, our longest “scene” is yet to come; however, before we get to that, I’d like to quickly stop by in Owarimonogatari yet again, this time being a 10-minute exchange between previously-mentioned Kanbaru Suruga and secondary character Shinobu Oshino. While I won’t go too much into detail unlike the two previous analyzations prior, I just have to say that this scene is a perfect way to get into the series (and, furthermore, the dialogue). Why? Well, for one, the way the dialogue is structured makes it so where there is a reveal after a reveal after a reveal. We’re so used to having the one being examined in this scene (Shinobu) be the dominant one in a conversation, but, this time, the accusations being made towards her avoidance towards an old partner are a perfect way to give the audience even more insight than ever before towards Shinobu’s character. That’s not to say that the writer is spoon-feeding the audience information, no, but that’s to say that it manages to fit with the character speaking, the plot, and nearly everything else in between. Also, as a side note, how the studio behind Monogatari (SHAFT) and/or the voice actors themselves handled the scene is amazing, but you can watch it for yourself to see how that plays out.

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I could go on all day and night rambling on about how dang good that sentence was inventively structured, but, instead, I’ll just focus on what makes the entire 48-minute episode that it belongs to an odd genius in unique and intriguing writing.

First and foremost, the very start of Owarimonogatari starts out with those very quoted words, perfectly setting up some of the more philosophical/tonal points the season makes later on (in the very same episode, even); it simultaneously informs of us of our mysterious new character (although, she had been introduced earlier on in the series), and also clues us in on what this arc- much less the whole season- is all about.

Although, despite a strong opening, I feel as though I need not only explain what happens next: nearly the entirety of the rest of the 48-minute episode takes place in one single classroom, with the only thing happening either being a conversation between two people, or a flashback scene, sometimes with them both going on at once. However, instead of giving credit to one single trait in the dialogue, there seems to be several different factors going into play here: what makes these 40 minutes interesting not only includes good writing, but it also includes a new character speaking, a reveal after a reveal after a reveal, and suspicions that the audience would never have thought of if it wasn’t for the characters themselves.

Though it isn’t a great intro to the series as a whole, per se, it certainly is a textbook definition of what Monogatari can accomplish, while simultaneously being one of the most entertaining (and informative) things to come out of any media form in a while.

Simply put, if you want to know how to make two characters talking in one confined location for 40+ minutes interesting, look no further than this fine exchange.

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And that’s my love letter to the dialogue in Monogatari. It’s brilliant, intriguing, and, above all, consistently interesting, and that’s all that I could ask for in my media dialogue. Underneath all of my wording, you can probably take away some teachings about dialogue and/or writing from all of this, and that’s precisely the point.