Zaregoto

Zaregoto is god damn amazing. It pains me to see how little recognition this series has, and since the top two reviews are from people who have only read the first 2 volumes, as a man of culture, a connoisseur of all things NISIOISIN, I am compelled to write a review to hopefully get someone, anyone, to at least give this series a try. Now before I start, I feel that it is necessary to talk about Zaregoto’s author. NISIOISIN, mainly known to the anime community for writing the Monogatari series, is..a rather strange fellow, something that I am sure everyone who watched at least a minuteof Monogatari can pick up on. His distinct writing style, his insane obsession for Japanese wordplay, and his unquenchable desire to subvert your expectations in the most outrageous fashion definitely explains why he is one of the most prolific authors in modern day Japan. His stories are extremely unorthodox, however it’s definitely not something everyone can be into (trust me, I tried multiple times getting people to watch Monogatari only to fail miserably). There are times when he overindulges on the most trivial of details, or have his protagonist/characters monologue for waaay too long, or have his characters engage in conversations so random and useless that contributes almost nothing to the story. One thing is for sure though; everything NISIOISIN writes, you can almost always tell that this is a NISIOISIN story. You can hate his writing all you like, but I don’t think even the most diehard haters can deny that NISIOISIN separates himself from all the light novel authors in the industry. So, why am I going into great detail on the author? Well, because understanding NISIOISIN as an author is the key to understanding Zaregoto. Zaregoto is a mystery series where in each instalment the protagonist finds himself caught in a murder case, and it is up to him to solve the mystery. That sounds extremely generic, what was all that talk hyping NISIOISIN to be some crazy maniac about even? Well, every NISIOISIN story sounds unoriginal on paper. Monogatari is about a guy helping girls out in need, wow how original, totally doesn’t sound like typical harem trash; Katanagatari is about a man and a woman finding 12 powerful swords, totally not the 129083th MacGuffin collecting quest story etc etc, you get the point. Where NISIOISIN stories ultimately deviate from the norm, is in its execution, and how NISIOISIN treats his stories. And boy oh boy, Zaregoto is FAR from the normal mystery series. It’s not apparent from the get go. Yes, the first volume does something mystery novels often fail to do: giving the side characters a lot of personality instead of just plot devices, and actually making the process of finding the culprit exciting, however from start to finish it’s essentially more or less a mystery; solid and fun to read, yes, but lacking all that genre-breaking, expectation-subverting element that NISIOISIN is known for. Oh wait, did I say start to finish? I apologise, I meant everything before the epilogue. In my opinion, the epilogue is when I knew Zaregoto was the beginning of something special. Not to spoil anything, but the epilogue basically changes everything you thought you knew about the mystery. I remembered when I first read it, I was extremely confused. “Why even do that, you wrapped up the mystery in a satisfying, conclusive manner, why further complicate things??” I couldn’t wrap my head around this peculiar choice of NISIOISIN, I simply didn’t get it. Ah, I was such a dummy back then. You see, Zaregoto isn’t actually focused on the mystery, just like how Monogatari isn’t focused on harem shenanigans; Zaregoto is a character study. A character study on who exactly? Time to introduce my personal favourite NISIOISIN character, and the most criminally not-talked-about protagonists of all time (forgive my clunky phrasing, I couldn’t bear to use the word “underrated”): Ii-chan. Or is it Ikkun? Ii-tan? The Zaregototsukai??? MAL claims that he’s called Boku, but that’s just lame. I guess I’ll call him the Nonsense User from now on. Ok, where do I even begin with the Nonsense User. At face value, he’s another textbook protagonist; dry, apathetic, lacking in presence, all qualities that basically scream SELF INSERT. Volume 1 he’s just your usual mystery protagonist; not particularly bright, but smart enough; not particularly entertaining, but decently enjoyable enough. However even then, reading volume 1 there was always a feeling that there was more to his character. Why does the psychic keep tormenting and targeting him? What were the frequent allusions to his traumatic past about? With these questions in mind, I was extremely eager to continue the series, to see the Nonsense User’s true self being revealed gradually over time. And then Volume 2 happened. Yeah, forget gradual, NISIOISIN just threw me, unprepared and innocent, into the pit that was the Nonsense User’s extremely damaged and, honestly, concerning psyche. Even after reading all nine volumes I still have to say that Volume 2 is by far the best volume of the series, and I believe if you still didn’t enjoy yourself by the time you finished volume 2, then please drop the series. Volume 2 felt like a revelation, an extremely cathartic and yet chilling tale of a man, so depressed and broken, that he makes THE LITERAL POSTER BOY of MENTAL INSTABILITY Shinji Ikari seem like a happy, mentally stable human being. And from this point onwards, the truth of what Zaregoto is actually about is unveiled: this wouldn’t be a tale of mind-boggling mysteries, this is a tale about a broken man traumatised by all the suffering around him that he numbs himself to the world around him, and his journey. Because despite all the pain and messed up things the world of Zaregoto is filled with, life still is worth living. Zaregoto is all about the Nonsense User, and it is all the better for it. Maybe some of you would find him too unlikable for your taste, or find his ramblings, or as he would love to call it, nonsense, too dull, but I feel that he perfectly captures, that sense of aimlessness, apathy and emptiness I believe every human being has felt at at least one point in their life. Enough ranting about the Nonsense User, how about the other characters? Unlike Monogatari, Zaregoto mostly only focuses on the protagonist and not the other characters, so don’t expect insane development from other characters. Even then, they’re charming enough and play their role well, especially Jun Aikawa, who, being Humanity’s Strongest, serves as an extremely effective foil for our protagonist, also known mockingly as Humanity’s Weakest, and the way she impacts him is a delight to read. Of course, Zaregoto isn’t perfect, in fact it is FAR from it. The plot of the mysteries is pretty good for the most part, however considering that this is after all something written by NISIOISIN, the pacing can be a really mixed bag. The amount of dialogue and monologue is genuinely insane, and I wish I was joking when I say this, but I feel like it puts even Monogatari to shame. And it’s not as if the subject it tackles is a piece of cake to understand either. Ramblings about identity, self, personality, existentialism, causality, fate etc etc are so common, it makes Evangelion look like child’s play at times. And to be perfectly honest, reading Zaregoto did give me a couple headaches. I often have to stop and put down the book just so that I could rest my mind and make sense of what was going on. The pacing is very much a mess, a trait that almost every NISIOISIN novel shares. With that said, plot twists are aplenty, and the endings of every novel are stellar, making it worth trudging through the endless barrage of monologuing. Also quite a random note to bring up, but the death rate is also surprisingly high, if you’re expecting the same leniency NISIOISIN gives to Monogatari characters you’re dead wrong. Honestly, all the things I said about Zaregoto still cannot perfectly encapsulate that chaotic beauty that is this series. I can only hope that someone out there is convinced to at least give this series a shot, because I hold Zaregoto very close to my heart. So, in conclusion, I think that these two quotes are probably the closest thing to getting the Zaregoto series: “It’s all nonsense anyways.” “What a masterpiece.” Zaregoto is nonsense. It doesn’t make sense a lot of times to me, and when it does make sense from a storytelling standpoint it’s extremely jarring. To put it nicely, there’s a lot of bullshit crammed into it. But all that bullshit, all that nonsense, by conventional storytelling methods, are essentially what makes Zaregoto a masterpiece. It is all that monologuing and rambling that makes Zaregoto the series that I love. So please show this underrated gem some love. Ok I rambled for way too long, guess who I learnt it from, I’ll leave this review here.

Have you ever read, watched or played a piece of media that looks like it was just made for you? Everything from the story and characters that just seems to be made for you, that is Zaregoto for me. I read all the novels, both the official translations and fan translations of the later volumes, when reading this review I want you to undertstand that one, I won't mention Nisio Isin legendary wordplay as I still don't know Japanese and have only read the english versions, two, this is a complete biased review, I love the Zaregoto series, although Iwill try to bring some criticisms, but don't expect much from that, as I love pretty much every aspect of ths LN series. With all that said let's begin the review. Story Zaregoto is divided into 6 parts, separated into 9 volumes, each part tells a different story, the only thing in common between each story is that they always end with one or more characters being killed brutally and the narrator/protagonist "I" which never changes. The plot seems simple as first, but anyone who read the books know that this series is absolutely insane, and I don't mean insanely good, I mean genuinely insane. It feels like the story was made by a lunatic, this is due to two factors, Zaregoto incredibly unpredictable narrative and how it will constantly try to break readers expectations and do the exact opposite of what you are waiting, the series begins in a way and ends in a complete different way, it's an extremely frustating plot to read, and I love it. There is something really enjoyable and even comical abouut seeing everything going crazy and ending in a really anti-climatic way, the books are made with the intention of being almost like some sort of twisted joke. I really like the story, but I have to say that it can be overwhelming at times and also it's not something everyone will enjoy. Art The art of Zaregoto is strangely simple and cartoonish, which works as a contrast to the fairly dark stuff that happens in the books. It's all very bubbly and cute, which gives you a feeling like there is something wrong, strangely enough even though it's an LN there are no illustrations of images that show what is happening, rather it's all characters illustrations, speaking of which. Characters Zaregoto series is character driven right from the get go, the min focus of Zaregoto is always on the charceters and their conversations, this series is a master of characterizing characters and make them feel distinct and unique, almost all characters are memorable in a fun way, all of them with unique quirks and individualitys that makes them fun to see. I have lots of favorites, the talakative serial killer Hitoshiki Zerozaki, be the creepy, but happy-go-lucky genius Tomo Kunagisa, and others, but the highlight is definitely the main charcater "I". "I" is without a doubt my favorite charcter of all time, his narration is amazing, being a mix of sarcarsm, nihilism and self-deprication, he is the perfect view point character for a series that focus on the absurd and insane, and his character journey throughout the books is phenomenal. This series marked me, and is something I would like everyone to read, that is how good this book series is, and I can only hope that the next books can be officially translated soon so that everyone can enjoy this bizzare, insane series that is sheer, but beautiful nonsense.