Has it really been ten years since Monogatari first appeared on television? On the one hand, that seems like quite a short period of time for such an influential series. But at the same time, that’s ten years that seems to have passed by in the blink of an eye.
The tenth anniversary of Monogatari will, unfortunately, be presumably one of the last, however. Studio SHAFT and visionary director Akiyuki Shinbo have just finished up adapting the last mainline story in the series in Zoku Owarimonogatari, and the only thing that’s left for them to adapt are some side stories from the ‘Monster Season’ series of novels.
But it’s been a great ten years though, and there’s certainly plenty to celebrate. Given this, many fans were very happy to see the announcement of ‘Monogatari Fes ~10th Anniversary Story~’ yesterday, which is gearing up to give a grand send off to this titanic series.
Set to take place on May 11 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, that fabled hall where otakus often descend, the event will reunite Araragi’s voice actor Hiroshi Kamiya with all of the main heroines of the series. So that includes Hitagi Senjougahara’s Chiwa Saito, Mayoi Hachikuji’s Emiri Katou, Shinobu Oshino’s Maaya Sakamoto… the list goes on, up to and including the latest addition to the cast, Sodachi Oikura’s Marina Inoue. There’s no mention of any of the main boys of the series – where my Deishu Kaiki stans at? – but it’s a pretty stacked lineup nevertheless.
At the event, the voice actors will be doing live script readings, as well as performing the openings from the series. As we all know, Monogatari has some of the best anisong around, so I’m especially excited to see live performances of the music. The voice actors of each character sing each opening anyway, and many of the cast perform as solo artists as well, so I’m sure that they’ll put on a good performance.
Tickets for the event will be available to those who buy the Zoku Owarimonogatari Blu-rays (comprised of two sets releasing on February 27 and March 27) and enter the ticket lottery. More information can be found via the official website.
If you’re as sad as I am to see the Monogatari franchise coming to a close, then this is definitely the event for you. It’s unlikely that we’ll get any more Monogatari anime getting forward – at least, not directed by Shinbo – but I’m sure that Nisio Isin will keep on pumping out the light novels as he always does. (A new book is set to release on April 17.)