Kaiki Deishuu
Finished Onimonogatari. The saddest arc so far. I realized that although the arcs are ostensibly about a single main character, that’s not really the case at all. There’s a very “literary” flow to the series, where things happen in the order they should with little regard to expectations of the audience. I read in one interview of the author that he doesn’t plan the novels, or at least not the whole series too far, but “discovers” by writing what will happen. Other writers claim to use similar methods, G. R. R. Martin springs to mind, and I’m inclined to believe that they are telling the truth and that it creates a certain flavor in the stories that is very pleasing. It’s not like their stories don’t have emotional ups and downs, climaxes and relaxing parts because they didn’t plan in carefully in advance. They can guide the flow of the story in real-time, one the first draft of writing. Well I’m not saying that must be some great skill to be able to do that, but such successful authors are certainly miles above the amateurs who just sit down to type, thinking that’s all there is to the craft.
Started watching Koimonogatari. Don’t tell me this whole arc is told from the best character’s, Kaiki’s, perspective? Yes! I have thought before that one of most luring things about light novels seems to be that apparently they occasionally do this, write a book from (previously) minor character’s perspective. Baccano is made entirely like that? Anyway, beside’s Kaiki’s personality, this story is putting him, a human with no abnormal powers whatsoever, against one of the strongest kaii currently in existence. He’s only skill? Frauding people. And target of the fraud? One of the best girls in the series.
I don’t dare to predict how this arc will go, but I’m a sucker for those extremely rare endings where unlikely characters find out they complete each other. It doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship, but the simplest example is probably when two characters originally worlds away find each other and fit together so well you can’t even imagine them with anyone else. Sougo and Kagura from Gintama is the main example I have in head.
Finished Koimonogatari now. It was awesome. Kaiki’s fate was sad, but the previous arc already seemed to confirm that this is the kind of series that knows it’s going to end and wants to do that the best way it can.
I wonder if this could actually be quite fun. I think I always put it in the same category as origami, but maybe twisting the string into patterns is much more abstract than trying to make paper figures that look like something. In other words, I feel like I may have dismissed the play because I thought it’s an attempt to make the string look like something out of this world, but maybe it doesn’t have to be about that at all.
