Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re continuing our journey through what I can safely say falls on the “Monster” side of Monogatari’s Off/Monster Season collection, given both its protagonists are either alleged or self-defined monsters. On the one hand we have Deathtopia, an immortal vampire bound only by the proud weight of her own words. On the other, we have Acerola, an unwilling “princess” who brings ruin to all, and wishes only for a single life to save.

Whether they consider them a curse or blessing, both have clearly been isolated by their powers. Deathtopia had spent so much time in her lonely castle that it fell to her servant to inform her the kingdom had fallen, while Acerola’s quest for redemption has only brought more lives to ruin, raising the question of whether her existence itself is a curse. Yet in spite of the fantastical nature of their afflictions, their story echoes a familiar Monogatari refrain: the necessity of coming to peace with your own nature, of learning to love yourself, to accept all your sharp angles, and thereby reach beyond your own torment and positively impact the life of another. Let’s see how our vampire and death princess are fairing!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the supplementary trials of Monogatari’s mixed-up heroes, and likely getting into some sort of ornate Shinobu-related fiasco. It is little surprise that the show’s formal conclusion has resulted in all these dangling loose ends – after all, as Monogatari has always emphasized, becoming our best selves is the work of a lifetime. It was actually Sodachi’s first appearance that prompted Araragi to reflect on how “happiness isn’t a race,” and Sodachi returned to reiterate that truth last arc, offering Nadeko the world-weary assurance that nothing ever ends, we just keep working on ourselves and putting one foot in front of the other.

It is up to us whether we find that truth sobering or liberating – whether we lament the endless task of self-definition, or find hope in always having a second chance. But if Monogatari is anything to go by, we should take heart in how changeable our identities truly are, the miraculous fact that merely by dedicating ourselves to new daily practices, we can actually shift our fundamental nature. That we are works in progress will always be a source of anxiety, because it means we are never truly “perfect,” never done with our psychological odyssey. But that great adventure is both the trial and privilege of consciousness; the very fact that we can examine and even change ourselves is the great gift of human nature. Let’s revel in that gift once more, as we return to Monogatari!

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