Owarimonogatari

Owarimonogatari is the third installment of the Final Season of the Monogatari series.

Although it was originally planned as a single volume, Nisio Isin wrote far more than expected, and the work expanded first into two volumes and then into three.

The story shifts between mystery, supernatural confrontation, personal trauma, and the strange emotional logic that defines the series.

At its center is Koyomi Araragi, a high school senior whose past, relationships, and supernatural entanglements are forced into the open.

The upper volume focuses on a closed-room-style school mystery involving Oshino Ōgi and Oikura Sodachi.

The middle volume returns to events near the end of summer vacation and deals with Shinobu Oshino and her first servant.

The lower volume follows directly after the final episode of Koyomimonogatari, bringing Koyomi into the underworld and toward a final confrontation with Ōgi.

The novel was released under the Kodansha Box label in three volumes.

The first volume, Owarimonogatari: Upper, was released on October 22, 2013.

The second volume, Owarimonogatari: Middle, was released on January 30, 2014.

The third volume, Owarimonogatari: Lower, was released on April 2, 2014.

VOFAN provided the main illustrations, while Hiroki Haritama contributed illustrations for the magazine version only.

The first chapter, “Ōgi Formula,” appeared in the October 2013 issue of Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine.

That magazine version included a special “challenge to the reader” from Oshino Ōgi, presenting the story as a mystery in which readers could try to identify the culprit.

Upper Volume

In late October, Koyomi Araragi, a third-year student at Naoetsu Private High School, meets a newly transferred first-year student named Oshino Ōgi.

She is introduced to him by Suruga Kanbaru, but Ōgi quickly begins steering the conversation into unsettling territory.

Ōgi claims that whenever she transfers schools, she makes a floor plan of the building.

While mapping Naoetsu High, she notices something strange: the audiovisual room on the third floor should be oddly narrow, but it does not appear that way from inside.

This leads her and Koyomi to discover a hidden classroom.

Once inside, they find themselves trapped, with the clock stopped and every exit sealed as if time itself has frozen.

Ōgi suggests that the phenomenon may be supernatural.

Koyomi, however, begins to remember an incident from two years earlier that left him isolated from his classmates.

The story becomes a locked-room mystery about betrayal, group pressure, and the painful origins of Koyomi’s lonely first year of high school.

Middle Volume

Shortly after summer vacation ends, Koyomi has unexpectedly returned to being a normal human.

This happens because Shinobu Oshino, the vampire who usually resides in his shadow, has disappeared from him.

At the request of supernatural specialist Gaen Izuko, Koyomi summons Suruga Kanbaru to the ruins of a cram school.

There, the two are attacked by a mysterious armored warrior and then caught in a sudden fire.

They are rescued by Ononoki Yotsugi, and Koyomi eventually learns the warrior’s identity.

The enemy is the resurrected first servant of Shinobu, known as the First Aberration Slayer, who has returned after four centuries.

The First Aberration Slayer wants to reunite with Shinobu, but she refuses.

Koyomi must then face him alongside the vampire hunter Episode, leading to one of the series’ major supernatural confrontations.

Lower Volume

In mid-March, on the morning of his university entrance exam, Koyomi is killed by Gaen Izuko.

He awakens in Avīci, the deepest of the Buddhist hells, where he reunites with Mayoi Hachikuji.

Mayoi explains that Koyomi’s death is part of Izuko’s plan.

He can be revived through the power of the strange sword Yumewatari, but the journey back is anything but simple.

As Koyomi is guided through recreations of scenes from his life, he meets Teori Tadatsuru, a doll master who had previously been killed by Ononoki Yotsugi.

Koyomi eventually learns that the Tadatsuru who died was actually a doll.

As he is pulled back to the living world by a white snake descending from above, he grabs Mayoi and brings her back with him.

The lower volume then moves toward Koyomi’s final high school date with Hitagi Senjougahara and the climactic resolution of the mystery surrounding Oshino Ōgi.

Koyomi Araragi

Koyomi Araragi is the protagonist of the series and a third-year student at Naoetsu Private High School.

He was once a strong student in middle school, but after entering the highly competitive Naoetsu High, mathematics became his only reliable subject.

During his first year, he had no friends and became isolated after a class incident.

By his third year, his connection to the vampire Shinobu gives him an unusually strong healing ability.

In Owarimonogatari, Koyomi is forced to confront not only monsters, but also his own buried memories and evasions.

Oshino Ōgi

Oshino Ōgi is one of the central heroines and the key figure of Owarimonogatari.

She claims to be the niece of Meme Oshino and transfers to Naoetsu High in October.

Ōgi has a sharp, eerie presence and frequently treats Koyomi as a fool.

Her calm smile and strange logic make her feel less like a normal student and more like a living question mark.

She drives the mysteries of the upper and lower volumes and becomes essential to the final resolution of the Final Season.

Oikura Sodachi

Oikura Sodachi is the heroine of the upper volume.

She was the class representative of Koyomi’s first-year class and is deeply connected to the incident that caused his isolation.

Her nickname comes from her surname and the word “how much,” though she would rather be associated with Euler.

Sodachi is sharp-tongued, intense, and emotionally wounded, making her one of the series’ most grounded yet volatile characters.

Tsubasa Hanekawa

Tsubasa Hanekawa is Koyomi’s class representative and one of his closest friends.

She is a top student who has maintained the highest grades in her year.

After a supernatural incident in August, part of her hair turned white, so she dyes it black.

As always, Hanekawa understands far more than she lets on.

Shinobu Oshino

Shinobu Oshino is a former legendary vampire now living in the form of a young girl.

Her original identity is Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, a powerful vampire who has lived for 500 years.

In Shinobu Mail, her past with the First Aberration Slayer becomes the heart of the conflict.

Her refusal to reconnect with her first servant reveals both pride and pain beneath her playful surface.

Suruga Kanbaru

Suruga Kanbaru is a second-year student at Naoetsu High and a former ace of the girls’ basketball team.

She introduces Ōgi to Koyomi and becomes deeply involved in the events of Shinobu Mail.

Kanbaru’s energy, athleticism, and frank personality make her a lively contrast to the heavier mysteries around her.

Hitagi Senjougahara

Hitagi Senjougahara is Koyomi’s girlfriend and the heroine of Hitagi Rendezvous.

She has been in the same class as Koyomi since their first year and was once known as a frail beauty.

By the time of Owarimonogatari, she and Koyomi are preparing to leave high school behind.

Her date with Koyomi in the lower volume becomes one of the story’s quieter emotional peaks.

Mayoi Hachikuji

Mayoi Hachikuji is the heroine of Mayoi Hell.

She died in a traffic accident eleven years earlier and remained in the living world as a wandering spirit.

After passing on in August, she was sent to the entrance of hell because she died before her parents.

Her reunion with Koyomi in the underworld is warm, comic, and strangely moving.

Ononoki Yotsugi

Ononoki Yotsugi is a shikigami serving the violent onmyoji Kagenui Yozuru.

She often speaks in a flat, artificial tone, though her mannerisms shift depending on those around her.

In Owarimonogatari, she helps rescue Koyomi and Kanbaru from danger.

Gaen Izuko

Gaen Izuko is Suruga Kanbaru’s aunt and a specialist in supernatural affairs.

She describes herself as an older sister who knows everything.

Her knowledge and planning shape the events of both the middle and lower volumes.

Even when she seems cruel, her actions often serve a larger strategy.

Episode

Episode is a vampire hunter who wields a giant cross as a weapon.

He is half vampire and half human, with a distinctive white uniform and sharp attitude.

He joins Koyomi in the confrontation against the First Aberration Slayer.

First Aberration Slayer

The First Aberration Slayer was a warrior who met Kiss-Shot 400 years earlier.

He became her first servant and was believed to have killed himself by fire soon afterward.

His unexpected resurrection forces Shinobu to face a painful part of her long past.

Teori Tadatsuru

Teori Tadatsuru is a doll master connected to Ononoki Yotsugi.

Although he was believed to have been killed by Yotsugi, Koyomi later learns that the one who died was only a doll.

His appearance in the underworld adds another strange twist to Koyomi’s path back to life.

Meme Oshino

Meme Oshino is a supernatural specialist who once helped Koyomi and the others.

He left their town in June and has been missing ever since.

Ōgi’s claim that she is his niece is one of the series’ most suspicious details.

The anime adaptation of Owarimonogatari was produced by Shaft.

The upper and middle volumes aired from October to December 2015.

The first episode was broadcast as a one-hour special.

The lower volume aired on August 12 and 13, 2017, as two consecutive two-hour television specials.

The anime contains 20 episodes in total: 13 episodes for the upper and middle volumes, and 7 episodes for the lower volume.

The anime was based on the novel by Nisio Isin.

Character concepts were provided by VOFAN.

Akiyuki Shinbo served as chief director.

Tomoyuki Itamura directed the series.

Series composition was handled by Fuyashi Tō and Akiyuki Shinbo.

Character design was by Akio Watanabe.

Music was composed by Kei Haneoka.

Animation production was handled by Shaft.

The production committee included Aniplex, Kodansha, and Shaft.

Koyomi Araragi is voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya.

Oshino Ōgi is voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi.

Oikura Sodachi is voiced by Marina Inoue.

Tsubasa Hanekawa is voiced by Yui Horie.

Shinobu Oshino is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto.

Suruga Kanbaru is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro.

Hitagi Senjougahara is voiced by Chiwa Saitou.

Mayoi Hachikuji is voiced by Emiri Katou.

Nadeko Sengoku is voiced by Kana Hanazawa.

Gaen Izuko is voiced by Satsuki Yukino.

Ononoki Yotsugi is voiced by Saori Hayami.

Episode is voiced by Miyu Irino.

The First Aberration Slayer is voiced by Rikiya Koyama, with his younger form voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya.

Opening Themes

“Decent Black” is used for Ōgi Formula.

It is performed by Oshino Ōgi, voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi.

“Mathemagics” is used for Sodachi Riddle and the television version of part of Sodachi Lost.

It is performed by Oikura Sodachi, voiced by Marina Inoue.

“Yūdachi Hōteishiki” is used for Sodachi Lost outside the television version.

It is also performed by Oikura Sodachi.

“Mein Schatz” is used for most of Shinobu Mail.

It is one of the series’ more unusual openings, featuring choral-style vocals rather than a character performance.

“Terminal Terminal” is used for Mayoi Hell.

It is performed by Mayoi Hachikuji, voiced by Emiri Katou.

“Dreamy Date Drive” is used for Hitagi Rendezvous outside the television broadcast version.

It is performed by Hitagi Senjougahara, voiced by Chiwa Saitou.

“Dark Cherry Mystery” is used for Ōgi Dark.

It is performed by Oshino Ōgi.

Ending Themes

“Sayonara no Yukue” is used for Ōgi Formula, Sodachi Riddle, Sodachi Lost, and Shinobu Mail.

It is performed by Alisa Takigawa.

“Shiori” is used for Mayoi Hell, Hitagi Rendezvous, and Ōgi Dark.

It is performed by ClariS.

2015 Broadcast

The 2015 television broadcast adapts Ōgi Formula, Sodachi Riddle, Sodachi Lost, and Shinobu Mail.

Episode 1: Ōgi Formula, Part 1.

Episode 2: Ōgi Formula, Part 2.

Episode 3: Sodachi Riddle, Part 1.

Episode 4: Sodachi Riddle, Part 2.

Episode 5: Sodachi Lost, Part 1.

Episode 6: Sodachi Lost, Part 2.

Episode 7: Sodachi Lost, Part 3.

Episode 8: Shinobu Mail, Part 1.

Episode 9: Shinobu Mail, Part 2.

Episode 10: Shinobu Mail, Part 3.

Episode 11: Shinobu Mail, Part 4.

Episode 12: Shinobu Mail, Part 5.

Episode 13: Shinobu Mail, Part 6.

2017 Specials

The 2017 specials adapt Mayoi Hell, Hitagi Rendezvous, and Ōgi Dark.

Episode 14: Mayoi Hell, Part 1.

Episode 15: Mayoi Hell, Part 2.

Episode 16: Hitagi Rendezvous, Part 1.

Episode 17: Hitagi Rendezvous, Part 2.

Episode 18: Ōgi Dark, Part 1.

Episode 19: Ōgi Dark, Part 2.

Episode 20: Ōgi Dark, Part 3.

The upper and middle volume adaptation aired in Japan from October 4 to December 20, 2015.

It was broadcast on Tokyo MX, Tochigi TV, Gunma TV, Chiba TV, tvk, TV Hokkaido, TV Saitama, TV Aichi, TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting, Mainichi Broadcasting System, BS11, and AT-X.

The lower volume aired on August 12 and 13, 2017.

It was broadcast on Tokyo MX, BS11, Tochigi TV, and Gunma TV.

The 2017 specials were also streamed on AbemaTV.

The anime was released on Blu-ray and DVD in eight individual volumes.

The first five volumes covered the 2015 broadcast arcs from Ōgi Formula through Shinobu Mail.

The final three volumes covered the 2017 arcs: Mayoi Hell, Hitagi Rendezvous, and Ōgi Dark.

A Final Season Blu-ray Disc Box was released on December 21, 2022.

It included Tsukimonogatari, Koyomimonogatari, Owarimonogatari, two recap episodes, and Zoku Owarimonogatari.

Owarimonogatari follows Koyomimonogatari in the publication order of the series.

It is followed by Zoku Owarimonogatari.

Within the larger structure of the Final Season, it serves as the major turning point where Koyomi’s unresolved past and the mystery of Oshino Ōgi finally collide.

Its tone combines school mystery, supernatural action, underworld fantasy, and emotional reckoning, making it one of the most important entries in the series.