In my experience, one of the most commonanimequestions asked is, “how do you startthe Monogatari Series?” It’s a fair question, considering there’s a total of 14 different novels that received the anime treatment, all released out of chronological order, as series author Nisio Isin intended.
In theory, like many other media, there are two ways to watch the Monogatari Series: the order in which it aired and the chronological order. The community vastly prefers one of those methods — I once said newcomers could pick how they’d like to watch the series during a panel and almost immediately received angry tweets. All this to say — watch the series however you want to.
So, if you’re interested in startingthe Monogatari Series, and if I didn’t scare you off by mentioning the growing pile of adapted light novels, then let’s jump into the meat and potatoes. Here’s how to watchthe Monogatari Seriesby release or chronological order.
How to Watch the Monogatari Series in Light Novel Release Order
I know I said you can pick how you want to watch this series, but I do truly recommend watching it in release order. It may not make much sense at times, but if you’re patient, most, if not all, questions will be revealed, and the payoff will be that much greater. This is the author’s intended viewing order.
Also — in this list,Hanamonogatariis listed afterMonogatari Series Second Season, but it was actually released in-betweenKabukimonogatariandOtorimonogatari, meaning if you were to follow this order, you’d pause theSecond Seasonthen and switch over toHanamonogatari.
How to Watch the Monogatari Series in Chronological Order
If you have seen the entire series (or at least until the end ofOwarimonogatari), then you should watch the series chronologically. you’re able to do whatever you want, but from my perspective, this method is best saved for a second watch. It’s also worth noting that stories that don’t have an anime (yet) have been omitted from this chronological list.
