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A wolf at De Hoge Veluwe National Park in the Netherlands photographed by Martin Podt. Such an amazing shot! I was secretly wishing for this when I was scouting for wolves at De Veluwe. One day… 

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"I cant draw" then do it bad who gives a fuck.....

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so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what

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Monogatari: Themes of Self-Help

It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to rely on others. But the only one that can save you.. is yourself.

That is the ultimate statement I feel Nisioisin wanted to make with his hit series, Monogatari. For those of you that have read the novels, or watched the show, you’ll see this theme a lot. From being outright said, to more subtly hinted in the very structure of every arc, this motif of self-healing is the ultimate thesis of our beloved show. 

At first, Monogatari may not necessarily come across as a series about mental health issues, but I believe it is. It’s not the first to delve into this territory, but It is one of the more unique ones, in that it actually has a message. Take a series like Tokyo Ghoul. While the manga can be a really interesting take on mental health issues, Monogatari not only deals with the same themes of depression, isolationism and self-preservation, but actually gives advice on the matter. 

Koyomi Araragi has vampiric powers, enough to the point where he could help people physically in ways others can’t. In simple terms, he could save people, much like how a superhero could. However, you’ll notice in the series, this never happens. He can remove someone from physical harm, but that doesn’t ever solve the larger problem. Just like in real life, the emotional strain a person suffers takes far more to heal than any physical wound. Fear, or distress can be a heavier burden than the physical pain that accompanies it. Koyomi  acknowledges this himself, stating multiple times, he can’t save someone, they can only save themselves. 

But what does that mean? It’s easy enough to say something like that, but anyone who’s struggled with mental health issues knows just how difficult that is to come to terms with. Some things aren’t so simply put into words. Thoughts, especially negative ones, can be intensely hard to comprehend or confront. They become even harder to express to others. I feel as if even the author knows this, often choosing to portray a character’s problems as monsters and aberrations, instead of through lengthy dialogue or flashbacks. Take Tsubasa and Her aberrations, the Tiger being her innate anger and the feeling of ‘schadenfreude’, or Cat, who’s the middle ground between the persona/front she displays to others, and the desires of Tiger. But at the same time, this is never directly stated, instead inferred by the audience, as well as through how other characters perceive it. No character really sits down and explains exactly what their issue is in length, many other series often choosing instead to just outright state it, or have completely non-subtle displays of common symptoms of a condition.

Negative thoughts and mental health issues aren’t always as simple as words, they’re ideas. Pictures, images, actions, fleeting thoughts that are often hard to grasp, hard to explain. They can feel like an ocean that you’re drowning in, one that everyone else seems to be able to breathe in, until you realize they’re not in the same ocean as you. 

The author understands that, not even trying to describe a person’s suffering directly, at least not from their perspective. But he also understands that the person who can save you, the person that helps; is yourself. It’s fine to rely on others, it’s fine to ask for help, people can assist you, but ultimately, the person that holds you back is yourself. Taking the example of Tsubasa for example, her resolution comes not from Koyomi defeating her aberration, but from her confronting the fact that it is a part of her, that she needs to look at the bigger picture. She developed as a person, in a way that no medication or physical action could. 

Which sounds almost blunt, but then again, Nisioisin isn’t really a stranger to being straight up and a little controversial. Like when Oshino and Araragi discuss whether or not Tsubasa’s abuse is justified or not, when looking from different perspectives. But I think the author finds a perfect balance between relying on external and internal support in this case. Araragi is always there for her as a friend, he frets and stresses over her. He is the stepping stone that helps her to realize she can be herself around him, that she doesn’t have to hide behind a persona. This sets her onto the path of self confrontation, which ultimately resolves in her becoming happier and more resolute. 

This is even more obvious with other characters. Hitagi is a stand out for this. She was a character who was burdened by the past, a character who was always carrying trauma. Her whole arc deals with her denying the bad in her past, which led to her not being able to see the good in her future. Again, Koyomi isn’t the one that saves her, she ultimately has to confront herself, and realize that the past doesn’t make you who you are, and even with the problems that existed then, there was still happy memories both then and to come. Your past doesn’t decide how the future plays out. She has the confrontation with the con-man, but meeting Araragi helps her come to terms with the fact that there are completely normal, good men too. But she comes to that realization on her own, with the assistance of Araragi, and not because of him solely. 

But I think one of the best, more subtle arcs that covers this- is Hanamonogatari. This arc doesn’t even feature our main protag, best boy Araragi, and yet the story is still very similar in ideas it has. The theme of it, is wishes. But more specifically, how wishes aren’t necessarily something that just comes true, instead that even just having a wish will set you down the path towards completing it. I think that’s a very sweet message to send, that even just having a goal, whether it’s unrealistic or not, will set you on the path to achieving it. The idea that if you really genuinely wish for things to change, you will ultimately set them in motion to change through your own power. 

That if you want to feel better, to overcome whatever it is you may be struggling with, look inside yourself, because you are far stronger than you think.

It’s just little things like this that make me love this series, and why it’s probably my favorite. These little ideas and messages that are so prominent in the series, that leave a really profound meaning with you.

But that’s it for now guys. Sorry this is so rough around the edges compared to my other pieces, but thank you for reading nonetheless. I plan to post fairly regularly again, at least once or twice a week, and I hope you all stick around to see that.

Remember to take care of each other, and for anyone who reads this and would like some support themselves, feel free to message me. 

Saki~

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shore things

instagram

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Wolf’s Rain

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chaparral

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I love my birds so much. I wouldn't know what to do without them.

Reblog if you also love your birds a lot.

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Shin Godzilla  シン・ゴジラ (2016) dir. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi       

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2013 - PACIFIC RIM (Dir. Guillermo del Toro)

2014 - GODZILLA (Dir. Gareth Edwards)

2015 - JURASSIC WORLD (Dir. Colin Trevorrow)

2016 - SHIN GODZILLA (Dir. Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi)

2017 - KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts)

How I’m literally keeping track of the last five years…

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You’ve heard dog logic, now here’s bird logic.

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What are birds