Katanagatari as an Argument

Hey look, this piece is finally out.

Listen to the audio version here!

      Telling a story can be a tricky thing. It requires a lot of finesse to simultaneously push the story along while describing each aspect to the extent you need -- all without losing the audience's attention. On top of that, it's very easy to accidentally go off on a tangent, or get sidetracked with a part of the story that doesn't add a lot of value to the narrative.

      Which brings up a good question: If there are things that don't add value to a narrative, what is it that does?

      I've never really been able to come up with an answer to that question on my own; there is no secret formula to a great story. Each one is complicated and has its own unique traits. The common consensus seems to be that every work should have a point, and every part of the story should work to sell that message. Even as I write this, I wonder if it all is worth keeping; if it all works in my favor.

Katanagatari has unique answers to this question. 

An Introduction
&
"Should you Watch" for Katanagatari

      This is not a review or grading of Katanagatari. It's also not an intro or recommendation. It's an opportunity to re-evaluate the message Nisio Isin was sending with this story. I do recommend you decide whether or not you want to ever watch Katanagatari before reading this, as it will be full of spoilers and direct references to the series, but it's not necessary to have seen it to understand the post (you'll be able to keep reading spoiler-free until the section titled "Katanagatari is a Story Worth Telling").

      If you think you might be interested in the series, here's some basic info: It's 12 ~forty-eight minute long episodes, features a romance, is somewhat action oriented, and has a LOT of talking. There are a couple of major twists, and it has a unique art style. It's well received, with an 8.5/10 on MAL, and is somewhat of a mix between The Monogatari Series and Spice & Wolf -- though I don't think it stacks up to either of those two. Here's Demo saying why it's really good, and Digibro saying why it's really bad. 

     I liked Katanagatari well enough, but it did have its problems in my mind. The show is pretty episodic, meaning that it spends entire episodes on an idea and group of characters, and then never really brings those things back up in later episodes (except for major plot points). This is only a problem because there were some episodes that were about characters or ideas that I just wasn't interested in. On the flip side, some others were fantastic, and got me really excited to continue the series. 
     The comedy was also really unique, and as I mentioned, is easiest to compare to Spice & Wolf. Though some of the comedic moments seemed to fall flat, when it connected, I found it very funny. 

I found this on yande.re, I think it might be official art?

     White Fox was the animation company behind Katanagatari, and that's one of the best things about it. The quality is outstanding, and the art style is unique and beautifully animated. In the episodes with lackluster plot, I could at least get engrossed in the visuals.
     I liked Katanagatari, but I don't think I would recommend it to myself or ever re-watch it.
     

The Things That Aren't Important

     Before we really dive into Katanagatari, it's worth noting that there's a lot going on, and it's tricky to sort through what is and is not important to talk about. For example, the protagonists are (to an extent) driven by their duty to the shogunate, but that's only important to progress the plot, and not for the overall message of the show (or this blog). 
Similarly, the witty dialogue and extremely human (read as: complicated) motives and character interaction dominate the series, and if those things don't appeal to you, neither will this show. But again, this doesn't add to the message at all. Even the title gives us an idea of what the premise is -- lit. "Sword Story" -- without conveying the message of the show.
     However, this is all simultaneously what Katanagatari is about, and it makes it really difficult to talk to someone who's never seen it about what it is without spoiling it. With that, you get your last spoiler alert. 

Katanagatari is a Story Worth Telling

     And that's it. The end result of Katanagatari is utter failure for everyone involved, and that nothing was changed. 

鑢七花 by Nod

     Here's a rundown on the conclusion: It's revealed that the entire journey was a premeditated process to transform Yasuri Shichika (The protagonist) into the perfect weapon [against his will], and it works. Kiki Shikizaki, the man who put this plot into motion and who made the 12 "perfect" blades many years before, saw a future of Japan becoming globally obsolete and wished to avoid that future by killing the shogun with the perfected Yasuri. 

     Togame dies, bested by Princess Hitei, and Yasuri's love dies with her. The swords that she and Yasuri spent the entirety of the show collecting are all destroyed, giving the journey seemingly no purpose for those involved, and Togame's presence in history becomes insignificant (other than for being the catalyst for the perfected Yasuri in death, which again, really doesn't have much meaning in and of itself).

     Shichika does in fact kill the Shogun, but the next heir succeeds him, takes his throne, and Japan lives on as it was. It continues on the original path, and the future that Kiki Shikizaki saw comes to be.

     Immediately, Katanagatari seems like a story about failure, right in line with its conclusion. Initially, I assumed the message to be something like this: 

Some things you just can't overcome. Sometimes the biggest kid on the playground is the strongest kid on the playground. Sometimes the puppet-master cannot be overcome, and accepting that is a part of life.

     That message could even be expanded further -- to the incredible force that is fate. It's a grim message, but one that I thought matched the tone of the ending and fell in line with the conclusion of the journey.

     The narrator, however, sheds some light on the real message. Despite everything turning out to be for naught, Nisio Isin argues that Katanagatari was still a story worth telling. So I return to my initial question: 

What Was It That Was Worth Telling?

     The answer to this question is what makes me as fond of this show as I am. There really wasn't anything about Katanagatari that made it worth telling at first glance. Again, there didn't seem to be any real moral to the story, and there definitely wasn't a victorious ending. A grand lesson wasn't learned, and nothing seemed to be overcome. 

I need to learn Japanese so I can source images better.

     The problem isn't Katanagatari, however. It's in this way of thinking -- that a good story has to have a goal accomplished, whether it be happily ever after or otherwise. Again, nobody walked away from Katanagatari successful. Not even the antagonist(s). So what's the point?

The point is that the characters of Katanagatari lived.

     There's a few variations of a cliché I often hear people say when they state what would validate their lives: 
"All that matters in life is that I leave my mark on this world,"
"I want to be remembered," or
"I want to change the world with my life"

     The point of Katanagatari I believe is an argument against this cliche. None of the characters of Katanagatari made a mark in the world, and in fact, you could say that the world was largely unaffected by their presence. To the people who would validate their own lives with these common saying, the lives of these characters logically were worthless. Again, I think Nisio Isin's message with Katanagatari is an argument against just that.

     If you even for a moment enjoyed Katanagatari, it was a story worth telling, and the lives and other things within it had meaning.

     I genuinely believe this, too. There are things about Katanagatari that welcome extra thought, and indulging in them is as rewarding as any other critical thinking.

What is There to Think About?

Togame

    Togame is an interesting character (though perhaps more clever viewers would argue that with me). She's introduced to us as a "good guy," and a romantic interest and partnership is very quickly formed around her. Initially, I accepted these rushed developments as something comparable to Senjougahara in Monogatari. 

時すでに始まりを刻む by  木崎七

"...the moments between Araragi and Senjougahara become less important. They're already established, and you, the viewer, have to be sold... that there is no real threat to that relationship."

- Excerpt from Extra Pulp OJ, Finalemonogatari pt. II

     In hindsight however, throughout the journey, we see that Togame was never really that good of a person. Her romance with Yasuri was very forced and unnatural, and she was never really that nice to him. In fact, she used him down to her final moments, and intended to continue that trend had she survived.
     On top of that, every single other character either questioned Togame's character, or outright said that she was a bad person. If anyone in Katanagatari was bad, it was her.

     Of course though, it's not that black and white. Togame was relieved to see that this journey ended prematurely with her death. She came around to sincerely loving Yasuri, and didn't want to kill him when the journey concluded (though she said she still would have). She seemed to only be able to continue her life with an ultimate goal in mind, and that life seemed hollow to her if she allowed herself to be caught up in anything else. She wasn't a bad person to the core, she was just living with herself the only way she thought she could. It's an interestingly fresh take on death being a sweet release, and the whole scene was one that kept me teetering back and forth between sadness and relief, and then guilt for feeling relief -- etc. etc. It was a really unique moment, and one that I don't think I will ever see the likes of again.

     It all gets even more interesting when you bring up the rivalry between her and the Princess, Hitei. Similarly, the viewer is spoon-fed the idea that Hitei was a bad person. Of course, she was an antagonist (albeit not the main one), but the only person who ever said anything bad about her was Togame. Again, that gets stranger the more you think about it. 

Hitei, the Rival

     Since she was Togame's rival, naturally Princess Hitei was also not the bad person that we were led to believe she is. Togame also never explicitly said that Hitei was a bad person, only that she got on her nerves, and was in fact her rival. 
     Also, the end result Hitei chased was in ways a good one. Hitei wanted to see Kiki Shikizaki's plan out for no reason other than to "see what happens." If it succeed, then she believed that Japan would have a better chance to change its ways in hopes of staying a global power, ensuring its people's prosperity. If it failed, then we weren't throwing that possibility away, and nothing really was going to change anyway. 
     Of course, you can't look past the fact that she was more than okay with throwing away lives for her cause. Though this includes Togame, it goes much further than that. She took it upon herself to ensure that Yasuri became the insane, perfected weapon that would kill all who stood before him.

ずっとね by みくに

     Though this dynamic of bad-with-good-motives and vice-versa is interesting, I still find the most entertaining part of her character to be her rivalry with Togame -- specifically, how playful it was. Hitei and Togame loved to get under each other's skin, and they both knew fully well that they couldn't both accomplish their goals. However, neither of them ever said that they hated the other, and Hitei even mentioned that she was somehow sad to see Togame gone. I believe the reason that Emonzaemon's serious demeanor bothered Hitei so much was because it was so against everything that she saw the situation as. If it were recorded historically, it would seem like a hostile rivalry that was perhaps over-cautiously handled by Hitei, but if you asked her, I think she would remember the whole affair fondly.

Shichika and Death

     The motive for Yasuri's epic finale at the castle seems apparent, but it's a little more than what it appears at face value. He claims that he came to the Owari Shogunate Castle to die, but I don't believe he ever entertained the idea that he could be killed by anyone [there]. 
     What Yasuri wanted from this showdown was for the Yasuri Shichika that acted according to Togame to die. In simpler terms, he wanted to prove that he no longer operated according to the criteria Togame placed upon him. It's important, however to understand this as Yasuri dying, because as he puts it, he "can't do anything without [Togame]."

     First of all, Togame told Yasuri to avoid ever hurting himself. By showing up to the castle, he deliberately put himself in harm's way, and in as much of it as possible. Secondly, as Yasuri worked his way up, he destroyed every Deviant Blade that he and Togame had collected. This accomplished two things:

1. It destroyed the physical items that bonded Yasuri to Togame
2. More importantly, Togame had told him to never let the swords be damaged. Yet again, this was him proving that he was no longer acting according to Togame's commands.

     The third important thing for Yasuri was for Emonzaemon to face him in this death battle. More specifically, he believed that Emonzaemon was the only one who could "kill" him. There's an interesting level of understanding from Emon- to Yasuri that's, as they see it, unique to the two of them.

     If you recall, or somehow missed it, Emonzaemon changed his name. He did so after his village was annihilated by the Maniwa Corps. well over 100 years ago. In a sense, he became a new person and took a new name to signify that. His death was mental, not physical.

     Yasuri wanted Emonzaemon to be the proof that Yasuri, Togame's sword, was dead. There are a few more additional elements to this act -- it was Yasuri's defiance to simultaneously avenge and disobey Togame by killing her killer, and a sword cannot act on its own, so by him acting, he was obviously no one's sword anymore, just to name a couple -- but the mutual understanding is the most important element. 

     Of course when this is all said and done, Yasuri still has life after Togame to address. When you look at the state of Yasuri's life after the journey, it's not a pretty picture. For one, he killed his sister, who he very much loved, with his own hands for the sake of multiple people who were using him.

刀語 by 白谷

     By the story's conclusion, he has no family, no home, and no place to really go. He should be wanted as the man who killed the shogun, and the love of his life is now dead. He's probably the most powerful person in at least Japan for nobody's benefit (other than there being no one who can really harm him). 

     And yet, he moves on and lives on. He's able to walk alongside the woman mainly responsible for Togame's death, and decided to do something with himself, using his knowledge from the journey to map out Japan (which is something that hadn't ever been done well before). I like that he chooses to do this, because it's what Togame believed she would do at the journey's end, so it is in a way a tribute to her. However, she had asked him to spread the phrase "Cheerio!" across Japan as a triumphant slogan, and it seems as if he refuses to do that. He's finally able to live his life without being manipulated or secluded.

Conclusion

     There are so many aspects like this -- too many to write about -- that make Katanagatari a completely different show than what it's actually about. Despite the fact that nothing in it seems to matter, and that every conflict and death are pointless, they're worth telling. When I write, I have a hard time worrying about whether or not something is worth stating.

But that's Katanagatari's secret, Captain. None of it matters. 

I can't believe I'm going to end this post on a meme.