The Supernatural Light Novels That Inspired The Monogatari Series
Light novels have been a titanic source behind the lion's share of seasonal anime over the past decade, resulting in entirely new popularized genres and some certified classics. It's hard to imagine that light novels would be as popular as they are in Japan without the influence of one man, however: Kouhei Kadono, the author of Boogiepop.
Having started in 1998, Boogiepop is a young adult series of novels and short stories, with multimedia adaptations and spinoffs expanding on the source material. It is a supernatural puzzler with horror elements pertaining to the psychological, paranormal, and otherworldly, praised for its unconventional and captivating narrative. The series is about an entity known as Boogiepop that appears on earth, inhabiting the body of one Touko Miyashita, and fighting powerful entities that endanger the world. These range from otherworldly threats preying on humans, to superhumans with powers and the aim to misuse them.
FEATURED: Scariest Moments in Horror Anime
The DNA of Boogiepop can be found in numerous popular light novels that have gained popularity within the last two decades, if not for its exact atmosphere, then for its plotting. Kadono wrote Boogiepop in such a way that information was often conveyed in pieces, asking the audience to put them together. The chapters were told from multiple characters' perspectives, often with the timelines overlapping. Nisio Isin's Monogatari series takes a lot of cues from Kadono in how its narrators switch and the ways the story is told. It's the same series that makes a joke out of skipping chapters in its own story and then points it out, a joke that lovingly carried over to the anime.
Kinoko Nasu of Fate/Stay Night and Garden of Sinners fame, although
Read more on gamerant.com
