KIZUMONOGATARI: Wound Tale

The story of the book is really good, but the condition that the book arrived in, wasn’t all that and a bag of chips.

As any devoted fan will tell you, Kizumonogatari: Wound Tale has been a long time coming. It marks the first time the long-running Monogatari series has been officially translated into English, and although it's technically the third volume in the series to be published, it's the perfect place for both newcomers and folks familiar with SHAFT's anime adaptation alike to jump in. Even taken on its own, it's also simply a darn fine novel.The bottom line is that Kizumonogatari is a treat -- a perfect mixture of tragedy and comedy. Here, author NISIOISIN's love for wordplay and well-crafted characters with big personalities like Meme Oshino and Tsubasa Hanekawa that play perfectly off of each other is on full display, and the novel's occasional raunchier scenes manage to remain lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek without going overboard (which some of his later works fall victim to on occasion). It may initially take a few pages to get used to the writing style, but it adds a unique flair to the internal dialogues of the narrator Koyomi as he recounts his life-changing encounter with the legendary vampire Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade.Concerning the quality of the new English translation, the wordplay doesn't always flow quite as smoothly as one might like it to -- but considering just how entrenched the author's jokes and puns are in the Japanese language, the translator did a pretty bang-up job on getting everything to be the best that it could have possibly been. It simply reads much, much better than any past unofficial translations I've seen. Vertical also did a wonderful job with the book in the graphic design department; it's a beautifully-designed edition, and the newly-commissioned cover art by series artist Vofan is stunning (and fret not, purists: the original illustration from the Japanese edition is included inside, as well!).Overall, whether you're a Monogatari maniac or someone wondering what all the fuss is about, you couldn't ask for a better jumping-in point than here. With a little bit of luck, perhaps Vertical will decide to continue publication of the rest of the series -- and considering both the quality of the writing and of their translation job, I can only hope that they do.

The Moe isn't as hardcore as with the typical Japanese Light Novel.Nioisin did a good job making it not be as cliche as other things in the Light Novel, Anime, and Manga "spheres". Yes we still have the moe in it, for example the "Class President" with large breast and stuff like that, but it isn't the only thing it offers unlike most other stuff in the genre.It actually has a plot, yes you heard me right fellas (or chicks), and even the other books with even more moe than this one, lots more moe, it has more plot than most of the stuff out now a days.If you expect you need to add on a box of tissues with your order, your gonna have a difficult time putting them to good use.Two, Nisioisin puts in a good deal of detail, and the translators in the English version did a pretty great job getting most of it down well. And if you saw the anime, you will notice that the anime did a great job respecting Nisioisin's work (so if you watched the anime first like me you will notice the effort the animators put into making such a fine work of art on par with Nisioisin's novels.Three, the chapters are of a great length that the book flows perfectly to the point where it does not feel like anything is too poorly detailed or filled with too much "filler".Additionally, it gets pretty funny at times and even during a few "non-humor appropriate" parts it blends in perfectly to show you that Nisioisin knows how to make the characters come to life.Furthermore, you may not want to put it down. I for one am not a huge fan of Japanese Light Novels since they can be, well cliche and predictable, but this series does a great job not making it feel like that, even when there are a few manga and anime tropes in it.

I am an avid Monogatari fan. As such, I read this book way before it came out, like around the time the first season of the anime arrived. Honestly, I think I got so much content that I spoiled much of the anime through the third season, though thankfully not much more than that. Anyway, I'm here to talk about Kizumonogatari, or Wound Tale translated into English.This book and its translation are very much how I remember it. Araragi's senseless and often overdramatic views, Hanekawa's brilliant observations, and Kiss-Shot's haughtiness all aline perfectly with what I remember. Not just what I remember though. They also stay immensely true to who the characters are later on in the series, as well as leaving allusions to characters that have yet to be properly introduced. Honestly, I loved this book as it was an incredibly fun read while I was on vacation.As much as I wish I could review this properly, I'm afraid I don't have much experience with what to look out for in books. I enjoyed it and I think that should be enough to convince others to read it. This book is a great entry into the rest of the series, and all of the characters are as dynamic as you'd think they are. While at times some of Araragi's thoughts trail on, I chalk it up to him simply being a very hormonal teenager in over his head. I mean, would you know what to say if you suddenly found a beautiful woman with no limbs asking you to give your life to her? I wouldn't, Araragi doesn't, and I 'm sure most of the world doesn't either.This story is not a happy one. While its incredibly fun in much of the situations and dialogue, this tale is one that ends in everyone being unhappy. Everyone is wounded in every sense of the word, as it should be. No one gets out alive after seeing what's behind the curtain.

I have already watched the whole série Monogatari, but I decide to go deep into the story, the book is awesome and I looking foward to read much more about Monogatari series.Worth your money

História excelente, como qualquer outra obra do mestre Nisioisin, que adiciona mais detalhes que os 3 filmes de Kizu, mas a edição da Vertical deixou a desejar.Pelo preço eu esperava um papel melhor, mas ficamos no bom e velho papel jornal, já a capa é muito boa, flexível e resistente na medida do possível, de resto a edição é perfeita, contando com a arte de capa exclusiva da versão americana + a capa japonesa em uma página colorida, ambas feitas pelo excelente ilustrador Vofan.A novel é um pouco maior do que eu esperava, sendo levemente menor que essa figure da Heart-Under-Blade, que tem cerca de 19/19,5cm.Considerações:Edição; 8/10História; 10/10Preço; 7/10, salgadoNisioisin: Nisioisin 👍Vale a pena, leiam monogatari.

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Eccellente

Una pasada de novela recomendada para todos aquellos que quieran leer algo de literatura fantástica en inglés. Sirve de entrada perfecta a la saga, aunque sí ya eres fan de la misma te recomiendo leerla después de Nisemonogatari o incluso después de acabar las novelas correspondientes a la second season. En ese momento podrás apreciar mejor esta novela, cuya traducción por cierto, es mucho mejor de lo esperado. Lamentablemente por cuestiones de tiempo no todas las novelas de la saga están traducidas por la misma persona (Ko Ransom) y hay variaciones en la traducción. Pero suficiente con que nos las traducen y podemos disfrutar de ellas !