Kabukimonogatari is the 5th installment of the Monogatari series.  This Arc is based on Mayoi Hachikuji who was first introduced in Bakemonogatari.

The series start off with Araragi Koyomi (the main protagonist – half vampire) wandering around the city to find Mayoi Hachikuji (The wandering spirit) who left her bag at Araragi’s house after visiting him.  After spending the whole day tracking down Mayoi, he ends up at his house failing to find her.  Shinobu (a pure vampire) who lives in Araragi’s shadow informs Araragi hasn’t touch his summer assignments.

Being stressed over the situation that he couldn’t find Mayoi and complete his assignments.  He makes a joke that he could travel back in time so he could finish the assignments so he doesn’t need to now.  Shinbou however informs Araragi that it is possible to time travel back into the past.  With the idea in Araragi’s head, the two set off to the nearby shrine to set up a gateway (portal) to travel back into the past.

The two travel back to the past where land back on the year where Mayoi originally died.   From here the story details about what happens when you alter the past and the consequences that can happen, but you’ll need to watch it as it would be a spoiler.

The DVD/Blu Ray contains no english dub, so for people who have trouble with Japanese or subtitles; this wouldn’t be good.  Through out the arc, there are also lots of puns and references to japanese culture which one may find strange such as lolicon references and other animes.  However for the otakus out there, this will be no problem for you all.

Before watching this series, i do recommend watching Bakemonogatari so you have better understanding of all the characters however watching this before it shouldn’t be a big problem as it’s well detailed.

Review Summary

Overall this chapter of the series was well directed and fun to watch. Following my the previous series, the animation is still retaining it good quality and the animation style also remains. The time travel theme also reminds us of the consequences of time traveling and warns us what not to do! In addition to this we get to see an adult version of Mayoi which is great, plus she looks pretty cool in the combat outfit.