The Monogatari Series:

Akiyuki Shinbo (1961- ) – The Monogatari Series:

An Investigation of Japanese and Western
Influence on Anime

Tom Pike-Caesar
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Contents
Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 1
Rationale: ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 2
History of Japanese Animation and its Immediate Inspirations .......................................... 2
Pictures of the Floating World – Ukiyo-e ................................................................................. 4
Western Surrealism and its influence ....................................................................................... 5
French New Wave Directorial Influences ................................................................................ 6
Koimonogatari Part 1 and Conclusion ..................................................................................... 7
Figures ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Table of Figures
Figure 1 - Osamu Tezuka, Astroboy, 1963 3
Figure 2 - Kimba the White Lion, 1965 and The Lion King, 1997
Figure 3 - Katsushika Hokusai, Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1829 8
Figure 4 - Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012
Figure 5 - Katsushika Hokusai, Fine Wind, Clear Morning, c. 1830
Figure 6 - Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012
Figure 7 - Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Princess Takiyasha and the Skeleton Spectre, c1844
Figure 8 - Still from Onimonogatari, 2013 9
Figure 9 - Torii Kiyonaga, Bathhouse Women, 1787
Figure 10 - Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012
Figure 11 - Still from Koimonogatari, 2013
Figure 12 - Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012
Figure 13 - Still from Onimonogatari, 2013
Figure 14 - Ando Hiroshige, Ichimaruza Theatre, date unknown
Figure 15 - René Magritte, Son of Man, 1961 10
Figure 16 - Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012
Figure 17 - Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012
Figure 18 - Still from Koimonogatari, 2013
Figure 19 - Still from Koimonogatari, 2013
Figure 20 - Still from Koimonogatari, 2013 11
Figure 21 - Still from Koimonogatari, 2013
Figure 22 – Still from Koimonogatari, 2013
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Rationale:
Until the late 19th Century, Art fell exclusively into three categories: painting, sculpture and
architecture. However, at some point these boundaries became blurred. Thanks to the work of artists
like Duchamp, many Art forms which would, at one time, have been rejected outright as works of art
are now commonplace in galleries. Despite this, some art mediums lack the respect they deserve.
Animation has always held a place in my affections but many see it simply as something for children.
I would like to prove that animation is deserving of respect from an art historical standpoint. I will do
this by investigating the aesthetic and directorial influences of the Monogatari Series directed by
Akiyuki Shinbo, an adaptation of the novel series by Nissio Issin. With this investigation I would like
to explore the balance between Western and Eastern influences on a modern piece of Japanese
animation both from fine art and film perspectives.

Introduction
When Japan opened its borders in 1854 there was an explosion of artistic influence received around
the world but the cultural exchange went both ways and Japan also absorbed influences from the
West. The Monogatari series takes ideas from the West, such as elements of Disney’s artistic style and
mixes them with the style of traditional Japanese woodblock printing. The series is also littered with
motifs from Surrealist art, helping to stress a narrative point. Shinbo does not stop there, he also takes
direction from Western film movements, most notably the French New Wave.

History of Japanese Animation and its Immediate Inspirations

With the invention of film, suddenly artists who were originally stuck to working with a static
medium had a way of bringing their creations to life. This came in the form of animation in the early
20th Century. The most famous proponent of animation was Walt Disney. His company was named
the most powerful in the world in 2016, with an estimated net worth of over £69 billion. 1 However,
this company started by creating simple cartoons for children. Due to the lack of computer technology
at the time, Disney created their work using celluloid animation: where each frame is painted
separately. This method was of course, highly expensive and time consuming; it was a big risk in the
early animation business, as production costs were so high; if a studio’s work was not popular it
could mean huge losses. In the 1940’s animation had had become extremely popular in America but
in Japan it was not as widespread. This lack of popularity forced animators into using cheaper
techniques, such as cut-out animation, rather than the traditional cel animation. Japan’s first fully
animated feature length film was the 1945 propaganda film, Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors.2
Despite this, animation still did not hold any real popularity in Japan.

This was until Osamu Tezuka appeared. He was the Walt Disney of Japan, a man who graduated
from medical school and originally attained fame from his authorship of comic books. Tezuka

1
Dill, Kathryn. Disney Tops Global Ranking of The Most Powerful Brands of 2016. Forbes. [Online] 18 February
2016. [Citation : 31 1 2018.] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2016/02/18/disney-tops-global-
ranking-of-the-most-powerful-brands-in-2016/#b5d0b1f3ecde.
2
Sharp, Jasper. 100 years of Japanese animation: One great film per decade. BFI. [Online] [Cited: 26 1 2018.]
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/100-years-japanese-animation-one-great-film-decade
 Page |3

released his television series Astro Boy (fig 1.1) in 1969. At its height, its broadcast was watched by
40% of Japanese television owners. It gained amazing popularity as the first Japanese animation to be
broadcast overseas. It was Astro Boy which popularised the ‘anime’ style which we see today; a style
which took a lot from Disney’s early aesthetic. Tezuka was a self-proclaimed Disney fan, stating that
he watched Bambi over 80 times.3 Disney’s influence on his work can be obviously seen in both the
writing and stylistic elements of his work. The stories of his animations were some of the first in
Japan to have such a broad scope of emotion and character, whilst earlier Japanese works were
simplistic and functioned less as a story. Many elements of Disney’s signature style can also be seen.
He used large eyes, large, round heads and bold lines, which allowed his characters to be both cute,
likeable and giving them the ability to be expressive, while keeping costs down. Tezuka’s work was
so popular that even Disney paid homage to it. Tezuka’s work ‘Kimba the White Lion’ (1963) holds
remarkable similarities in characters and even some identical scenes to Disney’s The Lion King (1997).4
(See fig 1.2)

Figure 1 - Kimba the White Lion (1965, left) and The Lion King (1997, right)
Figure 2 - Astroboy - Osamu Tezuka
Taken from:
Taken from:
http://www.themovieblog.com/2013/08/how http://www.themovieblog.com/2013/08/how-walt-disney-influenced-
-walt-disney-influenced-anime/. anime/.

3
Schodt, Frederik L. Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. s.l. : Stone Bridge Press,
2007, p 59
4
Butler, Tabitha. How Walt Disney Influenced Anime. The Movie Blog. [En ligne] 19 08 2013.
http://www.themovieblog.com/2013/08/how-walt-disney-influenced-anime/.
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Pictures of the Floating World – Ukiyo-e

We can see Disney’s influences permeating through Japanese animation, however, the films and
series retain a distinctly Japanese feel. If we look back on Japanese woodblock printing or ukiyo-e of
the 19th century, it is possible to see many distinct similarities. These are: the use of deep, striking
colours, the use of colouring gradients, thick lines, flat compositions and the focus on the individual
along with the depersonalisation of crowds.

The first point of similarity is the use of bold, expressive colours. One such example can be seen in
Hokusai’s Great Wave (see fig 3), c.1830, the use of the deep, striking Prussian blue ink jumps out at the
viewer and adds a real sense of weight to the waves themselves. 5 With such an idea in mind, it is easy
to see the focus on colour in the Monogatari series. In this frame, (see fig 4) the character stands as a
silhouette in front of a row of trees, with the deep crimson sunset piercing through. The red is so
powerful that the entire frame is only filled with red and black and shades in between. The black
helps emphasise the deep colour, while the choice of palette gives the scene an eerie and sombre feel;
as a result, the menacing nature of the character pictured is emphasised.

If we look at Fig. 6 we can see another common colouring technique found intensively in ukiyo-e: the
use of colour gradients. One classic example we see of this can be seen in Hokusai’s Fine Wind, Clear
Morning (see fig. 5), c.1840, the deep Bengal red of the mountain’s peak and the greens of the forest
come together in a smooth gradient, almost melting together. This allows the artist to gain the effect
allowed by using the two complementary colours while attaining a subtleness and gentleness that
would not be possible without the use of the gradient. In the frame from Monogatari, (see fig 6) three of
the protagonists stand atop a staircase surrounded by forest. All of the trees are coloured with a
gradient from white to green. The white acts as the leaves glimmering in the sunshine, while the
green represents the greenery of the forest. Drawing and colouring each tree individually would be
time consuming, expensive and would detract attention from the characters in the scene. By using a
gradient, Shinbo can add some interest to the forest, while the block colour helps emphasise how
impenetrable the forest is. In using the gradient, Shinbo has managed to create an interesting scene
while keeping in line with the style of both Japanese art and the ideals of the medium he is working
in.

Woodblock printing naturally causes thick, bold lines. These lines contrasted against the smooth, light
nature of the gouache and complemented the flat composition. In Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Princess
Takiyasha and the Skeleton Spectre (see fig 7), c. 1844 the bold lines help contrast the skeleton pop out of
the background, emphasising its power and destructiveness. 6 In this frame of the Monogatari series
(fig 8), the characters are outlined with thick red lines, which help them to come out of the seemingly
two-dimensional plane behind them. It also draws the viewer’s eye towards them, further
emphasising their position.

The action of woodblock printing itself also intrinsically led to more flat compositions. In ‘Bathhouse
Women' (see fig 9) by Torii Kiyonaga, Kiyonaga’s interest in subject, colour and shape overlook any
concerns for a realistic space; the San Francisco Asian Art Museum says, “Even when artists
borrowed shading techniques from the West, the woodblock process still created an essentially flat
image, one of the special characteristics of Japanese prints.” In Figure 10, we can see that while there is
some attempt at creating a three-dimensional plane, the scene still remains flat. In this still it is

5
Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave). Khan Academy. [Online] [Cited: 30 1 2018.]
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/japan-art/a/hokusai-under-the-
wave-off-kanagawa-the-great-wave.
6
Hajek, Lubor. Japanese Graphic Art. Prague : s.n., 1976.
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important also to notice the white block with text. These blocks were a common sight in ukiyo-e; they
acted as the artist’s signature. This motif acts as a homage to woodblock printing. One such example
can be seen in fig. 5.

There is a clear emphasis during the Edo period on the individual, scenes focusing on a few
characters tend to have intense detail of each person. On the other hand, it is common to see crowds
of unnamed people merging into indistinguishable masses. This is partially due to the technique of
woodblock printing which does not allow for precise detail and partially because in large scenes with
crowds, the focus is on the environment, rather than the people themselves. If we look at Hiroshige’s
Ichimuraza Theatre (see fig. 14), there is a lack of fine detail and individualisation in the people. Their
sole purpose is to emphasise how important and busy the theatre is. We can see this same occurrence
in the Monogatari series, however, it is pushed to further lengths in many cases. In this frame (see
fig.11) the story revolves around the theme of human wastefulness. We see a mass of people throwing
money in order to make a wish; there is no attempt to place each arm realistically and we only see the
action of the money being thrown. This lack of personal detail helps emphasise the wastefulness, it is
not just the people in the frame wasting their money, it is people in general.

With these in mind, it is easy to see Shinbo’s influence coming from Ukiyo-e, however, he makes it
even more obvious as he pulls out motifs from Edo period Japanese art. In Fig. 12,, we see Shinbo
directly using an ukiyo-e style, that of bijin-ga (lit. beautiful person photo). Much like the women
pictured throughout western painting, for the Japanese, the women of woodblock printing were seen
as the idealisations of beauty for the time. Shinbo is taking these two high school girls and portraying
them in the ukiyo-e style to emphasise their beauty. In Onimonogatari, we can even see entire scenes
depicted directly as woodblock prints (see fig.13)

Western Surrealism and its influence

Shinbo does not only use motifs from Japanese art, he takes ideas from artistic movements from
around the world which rotate around his central narrative point, focuses on an artist which he feels
‘personifies’ such a movement and uses motifs from their art to strengthen his narrative. One such
example comes from Koyomimonogatari part 1. We see the ideas of surrealism, personified by Rene
Magritte. The imagery from the episode rotates around the work of Magritte, there is a clear reference
to The Son of Man (see fig. 15), the stone from The Castle of the Pyrenees, red drapery found commonly
throughout his work and cut outs of a blue sky in such works as The Happy Donor.7

The narrative itself tells the story of our protagonist’s old woodworking project. It was a failure: nails
stick out from the splintering wood of the small wooden house, it has failed its purpose entirely. Due
to its failure, it has been discarded haphazardly in a flower bed where a passer-by has placed a stone
in the centre. This has led to people believing it to be a Buddhist shrine, making them leave offerings
and burn incense. This in turn has led to the creation of a small deity in the shrine. As in surrealism
and Magritte’s work in particular, two mundane objects, which have previously failed as their own
objects come together to create something surreal, a deity. 8 The final blow comes when the
protagonist destroys the project to remove the god and takes a closer look at the stone itself; he
discovers that it was not actually a stone but a piece of concrete. He says ‘The stone doesn’t look like a
statue because of the shrine around it. The wooden junk looks like a shrine because there’s a stone in
it. Both stop failing as their own objects.” In using such motifs, Shinbo has managed to strengthen his

7
Paquet, Marcel. Magritte. s.l. : Taschen, 2015.
8
Rene Magritte In Koyomimonogatari. Atelier Emily. [Online] 22 03 2016.
http:/www.formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com.
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visual storytelling, and has given the narrative a visual crux to act as a starting point from which to
develop.

French New Wave Directorial Influences

Film allowed artists to be unconfined to a static medium; film had real movement and brought a new
range of artistic ideas. It is clear to see the connections between the Monogatari series and the French
New Wave, or nouvelle vague of the mid-20th century. The French New Wave’s ideals centred on
moving away from the normalities of film at the time and keeping cost down. This focus on low cost
keeps well in lines with the ideals of both ukiyo-e and early animation. The ideals which we see in
both French New Wave cinema and the Monogatari series are: its editing, breaking of fourth wall,
depersonalisation, dialogue through inanimate or impersonal agents and surrealism in general.9 All
of these ideas remind the viewer that they are watching an animation, it is not real; this allows the
series to portray ideas too extraordinary and supernatural to even be considered real as, which helps
to sustain the suspension of disbelief.

Probably the most recognisable element of the French New Wave is its editing. Scene transitions were
traditionally rare and limited to dissolves and fades. Ever since Godard’s Breathless (1960) filmmakers
were granted a much wider vocabulary, most notably in the jump cut. The jump cut is a highly
surrealist technique, it leaves a gap which must be filled by the viewer’s imagination. In Breathless, we
see the main character talking to himself while driving his car and then we suddenly cut to him being
chased by police, with no explanation of how he reached that point. The Monogatari series takes that
idea and pushes it further, using jump cuts to add emotion and strengthen narrative points. In one
scene, we see the main character engaging in a dialogue with a girl who is verbally toying with him,
withholding information. After each sentence said by the girl, the scene is cut and she is teleported to
another position with no traces of her movement. Her sudden cutting all around him helps the viewer
to feel the confusion he is feeling and emphasises her toying with him.

The breaking of the fourth wall or the inclusion of the viewer in the scene reminds the viewer they are
watching a film in the most obvious way, while sometimes aiding the narrative. In the Monogatari
series there is a great example of both of these points. The films are scattered with title cards,
displaying the chapter number of the novels which is being adapted into film. In one section, a girl
goes to bed with the title card displaying ‘Chapter 7’; when she wakes up the card displays ‘Chapter
9’. She points this out, saying directly to the viewer ‘Huh, Did I miss a chapter?’ This adds to the
surrealist theme while also stating that something important happened during the night. Looking at
Godard’s Pierrot le Fou, when the two characters are driving in the car, Ferdinand turns and speaks
directly into the camera and talks to the audience, when Marianne asks who he is talking to, he
replies simply with ‘The audience.’

In the Monogatari series there is no room for background characters. Originally, in the French New
Wave cinema this occurred due to a new focus on character based stories and an emphasis on keeping
a low budget as hiring unneeded extras is expensive. While in the New Wave, this character focus is
done by simply removing background characters or removing any of their lines, in the Monogatari
series, background characters are sometimes even physically obscured or distorted. In one still, we
can see a series of silhouettes (see fig.16). There sits the protagonist and a series of young girls in high
school uniforms fawning over him. The only recognisable character is the protagonist, who sits in the

9
RCAnime. The Monogatari Series - New Wave in Anime. [Video] Online : RC Anime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJvr_TWofRc
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middle with his trademark tuft of hair ejecting from his head. This reminds the viewer that he is not
only popular with the female characters of the series but with women in general.

Speaking through external agents was one of the ground-breaking elements of the French New Wave.
This is where we hear the audio of the character’s voice but we see something else delivering it.
Probably the most famous example of this can be seen in Godard’s Pierrot le Fou; in one scene we see
the two main characters deliver their lines voiced over stills of French Impressionist paintings. We can
see this same idea in the Monogatari series, when one of the characters lines is voiced over a crow
cawing; (see fig.17) this helps to emphasise the dark, cunning nature of the character due to him being
directly transposed onto a crow, a symbol of darkness in literature stretching back to the bible.

Koimonogatari Part 1 and Conclusion

There is one episode in particular which beautifully encompasses all of these ideas: Koimonogatari part
1. The prologue opens with the antagonist of the series walking through a traditional Japanese
bathhouse. The scene is littered with nods to ukiyo-e: we see a bamboo forest coloured in gradients
while the man walks through striking red gates (see fig.18). He then sits down in his room, not only is
the setting distinctly Japanese but the scene is littered with woodblock motifs, such as: traditional
Japanese flowers or motifs of woodblock signature plates. The man then moves to the main shrine for
the New Year’s visit, a time when it would be inundated with visitors. However, these people are
mostly not present or have been depersonalised to a mass of swirling heads (see fig.19). This is
continued when the man takes a plane to Okinawa, both on the plane and in the airport there he is
alone. Next we see our antagonist sitting in the airport café with a girl. The scene is littered initially
with blasts of yellows, greens and reds, the colours of the café and of the man’s shirt change
seemingly randomly after multiple jump cuts (see fig.20). This is not the only use of jump cuts. We see
the girl lift up her orange juice to throw at him but the moment her arm coils back to throw, the scene
cuts and all we see is the man’s face splattered with juice. The clothing of the scene also plays a
symbolic role; throughout the series characters tend to wear the same outfits consistently so that a
change has more of a dramatic effect. The man is usually seen wearing funerary clothing rather than
the bright Hawaiian shirt he has on. This shirt is completely in contrast to his character: a dark, evil
man, driven by money. In this case, it is used to show his turning of a new leaf as he is about to
commit his first good deed in the series. The Hawaiian shirt is a reference to the one man who helped
the girl in her earlier time of need, a Hawaiian clad monk.

From this episode we can see elements from the French New Wave, Ukiyo-E and Surrealism all
wound together. This truly proves that the Monogatari series is a modern piece of art with influences
spanning across the globe.
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Figures

Figure 4 - Still from Nisemonogatari (2012) – Akiyuki Shinbo

Figure 3 - Katsushika Hokusai, Great Wave off
Kanagawa, c. 1829

Figure 6 - Still from Nisemonogatari (2012) - Akiyuki Shinbo

Figure 5 - Katsushika Hokusai, Fine Wind, Clear
Morning, c 1830

Figure 7 - Triptych of Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre, c. 1844,
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), V&A Museum
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Figure 8 Still from Onimonogatari, 2013

Figure 9, Bathhouse Women, 1787, Torii Kiyonaga

Figure 10, Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012 Figure 11, Still from Koimonogatari, 2013

Figure 12, Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012 Figure 13, Still from Onimonogatari, 2013

Figure 14, Ichimaruza Theatre,

Date Unknown, Ando Hiroshige

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Figure 16, Still from Koyomimonogatari, 2016

Figure 15, Son of Man, 1961, René Magritte

Figure 16, Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012 Figure 17, Still from Nisemonogatari, 2012

Figure 18, Still from Koimonogatari, 2013 Figure 19, Still from Koimonogatari, 2013
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Figure 20, Still from

Koimonogatari, 2013

Figure 21, Still from

Koimonogatari, 2013

Figure 22, Still from

Koimonogatari, 2013
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Bibliography
1. Neupert, Richard. A History Of The French New Wave. Wisconin : s.n., 2007.

2. Hajek, Lubor. Japanese Graphic Art. Prague : s.n., 1976.

3. Gibez, Didier. The Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age. 2015.

4. Clements, Johnathan. Anime: A History. London : s.n., 2013.

5. Napier, Susan J. Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese
Animation. St. Martin's : s.n., 2005.

6. Marie, Michel. The French New Wave: An Artistic School. 2002.

7. Various. The Art of East Asia. Cologne : s.n., 1998.

8. Binyon, Laurence and O'Brien-Sexton, JJ. Japanese Colour Prints. London : s.n., 1960.

9. Godard, Jean-Luc. Breathless. 1960.

10. —. Pierrot le Fou. 1965.

11. Shinbo, Akiyuki. Koyomimonogatari. 2016.

12. Rene Magritte In Koyomimonogatari. Atelier Emily. [Online] 22 03 2016.

http:/www.formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com.

13. Paquet, Marcel. Magritte. s.l. : Taschen, 2015.

14. Butler, Tabitha. How Walt Disney Influenced Anime. The Movie Blog. [Online] 19 08 2013.
http://www.themovieblog.com/2013/08/how-walt-disney-influenced-anime/.

15. Shinbo, Akiyuki. Koimonogatari. 2013.

16. —. Bakemonogatari. 2010.

17. —. Nisemonogatari. 2012.

18. —. Nekomonogatari: Shiro. 2013.

19. Godfather of Anime, Osamu Tezuka. Tofugu. [Online] 21st October 2013. [Cited: 19 1 2018.]
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/osamu-tezuka-history/.

20. Schodt, Frederik L. Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Berkeley : Stone
Bridge Press, 2007.

21. Dill, Kathryn. Disney Tops Global Ranking of The Most Powerful Brands of 2016. Forbes. [Online] 18
February 2016. [Cited: 31 1 2018.] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2016/02/18/disney-tops-
global-ranking-of-the-most-powerful-brands-in-2016/#b5d0b1f3ecde.

22. Sharp, Jasper. 100 years of Japanese animation: One great film per decade. BFI. [Online] [Cited: 26 1
2018.] http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/100-years-japanese-animation-one-great-film-
decade.

23. Shinbo, Akiyuki. Onimonogatari. 2013.

24. RCAnime. The Monogatari Series - New Wave in Anime. [Video] Online : RC Anime.

25. Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave). Khan Academy. [Online] [Cited: 30 1 2018.]
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/japan-art/a/hokusai-under-
the-wave-off-kanagawa-the-great-wave.
P a g e | 13