his relationships with Izumu and Hitoshiki are like Incredibly questionable no way he doesnt swing that way right

We've learned at the end of the story that kanami and Akane swapped identities before visiting the island as a prank, just as Rei and iria. Kanami and shinya planned it to kill akane so kanami gets to actually become Akane and steal her identity.

Now my question: How did akane not notice that Kanami walked when they were on the island? Everyone knew that she couldn't walk, that's why akane had to act like that and use a wheelchair. It's also suggested that the kanami that swapped with akane, is probably not even the real kanami, which I also get. But still, HOW did akane not notice kanami just walking around???

I see these and many other similar artworks all over tiktok, but I cannot find any leads of where it is actually from. Does anyone know?

Feel free to change the rankings in the comments!

less important, why does she lovlovlovlov ii-chan? did that happen as the result of ii-chan breaking, destroying, shattering, obliterating, rending, annihilating her?

Every version i find has a different page count, im not sure if the contents are different or if the only difference is the amount of words per page, and is the only version the official translated one?

I finished the series last year (vol 1-9) and its left such an impact on me that I decided to order vol 1 and 2 from amazon. The quality they came in was almost flawless, except for the cover of vol 1, which had been bent inside of the packaging. Im gonna return vol 1 and hope for a fresh copy which does not come with a bent cover.

I’ve known about nisio for a while through my favorite anime ( monogatari) and recently saw a TikTok with tomo in it so I decided to try this one too. I instantly got pulled in and wanted to see more after finishing the anime, so I found a doc someone posted filling in the gaps the anime left and am looking to read the novels, can yall give me a website to read them online for free?

what is it?

I watched the Hitagi End arc of the Monogatari Series but nothing after that, and I read Decapitation, Strangulation, and Suspension of the Zaregoto series. I wish Psycho Logical was officially translated into English so I could read it. I don’t want to read a novel on a screen, or learn how to read Japanese.

I want to read zaregoto. I have heard that Swaytranslations is the way to go. And also vol 4 and 5 are from Dutchangel. Are they really save and how are their translations?

I know this is a recurring topic in the community, but what is the actual difficulty that stops zaregoto spin-offs from being fully translated? I see monogatari having all short stories translated meanwhile we can't find a single piece of Saikyou series, for example. Is it the raw? Is it the fact nobody cares that much?

"To love someone is easy, but to keep loving them is hard. Just as to murder someone is easy, but to keep murdering is hard."

Here, two seemingly polar opposite propositions are presented: "to love" and "to murder." Yet, Nisio Isin places them on the exact same footing.

Question: "Why do you love her?" Answer: "Because she is beautiful, talented, and cute."

Question: "Why did you murder him?" Answer: "Because he took away my younger sister's future."

All right. As you can see, whenever we are asked why we love or why we kill, we always have reasons to justify those actions. Typically, these reasons are objective, rooted in external factors.

But let’s not debate the morality or the right and wrong of these two propositions. Instead, let us turn the mirror back upon ourselves and ask:

"If those qualities didn't exist, would you still love her?" "If there were no hatred left, would you still commit murder?"

Perhaps now you understand what I’m trying to convey. You love because you want to; you murder because you want to.

An infatuated lover who loves for no reason at all; a killer who murders simply because he wants to kill.

Reasons are nothing more than post-hoc tools used to justify a desire that already existed deep within the heart from the very beginning.

And the real question is: Do we actually have the courage to face that raw desire?

Just finished vol 1 and I was very happy with this novel; very excited to read further.

Now for my question

when the supposed Iria-san shows her unscathed wrist, li-chan is in shock. This makes little sense to me. It is never asserted she has scars except when Teruko claims this, however she has been labelled a liar. We also know the Iria that li sees getting changed was actually rei, with no scars. But how does her showing him at the end throw him into confusion?

1. Psychological Pt. 2, really liked how much the dynamic between Ii and Tomo was explored. Although, cast's a little bland compared to every other volume.

2. Cannibal Magical, Ii's development was peak, the talk between Ii and Miiko was cold yet so heartfelt.

3. Uprooted Radical Pt. 3, best in cast and plot, highlights how much Ii truly changed. Magokoro's character was fun to analyse.

These top 3 are interchangeable.

1. Strangulation Romanticist, one, Zerozaki, two, presents Ii's character and philosophy, at least, way more than volume 1.

2. Decapitation Cycle, it still amazes me how much was foreshadowed.

3. Uprooted Radical Pt.2, on one hand, Zerozaki's appearance was absolute cinema; on the other, Zukin, an almost unrelated character, died.

4. Uprooted Radical Pt.1, it's good, just felt like setup, most of it.

5. Psychological Pt.1, dialogue was fun but sometimes a little boring.

6. Suspension, shortest volume, weakest cast, it's good.

Peak series.

I have finally finished all 9 (sort of all) volumes of Zaregoto. While I'm currently reading V10, here is my current order of preference for every Zaregoto volume so far (I haven't reread them all yet, so it is subject to change)

1. Kubishime Romanticist
2. Kubikiri Cycle
3. Cannibal Magical
4. Psycho-Logical part. 1
5. Kubitsuri High-School
6. Uprooted Radical part. 1
7. Psycho-Logical part. 2
8. Uprooted Radical part. 3
9. Uprooted Radical part. 2

Needless to say that was something to finish such an awesome series (what a masterpiece). Perhaps this shouldn't even be made into a post, but I'm not really sure, so I'll update if needed ! It's all nonsense anyway though.

I’ve read 1-9 of Zare so far, and it’s been amazing but it’s such a hassle to find all the translations. I want physical copies to read. What action do I have to take to get Vertical to do something about this?

Jokes aside though, he's such an amazing MC, there's truly something beautiful and mystifying about NISIOISIN's writing, and I think I got to see that on a personal level with Ii-chan the most, I love him 💗💗

I've never been to Japan so I have no idea what sort of things go down there.

If Ii-chan ever gets a motive to do something, or a goal, from what I've seen in v3, does that mean he's a walking catastrophe in essence, to the point not even Aikawa can stop him? This is what's seems to be implied, so correct me if I'm wrong

This post discusses the most fundamental elements of Zaregoto, so it is naturally low on spoilers. Feel free to read if you want a broader perspective on Zaregoto to better enjoy the work later on.

Zaregoto (The Nonsense Series) is narrated and led by a character who refers to himself as "I" (boku) and is often called "Ii-chan" by others. Consequently, most—if not all—of the plot and progression develop through "my" monologues and actions.

If we look at it from a high level, Zaregoto seems to follow a very common "motif":

• Ii-chan "accidentally" gets dragged somewhere.
• He meets various characters and engages in banter that few can truly understand.
• An "impossible" crime occurs.
• Ii-chan continues to talk about things both related and unrelated to the case.
• Twists appear constantly.
• The case is solved or revealed by another character.

Throughout Zaregoto, the case or the mystery elements are always positioned at the center of the story. And in a detective story, the detective's mission is to find the culprit.

However, as mentioned above, the person who reveals the culprit or the MO (modus operandi) is almost never Ii-chan. He does not play the role of a detective; therefore, he isn't "allowed" to provide the answer to us, the readers.

1. So, who is "I" or Ii-chan?

He is an outsider, a person who babbles about everything in the world, someone indifferent to the sight of a corpse. In other words, he is the "Reader." Only a "Reader" can be so sarcastic about the story, judge things arbitrarily based on emotion, and joke about plot points with such amusement.

Because he is the "Reader," he is also the "Author" of his own life. Unfortunately, his "Author" side is too vague and negative. He is pessimistic about himself and uncertain about his past and present actions. He denies the "Author" within, preferring to remain a "Reader" or a background character just watching the story unfold.

Ii-chan is someone standing outside the story who is forced into the narrator's role, forced onto the main stage, forced to tell the tale, and forced into the "Author" role that he so desperately denies.

2. "My" influence on the detective story

First, for a detective story to exist, there are three prerequisite roles:

1. The Detective
2. The Culprit
3. The Victim

From here, other roles emerge to make the story more diverse: the sidekick, the witness, the suspect, the police, the red herring, the mastermind, the narrator...

For a story to be logical, the three primary roles must be separate and assigned to different characters. However, this also means that except for those three, all other roles can be played by a single person. And as you might have guessed, that person is Ii-chan.

He is the sidekick who helps the reader understand the deduction process, the witness who narrows down the scope of the mystery, the suspect, the red herring who misleads the reader's logic, and the mastermind who "accidentally" or "intentionally" makes things happen.

Most importantly, Ii-chan is the narrator. Because of this, he is "omnipotent." He can decide to interpret the story in a way that benefits him or in the most mocking way possible for the reader. So, while the events might still happen without him, the story itself could neither truly start nor end without his presence. (This part is just me rambling because it sounds cool, haha).

3. I don't know what to title this part...

Let’s ask a question: "Why does Ii-chan participate in solving the cases?"

Why would someone who doesn't even love himself, who is indifferent to death, and who feels no hatred or disgust when facing a murderer, participate so "actively" in a detective story?

Clearly, if he just sat still, most things would still be resolved. In Vol. 1, if he had waited, Aikawa Jun would have arrived anyway. In Vol. 3, if he had just stayed in his room, the incident would have ended. In Vol. 5, simply calling Nao would have finished everything instantly. There are many ways to avoid investigating, but he chooses not to.

It's because he is bored, and because it is human nature to be curious.

Think of it like the math problem "X + 1 = 2." The moment you look at it, you immediately start looking for X. It's the same with Ii-chan; facing a mystery and trying to solve it is simply common sense.

He is like a "student" forced by the "teacher" (the story) to solve a problem on the board. A problem that looks complex in form but is actually very simple if you understand its essence. The problem is that Ii-chan is an eccentric; he applies every possible formula and calculates every detail unnecessarily. Only to then have a stranger pass by and solve it in the blink of an eye, or have the teacher reveal the answer themselves.

And like an "average student," Ii-chan "forces" the result when time is running out. Like on Crow's Island when Kunagisa wanted to leave early, or at the Mad Demon’s place when Kunagisa's time was fading. He intentionally forces "two lines to be perpendicular or two numbers to be equal unconditionally" just to satisfy the problem's requirements. But as we all know, that answer is just the excuse of a failure, the sloppiness of a student.

4. Conclusion

In the end, Zaregoto – The Nonsense Series is not a journey to find the truth in the way famous detectives do. It is the process of peeling back the layers of a mask worn by a self-proclaimed "outsider." Ii-chan can be the reader, the author, or a sloppy student in the mathematics of life.

If we look closely through the cracks of his irony, we see that Ii-chan isn't truly standing outside. Despite his constant denials, he still moves forward, still "forces the result" of the problem just so someone else can be safe, and still continues to tell this story to us. The fact that he is "forced" onto the stage, forced to face the "Author" side of himself, compels a person who intended to choose a "soul death" to keep interacting, keep colliding, and keep living.

I'm planning to print the unreleased Zaregoto Series books for my own use. I find the covers of the old edition rather ugly, and I want to maintain a logical continuity with the first three volumes, so I adapted the covers from the Bunko editions. I'm definitely not an artist, it's amateur work, but I'm quite pleased with it.

If it's of any use to you, here you go !