Zaregoto Series
Zaregoto

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'"Not a very grand finale, but... hahhh, how do you say it? Hearing the whole story laid out like that makes it seem like such..."

"A masterpiece?"

"No, nonsense", he said, as if he had heard the most disappointing joke of all time.

I felt pretty much like that myself.'
— Conversation between the protagonist and Zerozaki, from the final stretch of the second book.

If you're a spelunker looking for a hidden gem, then dig no further than this. The Nonsense Series (or as the cool kids call it, "Zaregoto") is a series of one-off murder mysteries from the early-2000's, except that it throws everything you know about murder ... mysteries as a genre out of the window, and then lights it on fire before it even hits the ground. And you know the best part about it? It's refreshing.

Being the first published work of the (in)famous NisiOisiN, Zaregoto manages to have some striking resemblances to some of his future works, both thematically and narratively, considering his use of its setting as a "sandbox" of sorts, to test concepts he would later explore in his future works; which I find ironic, considering how some of these very same ideas are better explored here than in his later stories. But alas, what this series has to offer that makes it so good is what we should be discussing here.

Zaregoto's protagonist, affectionately dubbed as the "Nonsense Bearer", is your run-of-the-mill post-Evangelion emo lead, with serious self-esteem issues and one of the poorest social skills sets you'll ever see, to which he makes up with great intuition for figuring out the absurd (aka, bullshit detection) and great inner monologues about some pretty edgy stuff that will make even the most "hardcore" teens have some serious goosebumps. Since calling him the "Nonsense Bearer" all the time would be a drag both to write and read, I'll call him "Ii-chan", just as everyone in the series seems to do for whatever reason.

So, Ii-chan is pretty unlucky, and manages to always wrap himself up into some absurdly convoluted situations involving murders and people with weird accents, where he always has a... well, "trusty" sidekick by his side, such as the genius legal loli and obvious life partner, Kunagisa Tomo, or the hottest assassin in town and self-proclaimed human failure, Zerozaki Hitoshiki, or even humanity's strongest contractor and most absurd person to ever live, Aikawa Jun. The list goes on, but the important thing to note is how each and every character is important in some way or another to Ii's development, which is what forms the meat of this series' content, behind the "murder mystery" mask it so proudly wears. The mysteries themselves, in fact, are never the main focus of their respective volumes, and some of them (like in volume 3's case, for instance) seem more like an after-thought than something that was really planned in advance.

The refreshing part about this kind of setup is how this manages to, ironically, make the setting seem more realistic, in comparison with some other more known mystery novels out there, given how many questions most of the stories these books tell are purposefully left unanswered by the end of each of them; I mean, do you really think every real-life mystery ends with everything uncovered and answered? To add insult to injury, we always (and I mean always) have Aikawa show up after everything's been "resolved" to tell the readers how Ii-chan is such a dork, and missed out on important stuff that completely changes the structure of the mystery we just thought to have "figured out", or how he just plainly omitted information from the readers altogether. Add everything together, and we'd have a recipe for an insulting mess of a plot, right? Well, not really, because Nisio knows his stuff and makes it work. "How", you ask? Simple; by making it not matter in the slightest. Sure, the bad guy got away in the end; sure, the dead person wasn't actually dead; and sure, the killer didn't even have an identity. But who cares at that point?

What makes the plot of Zaregoto so stupidly brilliant is how it's written in such a way that leads you to believe you have everything figured out before the murder even occurred, just to be left second-guessing yourself throughout the whole book, until you're finally told everything that just happened in the end through some top-tier banter between Ii-chan and Aikawa, and realize that, even if you were high during the whole experience, you would never think that such glorious nonsense would be the answer to everything. And you know the best part? It infuriates people so much they stop caring about it after a while; which, coming from a series named "The Nonsense Series", makes me think the author did a pretty stellar job on what he set out to do as a bonafide troll, in all his stunning self-awareness.

If you didn't notice already, I may have to spell it for you, but I've been mocking this series throughout this whole review not out of spite, but out of sheer admiration by just how it doesn't take itself seriously as a mystery and still manages to be an amazing character-study, with some pretty gruesome and heart-wrenching moments along the ride, seeing how every book has at least one scene where Ii has a really personal and touching moment, which always happens to be the climax of its respective book. You see, Ii has a pretty stupid way of looking at life; for him, everything is pretty much meaningless, and seeing that he knows everything he supposedly needs to know, he has not much reason for wanting to be alive (except maybe for taking Kunagisa's virginity, but that's up for debate), which leads him to make some pretty reckless and dumb decisions, such as jumping right in front of a bullet without a second thought, or befriending an assassin just because he has no one to hang out with on friday night, or breaking half of his own fingers just to prove a point, et cetera. "Oh, but what about the things he may not know yet?", you might ask; for him, the greatest stickler of all, that's just nonsense anyways, so it wouldn't be worthy of discussing.

Still, it's pretty apparent how much of an edgelord he is, but he's a good one at that. The way this series handles his character through mirroring him with other people in similar situations, yet inverted positions to his (both literally and ideologically) is not only refreshing, but creates a sense of progression you wouldn't get otherwise, given how more and more insane, yet realistic these people get. At the beginning of every book, he always meets someone like this, which always ends up being a stand-in for a thematic concept that makes a crucial part of his character arc; in fact, I wouldn't consider it a stretch to say that every character exists solely to teach him something, and no one is a better example to this than Aikawa Jun.

You see, even Aikawa, the most absurd human being to ever exist, doesn't know everything as she claims to do, but puts up a great facade nonetheless, and because of that she sees right through Ii's "know-it-all" mask as well (not unlike Gaen Izuko from the Monogatari Series, I might add). The single most fascinating thing about Aikawa is that she presents herself in such an abrasive way, with such a powerful aura, that she completely breaks Ii in every possible level, something no other character directly does. Usually, everyone just puts up with his shenanigans, but not her; after all, she is humanity's strongest contractor, and has no time for his self-pity. And this is where she shines, bringing out the best out of Ii's character without any effort; the way she is able to force her way into or out of any possible situation, be it through brute strength or brain power, and how this is woven into the story without feeling like some lame excuse for a plot tool is simply awe-inspiring, given the nature of her character in the first place. This overwhelming presence, as much as it breaks Ii, it also inspires him to try and take action, instead of jealously trying to watch everything from the sidelines.

A nice comparison I like to draw in every story I experience, to see how it structures itself, would be to compare its characters' behavior with Freud's basic personality theory, which I use to divide every character into three different roles; the id, which would be one's primal instincts and unconscious drive motivating their actions; the ego, one's own sense of reality based on society's expectations of normalcy; and the superego, one's own repressive behavior towards the very same instincts that dictates their actions, often being highly moralistic and idealistic. Of course, everyone has all three of those operating within themselves, and when I say I use these as roles, I mean it metaphorically.

That being said, it's pretty obvious that Aikawa would be the series' id, and Ii would be its superego, which still leaves the ego unaccounted for. And who else could it be other than the mysteries themselves? You see, everything in Zaregoto is dealt in extremes, in polar opposites, which is appropriate, considering the world Nisio created is a pretty hedonistic one; people are always doing whatever they please, inconsequential and oblivious to whatever may happen to anyone else. In the nonsensical world of Zaregoto, everyone is the id, and Ii, being the lone superego, can't take it and just stops caring. When he is made to care though, such as when someone dies and he puts it upon himself to discover who the killer is, it's pretty much unavoidable that he becomes the unmovable object to someone's unstoppable force, on a confrontation of wits when trying to discover the real criminal. And by such opposites cancelling each other amidst its nonsensical setups that Zaregoto manages to create its ego, its own sense of reality and normalcy, on an otherwise unreasonable and hopeless world, not too unlike our's.

I focused mainly on Ii and Aikawa's relationship on this review, but only because it's basically what glues these stories together so perfectly. If I had the energy to do so, I could go on and on about his relationships with other characters, such as Kunagisa, Zerozaki, Mikoko, or even Utsurugi, which all serve similar purposes to what Aikawa does, but on a minor scale. I think it's pretty evident at this point though, that the main focus of these stories are less about uncovering truths or untruths, and more about finding purpose, which ends up being way more appealing in the long run; after all, truths can be made up, but purpose can only be genuine, otherwise it isn't real purpose.

Another thing I'd like to point out is how Ii's coming of age is mirrored through the artwork. Take's style is really appealing to the eyes, and makes everything feel like a fairy tale, as if we were looking at everything through the eyes of a child; those bubbly circles, those huge and round eyes, the colorful and contrasting backgrounds, it not only helps with the atmosphere, but also serves a metaphoric purpose, to showcase just how Ii sees the world around him. As the series goes on, although the style remains the same, it starts becoming less and less bubbly to be more sharp and slick, obviously to mirror Ii's newfound maturity and more realistic mindset, which I find to be a fascinating way of showing progression subtly.

Overall though, I find the work done here to be amazing. The way these stories manage to keep a serious tone amidst all the eventual absurdity, all the while mocking itself without taking away from said tone impresses me even now, and I'd even go as far as saying that it manages to be Nisio's finest work to date; which is funny, considering how this was his debut series. Still, if you were in doubt whether or not to give Zaregoto a shot, I say I'd highly recommend it to literally anyone, as it'll surely be an unique experience regardless of what your previous experiences with the genre, or even with the author were. It's genuine nonsense, but great nonsense nonetheless.

First off let me start by saying that this is series of light novel author Nisio Isin (Bakemonogatari, Katanagatari and Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases). There are are a total of nine novels but only the first two have been translated and licensed by Del Rey with no plans for future release.

The story is a murder mystery that takes place on a isolated island. The protagonist "Ii-chan" and his friend computer genius Tomo Kunagisa are invited to the island by the it's wealthy owner who has invited female geniuses from all over the world for her own entertainment. ... One of the guests is found murder in a "locked room" scenario and the story unfolds...

If you do not like mystery novels don't worry I don't either. Personally, I thought the story was the the weakest element, but it entirely makes up for it with the main character "Ii-chan."

The story is told from his perspective. His thought and actions strongly resemble the main character in the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus or possibly the main character from Onani Master Kurosawa except less malicious. The main character is very indifferent of the world around him. He is the kind of person that makes you think "What the hell is wrong with him."

People must have caught on that the series is great because I bought the first book back in 2010 when the second novel came out for about $5 new. Now it sells on amazon for about $50 used. I would still recommend it even for that price you will not be disappointed.

No spoilers.

The first book's concept is very similar to a standard mystery novel, and is executed very well. It just allows you to work things out enough that you can piece together clues and figure out flaws within character logic. However, it will be impossible for you to work out what actually happens unless you are an ace detective.

The main character- Ii-chan plays the role of Watson in the novel. He isn't really solving the mystery completely and is only filling in gaps in what actually happens. This of course means the reader is also left unaware of what is truly going on ... until the very end, where the character that has been foreshadowed all along to be an ace detective finally shows up and results in some great interaction between the main character and them.

The cast of characters is absolutely great, each have their own nuances and are clearly defined in a short space of time. One of my favourites is the mind reader character. She has some of the best interaction with the main character and sets up the second novel. Pretty much all the interactions between her and Ii-chan is a build up and foreshadows the events of the next book and the rest of the series.

It's a murder mystery that's well executed, I can't describe it due to spoilers though.

The second book is where is picks up immensely. Ii-chan's character is so clearly defined here that he no longer becomes a viewpoint for the reader but an unreliable narrator for the story. The characters that are introduced in this book are very interesting, and 2 of them are actually quite strange complex characters on the inside but aren't elaborated on for reasons.

The the second book is better than the first and slowly bridges the way out of the mystery novel genre and into something new in the third book.

I highly recommend this series. Currently 2 books have been published in the west and the rest are being fan translated.

Zaregoto is god damn amazing.

It pains me to see how little recognition this series has, and since the top two reviews are from people who have only read the first 2 volumes, as a man of culture, a connoisseur of all things NISIOISIN, I am compelled to write a review to hopefully get someone, anyone, to at least give this series a try.

Now before I start, I feel that it is necessary to talk about Zaregoto’s author. NISIOISIN, mainly known to the anime community for writing the Monogatari series, is..a rather strange fellow, something that I am sure everyone who watched at least a minute ... of Monogatari can pick up on. His distinct writing style, his insane obsession for Japanese wordplay, and his unquenchable desire to subvert your expectations in the most outrageous fashion definitely explains why he is one of the most prolific authors in modern day Japan. His stories are extremely unorthodox, however it’s definitely not something everyone can be into (trust me, I tried multiple times getting people to watch Monogatari only to fail miserably). There are times when he overindulges on the most trivial of details, or have his protagonist/characters monologue for waaay too long, or have his characters engage in conversations so random and useless that contributes almost nothing to the story. One thing is for sure though; everything NISIOISIN writes, you can almost always tell that this is a NISIOISIN story. You can hate his writing all you like, but I don’t think even the most diehard haters can deny that NISIOISIN separates himself from all the light novel authors in the industry.

So, why am I going into great detail on the author? Well, because understanding NISIOISIN as an author is the key to understanding Zaregoto.

Zaregoto is a mystery series where in each instalment the protagonist finds himself caught in a murder case, and it is up to him to solve the mystery. That sounds extremely generic, what was all that talk hyping NISIOISIN to be some crazy maniac about even? Well, every NISIOISIN story sounds unoriginal on paper. Monogatari is about a guy helping girls out in need, wow how original, totally doesn’t sound like typical harem trash; Katanagatari is about a man and a woman finding 12 powerful swords, totally not the 129083th MacGuffin collecting quest story etc etc, you get the point.

Where NISIOISIN stories ultimately deviate from the norm, is in its execution, and how NISIOISIN treats his stories. And boy oh boy, Zaregoto is FAR from the normal mystery series.

It’s not apparent from the get go. Yes, the first volume does something mystery novels often fail to do: giving the side characters a lot of personality instead of just plot devices, and actually making the process of finding the culprit exciting, however from start to finish it’s essentially more or less a mystery; solid and fun to read, yes, but lacking all that genre-breaking, expectation-subverting element that NISIOISIN is known for.

Oh wait, did I say start to finish? I apologise, I meant everything before the epilogue.

In my opinion, the epilogue is when I knew Zaregoto was the beginning of something special. Not to spoil anything, but the epilogue basically changes everything you thought you knew about the mystery. I remembered when I first read it, I was extremely confused. “Why even do that, you wrapped up the mystery in a satisfying, conclusive manner, why further complicate things??” I couldn’t wrap my head around this peculiar choice of NISIOISIN, I simply didn’t get it.

Ah, I was such a dummy back then. You see, Zaregoto isn’t actually focused on the mystery, just like how Monogatari isn’t focused on harem shenanigans; Zaregoto is a character study. A character study on who exactly?

Time to introduce my personal favourite NISIOISIN character, and the most criminally not-talked-about protagonists of all time (forgive my clunky phrasing, I couldn’t bear to use the word “underrated”): Ii-chan. Or is it Ikkun? Ii-tan? The Zaregototsukai???

MAL claims that he’s called Boku, but that’s just lame. I guess I’ll call him the Nonsense User from now on.

Ok, where do I even begin with the Nonsense User. At face value, he’s another textbook protagonist; dry, apathetic, lacking in presence, all qualities that basically scream SELF INSERT. Volume 1 he’s just your usual mystery protagonist; not particularly bright, but smart enough; not particularly entertaining, but decently enjoyable enough. However even then, reading volume 1 there was always a feeling that there was more to his character. Why does the psychic keep tormenting and targeting him? What were the frequent allusions to his traumatic past about? With these questions in mind, I was extremely eager to continue the series, to see the Nonsense User’s true self being revealed gradually over time.

And then Volume 2 happened. Yeah, forget gradual, NISIOISIN just threw me, unprepared and innocent, into the pit that was the Nonsense User’s extremely damaged and, honestly, concerning psyche. Even after reading all nine volumes I still have to say that Volume 2 is by far the best volume of the series, and I believe if you still didn’t enjoy yourself by the time you finished volume 2, then please drop the series. Volume 2 felt like a revelation, an extremely cathartic and yet chilling tale of a man, so depressed and broken, that he makes THE LITERAL POSTER BOY of MENTAL INSTABILITY Shinji Ikari seem like a happy, mentally stable human being. And from this point onwards, the truth of what Zaregoto is actually about is unveiled: this wouldn’t be a tale of mind-boggling mysteries, this is a tale about a broken man traumatised by all the suffering around him that he numbs himself to the world around him, and his journey. Because despite all the pain and messed up things the world of Zaregoto is filled with, life still is worth living. Zaregoto is all about the Nonsense User, and it is all the better for it. Maybe some of you would find him too unlikable for your taste, or find his ramblings, or as he would love to call it, nonsense, too dull, but I feel that he perfectly captures, that sense of aimlessness, apathy and emptiness I believe every human being has felt at at least one point in their life.

Enough ranting about the Nonsense User, how about the other characters? Unlike Monogatari, Zaregoto mostly only focuses on the protagonist and not the other characters, so don’t expect insane development from other characters. Even then, they’re charming enough and play their role well, especially Jun Aikawa, who, being Humanity’s Strongest, serves as an extremely effective foil for our protagonist, also known mockingly as Humanity’s Weakest, and the way she impacts him is a delight to read.

Of course, Zaregoto isn’t perfect, in fact it is FAR from it. The plot of the mysteries is pretty good for the most part, however considering that this is after all something written by NISIOISIN, the pacing can be a really mixed bag. The amount of dialogue and monologue is genuinely insane, and I wish I was joking when I say this, but I feel like it puts even Monogatari to shame. And it’s not as if the subject it tackles is a piece of cake to understand either. Ramblings about identity, self, personality, existentialism, causality, fate etc etc are so common, it makes Evangelion look like child’s play at times. And to be perfectly honest, reading Zaregoto did give me a couple headaches. I often have to stop and put down the book just so that I could rest my mind and make sense of what was going on. The pacing is very much a mess, a trait that almost every NISIOISIN novel shares.

With that said, plot twists are aplenty, and the endings of every novel are stellar, making it worth trudging through the endless barrage of monologuing. Also quite a random note to bring up, but the death rate is also surprisingly high, if you’re expecting the same leniency NISIOISIN gives to Monogatari characters you’re dead wrong.

Honestly, all the things I said about Zaregoto still cannot perfectly encapsulate that chaotic beauty that is this series. I can only hope that someone out there is convinced to at least give this series a shot, because I hold Zaregoto very close to my heart. So, in conclusion, I think that these two quotes are probably the closest thing to getting the Zaregoto series:

“It’s all nonsense anyways.”
“What a masterpiece.”

Zaregoto is nonsense. It doesn’t make sense a lot of times to me, and when it does make sense from a storytelling standpoint it’s extremely jarring. To put it nicely, there’s a lot of bullshit crammed into it.

But all that bullshit, all that nonsense, by conventional storytelling methods, are essentially what makes Zaregoto a masterpiece. It is all that monologuing and rambling that makes Zaregoto the series that I love.

So please show this underrated gem some love. Ok I rambled for way too long, guess who I learnt it from, I’ll leave this review here.

Have you ever read, watched or played a piece of media that looks like it was just made for you? Everything from the story and characters that just seems to be made for you, that is Zaregoto for me.
I read all the novels, both the official translations and fan translations of the later volumes, when reading this review I want you to undertstand that one, I won't mention Nisio Isin legendary wordplay as I still don't know Japanese and have only read the english versions, two, this is a complete biased review, I love the Zaregoto series, although I ... will try to bring some criticisms, but don't expect much from that, as I love pretty much every aspect of ths LN series.
With all that said let's begin the review.

Story
Zaregoto is divided into 6 parts, separated into 9 volumes, each part tells a different story, the only thing in common between each story is that they always end with one or more characters being killed brutally and the narrator/protagonist "I" which never changes.
The plot seems simple as first, but anyone who read the books know that this series is absolutely insane, and I don't mean insanely good, I mean genuinely insane. It feels like the story was made by a lunatic, this is due to two factors, Zaregoto incredibly unpredictable narrative and how it will constantly try to break readers expectations and do the exact opposite of what you are waiting, the series begins in a way and ends in a complete different way, it's an extremely frustating plot to read, and I love it.
There is something really enjoyable and even comical abouut seeing everything going crazy and ending in a really anti-climatic way, the books are made with the intention of being almost like some sort of twisted joke. I really like the story, but I have to say that it can be overwhelming at times and also it's not something everyone will enjoy.

Art
The art of Zaregoto is strangely simple and cartoonish, which works as a contrast to the fairly dark stuff that happens in the books. It's all very bubbly and cute, which gives you a feeling like there is something wrong, strangely enough even though it's an LN there are no illustrations of images that show what is happening, rather it's all characters illustrations, speaking of which.

Characters
Zaregoto series is character driven right from the get go, the min focus of Zaregoto is always on the charceters and their conversations, this series is a master of characterizing characters and make them feel distinct and unique, almost all characters are memorable in a fun way, all of them with unique quirks and individualitys that makes them fun to see.
I have lots of favorites, the talakative serial killer Hitoshiki Zerozaki, be the creepy, but happy-go-lucky genius Tomo Kunagisa, and others, but the highlight is definitely the main charcater "I". "I" is without a doubt my favorite charcter of all time, his narration is amazing, being a mix of sarcarsm, nihilism and self-deprication, he is the perfect view point character for a series that focus on the absurd and insane, and his character journey throughout the books is phenomenal.

This series marked me, and is something I would like everyone to read, that is how good this book series is, and I can only hope that the next books can be officially translated soon so that everyone can enjoy this bizzare, insane series that is sheer, but beautiful nonsense.

The Zaregoto series upon completion has become my favorite story of all time. Being an avid fan of NisiOisiN's works I expected to love the series but I did not expect it to surpass not only everything he's written that I've read but every other piece of media I've completed in my lifetime.

Characters 10/10
Like any NisiOisiN work the characters are easily the highlight of the story. His signature combo of eccentricity and deeply nuanced writing is present here more than ever before. Many of the characters display some of the most fantastic development I've ever seen while simultaneously just being plain fun. Even the ... less developed side characters are dripping with personality in a way that had me smiling ear to ear.

Writing 10/10
Unsurprisingly the writing of this series is also top notch. Every line of dialogue has loads of character and conversations while long never feel boring with NisiOisiN's almost rhythmic way of writing dialogue. This is another aspect that anybody who's experienced his body of work will already be wholly aware of his prowess in. Essentially every character speaks in a way unique to themselves.

Plot 9/10
The plot in most NisiOisiN stories isn't exactly the focus. His narratives are always deeply character driven and often don't have very traditional structure or pacing. This is by no means a negative though as I feel in regards to plot Zaregoto is the strongest of his works I've read. On an arc by arc basis the series jumps from murder mystery to mind games to full on battle shonen and each and every one is fantastic. The strongest of the arcs plot wise would actually be the first arc due to it being a deceptively standard (by NisiOisiN standards) but still brilliantly executed murder mystery. In the end anybody coming to a NisiOisiN work isn't really there for the plot even if its extremely good in this series in particular.

Themes 10/10
The themes of this story are numerous and deeply impactful. Delving into things such as the importance of connection and self love. The thematic struggle shown is one of learning to cope with the pain in life and how this acceptance of pain will allow us to grow into stronger and happier people. Many different coping mechanisms for each individuals struggles are shown in order to portray the many healthy and unhealthy ways people deal with pain and struggle in life. Upon its completion of many character arcs the story then delves into a rejection of fatalism (Belief that the course of the world is pre-set) leading to a deeply powerful and humanistic conclusion that simply upon retrospective brings me to tears.

Setting 9/10
The setting of this series by some miracle I thought impossible is surprisingly deep and multifaceted. NisiOisiN is often know to even more so than plot throw setting to the way side in order to focus entirely on character writing and thematic strength. Despite that Zaregoto's world is fantastic with the atmosphere in many locations being palpable despite the complete lack of setting pictures in the books. The varied people and groups of the world give it a constantly exciting feel as each new location and group brings more understanding to the way this insane world of geniuses, assassins, and people who surround them functions day by day.

Presentation 9/10
This isn't the most consequential section due to Zaregoto being a novel series but the art and character designs drawn by artist Take who's know for also doing the character designs for Katanagatari and the modern Pokémon games are fantastic. The designs are unique hitting a middle ground between Saturday morning cartoon vibes and traditional anime designs. No matter what Take is working on I'm always blown away by the amazing color usage and expressiveness displayed in her work.

Individual Novel Ratings

1- Decapitation 8.75/10
2- Strangulation 10/10
3- Suspension 8/10
4- Psycho Logical Part 1 9.25/10
5- Psycho Logical Part 2 10/10
6- Cannibal Magical 10+/10
7- Uprooted Radical Part 1 9.75/10
8- Uprooted Radical Part 2 10/10
9- Uprooted Radical Part 3 10+/10

Zaregoto Series could be one of the best works that I have read in my life. It mix a lot of elements and tools that make the story so enjoyable and intriguing. I've read the first 5 novels that are available in english/spanish in internet, and I'm desperately waiting for the rest.

The first volume is highly entertaining, since the beginning when they showed the scenary and the first death. Anyway, You can check the anime if you don't want to read this volume, although reading is the best option.

The second volume is my favorite of all the series, and probable my second one in my ... personal list of all kind of books (first is Murder on the Orient Express of Agatha Christie). This book tells the story after the crow island, when we know in depth the personality of the main protagonist "Li-chan" and his misadventures both in the university and in his daily life.

And the other three are the same in many ways, a mix of emotions, sensations and obviusly non sense and despair, but how can i say it? You can only know what I'm talking about if you read the series (I'm a little tired to relate them). If you can watch and read zaregoto, please do it. You can't loss this whole series.

The first volume is more traditionally a mystery novel than the rest of the series. It has a case, the narrator acts as the detective who the solves the case, and a blue haired girl named Tomo Kunagisa acts as his assistant. Nisioisin subverts a couple tropes to keep things fresh – the detective, rather than being an all-powerful Sherlock Holmes type figure, is largely unimportant and incompetent relative to the genius-level intellects of the people on the island. The plot is very tight. It’s clear a lot of thought went into considering the case from multiple angles. Nisioisin does a good job at wrongfooting ... the reader into various pitfalls to keep the plot from being too predictable.

Scattered between each major event of the first novel is a series of conversations between the narrator and himself, the narrator and Kunagisa, and the narrator and the residents of the island. These conversations are the real meat of the story and are really what gives the series as a whole its distinct flavour, that flavour being one of doom, gloom, and heavy sadness. As the reader, you’re meant to take the mood created seriously, and sympathize with the narrator’s state of mind but Nisioisin tries so hard to convey a sense of pain and depression that it loops all the way around the emotional spectrum and ends up becoming unintentionally comical. Characters, without any prompting, will walk up to narrator-kun and tell him, without warning – ‘hey you should kill yourself’. These moments come out of nowhere, and happen for no discernible reason. One of the geniuses secluded on the island, a psychic named Maki Himena, routinely shits on our boy for existing, and tells him that he’s dirt and worthless. Again, without any prior motivation or provocation. It’s kinda funny. Not really laughable, but funny in an ironic sort of way. Side-characters aside, the narrator is a pretty funny guy himself. He has a very quirky way of walking into areas of clear and immediate danger without any regard for his safety and with no means of defence. Try as I might, I just have no idea what possible justifications can be made for these moments of madness beyond the simple enough explanation that Nisioisin was very depressed while writing Zaregoto and that this slips in to the writing in the various ways mentioned.

The level of perversion is actually pretty low for Nisio standards, the first three novels are pretty tame, it only really ramps up at the middle and near the end. Nisio’s status as a pervert has always kind of troubled me, not in a moral sense, more so because it’s seemingly at odds with his very righteous attitude. Put another way, he’s very liberal when it comes to expressing his attraction to women, and thus you tend towards the assumption that’s equally liberal everywhere else, but he’s more conservative in his mindset than anything else. Put another way yet again, he’s very concerned with making sure that his protagonists are shown to be doing the right thing, to the point that he feels the need to point out the guilt of his protagonists every time they do something unlawful, even if it’s as something as minor as hopping the school gates like in Kizumonogatari.

There’s also the very strange prejudices his protagonists have towards certain characters. Araragi’s dislike of Oshino Meme’s general demeanour always seemed to me to be unjustified, and the same thing goes for the narrator of Zaregoto and his dislike of his science teacher from foster’s home for imaginary characters. I don’t really have a point to make with this, its just really weird. I don’t think its good to confuse your readers like this when they should always be at least sympathetic to the main character’s feelings.

Anyway, getting back to the series, the first book is, by my evaluation, the most professionally put together. It has the best mystery and the best cast of characters, has the most work put into the foundation and structure of its story, and best showcases Nisio’s general mentality when it comes it writing the series, as shown by the ending. Better explain the ending. At the end of Kubikiri Cycle, the best detective in the world, Jun Aikawa, invalidates the narrator’s hard work and shows him that while he may have thought he had the mystery figured out, he was merely scratching the surface, and that he really had no clue at all. More than the authorially professed theme of the series, ‘people never change’, its this mentality of nihilism, or futility, that best sums up the series as a whole. Zaregoto is not really a glib, tongue-in-cheek series that playfully mocks mystery conventions. It’s a work produced by a man who believes that the work itself is pointless.

The second novel, Kubishime Romanticist, is the best novel in the series, a contender for the best light novel ever written, and is certainly the closest I’ve seen a light novel come to challenging actual literature. It is also the sloppiest entry in the series, with a very aimless narrative and with numerous digressions that serve very little purpose. Nisioisin claims to have written the novel in three days. The book being written in three days is probably what gives Kubishime the greater honesty and pathos lacking in the more polished entries in the series. As explained earlier, Nisioisin’s very conservative in his way of thinking and this is probably for the worse, as it probably leads to him self-censoring himself and not writing what he really means half the time. However, since he didn’t have time to think in the three day time span, he likely instinctively wrote what he truly thought and felt to a purer degree than what he would write otherwise. The result is that Kubishime is the realest Nisioisin ever gets and the closest the reader ever comes to peering into his mind. It depicts the narrator’s isolation in a very sympathetic and pathetic light, as well as the siege mentality that people get forced into and the doubts they have about themselves when they feel they’re being pushed to the fringes of society. It’s very compelling, very honest, and very moving.

While you may acknowledge my praise as the novel’s dues, I must also point out that there are far too many digressions and ramblings for Kubishime to be a comfortable read. The Zerozaki sections in particular feel completely irrelevant to the main story. They don’t suit the realistic tone of the narrative, and the conversations between the narrator and Zerozaki aren’t very memorable, funny or interesting. You could take Zerozaki out and you wouldn’t lose out on anything in the novel itself, even though Zerozaki is an important character in the later novels. I also don’t like how the narrator lies to the reader at the end. It’s a cheap trick and opens up Pandora’s box on the entire series and all its mysteries, lending credibility to a theory that the narrator could be lying about everything he ever describes both before and after the fact, invalidating every event in the entire series. But maybe that’s the point.

The remaining novels in the series aren’t nearly as interesting to look at and frankly speaking aren’t worth the effort to read. The third novel is an action story, the fourth and fifth are an attempt to return to the roots of the series, and six through nine concern themselves with an antagonist known as Mr. Fox, who has been expelled from causality and seeks to use that one girl that’s been alluded to throughout the novels to get himself back into a position to where he, Mr. Fox, can directly affect the story. It’s very meta and pretty stupid. A bunch of characters die in an attempt to make you feel something. Doesn’t really work.

The epilogue of the last novel is pretty satisfying, I guess, but I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t a slog to get through it all. All the characters in the series are pretty one-dimensional, and Nisioisin not having the sensibilities that I normally take for granted in a writer made it a little tiring for me to put up with him. I wouldn’t put the whole experience as a waste of time – Kubishime Romanticist is something you should at least try to read. Try to read the first two novels at least.