WARNING: This analysis contains SPOILERS for Bakemonogatari and the Monogatari Series Second Season, as well as minor spoilers for Nisemonogatari.
Monogatari (lit. “Story”) is the go-to name for a long-running series of light novels penned by the indefatigable Nisioisin, which center around high-school student Koyomi Araragi, who survives a vampire attack, and thus finds himself having to help characters involved in all sorts of paranormal situations – from ghostly possessions and psychological oddities to mythical apparitions and spiritual beasts from classic folklore. While the multitudes of stories and characters presented in this here series are usually seen as Nisioisin’s best, even becoming some of anime’s most beloved characters, one character in particular gets singled out as being the worst of them all by fans – Nadeko Sengoku. However, I feel that these fans have mistaken intentionally-caused distaste for bad writing, as well as mixing up the terms ‘liking a character’ and ‘liking a person’. So, I’m going to examine her in detail and do my best to explain why people feel the way they do about her, as well as give my personal opinion. Strap in.
But first, some backstory. After dealing with the acid-tongued Hitagi Senjouhara and the lost spirit Mayoi Hachikuji in the first volume of Bakemonogatari, volume two sees Araragi confront the tomboyish Suruga Kanbaru, but before the first part of the series ends, he must aid one more person in need – Nadeko Sengoku, who’s been cursed by the jagirinawa, which causes her body to adopt snake-like scales that will eventually kill her if it persists. With Araragi’s help, the curse is lifted, and life goes back to normal, yadda yadda.
Normal story, yes? Right. In Bakemonogatari, Nadeko was about as normal a character as you could get. She’s a middle-schooler who’s quite recognizable due to her penchant for wearing oversized hats, as well as long bangs that almost cover her eyes, both of which act as her main defense against making eye contact. She often stutters and mumbles (if she’s not staying completely silent), and refers to herself in the third-person. She’s polite, quiet, easily amused, and always goes along with whatever people ask of her. As you can probably tell, she’s quite cute and has no noticeable flaws; the root of her malady wasn’t even directly caused by her own problems or years of suffering (unlike the three girls before her) – rather, she rejected a boy’s love confession and he cursed her out of his own anger. Her theme song involves her singing about having a crush! She’s even voiced by Kana Hanazawa to boot! What’s not to like?
Indeed, Nadeko was your typical moeblob ‘cute anime girl’ in the Nadeko Snake arc, but all that starts to unravel as the story progresses. In Nisemonogatari, despite only making what could be called a ‘cameo’ in an episode, it’s clear that she has changed; having abandoned her usual ‘few sizes too big’ style of clothing, keeping her bangs out of her eyes with a headband, and inviting Arargi to her house. It’s a cute little moment between the two – they play a few games, exchange quips, and it’s nice seeing Nadeko not covered in scales or in a perpetual state of trying-not-to-cry. However, there’s a more ominous shift in personality to be seen here. During his visit, she constantly tries to attract Araragi’s attention by way of flirting, showing off her outfit, and playing Twister. Unfortunately, her mother comes back home before she can continue, and after our protagonist leaves the home, he comments that she “has the glare of a serpent”. Already the cracks in the foundation are starting to show, but surely it isn’t a problem, right? All girls have secret crushes after all.
A few arcs pass, and little is heard or seen of ‘Little Miss Bangs’, but once the Nadeko Medusa arc starts, the viewer can see her real self for the first time. After Ougi Oshino confronts her on her tendency to use her innocence to escape responsibility, she is pressured by her classmates to do something about the recent curses floating around town as her class representative, and, although she doesn’t want Araragi to get involved with her own problems involving the snake deity Kuchinawa, he finds her and takes her to his house to rest. She reunites with her childhood friend Tsukihi (one of Araragi’s sisters), who further questions her on her indecisiveness and the fact that she uses Araragi as an excuse to reject confessions from male classmates. This leads to Tsukihi cutting off her forelocks (her main defense up until this point) and revealing that Araragi already has a significant other – namely, Hitagi Senjouhara, the first person he’d saved after the vampire attack. Still paralyzed with shock and anger, she snaps at her teacher and her class, resigns to Kuchinawa’s request, and becomes a Medusa-like oddity – an oddity born out of her delusions of love and a broken heart – something she willingly accepts becoming just to have her love requited. Following this, she flies into a jealousy-and-envy-induced rage and almost ends Araragi’s life multiple times before she is stopped by Hitagi via phone call, the conflict thereby stops, and Nadeko is left to contemplate her own actions.
It was at this point in the series that people really began calling Nadeko the “worst girl” and “worst character” – for her sudden personality shift; for wanting to kill Araragi; for still having the gaul to say she loves him while trying to stab him to death, for not remaining the shy and cute girl they’d all known and loved.
Nevertheless, something I feel that fans of the series have forgotten when staking their claims of Nadeko being the “worst girl” is that Nadeko, as a person, is not meant to be liked. She’s manipulative, jealous, constantly makes excuse after excuse, lies to herself and others, blames her problems on other people, and actively uses her innocent charm, obedience and cuteness as a front to exploit others and always get what she desires, even unconsciously, and when she doesn’t, she becomes a mess. To quote series antagonist Kaiki Deishuu: “She’s cute, childish, and creepy. She seemed artificial. I thought it was almost as if she was forced to act pretty. She’s got a smile on her face, but it’s a stiff one. She’s trying to use her bangs as a shield against eye contact, or well, it even looks like she’s cowering in fright. What’s she so afraid of?”. To sum it up, Nadeko is an absolutely despicable person in every way, but that doesn’t mean that her arc, or her character itself, is poorly written, nor is she the “worst”, as fans so love to claim.
In fact, when you take a closer look at her character as a whole, there’s a lot to like. There’s plenty of subtle hints and nuances that hint to her real self, like Araragi’s “serpent glare” quote above. There’s also her out-of-character flirting with our protagonist; her whole bedroom looks like a Barbie dollhouse – saccharine, almost too saccharine – and the fact that her first name is the alternate reading of the name nadeshiko (撫子), which is also used to designate a “perfect woman” under Japanese standards – something Nadeko might look like at first glance, but certainly isn’t. Her star sign is Gemini – a sign often characterized as being “two-faced” – and her second theme song is essentially a parody of the first, using similar visual and auditory motifs, except for the lyrics being a lot creepier, signaling her change in personality. Speaking of personality, the long and drawn-out sequences during the Nadeko Medusa arc where she slowly unravels is very well-done, and the scene where she ‘snaps’ at school is incredible, in no small part due to Kana Hanazawa’s voice acting talent. Seeing her show herself for the horrible person she really is, coming to terms with it, and trying to improve, no matter how difficult it may be, makes her arc one of the most interesting of them all.
In conclusion, yes, Nadeko is not a good person. She’s far from perfect, but calling her the “worst girl” simply because of that is undermining her whole character arc and subsequent development. If Monogatari fans could differentiate Nadeko Sengoku as a character and as a person, there would be a lot less animosity directed towards her, and more appreciation for how compelling and engaging she is a character. I’m interested to see how she changes in the future, and if she takes the lessons of her past to heart. Remember: even the toughest of snakes can shed their skin.
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