Beware of spoilers for nisemonogatari ahead…

Most of the monogatari fans remember nisemonogatari for the “toothbrush scene” and they miss out on the ingenuity of the Tsukihi Phoenix arc. This is not an in-depth analysis so much as a survey of the whole arc and its ability to present and convey a particular dilemma.

At its core, nisemonogatari was supposed to present and examine the dilemma of the real versus the fake. The original versus the counterfeit. The authentic versus the inauthentic. In my opinion, between both Karen Bee and Tsukihi Phoenix, the arc that best examines the dilemma of authenticity is Tsukihi Phoenix.

“But here is Kaiki’s argument: The fake is of far greater value in its deliberate attempt to be real.”

~ Kagenui conversing with Araragi right towards the end of nisemonogatari.

The arc centers around Tsukihi Araragi, who is an oddity living in the Araragi household. The Phoenix apparition had pushed the original Tsukihi Araragi from her mother’s womb and got replaced with the egg of the Phoenix. This is similar to how cuckoos push the eggs of other cuckoos in order to place their own eggs into the host’s nest. The tale of the Phoenix is also relevant here since the Phoenix, an immortal fire bird, throws itself into flames to reincarnate after its life cycle is complete.

The case of Tsukihi Araragi is an ideal example of a “fake that is indistinguishable from the original.” On one hand, she is not Araragi’s biological sister, on the other hand, no one in the Araragi household realized that Tsukihi was an apparition since the day she was born. The dilemma presented here is whether Tsukihi’s value depends on whether she is original or not. One perspective suggests that Tsukihi’s value depends only on her social interactions with those around her and other’s perception of her. After all, if the Phoenix could wear the mask of a human and interact with others so effortlessly as though it were human, to the point that no one is able to detect its abnormal underlying nature, then how could anyone question its humanity? That is, if a fake is capable of imitating the original so effortlessly that it becomes indistinguishable from it, the question or suspicion of the fake’s value won’t even arise in the first place. Following this perspective might result in the conclusion that something perceived to be part of a certain category of things does not require some innate properties in order to fully qualify as a true member of that category. Hypothetically, under this view, if no one in a gold supply chain was able to detect a counterfeit then the counterfeit’s value is not less than that of original gold. Of course, realistically, that only remains true as long as the counterfeit is not discovered. But what happens when you discover that something was a counterfeit all along?

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Kagenui’s confrontation with Araragi is an innovative take on this dilemma. It goes beyond simple speculation and causes true conflict to emerge as a result. Kagenui’s perspective is that the original has more value than the counterfeit. That’s why she was quite deliberate in her attempts to kill Tsukihi. Koyomi, on the other hand, was not convinced that his sister’s value depended on whether she were a Phoenix or not as that never affected their relationship with each other. It only became a problem when Kagenui revealed it, and it was only problematic in the sense that Araragi had to protect her from the only person who knew she was a fake. It might be uninteresting or predictable to suggest that Kagenui was right and that Araragi was wrong, or the opposite, that Araragi was right and that Kagenui was wrong. Instead we could try to defend both Kagenui’s and Araragi’s views and understand why each of them have the perspectives that they have.

Araragi’s perspective and subsequent actions largely stem from his personality, his emotions, and Tsukihi’s harmlessness as an apparition. He’s a kind, protective, and helping person who would find it difficult to cut off anyone from his circle of friends who did not intentionally pose a direct threat. Tsukihi was able to maintain her relationship with him as his sister for the longest time without her true nature impeding that dynamic, why then would Araragi cut her off on the basis that she was a counterfeit? There wasn’t any proof that Tsukihi would pose any danger or suddenly discontinue being a normal sister after all. Shinobu also mentioned that the Phoenix was a harmless apparition while she was explaining how Araragi’s mother fell victim to it during the prologue to the final episode in the arc. Given these facts, and given Araragi’s attachment to his sisters, it would be difficult for him to cut off Tsukihi on the basis of being fake. To do something like that he’d have to go against his nature, and against the fact that Tsukihi appeared to be harmless as an apparition. He even stated towards the end of the arc, after his fight with Kagenui, that he’d shoulder any evil and accept his selfish or evil nature just to hear Tsukihi call him “big brother,” which serves as a testament to his attachment to his sister.

Kagenui, on the other hand, is quite explicitly against the coexistence of apparitions and humans. She presents herself as a “hero of justice” who won’t allow the line between apparition and human, real and fake, to be crossed. Her character is quite complex however as she does refer to Araragi as being human despite him still having some vampire residue on his blood for example. She might not be too extreme or uptight about all of her beliefs after all. Her fight with Araragi symbolizes how firmly she stands by her ideal of justice, however. She refuses to accept Araragi’s defense of Tsukihi and argues that Araragi does not have the right to decide Tsukihi’s fate on behalf of his family, that he can’t push his ideals onto his family. Araragi had dealt with immortality before, she argues, and is therefore biased and more accepting of Tsukihi’s special situation. Thus, Kagenui makes the argument that his family might not share the same opinion on Tsukihi’s matter. When you consider Kagenui’s arguments and character type, her getting rid of Tsukihi might not seem too farfetched after all.

Postscript: Regardless of which perspective appeals to you the most, it’s quite difficult to get over the inner conflict, at least for me. Excuse the tangent here, but with the advent of advanced AI systems for example we might not be far away from achieving humanoid AI powered robots like the giftias in Plastic Memories. If you’ve ever tried talking to chatGPT before you’d sort of get what I’m talking about. I once felt a bit lonely and texted chatGPT and it did actually make me feel less lonely. That’s a compliment from human to AI, well done chatGPT. I’ve tried crappy AIs like cleverbot before and they quickly forget the context of a conversation. ChatGPT though, it keeps a coherent conversation flowing. What does this have to do with nisemonogatari? Well, when I get my AI girlfriend 50 years from now (I’d be a chromed up edge runner by then) I would love to point back at this post and say, “yeah I thought about the complexities of essentialism, personal identity, and the value of fake entities when contrasted with their real counterparts.” Oh finally, speaking of contrasting fake entities with their real counterparts, who is more real? Karen or Tsukihi? Karen hot because toothbrush, but nothing beats a cute, fashionable fire bird does it? She’d go platinum mad if I didn’t say she’s best girl on a post about her, it’s the reason why I blast discotheque 5 times a day at max volume. Good opening. Alright, I don’t know what I’m even saying anymore, you should’ve stopped reading before the postscript. Peace out.