<p>I strongly suspect the use of katakana here is just to give an archaic flavor to the typography. Historically (pre-WW2 or thereabouts), <a href="https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14849">katakana was actually used in many contexts where hiragana is used today</a> - not just for loanwords (note, though, that even today, <a href="https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1930">katakana has other uses</a>). In the same vein, the show's typography exclusively uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABjitai" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pre-simplification <em>kyuujitai</em></a> kanji rather than their modern <em>shinjitai</em> counterparts. </p>

<p>Formal pre-war documents were frequently written in the "Monogatari style", so to speak - look, for example, at the 1890 <a href="http://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E3%83%8B%E9%96%A2%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AB%E5%8B%85%E8%AA%9E#.E6.9C.AC.E6.96.87" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Imperial Rescript on Education</a>, which uses exactly the same style: <em>kyuujitai</em> and katakana.</p>

<p>I don't think there is any deeper meaning to the use of katakana, in and of itself. Maybe there is something to be said about the archaic-flavor thing viewed as a whole, though. (Personally, I suspect the thing to be said is just "Shinbo thought it looked cool this way".)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-28T07:24:10.560Z
2015-02-28T07:24:10.560Z
2017-04-13T12:43:49.183Z
senshin
<p>I noticed that in all of the typography (except for the episode titles), the anime Bakemonogatari exclusively uses kanji and katakana, instead of the usual combination of kanji and hiragana. For example,　</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>「貴方をみる」</p>
</blockquote>

<p>would be </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>「貴方ヲミル」</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In my experience, katakana is usually only used to sound out words from other languages, so this just seems weird.</p>

<p>Is this purely a stylistic choice by Shaft, or is there some deeper meaning?</p>

<japanese-language><monogatari-series>
Why does Bakemonogatari exclusively use katakana?
# Why does Bakemonogatari exclusively use katakana?
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-02-28
I noticed that in all of the typography (except for the episode titles), the anime Bakemonogatari exclusively uses kanji and katakana, instead of the usual combination of kanji and hiragana. For example,

> 「貴方をみる」

would be

> 「貴方ヲミル」

In my experience, katakana is usually only used to sound out words from other languages, so this just seems weird.

Is this purely a stylistic choice by Shaft, or is there some deeper meaning?
**Tags:** japanese-language monogatari-series
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## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2015-02-28. Score: 14 | Accepted answer
I strongly suspect the use of katakana here is just to give an archaic flavor to the typography. Historically (pre-WW2 or thereabouts), [katakana was actually used in many contexts where hiragana is used today](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14849) - not just for loanwords (note, though, that even today, [katakana has other uses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1930)). In the same vein, the show's typography exclusively uses [pre-simplification *kyuujitai*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABjitai) kanji rather than their modern *shinjitai* counterparts.

Formal pre-war documents were frequently written in the "Monogatari style", so to speak - look, for example, at the 1890 [Imperial Rescript on Education](http://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E3%83%8B%E9%96%A2%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AB%E5%8B%85%E8%AA%9E#.E6.9C.AC.E6.96.87), which uses exactly the same style: *kyuujitai* and katakana.

I don't think there is any deeper meaning to the use of katakana, in and of itself. Maybe there is something to be said about the archaic-flavor thing viewed as a whole, though. (Personally, I suspect the thing to be said is just "Shinbo thought it looked cool this way".)
---
