Ranked #80

Bakemonogatari

Let me get this straight, I am usually quite a harsh reviewer when it comes to anime, i.e. if something is very typical e.g. Midori no Hibi, I will give it a 3 as opposed to the 5 of mediocrity.

Now with Bakemonogatari on a temporary airing hiatus due to airing times being bought in packets of 12, I will write a review for what I view as THE masterpiece of this season.

Summarized review: Bakemonogatari is hands down one of the most unique shows I have ever seen, not because of its story, but simply in the way it is presented. There are the flashing panels of text that many people pause the show just to read, there is the most self-aware tsundere character that everyone cannot help but adore, there is the unusual colour scheme that makes itself apparent in many a scene; the most memorable of that being the fight scene between Kanbaru and Araragi.
Bakemonogatari is also extremely dialogue heavy, making it even more unique, as most animes tend to express their storylines through action opposed to dialogue.

Complete review:

Story:
The only place where I see Bakemonogatari fall short of perfection.
The story is presented in several different arcs that deal with a different oddity each time,
1st arc - Weightless Senjougahara
2nd arc - Lost Cow/Snail Hachikuji
3rd arc - Monkey Paw Kanbaru
4th arc - Nadeko Snake
5th arc (incomplete) - Tsubasa Cat
Due to the nature of presenting a story (or several if you want to look at it that way) in arcs certain characters are often omitted for several episodes, read: Senjogahara, whom I feel should have played a more central role, however as there are 3 episodes remaining the show may have a chance to redeem itself on this front.
That being said if Bakemonogatari were not to be presented in this fashion I would not know how it would fare, as this method of presentation suits its unique aspect very well. All in all, it is not a downside, just something that could be improved on slightly.
8/10

Art:
Absolutely amazing, the characters are very attractively drawn, none of that overly sized bust sized female filler characters that are oh so prevalent in other animes.
The backgrounds are often presented in an abstract fashion and seem somewhat disjointed from the main focus, this being the characters; this works wonderfully though, as it gives that eerie feel to the atmosphere and suits the whole abstract style of presentation, i.e. flashing text, small parts omitted from certain scenes that are replaced with a black panel.
They are also moments where the art is extremely simplistic, i.e. when Araragi helps Kanbaru clean her room, yet at other times it becomes extremely well detailed, i.e. Nadeko Snake art, the backgrounds that surround the shrine are so amazing that I was actually in awe.
10/10

Sound:
First off, I am not usually an anime music fan, there will occasionally be the odd song that I find tolerable, or even catchy to listen to, but for the most part when I watch an anime I skip over the OP's and ED's without a second though. (I am actually a metalhead)
However, Bakemonogatari's OP's, namely Staple Stable, are without a doubt, excellent. In addition Bakemonogatari presents different OP's with different arcs -
#01: "staple stable" by Chiwa Saito (eps 2, 6-7, 11-12)
#02: "Kaerimichi (帰り道)" by Emiri Katou (ep 4)
#03: "Ambivalent World" by Miyuki Sawashiro (ep 8)
#04: "Renai Circulation" by Kana Hanazawa (ep 10)

The 2nd one, for the Hachikuji arc was hilarious, and I found myself giggling at the pure ridiculous-ness of it.
Now the ED, it is... outstanding, it simply blew me away. It is one of the most beautiful songs I have EVER heard, in fact, there was a period of time (2 weeks) where I almost listened to it nonstop, it is THAT good.
In addition, it also incorporated amazingly well into episode 12 that makes it all the more beautiful, both the episode and the ED.
The BGM is also very suitable, for some of the funner scenes i.e. Araragi cleaning Kanbaru's room it is quite upbeat. Fighting scenes, there is that creepy sort of music that increases in tempo and builds a great atmosphere.
For the 12th episode there is some very appropriate romantic music that is a very good buildup to the ED. All in all, the music fits in amazingly where it is needed and I cannot think of a single instance where it failed the show in any capacity.
10/10

Characters:
The characters in Bakemonogatari are for the most part, very unique.
There are only a few qualms I have with them, namely, Tsubasa Hanekawa (Class president), and Nadeko Sengoku (pretty much fan service for lolicons).
These two characters are quite the typical outfit, and tend to conform to anime stereotypes.
Hanekawa is your typical class president who is extremely knowledgeable and overtly nice, yet strict with the school rules. This is slightly amended by the fact that she does indeed have a dark past, and parent issues (spoiler, will not reveal further). All in all, not that big of a qualm.
Nadeko Sengoku on the other hand, whilst, yes she is the 'cutest thing ever'.
This does not save her from having a very, very typical personality, she has a pseudo-brother complex thing going on (Araragi isn't her brother by blood, but he essentially has been one to her is and is quite a fair bit older), in addition to being extremely shy, speaking with a voice to suit it (cutesy, reserved); and being extremely scared of talking with anyone else apart from her love interest. However, it is not such a big of a deal as her arc is only 2 episodes long and she is still on a tolerable level.
Qualms aside, Hitagi Senjougahara, best character ever, she is not just your classic tsundere such as Shana or Taiga, as she openly acknowledges her tsundere-ness (although Araragi calls her more of a 'tundra'). That aside, she is also extremely intelligent and her verbal bouts with Araragi are a pleasure to listen/watch. It is no surprise that she is a favourite of many a fan.
Araragi Koyomi - he is like Kyon in a way, the cynicism and all, yet he is truly a kind-hearted sort of guy who cannot ignore any oddity and feels obligated to help.
He also does not fall into the oblivious, idiotic, shallow, typical male harem lead that is sickeningly abundant. Despite his failing grades (with the exception of maths) he has a very sharp wit and can match the others in the numerous verbal spars throughout the show.
Overall, a very likable character.
Kanbaru Suruga - she is... unique to say the least, a sporty sort of girl with a dark secret. She is also somewhat of an exhibitionist and very interested in Araragi's fetishes. However, despite being humorous she is NOT simple comic relief, there is depth to her character, and viewer can empathize quite easily with her predicament. Another strong character.
Side Characters - Oshino Meme / Shinobu - Meme is quite the awesome fellow, suitably enigmatic, has the ability to burst onto the seem and just solve everything, quirky, in other words, he has all the traits of that enigmatic, eccentric guy who is amusing in his own way. I think he's bloody awesome.
His name (Meme) also appears to have some sort of moe connotation to go along with it, this is very misleading as he is a middle-aged man living in a construction site of sorts.
Shinobu is a very minor character yet she is notorious for being very 'cute'. There isn't much else to say about her apart from that she used to be a vampire.
10/10 (The qualms are small, and easily counteracted by the other amazing characters).

Enjoyment:
The unique presentation, amazing art, soundtrack, BGM, deep and amusing characters.
All go to towards making a delightful viewing experience, that will in one scene have the viewer part smiling to him/herself at the dialogue and in the next moment mouth agape at Senjougahara's daring rom(antics), the action scenes will have you on the edge of your seat in addition to thinking to yourself, 'That Araragi is so dead, so dead.'
10/10

Overall : 10/10

TL;DR
There is none, this show deserves better than that, read the full review; better yet, watch the show if you haven't already.
(Plus there is a summarized review at the top if you didn't notice, however, I still recommend you read the full review.)
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**Monster Story**

Gatari is voicing form of Katari. Katari is a tale which by oral tradition, is passed down from generation to generation. Thereby, the words "Bakemono" means monster and "monogatari" means story. Thus, you get "Bakemonogatari" which is an anime that contains tales of monsters.

Alright, enough of the trivia. Let's get down to business.

Story: 9

It'd be very difficult to describe the story without letting out spoilers. With that in mind, I can only tell you that Bakemonogatari is a collection of monster tales that are revelant to life. The story depicts surrealism and "supernatural phenomenons" amongst people, which occur when the main character, Araragi, interacts with them.

Art: 10

Once again, SHAFT saves the day! SHAFT is well known for their artistic techniques to portray abstract scenes. Their other works, such as Ef - A Fairy Tale of the Two, are very much similiar. Bakemonogatari utilizes many, unique camera angles that are relevant or not relevant to what is being said. Such scenes could be the sky, cars, the character's hair, etc. Additionally, multiple screens and walls of text pop up to give the viewer a sense of abstract understanding.

Sound: 10

The music is amazing. I don't really know anyone who dislikes the OP and Ending themes. To make Bakemonogatari interesting, director Akiyuki Shinbo, allowed only a few episodes to have certain OP/Endings and mix them so it won't get boring. Indeed, it's nothing like your standard anime where there is the same boring OP and Ending played over and over. The insert music is also very excellent.
OP:
#01: "staple stable" by Chiwa Saito (Eps. 2, 6)
#02: "Kaerimichi (帰り道)" by Emiri Katou (Ep. 4)
End:
#01: "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari (君の知らない物語)" by supercellxnagi

Character: 8

The reason for the 8 is because, I feel the characters aren't being introduced thoroughly. Of course, it's understandable that Bakemonogatari will only be 15 episodes - thus they have to "pack and condense" the character development (Tales) to fit the 15 episodes. Had Bakemonogatari been 24 episodes though, I think overall character growth would be KILLER. The romance between tsundere-Senjougahara and male lead-Araragi is pretty nice, however.

Enjoyment/Overall: 9

Beside the story and character development-in-15-episodes, Bakemonogatari deserves a good two thumbs up. Also, for a anime having a tsundere female, I'd say it REALLY stands out from Shakugan no Shana or Zero no Tsukaima. Albeit the many interesting anime coming in 2009, Bakemonogatari is certainly something else. It's unique because it stands out from your traditional anime. It is as if Bakemonogatari is wearing a green shirt while the other anime series wear white.To put it bluntly, Bakemonogatari offers this sense of upmost perfect surrealism that is damn near addicting.

Bakemonogatari (Monster Story) is definitely a MUST-SEE.



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The story follows third year high school student Araragi Koyomi; a past vampire. Over his spring break he was attacked by a vampire thus turning into one. With the help Meme Oshino, an expert in the field of oddities: Who helps Araragi become a human again with payment. The series has a set of chapters, with a heroine in each chapter being induced by an oddity. This show is full of word play, which is the author's strength in his writing of the light novels.

The art in the series is nothing less than spectacular. The lighting, the animation, the colors is just all so beautiful. The scenes that would be plain have some sort of interesting aspect and life to it. This is done by Studio Shaft (one of my favorite studios) so it's very familiar to those that have seen Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei or Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase. Which are fantastic as well. And yes, Shaft does make use of production slides and storyboards for dialogue or just for some effect on the situation. CAUTION: Some of the storyboards/production slides go by really fast. You're going to have pause to read them.

The sound is great. I'll mention OPs and EDs. The OPs are great, different ones for chapters and they fit well based on the heroine of the chapter. The ED is by supercell (they did the theme for Cencoroll as well) is fantastic, the animation in the ED is personally a favorite of mine. Now, to the real sound that counts, the BGM. It's great, fits every scene well and adds emotion to them as well. Very well done.

The cast of characters is all over the place. Araragi is overly kind and tries to help anyone he can. Amongst the heroines there are the basic characters that stick out. There is Hitagi Senjougahara who describes herself as a tsundere. She speaks in a very threatening way to anyone. Suruga Kanbaru, a self-proclaimed lesbian, masochist, and fujoshi. Many other characters appear with other personalities which gives a delectable assortment of characters.

Overall, this anime is definitely one to check out; one of my favorites from this season. With the overtone of spirits, mythological creatures, ghosts, and gods there is room for romance in this anime as well. Chapters are relatively short (limited to three/two episodes for one chapter) but capture a lot of the story through this dialogue heavy anime. An anime to a remember with the great depth of the characters and how the chapters help the characters develop. read more

The moment I saw the few first scenes in the first episode, I was rather puzzled and bewildered with the seemingly abstract visual arts and random fan-services. Despite that, as the series progressed, I realized that this series is basically an experiment.

The way the animation goes, it reminds me of 'Serial Experiment Lain', although both series are not comparable in any sense. However, SHAFT obviously went through some difficulties in catching up with the airing dates. Many incomplete scenes are instead replaced with 'black cuts'. It is really a minus point and sometimes annoying, evidently in Episode 10.

Still, the strongest point of this series lies on the characters. Senjougahara has become my instant favorite. The way she anticipates everything with her utmost calmness and coolness (except at few very emotional moments) ensnares any guys who are looking for the inner beauty as well as the outer beauty. She might be labelled as 'tsundere', but she is the least bit unrealistic compared to any mainstream 'tsundere' characters outside there. Moreover, she has witty sharp tongue and plain sense of humour which never fails to bemuse and amuse me.

Our main protagonist, Ararararugi (sorry, I misspell), is my second favorite. He is quite wise and well-behaved for a typical harem guy. Unlike other harem guys, he is good at difficult subjects like maths (even though he nearly fails all other subjects) and still sticks to his family despite all troubles and decaying bonds. Nevertheless, the series has not revealed what stands behind that calm mask of his. He is an unlikely perfect match for Senjougahara.

Other characters, such as the lesbo athlete and ponytail ghost girl also warm up the lengthy dialogues and the relatively slow pace. While the planning of the arcs is not the best ever (some characters regretfully do not show in few arcs, notably Senjougahara), the plot is concluded nicely and very sweetly with a unconventional date between both protagonists. Thus, this story of exorcism and supernatural phenomena is wrapped up in an unlikely manner, a typical teenager romance, but still much better than most series.


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That's my first review. I am Russian, so sorry for bad English.

When I started to watch this series, I thought that it'll be conceptual mystic stories set. It's based on light novels, so it seemed for me to be a bunch of quite interesting, messed up and thrilling tales. But the show that I waited so long turned to become... I can't describe that.

Two words: EPIC FAIL.

When you make a vinaigrette, sometimes it turns to be not a good dish, but a pile of uneatable substance. Seemed that THIS vinaigrette was made from already started products: an unfinished can of corned beef, semi-filled jar of sugared pineaples and some Cup'o'Ramen "with stewed cat and diarrhea rays". We see, people eat this, but WHAT are they eating, they just are not imagining. One of my life mottos are "Consume after recognizing constituents", or your life looks like a Brick Game of already prepared blocks.

Story: 7/10. The stories are not too interesting and quite messed up.

We now estimate this show as food. For example, as a cake.
First, we are based - the shortbread: a thick and rather rough mixture of Monster, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, The SoulTaker, Mononoke and Shakugan no Shana. And a couple of things that do not worthy discuss.
Glazing: modern-fashioned graphics, that were directly taken from the Maria Holic's opening theme, The SoulTaker's gloomy and gothic sceneries and of course, previously noticed Sensei (in this case that was quite polished).

Filling: Ordinary Japanese Highschooler, who SUDDENLY seemed to be UnOrdinary (hello, Shana!), tsundere (not tsuntere, really tsundere with all personal belongings) that often located in close proximity of O.J.H. (Hi, Zero Louise), hippie Senpai (Hare Krishna, Hare Rama - give him a tambourine, beard smelling with cigarette smoke, and he will look like some computer geek. Welcome to Battle Programmer Shirase's universe), fearful Loli tsundere (though I would even say tsun-tsun) - say "hello" to Clannad (Fuuko) and Utawarerumono (Aruruw).

Art: 7/10. Seems to be quite pleasant.

Now decorate it with the foam of Zetsubou Sensei's unimaginable proportions and style of the dialogues, dilute it with lots of author's namefaggotry (if NISIOISIN is not the namefaggotry, I'll eat my gloves), add messed-up and unfinished thoughts, carefully distinguish the end of Akiyuki Shinbo's ideas and finally we throw in our mixture lots of 3D graphics, which this anime needs, as hare needs stop-signal. Russian idiom.

Sound: 5/10. Nothing interesting.
(and I'll gonna kill Akiyuki for the Maria Holic's opening copying in 2nd episode's opening)

Now we gently cover shortbread with filling, glaze them and put them in the oven.
Once baked - we take cake from the oven and prepare the final step! We decorate our cake with raging popularity in Russia, monstrous title forcing during the anime boom in Russia and serve. Help yourself ... to choke yourself. I'm sorry.

Character: 1/10. It's all the same shit. (c)

What I am talking about? Sometimes these "cakes" are very, very tasty. But in the case of Bakemonogatari case is absolutely the opposite.
Personally, when I was waiting for anime, it was sure would be interesting, the conceptual and the original series. But all that I saw in the cake - unpleasant impressions: poorly baked shortbread, the artifacts in the filling, icing with no taste.

Enjoyment: 2/10. Enough said.

And most, really, most important - it is wild, simply raging series'forcing compared with the same great and mighty Sensei. One time it ever was at the first place of the Top-10 of World-art, Russian anime database. Where are Kino no Tabi, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Monster?! It's still at Top-5, But I am confident that the situation will be in this case is exactly the same as with the notorious K-ON, which was a nothing more than a tea club anime.

Overall: 3/10.

But! Because I am Russian and Bakamonstroidus (bleh) is becoming more and more popular in our country, and you may know, that lots of Russian anime-fans are quite... quite a crowd of bogans covered with anime-badges, Naruto, Elfen Lied and Death Note geeks, shouting "NYAA KAWAII", and also freaking yaoi fangirls. (I am not a patriot, wapanese-kun, aha) So that's because it is popular among THESE people, my final score: 2/10.

Cake turned out not to be tasty, series are conveyored.
Akiyuki-sensei, we're losing you! read more

In this anime series bakemonogatari, i would like to compliment to the story writer who ever made this series up a great job and the artwork.

Great artwork with the time and quality it must of taken great bit of work and the ideas of how it was drawn and scenes that pointed out into each episodes were out side of the box which did a great thing in persuading people and for people who is watching the series to question more about it. Excuse me for my grammar. :p

Thing is so great about that makes up the story is the characters, each character have their own unique standards and the person who did the story writing did a great job on keeping the characters on standard. And to compare most anime series would sometimes have people with all happy personality and yet there is almost like no flaw to them.

What is also great about the characters is that the script was done well, with teasing the people and a few sparks behind them. And some perspective that people might expect from the story is that a bit of irony and the opposite what the view would be thinking, which sometimes bring in comic-relief, and the way of how main character talks Hitagi-san is a complicated character but a friendly one, at first its a bit tense but as the story goes on you'd like want to fall in love with her with her personality. But as the two main characters in the story is a funny comic-relief and a romance its a great story together put with one character being a serious tease joke and the other being a clumsy nice guy.

They did greatly on how the story comes together, and usually there aren't many anime series that would do great in to put in order, and like for instances xam'd was put in a really "in the middle of nowhere" which was totally confusing at the beginning of the episodes and made me not wanna watch it.

And oh yeah... I forgot to add one part of it is that the scenes had great flash forwards when they show part of the episode in the beginning to make the viewer question which is a great persuasion technique in stories and etc. And it relates to japanese sayings "on the moon there is a rabbit making mooncakes" or something like curses.

Overall, I think this series is one of the best one yet I've seen; however, that is just my opinion of thinking. but this story has great storyline, relates to reality and fictional, romance is cute, story is put together really well, a few teases in the story, and the characters are the really great that is really important into this story Bakemonogatari. read more

Bakemonogatari/Ghostory

Koyomi Araragi has always lived a normal and peaceful life until the day he was attacked by a vampire and became one himself. Meme Oshino, a man living in a old building, helps him become a human again, but still, in the end, Koyomi gains some vampire powers. From there on, his life changes as he starts meeting people who also have problems with ghosts, spirits, gods, monsters, etc.

About the story/anime itself, from 1 to 10, I would give a 9 only because of my own choice of not liking much seeing the idea of watching more than one subject in a anime. Even so, Bakemonogatari is organized and interesting. It makes you want to see more and more, even if one of the arcs finish because you never know what comes next. Somehow, there is also a connection between the many arcs in the series that doesn't make you lose your interest.

The art is wonderful, if not, perfect. The many scenes in various points of view and the well expressed characters' emotions are simply amazing. It's hard to find words, it just seems more and more close to the reality.

The soundtrack is indeed beautiful. I specially love how there are multiple openings for each character/arc. The sound if soft and nice, the lyrics just reflect the character's personality/thoughts. It just fits pretty well in this anime, in a good way.

The characters may be sometimes misunderstand, but they all have a personality. It's not only shown the virtues of them, as well the defects. Their stories are really out of the ordinary and you may sometimes get easily tricked about a character's real personality.

In the end I can only finish this review by saying: Watch Bakemonogatari. This will probably be one of the best animes for the next years since the story and the art themselves are just wonderful and amusing. read more

This was a very weird show, I have not watched anything in the last 6 months or so, and I started this on a bored day, And I was surprised.

First things first, this is not for people who can not take a slow paced mysterious story. If you like things being answered right away, and if you want answers to questions like who is he, whats their history, what the hell just happened?, you aint getting em, Because this is no death note. But it is Bakemonogatari.

Story, Like I said are 2 main characters and nothing is never fully answered about the other ones, and even the two main ones are pretty mysterious. Being a supernatural kinda show, it sticks to that theme pretty much all the way to until the last episode. (If that is episode 12 even though here it says 15 for some reason.) There is really no story line here that will get you hooked, except for the romance between the two main characters. And the Romance also has its weird supernatural kinda twist on it, but it is just enough to keep you watching.

Art, Brilliant, with beautiful establishing shots and moments of true sparks. Towards then end though the animations get a little choppy which i guess is expected for these series often run on a limited budget. But besides a few damages to the animation towards then end of the series, the series overall is very well presented. The colors and atmosphere is completely different then anything in recent memory, the art truly deserves a 10

Sound, Just as amazing as the visuals, the right high piano notes at the right time, though if we are talking about the openings, I'm not too fond of jap music, but as for the sound track, very well composed that keeps the atmosphere that the art so well represents.

Characters, Again you don't get to know too much about any character but ever character is unique in their own way and very nicely presented. But again besides the attitude of the main characters I was not too interested in what other characters had to say.

Enjoyment, This is obviously not for everybody, but it is for people who enjoy something different and unique over all that leaves you with a weird feeling, and I mean weird, you might be thinking about an episode for a while after you finished it while your eating serial ( read more

first i pick the anime because all the pics and other Review, and i see the OP in youtube, the truth is you will not get what you want.

even that Bakemonogatari gave you the look of action bloody anime but it all about dialogues, about ghost, life, love, sex and mostly Japanese language

Story
the story bescliy about araragi hoe help other Character from phenomenon
that happen to theme, in horror them taken from folks storys Jap or not.
It have to maney dialogues that can make the anime be weard and boring
[9/10]

ART
I can't say bad things about that part :)
[10/10]

Sound
if it about the OP/END songs i'm not that mach into theme, thy good but not masterpeace.
but if these about the Voice Acters, Ararage and Senjougahara have rely good one , and there Meme to.
the sound effects and backgrande music was cool to.
No complaint :-)
[10/10]

Characters
these the show strong point, Ararage ,Senjougahara and meme are one of the best Characters in 2009, but Ararage and Senjougahara remind me by kyon and haruhi , other thing the other Characters good to , Hanekawa and Kanbaru are remarkable Characters in these show.
[10/10]

Enjoyment
that the worst part :< , long dialogues , to many TEXT WALLS and weird directing .
but mace you wanna see it all
[8/10]

directing
In MAL there no slot for that, they need it for these director only.
[10/10]

Overall
nice anime to watch if you in the mood for that kind of thing.
[9/10] read more

a very trippy story you may have to watch episodes 2-3 time each to get it all an extremely unique way to do the animation at first i thought it was weird its grown on me quite a bit character development is rapid but not to much so over all this anime goes on my list of new favorites the first episode is a little different but stick with it i know you will like it