Bakemonogatari: worth picking up?

Vindstot said:


You don't know who I am, do you?

I'm that guy who prefers old school Anime, and only watches newer stuff in small doses. What you consider "Great Stuff" is likely not of interest to me at all.

Working_Designs said:
I've never watched Bakemonogatari(And I never will,) but I will say this. If you hate Tsunderes, and excessive fanservice, don't watch it, because it's apparently full of it.

Comic_Sans said:
What's wrong? You don't like toothbrush rape?

Working_Designs said:
[spoiler]
Yeah. I don't know who you are and I couldn't care less. Omitting my personal preference, I was talking about the shows in general which were well accepted by majority of people. So in that sense, what you don't find interesting, may actually be great to many people. Just because you prefer old school anime, you can't rule out the fact that some new series are indeed good and well made.

Working_Designs said:


No, I do not. I also find Senjougahara ugly as hell. I can't find anything appealing about Bakemonogatari.

Comic_Sans said:
Not even Ararararagi's pedo face?

aikaflip said:
[/spoiler]
Yes, I watched Magic Kaito a little while ago, and enjoyed it, and I'm currently watching Futari wa Precure, which I'm enjoying very much.

I do watch some newer shows, but I'm very, very picky on what I watch. I find it easier to find good old school Anime because I prefer the way it looks.

aikaflip said:
That reminds me... The Bakemonogatari sequels and prequels probably aren't worth watching.

Feaor said:
I'd strongly disagree, my top 3 favorite arcs are from the second series of the novels, Nekomonogatari:Shiro, Koimonogatari, and Hanamonogatari. The second season is where I think it really comes into its own as the first season (Bake+Nise) is mostly character introductions and the second season is where the characters get really fleshed out and come to terms with their personal demons.

aikaflip said:

But all that lolicon fanservice and incest though...

Feaor said:
That's mostly Nise and tbh, Nisio Isin makes it a lot more palatable than most authors. I see why it might turn some people off, but I thought the writing was much stronger in the three arcs that I mentioned than any of the arcs in Bake.

Feaor said:
That's mostly Nise and tbh, Nisio Isin makes it a lot more palatable than most authors. I see why it might turn some people off, but I thought the writing was much stronger in the three arcs that I mentioned than any of the arcs in Bake.

aikaflip said:
Bakemonogatari is my favorite because it's the most concise and coherent. Monogatari Series: Second Season had some great moments, but I found it to be dense, too long, and less accessible than Bakemonogatari. And Nisemonogatari is just dirty. I'm not saying no one should watch the prequels or sequels. If they want to see them, go for it. I'm just not encouraging it.

avantakiyama said:
I'm a bit of an odd duck in terms of anime enthusiasts in the sense that I don't like a lot things most people associate with anime. Most of these having to do with the romance genre. For instance I really don't care for tsunderes, yanderes, other deres and various other anime stereotypes. Neither do I particularly care for cute girls in their teenage years with additional fanservice as I'm in my mid twenties and it kinda makes me feel like a pervert. In stronger terms I hate shows with a high school setting as I have very bad memories of high school and don't like to see it portrayed in a more sunny light than how I remember it. And if there's one thing I hate above all else it's the harem genre as I feel it's insulting towards women, unhealthy and outdated.

avantakiyama said:
Counterpoint time:

If there's one thing I like about anime more than anything else and whay I continue to wathc it then it's the artistic vision it can give to it's shows. Whereas live action shows tend to be stuck in their narrowminded realism anime can bring much much more experimental and artistic stories to the screen with surreal or outlandish visuals. And I always find that the kind of shows that do that are the ones I love more than any other. Also I really enjoy well written dialogues.

avantakiyama said:
So in simple terms: what we have here is an amalgam of things I love and things I hate. My question is which one is more present? I can put up with a genre I dislike if it brings a strong personal vision to the table but likewise a highly interesting show can be ruined for me when elements I dislike become to prevalent. This show looks really interesting but then whenever I even look at the cover of the DVD case I kinda feel like this is gonna be a big mistake buying it. Hence the question.

avantakiyama said:
Okay so in between all the bickering I got some idea of what the show is like and I am definitely interested.

Final question: how does it hold up in comparisson to the somehat similar and highly praised Mawaru Penguindrum? Cause I am most certainly picking that up this month and I don't want to ruin a good show by watching it right after a better show.

Kagami_Hiiragi said:
Obviously, its a masterpiece and >>>>>>> breaking bad.

notsomacho said:
Too much dialogue

fanbase tries to pretend that the fan service is more than just fan service

aikaflip said:
If you like Tarantino movies you'll probably like Bakemonogatari. It's very stylish and dialog driven.

Lancehot said:
Second season is really good, but I felt it rendered Arararagi a massive cock (if Nise hadn't already done so) because the harem should have disbanded after Bakemonogatari (the harem ends after a relationship is confirmed. That's how it works) but he insists on acting like he's still free & single & ready to force himself into the lives of the girls who lost to Senjougahara. It's cool that it bothers to follow the characters after Bake, but I didn't like how some of it played out.

KLKfanboy said:


no one tries to pretend it's anything more than fanservice

I hate it how the word fanservice is used as if it were something negative

LOLninja said:
Sure, if you like pretentious pandering crap, then go ahead.

Syndiciate said:
I've got to admit I have no idea what tl;dr means. :'(

Kreion said:


It's because he's friend with them? Like it or not, Araragi enjoys the company of pretty much all the girls - the only one who he actively harasses as a joke is Hachikuji and that's even acknowledged in series as a joke. But let's go down the list:



So yeah, he's not really forcing himself into their lives, Nadeko aside, most of them are fine with just hanging with him. I mean, Senjougara's fine with it to an extent so I don't see why you would have an issue~ But I can understand if you don't like some of the stories, that's your choice.




No see YOU'RE the one making a mistake here - it is certainly more than fanservice and if you say otherwise you are just wrong. What I ( as someone who loves the series) deny is that it is ONLY fanservice, or that fanservice is the main point of the series.

Sure, fanservice is a big part of the series and for some people it's what draws them into it - but it is not what the series is about. It's a character based narrative with an underlying plot which is only just now coming to light, since the final season of the books basically explains a lot of why what happened, happened. If you came to me and said "Oh that show's just fanservice) I would endevour to never speak to you again, since clearly you can't see anything PAST fanservice so you don't really know what the series is about.

Anyhow, the Monogatari series is a very tricky one - the style is a big part of it so if you don't like it I wouldn't advise watching the series. No point in forcing yourself to watch something you don't like looking at...

I would say watch up to ep 3, see if you like it, then watch the rest of Bakemonogatari with this in mind: the first series is essentially just an introduction to the world. Also that the Monogatari series is, practically, entirely character focused - it's their stories and lives which you should be watching it for. So expect lots of dialogue and character interaction, any central plot is still in the works and won't come to a head until Koyomimonogatari and Owarimonogatari.

aikaflip said:

Bakemonogatari is my favorite because it's the most concise and coherent. Monogatari Series: Second Season had some great moments, but I found it to be dense, too long, and less accessible than Bakemonogatari. And Nisemonogatari is just dirty. I'm not saying no one should watch the prequels or sequels. If they want to see them, go for it. I'm just not encouraging it.

avantakiyama said:
Neither do I particularly care for cute girls in their teenage years with additional fanservice as I'm in my mid twenties and it kinda makes me feel like a pervert.