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This review is spoiler-free.

Let me open by saying Bakemonogatari is in the top 20% of my "top 5 anime of all-time" list. I fell in love with it near instantly, in the middle of Episode 2. Perhaps it's because I'm a (huge) Studio Shaft fanboy, or I like Nishio Ishin's (the writer) work; for whatever reason I enjoyed it immensely.

The unique characters and their interesting development is something I haven't found since, in fact Bakemonogatari's made me more alert to shows with lazy character development.

Senjougahara, my favourite of the series, was a very intriguing character and I genuinely found myself feeling sympathetic towards her when they went into detail on her backstory. I've never seen tsundere personified in such a unique manner.

The sheer beauty of the scenery was a big thing; some of the backgrounds are phenomenal. Sometimes I forgot to pay attention to the dialogue because I was entranced by the beauty of the mountain scenes (the Snake arc).

A lot of the time watching the show was spent just admiring the effort that must've gone into making it so pretty. The whole thing's eye candy.

Even the fansevice was creative! The scene early on, with Senjougahara naked in her bedroom and plenty of generous cleavage/panty shots, was different. Usually it's "Look at these boobs!!1!!1!1 Upskirt shot!!11! Buy the Bluray for uncensored!!!!1!1!1!" but in Bakemonogatari it actually fitted with the story and I didn't find it obtrusive. It takes skill to make fanservice not feel like it.

It's still hands down one of the best things I've ever watched, disregarding the above. 9/10. read more