(This is an in-depth review meaning there will be SPOILERS in my review)
[Story]: (9.9/10) (SPOILERS)
Monogatari Series: Second Season is a sequel to "Nisemonogatari" and it chronologically takes place right after the events of Nise. The bee apparition is now gone, and summer vacation where the phoenix apparition averted harm is over. Around Koyomi Araragi and the girls who started a new trimester, apparitions, or perhaps threats even worse, were creeping in ever closer. Monogatari Series: Second Season is an adaptation of a light novels with the same which contained 6 volumes.
I actually mean it when I said that Monogatari Series: Second Season is better than Bakemonogatari. What the show did is take everything from Bakemonogatari in terms of storytelling and plot structure that made it great and they significantly improved it. In other words, it felt like an improved version of Bakemonogatari. Only this time, it's a sequel that's better than the predecessor. A.lot.better!
The series is divided into 5 arcs. Each arc containing a character with new mysteries/problem that Araragi needs to solve. Don't worry, none of these mysteries are the same as Bake. They're all fresh and new mysteries. These arcs are called "Nekomonogatari: Shiro", "Kabukimonogatari", "Otorimonogatari", "Onimonogatari", "Koimonogatari". No wonder, the show's called "Monogatari Series". These arcs are all mini-story packed into one. They could have done the same thing as Bake and Nise by separately releasing all 5 arcs into 5 separate shows but this is obviously more effective.
Now I want to review the 5 arcs without spoiling too much. Expect some minor spoilers though. The first arc is "Nekomonogatari: Shiro" or "Tsubasa, Tiger". If you watched Nekomonogatari: Kuro then by simply looking at the name of this arc, you should already know that this is going to be focused on Hanekawa. Just by watching the first 2 episodes of this arc, you'll notice someone missing. That's right, Araragi. He's not completely missing though, he's just gone for this arc. I'm kinda glad that Araragi is not in this arc. While I do like seeing Araragi in action, Araragi not making an appearance in this arc (he does make an appearance at the end of this arc) gives Hanekawa and Senjougahara more character interaction without Araragi on their sight or else it will just turn into a love triangle. For the most part, the arc shows that Hanekawa can be an independent girl and can solve problems on her own until the ending in which she was saved by Araragi. I really don't know what to feel about the ending of "Tsubasa Tiger". It was nice to see Hanekawa being an independent girl and I would have loved to see Hanekawa solve her problem completely without Araragi's help. Overall, it was still a great first arc with a decent ending.
Next up is Kabukimonogatari or Mayoi Jiangshi. Just by watching the first 2 episodes of this arc, you'll notice something different again. No, Araragi is not missing again. Despite the fact that this arc was supposed to be Hachikugi's arc. It felt like it was Shinobu's arc. Let me explain, the story is focused on Hachikugi. The reason why the arc is happening is because of Hachikugi but in terms of screen-time, Shinobu got a lot more while Hachikugi was almost non-existant. Does that mean the arc was shit? Haha, No! This arc is one of the best arc I've seen in Monogatari Series. It's got a great and clever story. The arc begins with Araragi; along with Shinobu, going back in time because he forgot to do his summer homework. That alone was pretty hilarious. Araragi and Shinobu discovered that they traveled 11 years back into the past. Araragi finds out that they traveled in a time period where Hachikugi was still alive and he decides to save her. However, this messed up the entire world. Everything after that is just awesome. Finding out that they actually visited an alternate reality?!...I am done. I never even thought of that. It's like they threw the "time travel" concept right out of the window. Not only does this arc have a great and clever story, this also developed Shinobu's character even further and made her the most interesting character in Monogatari Series.
Next up is Otorimonogatari or Nadeko Medusa. Ughh, this arc. I have a love and hate relationship with this arc. I love the arc because of the great story and plot-twist and I hate this arc because Nadeko has now turned into a yandere bitch. To be more specific, I hate her more than the arc itself. Look, I understand what Nadeko was going through but turning into a snake god because you don't want to be called cute anymore and killing Araragi, Shinobu and Senjougahara because of your damn jealousy? In my opinion, she took it way too far. She could have moved on because there are other things to do out there besides romance. She acted like it was the end of the world because her romance didn't work out the way she wanted it too. Despite all of this, this greatly builds and develops Nadeko's character. In Bake, she was this cute character that had a problem but in Monogatari Series: Second Season, there's a reason why she didn't want to be treated like she's special just because she's cute. This, in turn, made her into what she is today. A psychopathic yandere bitch. Why psychopathic you ask? She's hearing voices bruh. That voice wasn't even from the snake god.
Next up is Onimonogatari or Shinobu Time. You'll notice something different again while watching this arc. That's right, this time Hachikugi gets way more screentime than Shinobu despite the fact that this is her arc. In other words, Onimonogatari and Kabukimonogatari are kind of flipped around if you think about it. There is a difference though..Shinobu got a decent amount of screentime and most of her screentime was dedicated to explaining what the "darkness" is. To summarize, the "darkness" was chasing Araragi and Hachikuji, they (or we) learn what "it" is, they realize that they can't stop the "darkness" and Hachikugi says her fairwells and goes on to live the "next life". I have to say, the story was fairly simple but this arc developed Hachikugi's character even further. This arc can do either one of these things to you. Break your manliness or be depressed for the whole day. I got the second one. This arc depressed the living hell out of me for the whole day.
Lastly, there's Koimonogatari or Hitage End. In my opinion, this is the best arc out of the 5. Just like Nekomonogatari: Kuro and Otorimonogatari, Araragi is non-existant. That's good, meaning that I get to see Senjougahara; my favourite character in the Monogatari Series, get more screentime. Oh, how I was wrong. While I was watching this arc, I noticed that Kaiki; the main antagonist in Nisemonogatari, is getting more screentime than Senjougahara..I was quickly disappointed but that disappointed quickly turned into a smiley face after the 1st episode of her arc. I can't believe it...An antagonist...was quickly turning into my favourite villians of all time. The moment where he was deciding; on the front of a mirror, whether he should help Araragi and Senjougahara or not, I knew his character was going to get even better and it did. Monogatari Series: Second Season did a wonderful job presenting Kaiki's change in character. The final arc of the series also kept developing Nadeko's character and revealed more and more about her past life and her intentions. I honestly thought that Nadeko was going to be ignored after her arc in Bake because she barely got any screentime in the second half of Bake and the entirety of Nise but I'm glad she's not being ignored. Even though she's now one of the most hated characters in Monogatari Series.
The dialogue scenes that is so ever famous in the Monogatari Series is back and if you've managed to come at this point of the series then you already know that the series is full of dialogue scenes that can last for a whole episode. Some people found the dialogue scenes to be extremely boring, hence the reason why the dropped the series. Let's be real here. If you've come this far then you shouldn't have any issues with the dialogue scenes. I said shouldn't.
Putting the story aside, fanservice in Monogatari Series: Second Season has been reduced significantly when compared to Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari. You can still spot some fanservice scenes like the first couple of episodes in "Tsubasa Tiger" arc and in later arcs but they're easy to ignore and doesn't really affect the serious tone of the show.
"Monogatari Series: Second Second" has one minor issue and one minor issue only. It's the recap episodes. It would have been ok if there was one but there's three. Why?.......Like I said, it's just a minor issue and it affected the show's rating only by .1. Not that big of a deal
Last thing that I want to talk about is the pacing...In my Bakemonogatari review, I mentioned that the only reason why I didn't give the show a 10 is the pacing. It was going pretty fast but not too fast that will make the show a failure like some certain A-1 Pictures anime. Monogatari Series: Second Season's pacing is damn perfect. It's seriously perfect. It wasn't too fast nor was it too slow. It was at a normal pacing and it explained the situation in a smooth manner so I was able to understand what was going on in all 5 arcs without any troubles.
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[Art/Animation]: (10/10)
Now this is the animation that I was looking for Shaft. They didn't have to change the visuals because it was perfect to begin with. What they needed to fix was the lighting because the lack of reflection and shadows in the previous shows was quite irritating and that's what they did here. Indeed, there were some shadows in the previous shows but those were forced. They weren't present all the time. All the weird animation from the previous shows are still here (SHAFT head tilts, messy camera angles, flashing text, etc.).
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[Sound]: (10/10)
Note that majority of the score for the "Sound" category comes from the Opening theme and part of it comes from the Ending theme so it doesn't matter if the soundtrack is crap or the voice acting is crap, it won't affect my sound rating that much. I'm not, however, saying that the soundtrack and the VA is crap because they're not. OST sounds great, the soundtrack sounds great and the VA's did a wonderful job voicing the characters. Especially Nadeko's VA with her supposedly cutesy moe voice. Now, the OP and ED theme songs.
The OP theme songs are "chocolate insomnia" by Hanekawa Tsubasa, "happy bite" by Hachikugi Mayoi, "Mosou Express" by Nadeko Sengoku, "white lies" by the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, "fast love" by Hitagi Senjougahara, and "Kogarashi Sentiment" by Hitagi Senjougahara and Kaiki Deshou. The ED theme songs are "Ai wo Utae" by Luna Haruna, "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" by supercell, "Sono Koe wo Oboeteru" by Marina Kawano, and "snowdrop" by Luna Haruna × Marina Kawano.
If you want my opinions on the OP theme songs, they all sound great. None of them were bad and most of the OP theme songs made it into my favourite opening songs. I love the 1st OP theme song because of Hanekawa's cute voice and the song's catchy tunes. I love the 2nd OP theme song because of the catchy tune. Hachikugi's voice was just an added bonus. I love the 3rd OP theme song because of its effective use of foreshadowing. When I first heard the 3rd OP theme song, I knew something bad was going to happen to Nadeko but what I didn't know is she did it to her self. Watching the 3rd OP theme song again, I guess it also shows her breakdown. Even the lyrics themselves are foreshadowing the character's actions. I don't know what to feel about the 4th OP. It wasn't bad but I would have preferred Shinobu's VA to sing the OP theme song. Well, real life sucks sometimes with all these contracts and other unknown reasons. Then there's the 5th OP which contains 2 versions. The 1st version where Senjougahara was singing and the 2nd version where Kaiki and Senjougahara were both in a duet. I just want to say that the Opening Animation used for the 5th OP was so clever and something original for once. Just watch the OP yourself. I also want to mention the singers for the 5th OP. I didn't have any problem with Senjougahara singing but the duet version...Jesus Christ...what the hell is up with Kaiki's voice?! I was literally laughing my ass off when I heard him singing. If that was intentional and I am very sure it was, then great job for Kaiki's VA because his singing is comedy gold. The ED theme songs are decent in my opinion but none of the ED theme songs here has beaten Bakemonogatari's ED yet.
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[Characters]: (10/10)
Most of the characters you know and love from the Monogatari series returns here in the Second Season. I gotta say, the show did an outstanding job with the character development. By taking out Araragi in 3 of the 5 arcs and the series being 26 episodes, the show gave the girls more screentime, they're more fleshed out and like I said, they got character development. However, there were 3 girls that didn't get screentime at all and that's the Fire Sisters and Kanbaru Suruga. I'm going to have to cut Kanbaru because she gets her own arc after the Monogatari Series: Second Season. I guess the Fire Sisters have no more stories to be told. You can still hear them in the "Previews" but I don't think that counts as screentime.
This category ain't that long because most of my character reviews are in the "Story" category. I guess moving them in this category would be more sensible but I'm satisfied with how I wrote my review and what category I put the reviews in.
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[Enjoyment]: (10/10)
I never thought I would enjoy the Monogatari Series: Second Season so much. Even though the show is 95% dialogue, I still enjoyed this show a helluva lot more than a "shounen" show that contains 95% action. Bakemonogatari used to be on my Top 10 list but after watching this show, Monogatari Series: Second Season will take that spot.
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[VERDICT]
"Monogatari Series: Second Season" is truly an outstanding anime that blows Bake, Nise and Neko out of the water. This is also one of those rare sequels that beats the original show. The show takes everything from Bake and improved it. I'm talking about the dialogue scenes, huge improvement in pacing, significantly reduced fanservice and the story is a lot more clever than Bake. I will also say that it's a lot better than Bake. If you have watched Bake, Nise and Neko then it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you watch this show now.
[OVERALL]: (9.9/10)
Pros:
+All 5 arcs have outstanding stories and are all well though out
+Outstanding and Unique Animation
+Soundtrack is a masterpiece
+All the characters are developed and fleshed out
+Significantly improved pacing
+Fanservice reduced significantly
+Kaiki's change in character is perfect
+Dialogue scenes are way better than the predecessors
Cons:
-Three Recap Episodes
