Monogatari Series: Second Season

Apparitions, oddities, and gods continue to manifest around Koyomi Araragi and his close-knit group of friends: Tsubasa Hanekawa, the group's modest genius; Shinobu Oshino, the resident doughnut-loving vampire; athletic deviant Suruga Kanbaru; bite-happy spirit Mayoi Hachikuji; Koyomi's cute admirer Nadeko Sengoku; and Hitagi Senjougahara, Koyomi's eclectic girlfriend.

A new semester has begun and with graduation looming over Koyomi, he must quickly decide the paths he will walk, as well as the relationships he will form and friends that he will save. But as strange events begin to unfold, Koyomi is nowhere to be found, and a vicious tiger apparition has appeared in his absence. Hanekawa has become its target, and she quickly finds she must fend for herself.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Senjougahara, Hitagi Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Oshino, Shinobu Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Araragi, Koyomi Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Kaiki, Deishuu Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Hanekawa, Tsubasa Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Hachikuji, Mayoi Main

Katou, Emiri Japanese

Sengoku, Nadeko Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Kanbaru, Suruga Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Oshino, Ougi Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Ononoki, Yotsugi Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kubota, Mitsutoshi Producer

Matsushita, Takuya Producer

Kamiji, Tomoyo Assistant Producer

Reviews

Dec 7, 2013

Stark700

Recommended

Stories.

Everyone wants to hear or tell a story people will remember by. It doesn’t matter if the story is fictional, realistic, sarcastic, humorous, imaginative, mysterious, psychological, speculative, or even twisted as it can be. Stories are created by ideas that are formed from the very thoughts we experience in our lives. In order for stories to be told well, they have to evoke feelings, reactions, and attract audience that appreciates its ideas. Monogatari Second Series - the anime that not only attracted me to its franchise - but also presented it in an extravagant way that takes the art of storytelling to a whole ... new level.

That level of storytelling was already clearly evidenced from its predecessor that achieved international success. Yes, I’m talking about Bakemonogatari that debuted back in 2009. Its success has later spawned other series in the forms of Nisemonogatari, Nekomonogatari: Kuro, and the soon-to-debut Kizumonogatari . Now, it’s back once again as an ongoing story narrative. Monogatari Series: Second Season is an anime adapted from the novel of the same name written by Nisio Isin with artwork by Vofan. If you’re a fan of the previous Monogatari series franchise, then this should be no shadow of a doubt be part of your watch-list as we are told stories at its most definite form.

Similar to what some people might notice in the past, the Monogatari series presents itself in an unique form of storytelling. The term ‘monogatari’ itself defines as literature. For a series based on storytelling to succeed though usually requires a character base with insightful plot, creative setting, descriptive ideas based on connections, and a strong literal sense of execution. Monogatari series plays on most of these concepts but constructs it like an experiment. Whether you dare to take on the experiment might have different experiences. However, there’s no doubt that this series and its franchise has tested their experiment and succeeded in their message. Indeed, the storytelling of Monogatari mixes itself with visual arts and dialogues. The strength of the series comes from its dialogues that creates humor, sense, and might evoke people’s minds to think its true meaning. Most of the time, the meaning of the dialogues are metaphoric and conveys to many ideas. Its usage of word plays presents its unique art style to attract viewers toward its messages. Through these messages, viewers will find out just how exclusive this shows’ storytelling separates itself from most forms of storytelling.

Monogatari Series: Second Season isn’t just about storytelling though. As mentioned before, a strong character cast will attract viewers to almost any form of genre. Luckily, this show has plenty of that starring our Koyomi Araragi, a high school student whose life has changed forever after a certain incident. Obviously, I would assume that you have seen the original Bakemonogatari to understand this but Araragi makes his return in this sequel. He makes his presence well known as other characters in the series speculate him as many things - a lolicon, dangerous, pervert, just to name a few. However, we know that Araragi is a character of loyalty as seen through his relationship with Hitagi Senjougahara. More importantly though, he is also protective towards others including his friends, family, and even strangers. Some of his actions might be interpreted in the wrong way by other characters but the guy definitely has proven many times that he is the type that others can depend on. He seeks to achieve the endings that allows characters live in peace. However, this often puts a burden on himself as Araragi finds that sometimes, he can’t achieve everything alone. This even puts his own lives at risk many times. But hey, he is that type of that guy that takes risks. From a narrative perspective, his actions are often awarded although he doesn’t always takes everything for granted. Instead, he keeps his more of the ‘it’s the right thing to do’ attitude.

Most of the supporting characters from the novels makes their appearances in the story arcs including Tsubasa Hanekawa, Mayoi Hachikuji, Suruga Kanbaru, Nadeko Sengoku, Shinobu Oshino, and Hitagi Senjougahara. All these characters plays their different roles that fulfills some sort of theme or morality to its title. Each of these titles present a different insight on our characters as we see a sort of journey to embark on. And of course, every journey begins with the first step. There’s already trouble in the beginning as we get a hint of supernatural madness going on. To make matters worse, Tsubasa herself finds trouble with her life as sudden changes occurs.

The first story arc initially reintroduces its narrative aspect to get viewers to familiarize themselves the format of how Monogatari works. Its supernatural themes takes on a more gruesome turn later on but there’s also hope and prosperity. As for the other arcs, each of them has a different theme and plot. Some of these arcs also explores the back stories of our supporting characters. Along with that, there’s character interactions that are dynamic with development. Additionally, each arc contains a similar style of storytelling through word plays, visual presentations, and dialogues. As the series contains supernatural elements as well, expect legends to unfold and discoveries to be made. These include spirit apparitions, vampires, mythic cats, and even Gods. The power of its dialogues enhances the experience with the power of its words. It’s an experience you won’t forget especially with some plot twists like one with a snake a girl.

Judging on another level of the series is its humor. The style of Monogatari invokes humor in a sense that is quite peculiar. By peculiar though, I mean it as as a brilliant way because the show likes to experiment. Its stylish dialogues often mixes in parodies of other genres and themes for experimentation. These accompanied with the expressions of our characters creates a lavish theater of animation.

As good as the series sounds, there’s a few aspects I found to be lacking. Namely, there’s perhaps a bit of too much fan service in the beginning that can be distracting. These don’t seem to have any meaning or dynamics and sometimes may distract viewers from the words play and dialogues. Other times, Araragi’s interactions with some of the other characters might even seem a bit creepy or hard to take for granted. This is especially true in one of the later arcs involving Shinobu that takes itself to a rather defiled way with their interactions. More importantly is the fact that the show sometimes likes to get a bit carried away with its conversations. Some of them might even drag on with small talk that can seem to be mundane. Other times, they flash way too fast to be read that can frustrate viewers in attempting to fully understanding its meaning. (if it has one at some occasions) Finally, there are some recap episodes between each story arc that drags the series together. They might help refresh a bit of its previous predecessors but can also be a waste of time for people who wants the series to accelerate itself.

Shaft handles the production of this series. You know what that means right? If extraordinary is a word that just popped into your mind, then you’re on the right track. By that term, Shaft is known to pull out a variety of series over the past year that have impacted the world. Names such as EF: A Fairy Tale of the Two, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica are just a few that comes to mind. The artwork of Monogatari is in a sense that can be both visually attractive and descriptive the same time. When not presented as comedy, they hold a deeper meaning or metaphor behind them. Other times, they are connected to the dialogues spoken by the characters to convey their thoughts and feelings. Speaking of characters, most of them are designed in a similar way as their predecessors. Araragi still has that noticeable hair-like antenna sticking out of his head while his girlfriend still retains her haircut. Other characters like Shinobu, Nadeko, and Tsubasa all possesses artistic traits similar to their supernatural counterparts.

Soundtrack wise, the series maintains an eerie like atmosphere. During more of the climatic scenes, the series shifts its gears to a more dramatic tone with explosive entrances and executions. Other times, the series likes to keep its more balanced atmosphere along with comedic vibrations. The soundtrack might not be the most powerful device of the show but its various OP & ED songs makes up this department with its various styles. Almost every arc has a different song accompanied by the voice involving the star of that story. Similar to its word plays, they contain a pattern of artistic visuals to brings out the power of its orchestra. With its cast members also lies in the strength of their voices. Almost every characters demonstrates this with their voice mannerisms. These include the cunning Shinobu (Maaya Sakamoto), the kuudere Senjougahara (Chiwa Saito), innocent Nadeko (Kana Hanazawa), the mature Tsubasa (Yui Horie), the playful sisters of Karen and Tsukihi, and Araragi (Hiroshi Kamiya). Because the narrative aspect of the show is so strong with the dialogues, it is important to characterize each of their voices as a focus in order to bring out their best. And yes, I am grateful that these characters all bought forth their best thanks to the talents of their voice actor/actresses.

So,this anime might not be for everyone. That’s something I’m sure most people have heard about the Monogatari franchise before. But if you pass this up for whatever reason, I still would recommend at least giving the first arc a try. That way, it might refresh a bit of experience of what you get out of the other series. However, I highly recommend watching this series only after you have completed its previous predecessors to gain full experience of its presentation. The Monogatari franchise has already achieved universal success thanks to its unique narrative, powerful dialogues, artistic word plays, and unique characters. Its humor will knock you out with high doses of laughter accompanied by its strange twist of stories. It even has bits of action too so violence is not out of the question there for fans looking for some intensity. (that and maybe its goal of achieving anemia with its fan service.) But all in all, Monogatarai series definitely took on the storytelling concept like never before creating an enjoyable experience. Now that is the ecstasy of success.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 13, 2014

HaXXspetten

Mixed Feelings

Even though it’s been over half a year since I saw this anime, on impulse I decided that it was about time I said a few words about it, because I feel like I almost never see anyone ever talking about the “other” side of Monogatari and the quite clear problems the show has.

Now before you instantly downvote this because I’m not giving this the very highest score, I just want to clarify that I do not hate this show, nor do I think it is a bad one however there are a number of things that make it far from perfect in my eyes, ... and they are not spoken of all too often.


The first thing you’ll notice when it comes to Monogatari (besides the wacky art style) is its choice of storytelling. Like so many other series out there, it is divided into many smaller arcs that together build up a grander overarching story. Roughly it goes something along the lines of:

1) A girl gets possessed by an Oddity or at least has her life messed up by it in one way or another.
2) Araragi investigates the situation, and after some less than flawless work he manages to rescue the damsel in distress.
3) The girl is then blatantly tossed aside in order to return to the status quo so that the story can proceed unhindered to its next arc, starting over from step 1 again.

See that last part there? This is the source of most of the problems of the whole series, and quite frankly I find it to be quite disrespectful writing on the author’s part. You know how people like to complain about the role Asuna was given in the second half of Sword Art Online? Well this is basically the same thing except it happens to almost every character in the entire show at least somewhere during the course of its progression.

Basically what happens is that since every arc is about resolving the problems of one of its many heroines, as soon as that arc is over she no longer has any role at all for the next arc. Bar a few exceptions, the only relevant characters at any point in time of the story are Araragi himself, Shinobu (because she’s stuck with him) and whichever girl who’s arc it currently is (and perhaps some antagonist-like character as well). The rest of the cast basically gets ignored completely, and this is not a small cast we’re talking about here, nor are the arcs all that short either. As a result, characters that might have appeared to be main characters at one point might completely disappear from the story for up to 20 episodes sometimes over the course of the seasons, (not discounting his supposed girlfriend) and that’s not exactly a small amount of time for this type of anime. Consequently, Araragi and Shinobu are the only characters that are given consistent character development over the course of the show, whereas everyone else has theirs completely halted every so often.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of person who’d get upset over the death of a main character, actually I think there’s not enough of that in today’s anime, however this is a completely different issue as the heroines are just pushed aside for no obvious reason for huge amounts of time. It’s not like they’re actually gone, they just… temporarily disappear.

Now I know part of this problem stems from the fact that the arcs of the Monogatari Series aren’t aired in the same order as they were written in the original Light Novels, and I understand that reading them might clear up a thing or two. However to me that is not really an excuse; an anime is its own product after all and should be able to deliver on consistent and easy-to-follow storytelling all on its own. You shouldn’t have to go read the source material just to get the full experience of the anime; they’re separate mediums for a reason after all.

All that being said it of course doesn’t hamper all the good sides of the series. The animation is completely crazy and very much so up to interpretation but I think it looks absolutely beautiful at least. The soundtrack is not particularly memorable but it has its moments and is certainly not bad. And as far as the enjoyment value goes (which is what really matters in the end), I generally find it very inconsistent and spiky. There are some segments and dialogues in it that are simply brilliant, but just as often I find myself tapping my fingers on my desk in impatience for the series to actually get going.

As it is, there is still a little bit more to come from this series and I’m still hopeful that the final part(s) will be able to tie the whole thing together in some way that makes it all feel connected and relevant, because currently I’m sort of missing that part. It just feels like there’s no clear goal regarding where the overarching story will end up and there are a lot of things to patch up and resolve before the eventual conclusion. I still think it can be done though and I hope the author can positively surprise me on this one, but as it currently stands I cannot make myself wholeheartedly approve of the direction this franchise has taken.

Although if there is one thing you can’t deny it’s that the series sure as hell is unique, and that alone can take you quite a long way in today’s industry.

Here’s to a brighter future!

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 2, 2020

Phebe_The_Weeb

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (15/26 eps)

From fine to horrible, the Monogatari series was a rollercoaster of emotions. After seeing the popularity of the famous song "Renai Circulation" I decided to this anime a shot, but at what cost? Well, I ended up wasting hours of my time that I cannot get back since this series just kept on getting worse for me.

Here are some general issues I had with the WHOLE series:
-THE EYES: idk why but the animators made the eyes way too creepy for my liking
-The creepy poses they make
-THE WORLD FEELS EMPTY: this series has little to no background characters making the series feel like only the ... main cast exists within it
-Almost every arc boils down to "Guy saves Harem but we basically kill him in the process"

All in all. I dropped in the middle of this season and will no longer continue to watch any more content from the Monogatari series. If you want a more in-depth review, I did a 7-minute review on my YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTjZO4vIu24

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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