Koyomimonogatari

I'm gonna get this out of the way right at the beginning of this review because the rest of what I'll have to say won't apply to the following statement: the end of Koyomimonogatari was awesome. As a set up for what's to come, it set the mood extremely well and created an atmosphere of tension and suspense that I enjoyed a lot.

As for the rest of this ONA season, if you go into it knowing what to expect, you're far more likely to enjoy it. The real merit in watching these twelve episodes (besides seeing the ending of them) is to hang out in ... an Araragi-led storyline that features each of the main characters in Araragi's famous harem. Don't expect the majority of this season to give you much more than that. While I did find myself engaged during the conversations Araragi was having with the other characters throughout Koyomimonogatari, for the most part, I wasn't that interested in what was going on. That's partly because, as many have pointed out, the mysteries in these episodes aren't that good, and more than that, they're repetitive. They have the same punchline every time, and regardless of which characters are in the mix for that episode, you can't get excited about something when you know how it ends. At least, I couldn't.

The other part of my not loving this season is that the majority of each episode was allotted to solving these "mysteries," rather than interactions between the characters. Had the episodes been, literally, every day, odd conversations between Araragi and every other character, I would have enjoyed it more. Yes, that's not in the nature of Monogatari as the mystery is one half of the series while the characters are the other, but I didn't feel like either of those elements were done well for Koyomimonogatari. However, if you love this series and these characters, absolutely check this out.

Koyomimonogatari is what I consider to be the skippable filler-season of the Monogatari series. Unlike the more intricate televised seasons, this ONA season consists of much simpler 10-minute long short stories that take place at different parts in the series. While I do think that the more devoted fans will enjoy these cute little side stories and seeing more of their favorite characters, there are only a couple episodes that actually tie to the main overarching narrative. Many of the episodes feel rather pointless. As such, Koyomimonogatari is pretty underwhelming compared to the level of storytelling fans are used to. This entry is definitely for ... existing fans only who enjoy the less substantive character interactions of the Monogatari series.

This is just a side-rant, but the fact that the Blu-Ray for Koyomimonogatari costs 70 dollars is just criminal. I know Aniplex is known for their ridiculous pricing, but for a 12-episode mini-series with 10-minutes per episode, that price tag seems way too steep. Of course, like a sucker I bought it anyway because I happen to love this franchise.

Koyomimonogatari recycles its opening themes from previous seasons, which is a shame. They're nostalgic call-backs, but I personally would have liked to see new opening animations. Luckily we get a brand new ending theme, "Whiz", which is awesome.

Overall, I'd say that this ONA series is worth watching if you really like the series and don't mind some filler episodes that are light on substance. Just don't expect the same level of story depth as the other entries.

Something I never talked about regarding this franchise is the wordplay in the titles, as the first two combine the last syllable of a word with the first one of monogatari. It’s lost in the translation, but the original names of Monsterstory and Imposterstory are cool because of that. Then later entries lost that because the connection of syllables just wasn’t there anymore. Koyomimonogatari doesn’t reach that level either, but at least it has a double meaning of Calendar Story, because it happens across many months, while it also means the story of Koyomi, as he is the main character of every episode.

Besides that, ... I suspected even before I watched it that it would be the one to get the lowest rating out of me, since even the fanbase agrees it’s the worst entry in the franchise and don’t defend it much.

The show is usually referred as filler or a type of series of specials, more than an actual season, and that’s exactly what it feels like. It’s just about Koyomi and one girl per episode pondering about a silly mystery that might or not be related to an aberration, and as most episodes prove at the end, they aren’t. Heck, even the duration is just about half of a normal one, and even less when you consider that most have an opening and ending. So, if an episode it’s between twelve and fourteen minutes long, it’s actually about nine to eleven minutes long.

So basically, it’s just a cashgrab of an entry that shouldn’t even exist, but even just saying that doesn’t cover how bad it is. Although every season before had a lot of meandering and dead time, it was never done to this degree. Here’s a rock, let’s talk about it for twelve minutes about if it is or not supernatural, only for the resolution to be completely stupid. There are some flowers there, let’s ask ourselves if they are for a ghost or not, only for the reason to be something completely different.

Some other stories are even sillier. Kanbaru’s father looks wrong at water. Shinobu, the once most powerful supernatural entity ever, wants to eat donuts. Let’s spend a whole episode just with that.

Some episodes even go against the concept because they are not even about whether something is supernatural or not, like the Shinobu one, or the Tsukihi one, since she is convinced beforehand that her problem is not related to a ghost.

Some other even contradict the canon since, despite the show attempting to connect every story with a specific point in-series, Araragi talks with Kaiki before they actually met, and Nadeko goes to his room when she already was becoming one with the snake. Those things don’t add up.

You can’t even call this series a proper mystery, since the answers are given out of the blue through lateral thinking without any proper hint or anticipation. It’s not slice of life either, because the things that happen to the characters are initially thought of as out of the ordinary.

Maybe it’s supposed to be comedy? Well, I may not be the proper audience since I rarely laugh when watching anime, but this series didn’t even get a smile out of me, I bet I get more laughs out of Monogatari fans that dislike my reviews than this series ever got from me.

Even in terms of visuals and audio the entry just feels uninspired, because the artwork goes back to Bakemonogatari levels of polish and the motions, directing and special effects are far more common than they were in ALL the previous seasons. At the same time, since the actions of the characters are far more mundane, there aren’t nearly as much nor as good sound effects, and every piece of soundtrack and every opening is straight up reused from the shows before it. At least the intro on Shinobu’s episode is great. There’s a new ending I think but it’s nothing special, even among the not special outros of this franchise. Don’t get me wrong, both aspects are still above average but nothing compared to what was shown so far.

The only few positives I found in it is how it keeps building up the actions of Ougi, and it shows Ononoki keeping an eye on Araragi at some point around Second Season, I guess based on both her own will and Kagenui or Gaen’s orders, to ensure that events from a certain arc happen the way they did.

The last two episodes are the only ones that can be said that progress the plot, and even then the second to last barely does it and is not very serious, while the last one is the best but goes for a shocker of an ending, which doesn’t work because Hanamonogatari already showed that everyone is fine, thus it ruins the outcome that Koyomimonogatari goes for.

The best thing that I can say about this series is that is not as bad nor cheaply made as other Specials type of extra entries of other series, but if I have to go to THAT level to say something nice about an anime, then it’s seriously fucked.