Bakemonogatari

Bakemonogatari follows the life of Araragi Koyomi, a student in his 3rd year of high school. An otherwise normal kid whose life changed after becoming partly vampire. These turn in events will shape the life of not only Araragi Koyomi, but also the life of Senjougahara Hitagi, a girl who never talks to anyone. A fateful fall down the stairs into Araragi arms sets the couple’s destiny in stone. More mysteries continue to unravel as Araragi figures out that Senjougahara weighs close to nothing. Araragi offers to help Senjougahara with her ‘physical illness’ by taking her to the very man that stopped him ... from becoming a full vampire. This incident sets the ball rolling for the anime as the series follows the couple seeking solutions to other strange supernatural cases. The variety of these unique cases offers a new perspective of the main character each and every time. The development of his personality is thus more fulfilled than your average anime.

Being new to anime, it took quite a while to get used to the unique art and dialogue led scenes that made bakemonogatari stand out, However, very quickly, due to the anime’s unique artwork, soundtracks and compelling character, my curiosity became clear. Bakemonogatari became very engaging in every aspect as everything complimented each other. Mere conversations became artwork and a fantastic viewing experience.

Bakemonogatari consisted of 5 Opening theme tunes, with each new opening theme tune used for the introduction of a new heroine. This helped advance the plot and accentuate each of the new characters. The song ‘Staple Stable’ stood out in particular for me. The soundtrack was truly a masterpiece, it really helped set the scenes and worked hand in hand with the quirky art styles and visuals. The visuals are always slick, and always impressive. Anime attracted me because of the unique artwork and compelling soundtracks. Bakemonogatari is unique even amongst anime, thus making it that much more striking.

Bakemonogatari takes it’s time with advancing the plot. Every conversation is either meaningful, humorous or exciting. Every conversation grabs my attention with the diverse and artistic interactions between the characters.

I must open this text by saying that this is not a review written with those in mind who have not yet seen Bakemonogatari. It is a series so remarkable that it merits a discussion on its workings the same as any worthwhile composition. As such, reading this review will be more meaningful to those who are able to recognise in my descriptions those remarkable qualities and consequently, find themselves in agreement or otherwise, and so continue their thought on the subject.

To begin.
The overarching genre of visual media "anime" is for the most part bound tightly to the concept of entertainment, incurring through this ... relationship many restrictions and characteristics. The jargon we use when talking about anime is for a large part due to this relationship. Only very rarely is the creator of a series given complete freedom, and when it does happen these works often become something other than "anime" in the previously mentioned sense of the word. They become completely, art. Bakemonogatari, to my mind, is not one of these. Art, though not denied the use of the commonplace, exists outside of it, acquires its nature and value by compressing into itself the many things unsaid, unsayable, and lacking in shape or definition, be it to the individual, the interpersonal or the cultural. These works of "complete" art do not require popularity, or mass review because they retain themselves.
One of the great strengths of Bakemonogatari -and the necessity of all these grandiose definitions I have just given serve as evidence for this- is that it fills with art to maximum capacity an anime that is placed firmly within the confines of the entertaining. There is, as they are in their basic elements, very little about the main characters, or the setting of the series that is new or unsettling. We have all seen the harsh and intelligent, yet kind woman. We have all seen the schools, the uniforms, the outsider and the vagabond. We have all seen these characters placed in extraordinary situations through contact with the supernatural. We have seen it over and over and over again. Even so, nothing in Bakemonogatari stays in these commonplaces. In the end they serve only as the soft and comfortable bedding from where the creators of the series have been able to stretch and play with the genre.
It is probably one of the greatest compliments to say that they have expanded the possibilities of anime.

All this having been said, the manner in which they achieved this still needs to be expounded. That is to say: the concrete visual, aural and narrational aspects of the series I have yet to treat.
This is of course a difficult thing because it is the work as a whole that induces effect, and with a series so tightly woven in all its facets, a separation of these different aspects will do it no justice. But this being a review I will try to keep them interconnected while still describing them in necessary detail.

For the moment not taking into account the story as a whole, it is likely to be true that in most anime the main body of content consists of the animation and the story as voiced by the characters. These two elements give us a physical, emotional, psychological and theoretical framework to place the world and events, the story as a whole, of the anime in. Usually the two exist next to each other. The voice is, in a way, subservient to the logical restrictions of the animation, the visual world created, be it knights in a vaguely mediaeval world or an insecure girl walking from school to her home (cherry blossom leaves falling around her of course). In Bakemonogatari the two are differently linked. They are mutually influential. While the animation in itself is of a very high standard (movement is fluid, characters are distinct, colours are vivid and yet blended beautifully) it is this fluidity caused by mutual subservience that truly makes the animation great, because it allows for an amazing amount of freedom. Inner dialogue, monologue and dialogue between characters are punctuated with all sorts of abstractions, mutations and cut-aways. Abruptly interjected frames, illustrate what is said and at once adjust the meaning of the words. The surroundings are constructed out of symbols, formalised everyday objects and composition. The spoken words ebb and flow and change the colours and shapes of the visual world presented to us. Everything seems to be in a continuous state of transformation.
And while this animation is brilliantly creative, the writing and voice acting are on par with it. There is an incredible amount of distinction to be found amongst the characters, not just in the characters' voices themselves or between the different voices, but also in use of cadence, subtlety of displayed emotions, the playful back and forth and semantic sensitivity. It is because of all this that the series is at its best, not at its moments of high drama, during battles or good byes, but when things are slow, when conversation can linger between slapstick laughter, superficial philosophy and philology, and quiet hallucinations, when movement is slowly juxtapositioned against foreground and background, when all combined the different qualities of the series are allowed their gentle interplay, their ebb and flow and their surreal quirks. The music in the series contributes to these qualities too. It is never overstated and usually no more than a slightly atypical repetition of tentative chords. The few moments of high drama are in fact the only area of the anime that is sensitive to criticism because, due to its very nature, the things that make it great necessarily retreat at these moment, and it becomes somewhat too much like the commonplace anime that it usually so cleverly avoids becoming.
The story, consequently, is of the least interest. Even though through it we are given some nice character development and depth, it remains to me almost like an excuse, a method of display, and it fulfils this function to satisfaction.

As mentioned earlier, I believe this anime to be one of the greats. It rises above the frivolity of much of SHAFT's other work, at times equals some of the narrational depth and intensity of Aku no Hana, has artwork as good as Mononoke, though in a completely different style, and yet manages to remain truly humorous. While a viewer won't be swept away by villains or traumas of shadowy days passed, the same viewer can let himself sink away into an animated world wherein the illogical formulates its own rules and becomes coherent in the subconscious, and the experience of the everyday becomes something wholly beautiful.

-Overall-
Probably the most overrated anime I have ever seen, do not watch with high expectations from glowing reviews like I did - this is, at heart, another cliche rom-com. The only reason scores are so high is because the "art" (refer to the art section right below for an explanation of the sarcastic quotes) is so different and the waifus are numerous.

-Art-
This section is first because it is one of the biggest reasons for the show's popularity. The simplest explanation for all the praise is this analogy: imagine our world without any of the art movements that started with the 19th century until today; ... someone then decides to let their cats step in paint and then on a canvas, the art world is taken by storm.

Because 99% of anime takes so little chances with animation, what Bakemonogatari does is lauded as a masterpiece. The problem is it's all a facade, there is rarely any meaning or intent behind what is done - it is done just for the sake of doing it. Sure you can try to look for some symbolism in this show but you can do that for any work of art/literature and what you find may not be what the artist intended.

Other shows, if only a handful, pull off the art card much more successfully and meaningfully. Example: Gankutsuou - just about every character wears epilepsy-inducing, flamboyant clothes; the count has nearly no pattern on the surface of his clothes but the inside of his cloak is insanely vibrant. The art was not only used to beautifully set the mood of scenes in the show but also as a basic symbol for character motives - simple yet effective use.

It's wrong to be overly critical of someone trying something different, god knows the anime world needs that, but it's important to keep perspective with praise, to differentiate between someone trying something different artistically to illustrate a certain view of the world and someone just letting their cats step in paint then on a canvas because they thought it would be neat and different.

-Plot-
Probably the best part of the show is the premise: supernatural presences affecting characters due to their personal problems. Sounds great on paper, the problem lies in the quantity and execution.

There just isn't enough story aspect to these events, you basically have a one minute supernatural explanation from the Hermit Guru and a one minute exposition from MC at the end about why it happened to the victim and that's it - the rest is all dialogue over 2 episodes that attempts to be witty but comes off as incredibly unrealistic or explains the nature of a character with the subtlety of a Wiki article.

Oh and of course, supernatural events involve only young, attractive girls - to be fair they seem to be the only population around the MC. They could have at least inserted a bs line of dialogue such as "women are more emotionally in tune with themselves than men and that causes the supernatural to gravitate toward them." I just made that crap line up with zero effort and it sounds like a plausible explanation, but the writers couldn't be bothered to even do that.

Also aggravating, the first episode spends a brief minute depicting this very interesting story that happened to the MC. The point is to explain his situation but it shows so many cool 5 second scenes that it becomes quite disappointing not to see the whole story.

-Characters-
The weakest link and the final straw as to why it it's hard to recommend this anime. Take away the overly long dialogue and the show's style and what do you have?

Bland protagonist that every girl gravitates to because he just can't help but try to solve their problems. And he actually doesn't do much, except for getting beat up, the Hermit Guru is the one with all the answers and solutions so why do the girls like the MC? Because they're supposed to.

The girls are supposed to be the high point of the show because they are more interesting and have more depth than those of the average anime, but the fact that they ALL fall for the MC negates any positives that could be said about their personality.

The MC has got to be one of the stupidest I have ever seen in ALL of anime. Take this spoiler-free example from episode 11: Your attractive, intelligent friend of the opposite sex, your ONLY friend seen thus far, shares their deepest problems with you: the highlight being that, because their parents are so horrible, they are depressed about a one week school vacation because it means they will be home where they're not even wanted. What would you do? Whether you are attracted to them or not, the correct thing to do as a friend would probably be to invite them to spend time with you over break. Oh wait, sorry the correct answer is to just nod along and act slightly bothered by the parents' attitude; and of course by doing that the friend couldn't love you more if they wanted to.

-Conclusion-
Whether it's the incredibly dense protagonist with no redeeming features, or the girls that all fall for him for just being the intermediary in solving their problems, or the sisters that wake up their onii-chan in the morning (said sisters make a COMPLETE 180 in their attitude in season 2 for no reason), or the absence of any type of character -except for the Hermit Guru- that isn't an attractive girl, or the out of place fanservice..... This show is just cliche after cliche but the brain fails to notice because of the pretty colors and the massive amount of dialogue that needs to be processed.

Bakemonogatari is simply a rom-com with supernatural elements and there's nothing wrong with that premise. It's just that it tries too hard to set itself apart and act like something that transcends the medium when it really doesn't. Watch it as you would any rom-com with the clueless, bland MC that has girls falling for him left and right for no good reason and you won't be disappointed.

Bakemonogatari - very simply, this anime proposes an interesting, overused premise, but with a lack-luster portrayal. There are similarities to the Natsume Yuujinchou series in that Ayakashi and Youkai are involved, except that Bakemonogatari uses arcs while Natsume Yuujinchou tells the story and usually resolves the plot within the same episode.

Bakemonogatari has darker contours and frames that skew the images not away from reality, but rather toward it. SHAFT Grupp's unique style of animation is present throughout the work as they seemingly meld bits and pieces of the anime and life in general together, somehow awkwardly connecting. Vivid colors give way to forceful imagination ... and torture the brain and eyes.

The Characters are somewhat memorable--not developed enough to "favorite" them but enough to remember what they did in general, and what anime they might have belonged to.

The sound, however, was supremely excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the OP's and ED and if anything, the music was the highlight of the work. Oddly, even the lyrics seemed to fit, although the songs seemed more lively to me than the actual anime.

Overall, Bakemonogatari is an excellent work for a very specific audience. If you enjoy Ayakashi-related topics and anime, this will be the work for you. If you prefer cold-hearted and understandably paranoid Tsunderes, this is a piece for you! If you do not enjoy femdom I would advise staying away from this work; your eyes may be subject to violent younger sisters and a girlfriend who spouts verbal and physical abuse without so much a loving word. This eventually changes, however, but not much...

To be utterly generous, 3.5 stars out of 5 for the morbidly frank and seemingly wacky Bakemonogatari.

-Jay

P.s. If you find a problem with my review please comment on my profile or send me a message and I will get back to you! Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you found this helpful!

PRE INTRODUCTION: THE REVIEW PORTION

It's good. Go watch it. 10/10.

INTRODUCTION

This is a study. This is about two histories. This is about dreams. This is about what I dream about when I write fiction. This is about what Edogawa Ranpo dreams about when he writes fiction. This is about what Nisio Isin's dreams about when he writes fiction. This is about what I dream about when I write mystery fiction.

The first section is the stupid section about me. The second section is about the world. Part two is probably the part you're looking for because no one gives a damn about the obligatory digressionary masturbatory part ... where I talk about my feelings towards this very specific franchise that every otaku and their fujoshi mom has most likely heard a thousand and one things about before. I allow you to skip to part two without being burdened by the guilt of violating the specific writer-reader contract of having to read the entire text linearly.

SECTION 1.1: WHAT I FELT WHEN I FIRST WATCHED BAKEMONOGATARI

I watched Bakemonogatari after Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I thought that the first few episodes of SZS were funny, but that it got progressively less interesting as it went on. Now I feel the opposite way. SZS is the anime I watch for comfort. I can turn on any episode and just start watching. I can enjoy its irreverent style, its wit, and its frenetic explanatory cadence. I press pause when the screen floods with examples. I have told myself again and again: This is what I want to do when I grow up, I want to be a satirist rock star avant-gardist.

Well, when I finished reading Karamazov I told myself: I want to write honestly and vividly about humanity and society.

My attitude towards my influences have always been sinusodial. I love them to death, then I want to destroy them whole. I want to eat them for breakfast. I want to imbibe their so-called Genius. I tell myself "I can't write like this!", but then I tell myself "I can write like this!".

My advances towards my literature has always been inspired by Pierre Menard. I believe I can write Don Quixote word for word if I tried.

Before I watched Beckett's tale about his two impoverished hobos standing under a tree, I watched episode 3 of Bakemonogatari. A boy and a girl sit at some pop art conception of a park and talk about everything.

Linklater was probably the one who first figured that there is something immensely comforting about watching two characters shoot the shit. I am glad that later seasons of the Monogatari series have only gotten 'worse' in this regard, in the increase of excessive verbiage. Alienate all your audiences! Who cares!

I watched Steins;Gate four times precisely because of the specific character oriented comfort developed in the first 12 or so episodes. There is a skill in combining movement with stillness. You want to walk slow-fast. You want to reach your destination but take your time. This is something Key adaptations have never mastered.

But from the sales it seems that other people, too, love nothing more than a good mystery, a good romance, a great art style, abuse of fanservice, and a whole bunch of verbiage.

Fanservice is an accentuation of the body. The body is the vivacity of potential motion. In the Monogatari series everything moves. It is this movement that delineates, or rather, transfers the libido into Art. It is the mix between Kabuki and striptease.

In the Monogatari series the words snake around the bodies, the bodies play around the words. This innate connection between the angel of our thought and our sorry beast connection to nature is the essential foundational substance of any great acting.

In Kurosawa's Kagemusha, when Nobunaga hears the death of his great enemy, he doesn't say much, but dances. The song he sings while he does so is a solemn evocation towards the impermanence of life and the inevitability of death. Every step he makes feels powerful, anchored to great destiny.

At its most visceral, guts are spilt, and limbs are twisted in strange unnatural directions. Bakemonogatari understands the truths of the body. It understands the specific emotion crease in a face that spells internal suffering, as well as the highest bound of playfulness.

But why should I have to explain all of that? Everything is nicely bundled together in this little package here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOP3GyF1IMg

SECTION 1.2: A LOCKED ROOM WITH NO KEY


This is the section where I talk about murder as one of the fine arts. Specifically I talk about murder in relation to my own fears. If you want the fine-tuned stuff, skip to the next section.


The first manga I ever read in my life was the new Young Kindaichi Case Files. It was a translation from a newly established Singapore publishing company, but they only released two volumes, and shut down shortly afterwards. The two volumes were The Cerberus Murder Mystery, and The Scorpio Killer of the Silver Screen (yes I'm too lazy to actually search up their proper names). I read it in Primary School, or rather, I skimmed the pages, being completely clueless about what a non-linear story structure meant. I thought that, at the end, when the killer was flashbacking about his past motives, time was still moving forward, and I wondered how the murder victims came back from the dead. I was just enjoying looking at the pictures.

Later my father got the whole set of the official Tokyopop translations. This was in Secondary School. Afterwards he got Case Closed and I started following Detective Conan.


My old home was a small flat. There were cabinets full of books. One cabinet had nothing but Agatha Christie novels. These novels had illustrations full of mystery and horror. You had your milieu of broken creepy dolls, cracked mirrors, various murder implements, and other strange surrealistic images. Until now I have never read an Agatha Christie Mystery, except for flipping through And Then There Were None. Back at my old home it still had the old unsanitary title: "10 Little Niggers". My father had no qualms about using the old title, although the new one has a better ring.

Now to talk about my fear.

Thomas DeQuincey's essay on Macbeth explains the murder of King Duncan in such a way:

"...the retiring of the human heart and the entrance of the fiendish heart was to be expressed and made sensible. Another world has stepped in; and the murderers are taken out of the region of human things, human purposes, human desires...The murderers, and the murder, must be insulated—cut off by an immeasurable gulph from the ordinary tide and succession of human affairs—locked up and sequestered in some deep recess; we must be made sensible that the world of ordinary life is suddenly arrested—laid asleep—tranced—racked into a dread armistice: time must be annihilated; relation to things without abolished; and all must pass self-withdrawn into a deep syncope and suspension of earthly passion."

I have never been comfortable. Certain shades of dark still transfers into this 'another world'. When I first flipped through those pages of the Young Kindaichi Case files, I was so frightened by the images of death that I had nightmares for weeks. Fumiya Sato is an amazing artist of death, compared to the more moe-fied Aoyama from Case Closed. Her corpses are splayed in all directions. Their eyes are empty. The deaths are imaginatively horrific.

Young Kindaichi Case Files murders are usually structured around a myth, as opposed to the more human-centric Case-closed mysteries. Per book the death rate is usually 3-4 before the case is closed. This is what grants the case power. You know a human is behind it, but the murders are always structured around this higher narrative. With the Cerberus murders you have claw marks as a motif and tearing in the flesh. In the Scorpio Killings, the murders are centered around Film motifs. The Magical Express is so far, in my opinion, the most powerful and most carnivalesque of the mysteries.

Once I saw a face in the crowd staring at me. It was any stranger, but he seemed wrong and full of dark intent. I cried in my bed 3 week after the event, when one day the memory came back to me. Now I know I was utterly hysterical, but at the time the visage of the stranger was so real to me that any small connection could send me spiralling into paroxysms of fear.

Even till now my dreams have always bested me. Sleep Paralysis and layered nightmares have always occurred to me. I wake up from one layer, and find myself back in my room, except that there is a presence, and everything is off. Every chemical in my brain feels off during these moments. Inexpressible fear permeates through the layers of blankets and pillows. These dreams are locked room mysteries.

Yet I am enamoured with my dreams. I have tried to ride these states of fear all the way through. I am always curious to wonder, after reaching the other end of being crushed, will I wake up in a strange new state? That's because on the other end of the spectrum, when everything becomes lucid, the feeling is an equally inexpressible sense of awe and wonder. Everything feels possible.

More frightening to me, than the standard Gothic Outlook and Bizzare Experience that usually characterizes Horror Fiction, is that sense of something underlying everything else. I thought Ligotti's Fiction was lovely and poetic, yet Nabokov's Signs and Symbols sends chills down my back. This evocation of an unsolvable but infinitely deep mystery is terrifying to me. With Ligotti, as with Lovecraft, at least you have the certainty of Man's insignificance wrapped in Gothic flair. It is the idea of a truth just within your grasp, yet always elusive, and invokes strange omens of a different structure of existence, that entraps me in a labyrinth paranoia. Higurashi captured that feeling perfectly, of nothing being right, yet wrapped in inexplicable mystery. Without mystery, horror is quite tame.

So my ambition has always been to create that labyrinthian structure of elusive meaning. The good mystery is always out of reach, and earth-shattering upon discovery.

SECTION 2.1: IRREGULAR MYSTERIES AND THEIR PREDECESSORS

All roads lead to Poe. He was the first to conceive of the Detective story in its most archetypal form. He was the first to grant it its dignity. First there was Auguste Dupin, and he begat Holmes, who begat Poirot, who begat all the way until you have as diverse manifestations as Moffat's variant of Sherlock, to Nasu's over-explaining rough and hardboiled Aozaki Touko, to Borges's ridiculous homage, Lonnrot. If you really wanted to trace 'puzzle-solvers' back to ancient times, you would have wise men like Solomon disputing cases with logical clarity, and in India you'd have tricky couriers like Birbal, Tenali Raman, or haunted parables like those in the Vikram Vetala tales, and in China you'd have your famous tales of old judges. Then there's disputes about whether it was Poe or Wilkie Collin's the Moonstone, and all that other stuff. But I bring your attention to Poe because, at least in the vein of irregular mysteries, you can link everything back to him.

Actually we have to firstly talk about the etymology of this idea of irregular. By irregular mystery, I'm talking about the demarcation that occurred in Japan between the Honkaku Tantei Shosetsu, or regular mystery, versus the Henkaku Tantei Shosetsu, or irregular mystery. And even then there's confusion translating it like that. The translation irregular comes from Japanese Science Fiction: A View of a Changing Society . On the other hand The Discursive Space of Japanese Detective Fiction and the Formation of the National Imaginary (TDS) translated the divide as Authentic Detective Fiction and Inauthentic Detective Fiction.

Of course, as you can tell from the terms, the Hen in Henkaku is the Hen in Hentai. This provides a scope of definitions larger than irregularity and inauthenticity. It covers connotations of perversion and bizzareness. A subversion of normal values in its strangest form. Dreams from Below: Yumeno Kyusaku and Subculture Literature of Japan goes into the henkaku definition, with the erotic and subversive connotations, even more fully, but with specific reference to the Literature of Yumeno Kyusaku who wrote the surrealistic detective story Dogura Magura.

Before getting into that definition though, I want to focus on the Authentic vs Inauthentic debates, as fully described in TDS. As with any particularly flourishing period of avant-garde or new forms of literature, you'll have literary criticism. As with any literary criticism, most of it will be semantically dense and usually about stupid trivialities, like whether writing in first-person is more literary, or writing in third person (the 'I' novel debates).

In the case of the Honkaku vs Henkaku debates that was taking place in the new magazine ShinSeinen, it was between a highly rationalistic procedural form of Detective Fiction, as in those of the Agatha Christie variety where every clue is left for you to see, so by right the reader can divine the truth as well, or basically any other type of fiction that had a veneer of Mysteryness but was more focused on affect and doing stupid literary things like delving into people's guilt and stuff. The Honkaku faction were against Dostoyevsky style meandering mystery fiction or weird BDSM stories marketed as detective fiction.

At the center of this debate was the mystery-god of Japan himself, Edogawa Rampo. From TDS, here's some of the numerous complaints levied against Rampo and his ilk:

“the modern detective fiction of the prewar years, which started after the publication of Shinseinen and the debut of Edogawa Rampo, consists of an overwhelmingly large number of stories that play with the fantastic world of horror and bizarreness that rejects social reality.” Gonda describes prewar detective fiction as “irrational dreams rather than rational logic, utopian fantasies of a splendid death rather than harsh social reality,” and discusses the genre with the metaphor of “abysmal dreams of a deep-sea fish.”"

"(He also argued that) modern Japanese detective fiction was influenced by the Japanese romantic school of serious literature, such as Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Satō Haruo, and Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, and thus tended to emphasize the human criminal rather than the logical solution of a crime."

Due to the influence of the Decadent Movement, the Symbolist Movement, the Romanticsts, the Gothic Writers (including Poe), and other people like the Grand Guignol playwrights. Japanese Romanticism was developed, and culminated later into what was widely known as Ero-Guro Nansensu. Rampo was widely into that kind of thing, and so one of the rumors developed around him was that:

"Rampo kept a certain distance from the debates and even claimed that he lost his confidence in writing detective fiction in 1932—less thanten years after his debut in Shinseinen. While he rarely published his detective stories in dedicated magazines of detective fiction after the 1930s, he continued to be a prolific writer of “grotesque” serials with detective tastes in general magazines and newspapers,which contributed to establishing the “legend” among the public that he wrote only at night in a storehouse (dozō)—which he aptly called “the castle of illusion” (gen’ei no kura)—under the dim light of a candle surrounded by pictures of cruelties (muzan’e)."

As can be seen from the above quote too, Rampo has always had a strange relationship with the Authentic vs Inauthentic debates. He was able to write on both sides of fence, creating numerous and tightly plotted stories revolving around his own Detective Kogoro Akechi, while also writing stories of bizarre gothic nature such as 'The Caterpillar' and 'The Hell of Mirrors'. Sometimes he even combined both types together to create tightly plotted mystery stories with surreal dark atmospheres. Some people have even interpreted some of his stories as having an ambiguously derisive view of the whole enterprise of mystery fiction in general:

"In his “Ningen isu” (Human Chair, 1925) for example, a popular female writer receives a letter from her enthusiastic fan, in which a furniture maker, supposedly the writer of the letter, confesses his perverted desire to sneak into the cavity inside a large arm chair. The letter scares her in the course of her reading because the chair he refers to in the letter seems to be exactly the one she sits in right now. Yet, his subsequent letter reveals that the initial letter is just a manuscript sent to ask her criticism. In “Akai heya” (The Red Chamber, 1925), the confession of the ninety nine murders of probability and the confessor’s subsequent killing of himself as his own one hundredth victim turn out to be a setup for the bored audience of a members-only club in the gloomy red chamber. Not only a logical resolution in the end but also the grotesque imaginations are rejected and mocked as daydreams that temporarily make bored everyday life bearable."

So while Rampo was more or less doing his thing all the way, contributing to the debates while also making works that subverted their arguments in every way possible, there were some others in defence of Henkaku Tantei Shosetsu. This included the famous mainstream literary writer Sato Haruo who commented that:

"In short, what we call detective fiction is a branch of the tree called rich Romanticism, a fruit of curiosity hunting, and a mysterious light emits from the multi-faceted gem called poetry. It is no exaggeration to say that it originated in a peculiar admiration of evil and on the strange psyche of horrified curiosity common to all human beings and at the same time related to the healthy mind that loves explicitness"

Haruo was all in favour of widening the narrow definition of Detective Fiction, and linking it to the Romanticist movement. Indeed the Romanticist movement, at its core, was generally an affirmation of humanity's splendour and beauty, even above concepts like religion and god. Detective fiction was, in effect, and as Poe originally conceived of it, a Romantic take on procedural rationality and logic. The super-detective isn't just a man of logic, but of fashion as well. In response to the idea of the dis-enchantment of the world due to Modernity, there is a case raised that Fantasy Fiction, Science Fiction, and Detective Fiction are representatives of a re-enchantment with the world.

Yet even Rampo, with his usual ambivalence about his stand, stepped in to clean up Sato's definition a little:

"Satō’s aestheticism cannot be just anti-Naturalism or a return to romanticism. It is rather a juxtaposition of the two in relation to the modern concept of rationality. As Edogawa Ranpo points out, although Satō’s definition is not strictly about the detective fiction genre and it might be more appropriate to call it crime literature, writers at the time “wanted to give a certain name to the kind of literature Satō defined,”and the term detective fiction was thus employed to denote the literature of romantic rationality""

Rampo was supportive of Sato's definition, but he was still at odds with linking Detective Fiction completely to Romanticism, and so settled for an in-between idea. But from the slight differentiation you can see at the time he still thought that a proper procedural was of paramount importance if one were to define the fiction in such a way as to be true 'Detective Fiction'. So due to the grand floofing of these debates, I've decided that the best term for me to use is irregular mystery fiction, since I want the definition to be broad enough to go beyond just the grotesque erotic nature of henkaku or to be politically charged as the word inauthentic. Later we'll see how the whole thing gets even more complicated with writers from the New Authentic School or New Orthodox School, and by then I'll probably have given up trying to explain the semantical differences and just stuck to the formal structure of the mysteries.

So we've chased the idea of Henkaku around a bit, mainly focusing on the erotic-grotesque romanticist poetic aspects vs the rationalistic structurally sound aspects. Now let's bring the I-Novel debates into the picture.

SECTION 2.2 WHAT DOES 'I' HAVE TO DO WITH THIS ANYWAY?

In my OreGairu review I talked about the PsObE mystery, which I thought was like a new trend in mystery fiction. Apparently I spoke too late, because the Japanese had been throwing lit-fits over this issue for ages. I won't go into it. To make a long story short they were arguing about intensely personal First-Person novels (because stream of consciousness style First-Person narration is a really weird and pretty new thing in the less pronoun-centric Japanese language) versus descriptive and literary Third-Person novels. Obviously this carried over into the Detective Fiction debate about Authenticity and people figured you can't have an 'objective' set of facts displayed in the first-person voice. If you want to know the roots of OreGairu and why so many Light Novels appear in first-person with snarky protagonists, blame the 'I' Novel or 'State-of-the-mind' Novel. (Strangely they count Dostoyevsky as on the good side, probably because he wrote beyond just a single first-person view, but I think that such a statement is just plain off)


Actually I still think its a new trend in current mystery fiction, at least at its current state, but now I know its roots. I think today's self-awareness and postmodern playing around with the mystery format has all-around deepened characterization and has led to narratives focused on the principle of 'know thyself' over solving any objective truths. Or rather now both go hand in hand. So you have Hyouka, which is about self-awareness but also about solving mundane everyday mysteries.

Although this was pretty brief, I think we're quite ready to put together all the building blocks leading to Nisio Isin's career and style as a whole.

SECTION 2.3: THE FIVE GODLIKE BEINGS OF NISIO ISIN


The first way to know something about a writer is to know his predecessors. Thankfully Wikipedia, quite kindly, has this quote for us:

"He said that he learned much from the novels of Kiyoshi Kasai (the author of Vampire Wars), Hiroshi Mori, Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Ryusui Seiryoin and Kouhei Kadono. He also said that the five writers were, metaphorically speaking, the God-like beings, who had shaped and molded his writing style."

Before we go into these, lets bring together what we know about the 'Isin-style' (at least from Monogatari series and Katanagatari. I've only read the Death Note BB Murders besides these two anime, and that's a conventional mystery story.)

Puns & Wordplay
Magic or Supernatural Phenomena based around Semantics and Etymology rather than straightforward mystery solving
Innovative and self-referential narrative structures
Mysteries or Phenomena being thematically relevant to character's internal states (and since our thoughts and abstract moods are reflected in language, this is why words are weapons in Isin stories)
Eccentric Characters that are the farthest dramatizations and parodies of simple internal states (something Dostoyevsky also did very well)
Otaku references (mandatory of course for any prevalent writer in the subculture)

Sadly of the above 5, I can only talk about two, which is Natsuhiko Kyogoku, because I watched Moryou no Hako, and Kouhei Kadano, because I watched Boogiepop Phantom. Hiroshi Mori wrote The Perfect Insider, which is being animated with character designs by Inio Asano, so we'll get to witness his finesse soon.

Natsuhiko Kyogoku is a member of that New Authentic School I was talking about above. New Authentic, as you can tell from the definition, was a revival of Honkaku Tantei Shosetsu to its firmest roots, that being the standard detective locked room mystery. Except now being New, they're more complex, more playful, more metafictional, and crazier than ever before. One of the main works of the New Authentic School, Ayatsuji Yukito's Decagon House Murders, is about an And Then There Were None style mystery taking place in a mansion where all the inhabitants are members of a Mystery Club, and everyone is named after a famous detective.

The New Authentic strains are described quite well by this mystery blog (http://ho-lingnojikenbo.blogspot.sg/):

"Ubume no Natsu, together with Mori Hiroshi's Subete ga F ni Naru - The Perfect Insider, forms the start of the so-called second wave of the Japanese New Orthodox/Authentic detective novel school by the way (Note: I normally use the term "orthodox" here, but because I mainly used "authentic" in my MA thesis, I might use both terms here at times). The New Orthodox school is both a revival, and reconstruction of the classic detective novel. Ayatsuji Yukito's debut work Jukkakukan no Satsujin is seen as the start of the New Orthodox movement and novels of the early writers in the movement like Abiko Takemaru, Norizuki Rintarou and Arisugawa Alice all showed strong influences from classic novels, but also deconstructive and reconstructive elements to the genre (thus making it "New" Orthodox, as opposed to just a copy). The second stage of this movement however, as envisioned by genre critic/scholar Kasai Kiyoshi, represented by novels like Ubume no Natsu and Subete ga F ni Naru - The Perfect Insider on the other hand, while still more-or-less classic puzzle plots, tend to be 1) very long novels and 2) 'a bit' more pedantic, which explains the different fields of sciences and more information being jammed between the pages."

So the New Authentic School followed closely the old rational structure of mostly closed room mysteries, but played around with formal experimentation. Their late strain becomes more Henkaku in that it involves specialized topics like hard science, occultism, philosophy, or youkai studies.

From the definition above, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, and Higurashi too for that matter, would probably fall very nicely into the New Authentic School style. Umineko represents the late strain, while Higurashi represents the early strain, one being more philosophical and meta-textual, chock full of references, while the other is more straightforward despite its recurring time structure.

If you haven't watched Moryou no Hako, you should watch it. There's episode that is a complete etymological analysis of a certain type of Youkai essential to the plot that upon watching it you'll see Kyogoku's influence on Isin so clearly and plainly. Also the ending is a brilliant revelation of coincidence and psychology that would make Borges proud. (somehow the plot also reminds me of the visual novel Kara no Shoujo).

Another example of the late strain school can be seen here:

"Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken takes on the form of a standard detective story, but it is never really about the murders. It is just a set-up for Norimizu Rintarou (and author Oguri Mushitarou) to hold page-long expositions and discussions about pretty much any topic, but mostly occultism, mysticism, criminology, religions, astrology, astronomy psychology, heraldry, medicine and cryptography. Mostly. Any time Norimizu sees anything, he starts rattling about how this relates to a certain book, or a certain writer, or an experiment conducted somewhere, which in turns is related to another topic and so on. The number of works referenced in Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken is easily more than two hundred, with a majority of them being obscure books on occultism. Heck, probably about 70, 80% of this book consists of just pedantic talk. It makes this novel practically unreadable, because you are confronted with a master course Occultism every two pages."

From Kyogoku and Mushitarou, you can also see possible strands to Kinoko Nasu and his metaphysical mystery plots.

Kiyoshi Kasai, another of Isin's gods, is also quite the pedant it seems. His largest book seems to be a 2000 page or so mystery novel about a Detective who solves things using Phenomenology (mainly of the Heideggerian variety).

The pedantism and extreme knowledge-specificity of these novels has been linked to the Otaku subculture (as in the general database or reference centric fervor filled Otaku definition, rather than the anime or idol centric Otaku definition). The flaunting of specific obscure knowledge or technical knowledge, especially with regards to weird occult stuff, requires quite a certain database hound sensibility to get by.

Kouhei Kadano, and Boogiepop Phantom in extension, falls into a different strand, being more psychological and simplistically written in nature. Less of a Detective Mystery and more of a psychological thriller, it pulls off the super-powers linked to character mental states or internal-to-external supernatural phenomena. If you could see the etymology and occult centric taste from Natsuhiko Kyogoku, this is where Isin gets his psychological drama from.

Not many people realize this, and this is a flaw from most Fantasy Writers, but magic is simply philosophical Idealism impinging on Material reality. The Internal Reflects the External. Further down the road the Internal is linked to the Transcendent. Kinoko Nasu understood this perfectly, and he made use of it by not making a cohesively 'sciency' magical system in the vein of Brandon Sanderson, but basing his framework on abstract Buddhist concepts with a whole lot of room for maneuver. That's why a Nasu Magician always feels transcendent or just plain miles above even the basest human being. If you systemize magic, well, it loses what makes it magic in the first place. Likewise Bakemonogatari is an exploration, the same way Evangelion 'explores' internal states with alien battles.

So I think we can quite clearly see Isin's straightforward influences, from old Authentic school crossing to New Authentic, to the otaku variant of it... and then the 'state-of-the-mind' variant of psychological mystery, sourced from I-novels and writers like Dostoyevsky, crossing through Kadano, into Isin's frenetic dialogue style. But that's on the narrative quality. In the end we still have to dissect Shaft's visual quality.

SECTION 2.4: ERO-GURO NANSENSU, THE RETURN


"In these examples of Kyūsaku’s post-earthquake reportage, which spanned autumn 1923 to spring 1925, his usage of hentai leans toward the sexual—and therefore sensational— aspects of Tokyo culture. This is similar to the way he used hentai in “Ayakashi no tsuzumi,” but over the course of his career, there would be a subtle change in which the emphasis shifted from sexuality to psychology (from seiyoku to shinri ). Kyū saku’s writing brought questions of madness and identity to the surface, and this exerted a strong influence on the development of henkaku detective fiction. His fiction was less an account of madness or “abnormal psychology” as much as it was a look inside the hentai mind. He made frequent use of the epistolary or monologue form in order to avoid an omniscient narratorial voice. Kokyō wrote that hentai was not necessarily the same thing as illness, but it was, nevertheless, “abnormal.” Whether one’s hentai shinri manifested itself as kleptomania, paranoia, or mathematical genius, I would argue that these conditions signify that there is something in excess, and this would become a prominent feature of Kyūsaku’s henkaku literature, too."

The above quote, from Dreams of Below, characterizes something about Yumeno Kyusaku's fiction, has something very interesting to note about the concept of abnormality or perversion. An excess is involved in the process of any kind of Henkaku mode. Simultaneously, Shaft's visual style has always been characterized by this mad need for excess in all aspects.

Shaft's animation is revolutionary in the grandest sense of the word, and it has always been, and this can never be denied no matter how reactionary one is towards the content of their shows. No company has ever done the marriage of so many forms of animation, stop-motion, traditional, sometimes CGI, with an even higher variety of visual styles, ranging from sleek minimal, to high expressionist, to flowery gothic lolita, to fairy-tale like, to plain manifestations or homages to old style Ero-Guro (like countless moments from SZS). Yet while SZS was their testing-ground work, and Ef a tale of two or Hidamari Sketch still had their genre trappings of romdrama and slice-of-life respectively, the Monogatari series was the company's full work to have a distinct set of visual codes.

The Monogatari series mainly focuses on the city. It focuses on the lines and roads, the signs and traffic stops, the classrooms and alleyways. Along with that many people have drawn up the point that the show itself is structured like a stage-play rather than a straightforward Anime narrative setting. Even Katanagatari has a greater sense of place. The city is startling and empty. Even Madoka had its primary visual conflict be between the skewed fairy-tale world of the Witches and the highly sleek Minimalist architectural style of a Modernized city. These were also the primary struggles back in the day when Japan was first dealing with the starting movements of Modernity and opening up to newer influences.

Yet, as I have said above, there is nothing more comfortable than the delivery style of Bakemonogatari. People talk. The whole anime curves around the Word. It is nothing without the Word. Either it drowns you or you think its the best feeling in the world. For that reason Shaft (and the Tatami Galaxy) are pioneers in creating this style of narrative that best unifies Image, Sound and Word, other than the strangely and wholesomely immersive form of the Visual Novel. Although countless others have arguably created better movies or shows, the form here is more or less without precedent. The most over-narrated or over-spoken movies, from Trainspotting, to City of God, to Linklater's stuff, have yet to reach that kind of speed. I think only a 2013 movie, the Oversimplification of Her Beauty by Terence Nance, comes to that level.

And at the bottom of Shaft's style is also the vivid movement of their characters. Like I mentioned above, beyond just normal fanservice, accentuation of the body itself. The most famous mark of their is the absurd head-tilt. But even in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, one of the early episodes (Kaere's first episode) had the entire first part shot from a wide-view of the classroom's front row with all the main characters of the class in sight reacting to each other with full body movements. Madoka Magica Rebellion 3 had this moment in the finale when Homura is talking, and her hands have nothing better to do than to snake around in weird patterns, as if just plainly displaying Shaft's animation capability. That's the sort of excesses underlying it.

At its fullest momentum, the fight scenes are animated by famous Sakuga artist Hironori Tanaka. At this state the limbs of the combatants become hyper-rubberized, and prevalent with gore and innards.

Although not always in the old poetic/gothic sense of the term, with its ridiculous fanservice, its moments of surprising bloodiness, and its pun-focused highly associative editing, the Monogatari Series does fall into the triptych structure of 'Ero', 'Guro', and 'Nansensu'.

SECTION 3: JUST A PLAIN GOOD OLD MYSTERY STORY

"But experience has taught me that travel presents nothing more than “identical objects moving in identical spaces”" (Cat Town, Hagiwara Sakutaro)

"And (to give my Credo an even score of items) I herewith list a few of the devices which no self-respecting detective story writer will now avail himself of. They have been employed too often, and are familiar to all true lovers of literary crime. To use them is a confession of the author's ineptitude and lack of originality. (a) Determining the identity of the culprit by comparing the butt of a cigarette left at the scene of the crime with the brand smoked by a suspect. (b) The bogus spiritualistic se'ance to frighten the culprit into giving himself away. (c) Forged fingerprints. (d) The dummy-figure alibi. (e) The dog that does not bark and thereby reveals the fact that the intruder is familiar. (f)The final pinning of the crime on a twin, or a relative who looks exactly like the suspected, but innocent, person. (g) The hypodermic syringe and the knockout drops. (h) The commission of the murder in a locked room after the police have actually broken in. (i) The word association test for guilt. (j) The cipher, or code letter, which is eventually unraveled by the sleuth." (20 Rules for Writing Detective Fiction, SS Van Dine)

As most people are starting to figure out, there are only so many configurations of Simple Machines, Red Herrings, Psychological Tricks, Alibi Manipulations, and Locked Room Style settings, and even that is being exhausted beyond all hope of replenishment. Even with an ingenious formal or narrative structure, as all sorts of people like the New Authentic School, to Moffat in some of his Dr Who episodes, to Christopher Nolan's Memento... all this only goes so far as to add a few stretches more to the eventual exhaustion of your normal idea of Object-Mystery Solving. Yet Subjectivity has always been the greatest mystery of mankind. Intention-centric Mystery, Specialized-Information Mystery, Metaphysical Mystery, Anti-Mystery, and, generally, Irregular Mysteries are soon to become the only areas that have yet been touched by the coming exhaustion.

And that's what Nisio Isin does, and is best at: The creation of wildly artificial and yet wildly imaginative Irregular Mysteries. And Shaft, the most artificially and artistically excessive animation studio out there, has got his whole supernatural vampire-monster etyomological-existential mystery series backed up with full support.

Yet on the Western side of things (or maybe its a language bias and the Japanese side is actually equally swamped), besides a small selection of Postmodern Anti-mysteries, some cyberpunk and science fiction (Stanislaw Lem's His Master's Voice), and some Urban Fantasy style comedy fiction (like Fforde's Nursery Crime series, some of Pratchett's stuff, or maybe some of Gaiman's stuff), the market has been more or less overrun by legal dramas, crime dramas, badly written conspiracy theory plots (compare Dan Brown to Eco's Foucault's Pendulum), and thrillers (Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc...). Even on the Television Department, the Mystery series with the most irregular tastes, Hannibal, was bogged down by such a conventional CSI style monster-of-the-week structure, which was completely distracting from the real plot. And so little out there has yet to even reach the standard of Literary Philosophical Mystery set by Dostoyevsky in The Brother's Karamazov.

Oh the things I would give to see a great Irregular Mystery movement rise up from the ashes of the current milieu of fluff!

4. PRODUCT PLACEMENT!!!

This review was written on Evernote. It was written on my phone. It was written at my computer. It was written on another computer in a high security Air-force Base.

Hello everyone this is Shawn aka TheKazeTrigger and welcome to my month of MVM Entertainment reviews. For this one we are taking a look at the first enter of the Monogatari Series Bakemonogatari.

Now I for the longest time I was never a huge fan of Monogatari series because while I kinda liked the series the first time when I watched it back in 2015 I thought it was just an another waifu pandering show that have nothing but flashy visuals and fan-service. Also, I wasn’t a fan of heavy dialogue shows at the time.

In short I thought this series was kinda overrated.

However, this all changed ... when I decided to randomly buy Bakemonogatari on DVD for £15 brand new in that comic con anime shop and when I got home I decided to watch it again on my TV and well. Did I like I like the series and saw the other side of Bakemonogatari series or do I still think Bakemonogatari is just an overhyped series that not that good?

Well let’s find out.

Story.
The story of Bakemonogatari follows Koyomi Araragi meeting Senjougahara our female lead by catching her as she fall down a giant spiral staircase. What surprises Araragi as he catches her is her weight because she is light as a feather. This is due to a type of spirt that is taking her weight. Lucky Araragi knows someone that can help Meme Oshino, Oshino previously helped Aragai with his own problem which resulted Araragi to become part vampire so he obviously takes Senjougahara to Oshino for help.

From here and out its pretty much the same plot being recycled but the only difference to this are the different girls that he meets that have this spirit problem.

That’s about it for the story of Bakemonogatari and despite this the story of Bakemonogatari still remains fresh by containing wood humour at you giving us very interesting supernatural elements and switching up which girl get the focus.

Now for the most part Bakemonogatari is an episodic show typically 2 or 3 episodes that are given for each mini arc rather than only one.

Personally, am not a fan of episodic things because usually the show ends up being rushed. This is why I wasn’t a fan of episodic shows like Death Parade. It has a lots of interesting themes and conspectus but only had time to induce them before the episode was over. Shows like Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star are good at telling episodic episodes because not only there are well paced but they introduce its themes at the right time without being rushed.

Lucky Bakemonogatari doesn’t suffer from this because each episode/ arc are very well written to the point where you actually care for the story progression and character development.

What really makes Bakemonogatari special is the use of heavy of dialogue and let me tell you it has some of the best heavy dialogue I have ever seen in anime.

Not only there are extremely well written but it always has that meaningful edge throughout. Whether it’s to make a joke, reveal character depth, character development for that set arc or to advance the plot ever conversation has a purpose. With all that said it’s impossible to translate the whole Monogatari series in English without screwing the dialogue up. This is part of the reason why the series hasn’t got a dub yet.

Overall the story of Bakemonogatari is just great.

9/10

Characters.
Bakemonogatari is a very character driven series meaning the character have to be good or else the show would have flop.

Lucky Bakemonogatari features a great cast that is different, relatable and original.

All of the characters start off with generic tropes meaning you will have your everyday harem male lead Aragami, Senjougahara a cool tsundere, Mayoi who is a bratty loli , Nadoeko who is a innocent moto type, Suruga who is a energetic athlete and Tsubasa who is a perfection But as each main girl’s arc developed the restraints for those types break apart. Treating us to meaningful exploration of the defence mechanism people used themselves from the harsh reality from outside the world or in the own minds.

This may sound like edgy writing and character development on paper but it isn’t because the execution is just wonderful.

All of the girls are flawed in they own ways and also just seeing how these characters break apart from they generic tropes is just amazing and very rewarding for the audience.

I wish I can tell you more about the characters in Bakemonogatari but I won’t because I would have to spoil every arc and its themes and to be real honest you don’t want to get spoiled while watching this series.

Overall the characters of Bakemonogatari are just amazing and well fleshed out.

10/10

Art/Animation.

Visually Bakemonogatari is beautiful every scene from Bakemongatari is filled with life. From the action scenes to very experimental animation Bakemonogatari has it all and.

The fan-service of Bakemonogatari is handed well because unlike any other ecchi anime out there Bakemonogatari uses fan service to advance the plot or reveal character modulations. Not to mention the symbolism is just beautiful here that also has meaning and substance to them.

This is fan-service done right

One more thing that I want to mention each girl and each arc have they own opening that is sung by the Japanese voice actors and each opening reflects a certain theme and aspect of the girl. I personally that that approached to very unique because it gives each girl and they arc meaning.
Overall the visuals are just wonderful to watch and very appealing to the eye.

11/10

Sound.

The sound production for Bakemonogatari is just a masterpiece and it really made the show more a relaxing experience while you hear lots of dialogue of character taking. Not to mention the sound quality of Bakemonogatari is very clean and realistic making each scene from the sound effects and background music have a greater impact.

Now as a guy who watches dubs am glad that this haven’t receive the dub because it will look and sound terrible. The dub of Bakemonogatari will suffer for having horrendous mistranslations with the dialogue the story nature with be butchered and the character personalities will also be butchered. Am saying this because the original Japanese audio for Bakemonogatari is just flawless and having a dub for it will ruin the fame of the series.

Overall the soundtrack and voice acting of Bakemonogatari is just amazing.
10/10

Final Thoughts.
Bakemonogatari is easily one of the best animes that I seen in modern anime. It’s a very unique experience that you can’t get in any other medium. While the story arcs were great for what it was the character really driven the story along thanks to its well written narrative structure and great use of heavy dialogue.

The visuals were extremely artistic that has a purpose and the soundtrack was just amazing and well used.

Lastly all of the girls in Bakemonogatari avoided waifu pandering route where all the girls are only there for style over substance where shows like Niseoki where that show didn’t know how to use female characters correctly and instead that show became waifu pandering show with no soul or identity.

I use to find this series to be kinda overrated after my first watch but after my re-watch of Bakemonogatari this series this show immediately became a favourite of mine and it’s my second favorite Monogatari series only losing to Monogatari series second season.


I give Bakemonogatari a 9.5/10

Bakemonogatari is available from MVM Entertainment in the UK on DVD and Blu Ray.

Anime Recommendations

Katanagatari

xxxHolic

Mawaru Penguindrum

The Tatami Galaxy

FLCL

Mushishi

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Anyway this was Shawn aka TheKazeTrigger and I will see you guys next time.

Story: 10
I've never seen a series of this magnitude take such a risky and ultimately ingenious way of telling a story as showing it through a lens of a character. Some things in the story can even be disregarded completely as they could just be happening in the head of Araragi. It still succeeds in keeping a very slow pace very interesting, which is no small feat. It also keeps you on your toes, as you cannot know exactly what is going on.

Art: 10
Why? Because it perfectly fits the mood, music, and most importantly, is composed from more than just pictures. It's made from the ... very mind of the character of Araragi. From the touches like every car, every bike (excluding Araragi's own) looking exactly the same, to the big ones, like the absolutely empty city, it all enforces in a brilliant manner the way Araragi sees the world. Sometimes there are even absolutely pointless things on screen, but that's why it's brilliant: We all see and think about pointless things in one point or another. Also it's surreal nature makes it very interesting to look at, and it really keeps your attention.

Sound: 10
I simply love the soundtrack and the sound design in general. The characters' voices are spot on, and the soundtrack is always more than fitting. It's the kind that is enjoyable to listen on it's own, but almost transcending when shown with the brilliant artstyle and the real and surreal scenes the story takes place on.

Character: 10 (Would give more if i could)

Even if Araragi was the only character to rate, it would be a 10. Character portrayal is rarely seen to be so integral to a series as in Bakemonogatari. Bakemonogatari takes the simple idea of taking the idea of portraying the whole series through a lens of a character, and nails it in every possible manner. It makes the surreal scenes realistic, and adds mystery even to the most normal of occasions.

Enjoyment: 10
Normally it would be only 9, but when I realized that by a small change in the point of view can change a series an insurmountable amount, I started to enjoy this series on another level. It feeds my brains with ingenious subtext and never is too greedy with it's execution. It consists, mostly of dialogue, but it never feels dull, as the conversations are real in a surreal sense, giving it a rarely seen depth.

Overall: 10
Ultimately the best series I've watched until now, as it makes dialogue more interesting than action, and makes action and dialogue both an abstraction.
It may sound hard, but believe me. Once you realize the way to watch the show as I think the makers intended, it makes the whole package stand out from all other series.

**This review needs to be revised. Some points are weak and some arguments are incorrect/irrelevant. **

Do you like the color Purple? Circle one: Yes/No/I don't know
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the color Purple. Circle one: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Do you like the Monogatari Series? Circle one: Yes/No/I don't know
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the Monogatari Series. Circle one: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

This series is just like a color. Its style is so unique to a point that no other show has ever tried its method of ... presentation. Therefore, whether you think this is a masterpiece, a well attempted show, or a even complete trash, you are able to justify your opinion one way or another.

So, how good is the color Purple?

If you don't find this review helpful, please give me some feedback so I can provide content with better quality in the future. :)



STORY (Concept 6/7, Development 2/3)

I purposely adjusted my story rating system for this show. The concept is so overwhelmingly important that the development is no longer within our interest.

Monogatari series is a harem anime. To put it bluntly, it is as generic as a anime can ever get: A guy called Araragi, or, Arararagi, who is in his third year of highschool, encountered multiple supernatural spiritual phenomenons related to... girls and creatures that look like girls.

The key of this anime's success is its unique style of presentation however. Characters in this show does nothing but talking. Araragi talks to girls who happen to love rant and bullshit about stuff that are... very intellectual and interesting. Of course, everybody has his/her own definition of the term "interesting", but there is no doubt that all the dialogues are well thought out. Aside from talking, the images on the screens change frequently in a manner that makes you think it is a slideshow: some slides display phrases Araragi or the speaking person is think, some slides show character's movement in brief seconds. None of the slides move too dramatically, but the slight, vivid moments give the conversations "souls". This practice essentially solves an issue that most other intellectual conversational show have: the majority amount of screen time is filled with a still image of a speaker who moves his/her mouth for 10 seconds.

However, this is not to say the conversation does not get boring once in a while. It is just like looking at the powerpoint presentations in college, you simply cannot concentrate on the slide shows for that long, because you are a human.

Bakemonogatari, as the series' opening piece does a great job of getting audience interested. The 16 episode show has 5 arcs, each arc deals with a spiritual being and a new girl: Crab, Snail, Monkey, Snake and Cat. I will discuss the girls individually in the character section coming up next.



CHARACTERS (Design 4.5/5, Development 4/5)

The character design in the show, tho I really don't want to use this term since I love them, cliche. A calm and smart one, a small and happy one, the underclassman and her friend, the girl you know with boobs. Our main Hero Araragi is a very typical guy who has supernatural power but don't really know all that much about his power. However, the girls are all unique that they all have distinct, and at least 2 dimensional character treats. Comparing to other shows in the harem genre, this is about the most you can ever get from a harem girl.

I apologize in advance that I will not provide examples that describe character developments, since it would absolutely ruin all the fun you will get from this anime considering how simply the plot is.

Crab. The first arc introduces a girl who has lost most if not all of she body mass due to her influence of the Crab spirit. She is what I would describe as a calm psycho. She is so aggressive at times that she threatens Araragi with a pile of things you would find in a pencil case (please refer to the anime's cover). She constantly comes back in other arcs as Araragi's supporter, so if you are the type who likes to get attached to the "Main" girl, you are in luck.
The rest of the arcs (sorry for being lazy) are almost following the same formula. 1, understanding the situation, 2, Obtain help, 3, help the girl to either get rid of the spirit or limit the spirit's influence.

What I like about these character is that all of them are given a very interesting background story by having a conversation, unlike most other shows that present boring flashbacks to explain a certain character. The characters are also not simply just "vanished" after the incident since they all have something left unresolved for the main character to deal with in the later time.



GRAPHIC (Art 5/5, Animation 4/4, Fanservice 1/1)

Wtf there is a score for fanservice? Yes indeed. As an ecchi anime (arguably?), the quality of fanservice is inevitably important as that's part of what it is.

The art uses simple and appealing color to outline the characters. The location of the conversations receive different style of background that fits the theme of the conversation. The visuals of slideshow are also very unique and well designed. Try pause once or twice and look closely on those slides, the Japanese writing placement are very clever. Not to mention the different camera angles and zero recycled materials.

If you are looking for hard core action scenes, you are in the wrong neighborhood. The selling point of this anime's animation is the detailed movements and unique camera angles that catch those movements in the most unexpected way. The use of CG, unlike some of the other shows (Fate/stay night, cough cough), are surprising well done and they actually FIT with the 2D art.

----------If you hate fanservice to the point of killing yourself, skip to the next section----------

Now fanservice. This show has some most "thought provoking" services you can ever find. Unlike the fan service from other shows such as Highschool of the dead and Highschool Double D, the first thing that comes out of you is not a boner. The fan service gives you an impression of how beautiful the human bodies can be. Sure they are targeting the male audience, but with that said I believe female audience can also appreciate the art with a good mind set. I personally loved the fanservice (well comparing to other fanservice from other shows), not because they turn me on, but the fact that they show nudity in a good way, unlike those disgustingly presented ones that reminds you of porn. Again, you may still hate the fan service, but the fanservice in this show was very well done indeed without a doubt.

----------You can keep reading now----------



SOUND (OP/ED 2/3, OST 2/3, Voice 4/4)

The sound in this anime is perfect.

Every arc they present a new OP and ED. All of them fit the current arc and the animation is beautiful (or bizarre). That said, out of all these songs, I might be able to recognize 2 or 3. They aren't memorable.

OST are background music. They serve to set the atmosphere of the scenes. Absolutely nothing melodic or memorable. They are easy music that are made of clear and refreshing notes, rather than layers and layers of effects that distract the experience.

Voice is awesome. Period. Oh in case you are asking for dub. Ha. Ha. Ha. Too bad.



ENJOYMENT (10/10)

Harem is what led me to the world of anime, and this is the most awesome harem show in existence(SAO fans please don't hit me). Instead of putting all the girls together and make a giant mess, Monogatari tackles every individual girl one by one in the most detailed way possible. AND THERE IS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. When do you ever see that in harem? The pop culture references are simply hilarious. The unique presentation was a jackpot for me.

And btw, I love the color Purple.



OVERALL (9/10)

Despite being extremely superior in pretty much all the aspects comparing to its competitors, it failed to give me "void" if you know what I mean. But hey, it is not finished, so it is always good to look forward to the story, right? This anime certainly deserves its hype. Some may hate it and that's totally fine cuz all shows have haters.
Best harem/ecchi show ever? Yes.

So, how would you rate the color Purple?

Peace.

Bakemonogatari is about Araragi Koyomi, getting involved in unusual supernatural creatures known as oddities. In this part of the Monogatari series, it has 5 stories set, talking about 5 different girls that Araragi meets.
Character:
All of the characters are of a typical harem anime. They have a loli-type, tsundere-type, little sister type, big sister(little) type, smart-type, etc,. Disregarding that, this part of the anime focuses mainly on Araragi's personality, and how he likes helping other characters in the story, which leads to them falling in love. It does not focus on the harem too much, since the stories are separated, and each story has Araragi ... and a different main or minor character as the main with him. Almost every character is a dynamic character, changing due to important events in the story.

Story:
In Bakemonogatari, the stories that are told are all unique. About half of the series is mainly about Araragi and Senjougahara's relationship developing throughout the series, and there are other characters who develop romantic feelings for the protagonist. The series has Araragi portrayed as a a "hero", willing to help others at the cost of his own life. Each story in the series do not get sidetracked except for the ending, which was a truly magnificent scene.

Art:
The art of the anime is obvious enough to know that one of the producers is "Shaft" with their famous head tilt. This was animated in 2009-2010, so the quality of the series is not very good, but disregarding that, the characters still please the eye, and are not old fashioned. The art makes this show focus solely on the characters known in the series. Minor characters aren't even shown, only heard, or they're outlined and not shown. This art style suits this mysterious series very well due to it being very compatible with each other.

Sound:
Each story had separate OPs & EDs which was the first anime I've ever seen switching repeatedly. Each OP and ED matches the characters personality most of the time, and matches the story. An example of how the OP matches a character, would be the child-like sound to the OP "Renai Circulation" in the Nadeko Snake story of the series. The last ED "Kimi ni Shiranai", matches perfectly with the ending of the anime as well. By far my favorite ED for the entire series possibly.

Enjoyment:
I truly believe, if you love a high-quality romance, Bakemonogatari will be the perfect anime for you. The story is well-told and will not bore you. The series has many BGM that will also get you hooked into the anime that fit into the story, same for the OP and ED. I haven't watched many anime titles yet(little over 200) but this is by far my favorite romance, it does not get sidetracked, and focuses on the story. There are a couple flaws that I personally did not like, but the plot of the story made all of the flaws not even matter.

"If you're kind to everyone, that means there's no one special"

This anime centers around Koyomi Araragi, a not-so normal high school guy, and the supernatural forces burdening them.

Characters:
In my opinion the most important part of any story, the cast of Bakemonogatari do not disappoint, with varied personalities and traits. The two main characters, Koyomi Araragi and Hitage Senjougahara, themselves have won a place as some of my favorites out of any anime for their mindsets and chemistry with one another. They have an interesting relationship, to say the least, with Senjougahara acknowledging herself as a tsundere but also taking jabs at Araragi, whom takes ... it wearily as he knows he can't win as any response has no effect. This never ending conflict is part of what makes this show so compelling, to me at least. The 4 other heroines all have their own personalities and problems, and while not as deep, are still interesting in their respects. The last major character is Meme Oshino, who aids Araragi in resolving various problems.

Story:
The anime basically moves in arcs depending on the various females and the entities affecting them. Along the way Araragi and Senjougahara's relationship develops slowly in the midst of all the madness. I was happy with the arc style as it didn't detract from the ending, but I felt one in particular felt out of place.

Art:
Produced by Studio Shaft, this anime followed the studio's style to a high degree of different angles, cuts, and inserts. If you are new to the series, it may take some time to adjust to all the madness that pops up, especially with the dialogue shots, which often flash on and off screen at a moments notice. Just enjoy it and overthink it too much. While some may find it distracting, I found it quite enjoyable to be presented with such an experience. My only major qualm was that in the midst of all this, they even added some real life clips/pics, which I believe didn't really belong in there. The characters themselves are (in my opinion) all well designed and look good, with fluid actions and expression.
P.S. some fanservice thrown in if you like that also

Sound:
Voice- The seiyuus did an excellent job on this series, with each voice matching the characters spot on, on emotion and tones. With Bakemonogatari so heavy on dialogue, they really did an amazing job. I really wish I could understand Japanese as the series employs generous helpings of sarcasm, wit, and pop culture jokes that cannot fully be appreciated in translation.

Music-The music fit well with the scenes, providing the something extra to the dialogue. For a short-ish anime of only 15 episodes, it has five whole OP's, each different in tone and style. "Staple Stable" is the first and probably the best imo, and the ED Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari by supercell is becoming one of my favorites just for listening to.

Enjoyment:
I can whole-heartedly say that, while subjective, for me myself, this was a 10/10 anime for enjoyment. Everything just came together really well to be a lovely slew of arcs, characterization, and dialogue. I loved the characters and their interactions with one another, and the romance was great in that it wasn't sappy but meaningful over time. This was honestly just the sort of thing I was looking for, and I am already craving more.

Watching Bakemonogatari gives one the same feeling of reading a fast-paced book. It’s very important to keep your mind on the content of the page, and if you slip; finding out that you haven’t been paying attention while scamming through the page, you have to collect your thoughts, go back to where the situation started, and start all over again. That’s a lot like how Bakemonogatari is, except way less fleeting and easier to concentrate on. I tried watching and reading reviews on Bakemonogatari and I heard it was a little ambiguous, so I dove in, only to be hit by something so fascinatingly slow-paced ... that it’s fast-paced, something so ambiguous that it actually makes sense, and something so fleeting, that when you blink, you miss it. I find it not to be the anime for everyone, definitely not. Only a significant few can watch something like this and enjoy the experience. Only the most patient and alert people can get this anime. The impatient will drop it on the first episode. When watching it, though, the impatient; heck, even the patient, are hesitant to drop it because it feels like this anime is a test. It’s testing your intelligence, your personality, your weaknesses, your strengths, etc. and that is why I believe this anime is popular; because so many people want to challenge Bakemonogatari and defeat it, defeat its test and its scrutinizing nature; that’s also why I didn’t drop it, because I am a naturally competitive person and don’t take defeat well.

Analyzing the plot of Bakemonogatari is a waste of time. What plot? There IS no plot in Bakemonogatari. I mean, yes, the creators TRY to make a plot, but it’s so minor and such an insignificant part of the anime, that it’s useless to give it a tangible score, but I’ll try to give you the general jist of it. The main character’s name is Araragi Koyomi, a third year in high school. He’s a “Pseudo-vampire,” bitten by one at one time and only being half-cured, now having an immortal body. The story focuses around him and his experiences with different girls that are tied with a supernatural entities (spirits, apparitions, gods, etc.). And since he’s a generous guy (And also a bit of a pervert), he helps them out. But never mind that. It’s hard to even focus on the plot most of the times when it’s jammed in between all of the talking, and talking, and talking, and talking. The main attraction of this anime is definitely its dialogue, with the witty aphorisms and humorous interactions; it’s the highlight of the entire anime. The interactions and clever details added to the dialogue are really what makes this anime and sets it apart from the others. Also, the dialogue and interactions are so deep and fast-paced, that I have to be careful not to miss a single detail, for everything was important even when it wasn’t supposed to be. This anime is like the hipster of the anime world. The creators must’ve been like, “Plot and action scenes are too mainstream, let’s develop around character interactions,” which sounds really crappy in a plot summary, but ends up being a pretty good element to the anime. Trust me, if I could put an N/A rating for plot, I would, because analyzing it is just unfair. Unfortunately, I cannot, and instead I’ll give the “plot” a 7? (Note the question mark)

Apart from plot, the design of this anime was gorgeous. With a pop art style and freely executed color experimentation, you’re never sure of the setting of the anime, especially during a witty interaction. Everything changes colors so faced, and the art can change from one style to the next in an instant; while also flashing a bunch of different colors in your face. If you are prone to epileptic seizures, then I warn you about this. The art, though, is also what makes this anime different from the rest of the world. Every single art element is just so beautifully stylized and fits the ambiguity of the anime perfectly, also adding to the fact that it is indeed, “hipster.” Even the horribly bloody action scenes (Which were basically made up of the main character getting his ass whooped and intestines pulled out, excuse my French) were pretty and colorful. I don’t know if it’s because I have a twisted mind, or the anime was trying to convince me that I do. In that sense, I lost to Bakemonogatari.

The music for the opening was not how I expected it to be. Considering it’s the first thing a watcher sees when starting an anime, you’d expect it to be much more fitting to the anime. I mean, yes, it was quite cute, but didn’t really characterize the anime very well and lowered my expectations. The OST is one of the very few I actually remember in an anime. It was surprisingly fitting and had a “Curiosity” mood about it, as if foreshadowing something; of course, that was during the interesting dialogue, adding to my suspicion and enjoyment of it all. The voice actors, I believe were casted very well. It’s kind of hard to imagine that the perverted, nonsensical main character is voiced by the serious, frightening Corporal Levi from Shingeki no Kyojin, but Kamiya Hiroshi (The voice actor for Araragi and Levi) pulled it off surprisingly well.

Analyzing the characters for this anime is the most fun in the entire review, mainly because they made up the entire anime and their interactions were the reason of my enjoyment. Every single character has such a weird and different personality that makes it easy for the watchers to distinguish between the characters. Araragi, though, seems to be the weakest character (If I had to pick one), mainly because of his interpretation and display as a helpless and submissive character that Bakemonogatari managed to trick me into once again. Another point to Bakemonogatari, 0-2. The other protagonist, though; Senjougahara, his tsundere girlfriend, had an opposite appeal to me. With her unique and witty, yet seemingly emotionless attitude, her school supplies weapons, and just overall likeable personality, I was instantly drawn. She is amazingly clever and always surprised me with her humorous interactions with Araragi, making her a logical competitor for one of the most likeable female characters in anime.

Overall, I feel, deep down, that I secretly enjoyed this anime while also trying to defeat it as well. It’s like this anime is my rival; I don’t want to lose to it, but I can’t help but enjoy competing and playing the game. The likeable characters and overall hipster nature of the anime really set it apart from any other anime I've every read. Unfortunately, though, since I am not a very patient person, I couldn't help but grow tired of some of the never ending dialogue and all of it seemed a lot to take in. Me 0, Bakemonogatari- 3. In the end, Bakemonogatari’s mind tricks and witty dialogue ended up being the successor in this battle and I lost. I failed the test that Bakemonogatari threw in my face, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the process of getting there. “Which is more important, the result or the adventure in getting there?” A common question indeed. With Bakemonogatari, the answer is obvious. With no caring in the world of the plot and solutions, instead of the transitional dialogue, I believe that the adventure is more important. If you passed the test, I congratulate you.

Overall: 8

If I had to pick a word to describe Bakemonogatari, it would be “bad”. And I don’t mean that in a positive way.

Basically, Bakemonogatari is a Harem show. There is nothing special about it. It is just like every other harem show out there. We have Araragi, our protagonist who’s exactly like every other harem protagonist other than the fact that he’s a vampire, has a meaningful backstory, and doesn’t get into stupid perverted situations with girls who act irrationally for the sake of comedy. Minus all the things that set this apart from other harem shows, this is nothing special.

The characters in ... this show all fall into certain archetypes: We have the sexual assault victim who seems to be a tsundere but really is just bad at communicating with others and is using it as a defense mechanism. She even has the stereotypical broken family with a mother who, just like all anime mothers, got sucked into a cult and disowned her daughter. We have the loli who’s actually dead and is bratty because she doesn’t want people to get hurt by being friendly with her and whose parents are divorced just like all anime parents. We even have the sporty girl who is, like most sporty girls, a lesbian and hates the main character because he took away her love interest. Most of them are simply used to deliver unfunny jokes that don’t make sense unless you put in the effort to actively listen. And we all know just how awful that is. A lot of time is spent on meandering dialogue that isn’t important to the plot at all except for all the times that it is and only serves to throw jokes at the audience that aren’t funny because I didn’t think they were funny. The characters are also constrained to their own “arcs”. Each one only gets a few episodes before moving onto the next boring archetype character. This is inherently bad, no matter how well executed it is or how much story and character development is put into just a few episodes. Not that there’s any character development anyways. After all, all the characters are cliche archetypes and this is just a normal harem anime.

So what makes Bakemonogatari unique? Well obviously the art, since everything else is pretty standard.

Bakemonogatari is animated in a very strange way. This isn’t surprising. After all, it was animated by Studio SHAFT, who are, at this point, famous for their bizarre animation styles. In this show there’s lots of times where there’s real life photography and walls of text that go by so fast you can’t read them unless you pause (and god forbid you have to pause). Aside from all the times that the characters are animated, there’s very little animation to be found in this show. In fact, I can think of a lot of times where there’s just static images. I can think of lots of times where there’s actual animation as well, but those don’t count.

The art is certainly interesting. However, there are times is was obvious they were just saving money. In fact, you can calculate how much each scene costs, with precise amounts such as “a lot” and “not very much”. It’s a lot more effort than pausing to read the walls of text, but it’s harder to complain about, so I’ll play it off as a game I played during this incredibly generic, boring show.

While the backgrounds are unusual, the character designs are very normal for a harem anime. Honestly, name me one harem anime that DOESN'T have a monkey girl in a raincoat. As a generic harem anime, the main draw is the cute girls and not the plot or intricate character relationships. The supernatural elements aren’t that interesting either since they were obviously there to trick the audience into thinking that this wasn’t a generic harem show. While this show does have slightly odd directing, the girls are all attractive and in generic harem positions such as being constricted by invisible snakes while wearing a school swimsuit, or ripping apart the main character with your monkey arm while wearing a raincoat in the creepiest way possible.

The show breaks the fourth wall a lot, with the main female lead, Senjogahara, calling herself a tsundere. At times they question the fact that they are characters in an anime. Most people would use this and say that it’s proof that Bakemonogatari is “self-aware”. While they’re right, I’m going to be edgy and different by trying desperately to prove them wrong.

See, Bakemonogatari isn’t really ironic. It just pretends to be in order to protect itself from criticism. It’s saying “see we’re poking fun at ourselves, therefore you can’t criticize us for our use of tropes. This is not irony for the sake of humor. It’s simply a way or utilizing anime archetypes and creating a cast of one-dimensional characters that aren’t fleshed out or sympathetic except for all the times that they are. It’s just proving how lazy the author was. He didn’t feel like creating complex characters so he decided to use stereotypes and then poke fun at them. This obviously took no effort at all. The author needs to learn how to make believable, sympathetic, well rounded characters like Kirito.

The heavy use of self-aware humor has several downfalls. First of all, it is hard for simple people like me to understand it. Second, it’s easy to make fun of and trash-talk. It also seems to think that the audience isn’t going to notice that it’s relying on the same cliches it’s making fun of to stay afloat. I cannot think of a single scene where it was held up by it’s intriguing story or interesting characters because all of them are so cliche. I mean honestly, I haven’t seen a single harem show that doesn’t involve a girl who was almost raped when she was 12. The series feels very empty because, aside from charming characters, entertaining dialogue, and interesting art and story, it had nothing to offer besides cliches.

In closing, Bakemonogatari is just a bad anime. It tries to sound smart and avoid criticism with interesting art and faux-ironic jokes when really it relies on nothing but cliches and tropes. If you want to see an anime that doesn’t rely on tropes, cliches, or deus ex machina, AND has well rounded, interesting characters, check out Sword Art Online. It’s the best anime ever made.

Bakemonogatari. If you spend at least an hour aimlessly wandering on the internet you'll probably hear about it or come across one of the characters as someone's forum avatar. This is what got me. I saw Hitagi, I saw Shinobu, and I really took to their designs. I'm a figure collector, and when I see a figure I like, I feel the need to watch or read whatever the source material is, both so I can really know the character I'm spending money on, and because having figures I don't know the stories behind leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I saw Shinobu's Nendoroid and ... bought her without hesitation. No regrets there, she's one of my favorite figures in my pretty big collection (I got the premium goodies as well, those were neat). A few months before that, I got around to watching the first two episodes with my boyfriend, and both of us were far from impressed. Still, I gave it another chance when I returned home for summer break, because now I had Shinobu and of course I needed the others (such is the life of a collector) and because I'd heard that it got better with time. What a lie.

I can't say I understand the massive hype surrounding this show. The first thing I want to make clear is that it's pretty damn boring. It's essentially just fifteen episodes of two characters having very dull conversations, with the oh so hi-larious Koyomi getting bullied or verbally outwitted by the members of his haunted girl harem.

I can't emphasize enough how much I hate Koyomi. He's your typical perverted harem protagonist with a heart of gold, willing to valiantly give up his useless life for anything with a pair of tits. His hobbies include staring at ass, popping boners over the slightest amount of female contact, and groping little girls. What? That last part? Groping little girls? That's right, groping little girls. Mayoi, the little fifth grade girl, is the repeated target of Koyomi's disgusting, grabby hands, and he is genuinely shocked when she fights back. Koyomi's got a pretty latent case of pedophilia; besides squeezing the chest of a fifth grader, he also gets an erection from touching a middle school girl's (Nadeko) MACHINE WASHED swimsuit and bloomers. This boy acts like he hasn't had an orgasm in three years, which is odd, considering the amount of masturbation material shoved at him every day.

Koyomi, unfortunately, is part vampire, so he's virtually immortal and heals quickly. He gets the ever living shit beat out of him a lot, which is pretty satisfying, but not quite as satisfying as it should be, knowing that even though he got a hole kicked in his abdomen, he'll be a-okay in the next scene. I was stupid for thinking that somehow, maybe the entire female cast wouldn't fall head over heels for him. Very stupid indeed. Every chick in this goddamn show wants to suck his nasty dick because he's their savior and is...no, that's it. Your typical damsel in distress scenario. Also, did I mention how ugly he is? If you're gonna have a harem of chicks vying for a dude's cock you better make him attractive. I can't say anything nice about this asshole.

Hitagi, his "girlfriend", is almost as bad as he is, the "almost" is purely because she isn't a pedophile. She is, however, a massive bitch. She treats Koyomi like the piece of shit he is, but it's not in any way satisfying because she's a bitch to everyone and her life is awful so we're supposed to feel bad for her. It's probably the most generic tragic backstory for a female anime character ever: she's a sickly girl who was great at everything (smart, athletic, popular), she used to be rich, she got sexually assaulted, and her mom is a nut who donated all their money to a shady religion cult.

I'll admit I pitied her at the end of the second episode and even shed a tear or two, but even though one of her massive problems was solved, she still acts like the world owes her everything. It's very hard to believe that her and Koyomi are even dating; she doesn't give a single shit about him. She pulls that edgy "if someone kills you i'll kill them" bs with Koyomi all the time and it somehow becomes a plot point more than once, but that's the extent of her affection. In one scene, she claims to have no interest in sexual activity due to her assault (understandable), but minutes before she was rubbing the inside of Koyomi's thigh, licking his ear, and whispering unintelligible, presumably dirty things in his ear...while in the backseat of the car her father was driving. What can I say? These two deserve each other.

A whole lot of emphasis is put on Hitagi's "tsundere" personality, but I'm only seeing tsun and no dere. She is entirely a bitch and her "sweet" side doesn't extend past death threats.

Any time not spent straight up ignoring Koyomi is spent verbally berating him and firing off one unfunny insult after the other. This shit is honestly, genuinely supposed to be funny, so it happens in every goddamn episode where Hitagi shows her ugly, scowling face. Koyomi acts as only a reactionary, taking the insults like the little bitch he is, which is also supposed to be funny, but it sincerely isn't. It's so painfully unfunny.

In short, the two main characters are the most unsavory of the bunch. They're your generic harem male lead and tsundere bitch girlfriend with very little thought put into either. Their quarrels are intended to be funny and witty, but I found myself sitting through these scenes either completely straight-faced or just rolling my eyes at the money wasted on this mess.

As for the other characters, besides their appealing designs, there isn't much to them. You've got your cute yet sassy fifth grade girl, your sporty, "lesbian" chick, your shy childhood friend girl, and your generic smart, sweet, big-tittied honor role student. All these characters are are flat reactionaries with one or two oh so quirky personality traits that serve as Koyomi's arm candy and fanservice. This show isn't an ecchi, I can tell you that, but the ass and boob shots are so out of place in this *~*occult avant-garde mystery*~* that it's just embarrassing. "I'm a monster that's possessed your friend and I kill people to relieve stress, but I'm also a sexy kitty with big boobies, nyahaha!" That fucking laugh made me wish I was deaf.

I enjoyed Mayoi's character at first. I appreciated her hostility and hesitation to trust Koyomi, and her arc had an awesome opening theme. I cried a bit at the end of her arc as well. This admiration soon transformed into disappointment as she gradually became another one of Koyomi's bitches, losing basically ever bit of integrity she once held for me. She gets angry when being groped and retaliates as expected, but as soon as she discovers it's silly Koyomi's doing, it's alright! Also, the "I flubbed your name" thing got old, but she is a fifth grader, so I guess I can let it slide.

Suruga, the athletic one, quickly became one of my favorites. She's cute, she's personable, and she knocks Koyomi's lights out twice! And get this: she's gay, so she won't want to suck Koyomi's chode! Awesome!

...Haha, so naïve. She's not gay. I mean, she is, for Hitagi (god knows why), but after being saved by Our Lord and Savior Koyomi Araragi, she insists on stripping down when talking to Koyomi and pretty clearly want to ride his shriveled dick into the sunset. Honey, you're not gay. I know, it was hard for me to accept my bisexuality too. You'll get through it. It's really infuriating to realize that even though these writers /could/ give us a gay character, they wont't, because apparently writing a female with no romantic or sexual attraction to men is literally impossible. I don't care if she's bi, in fact, that's great! Just don't call her gay.

Her arc was probably my favorite, though. That scene where she stands ominously in front of Koyomi near the train tracks at night? Genuinely scary. That awesome, fast-paced fight scene? Fantastic! I loved that. Too bad it only lasted like, four minutes. Then she turns into another notch in Koyomi's belt. They had the chance to make a good character, and they didn't take it.

Nadeko is the reserved, quiet, childhood friend of Koyomi and his sister. Gonna cut right to the chase: she loves him too. Boooring. Not much to say about her, except that despite her age--no, wait, especially because of her age, Koyomi still wants to bang. Her backstory is...confusing? Why did her friend curse her? Because Nadeko said no to the boy her friend liked? Wouldn't that make things easier for the friend because she has a chance with the dude? I don't get it?????

Tsubasa's the perfect, sweet little cat girl with a rough home life. You want to like her because there really isn't anything to dislike about her, but the fact that she's another sweet smart pretty big tittied girl with a thirst for some ugly protagonist dick nulls any positives for me. I feel bad for this chick, but I just can't like her.

Meme is a badass. He's the only decent male character, which isn't saying much, considering there's only two. He looks sleazy, but he's a cool guy who doesn't hesitate to help out someone in need. Half of me wishes he got more screentime, but the other half isn't sure what that time would be used for.

Shinobu doesn't say a word at all. She sits there with Meme, eats donuts, drinks Koyomi's blood, and eventually does do something important. Not much at all can be said about her unless you watch the following seasons.

Besides his two sisters who don't do anything until Nisemonogatari and Hitagi's dad, whose face you don't even see, that does it for characters. Literally. There are no background characters. Other people, like Hitagi's mother, is mentioned, but never shown. I did actually like this, it made the town feel entirely empty besides the main characters, which gave it a more lonely and spookier feel.

The art is lackluster. It's not GORGEOUS like people make it out to be. Hajime Ueda's art, the stuff during the credits, was the most enjoyable part for me. It actually made it feel like an enigmatic monster story, which Bakemonogatari apparently is not. I can't be the only one who didn't appreciate those goddamn flashes of text, either. Entirely pointless, distracting, and seems like a cop out to cut down on animation costs. From what I can tell, in Nisemonogatari, it gets cut down significantly, which is nice.

The music is pretty good. Each arc had its own opening theme, and I found myself listening to them almost every time. The ending was enjoyable as well, both to listen to and watch. I can't pick out any songs during the show that I loved, but most of it was alright.

I can't say that I enjoyed this show that much. It's loaded with out-of-place fanservice, initially interesting characters that melt into puddles of affection for the MC, annoying flashes of text coupled with just average art, and long, long periods of boring dialogue and quips between Koyomi and one of his bitches. I found myself bored watching this, and you could probably afford to skip most of the dialogue parts because the plot is easy to follow. I'm sincerely hoping Nisemonogatari turns out better, but my hopes aren't high.

Unfortunately, being the sucker I am, I'm still gonna buy the fucking figures.

This will be my 10th review, so I’d love to hear any critique or viewpoints on things that I can keep improving, or things that you think I’ve already done well in improving.
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“Being kind to everyone, simply means there’s no one special.”

Story: (8 / 10)
The general (spoiler-free) plot is at first glance very simple. Araragi finds out about an aberration in some way, and then proceeds to deal with it in some way. Simple enough.
However, even if all of these “arcs” may seem pretty standalone, they all sort of tie together in a not-so-direct story related event, but how they all affect Araragi’s relationships ... with people.

I thought each of the “problems” that appear throughout the series were quite well done, and rather interesting, and most of the episodes had small twists to further entice the viewers.

As you probably know, this is a very dialog-heavy show, and so at first I thought it felt kind of slow. However, once you actually get into it, that problem quickly disappears. But because this is so focused around the dialogues, and they don’t always talk about things related to any aberration or anything else seemingly related to the story of the episode, it can be hard to follow (or even remember) what the original point of the conversation even was.

Even with this minor complaint, the show manages to keep you interested with whatever’s going on, whether it’s an exorcism or talking about things you’ve heard on the radio.

Art: (9 / 10)
The art in this anime is simply amazing. While the quality of the art and the detailed backgrounds are a big plus, that’s not all that makes up for the amazing art; It’s also about the very special way things are visually presented.
As someone else pointed out before me, a lot of the art in Bakemonogatari more or less serve as visual aid, as opposed to eye-candy. This is clearly exemplified by the “text-only screens” (I’m unsure what to actually call them, to be honest), where it’s simply a single-colored background with a single line of text. This can sometimes be a repetition of what was just said, to sort of “enhance” the message trying to be delivered, and sometimes they transition between these screens really fast, to write out entire pieces of the story, (so to speak).

Another thing is how there’s not really a lot of movement going on in the scenes. While there are some scenes featuring the characters walking somewhere, and even the occasional fighting scene, which all have very fluid and good-looking animations when it actually comes down to it, a lot of the scenes play out with the characters sitting down, or moving from place to place in between jump cuts.
Because of this, a lot of the scenes may sometimes have weird camera angles, a lot of jump cuts (as I just said) with characters switching positions in the area, and of course the occasional head tilt and “hair twitch”.

All of this serve to keep the viewer interested throughout all of the dialog the show presents, as I think it might’ve been a pretty boring experience had they done it any other way, whether they just had a static image of the characters currently talking, or more “normal” animation techniques....

Sound: (8 / 10)
In a series so focused on talking, it obviously won’t work out if you have “bad” voice actor’s, or VA’s who don’t really seem to know what they’re doing. Fortunately, this is not the case for Bakemonogatari at all. All of the voice actors do a very good job in portraying their respective characters, and they’re all a joy to listen to.
The cast also features one of my favorite voice actors, Hanazawa Kana, as a somewhat important character, so bonus points for that!

As for the music, I think it’s an overall great OST. A total of 5 different openings are used (one for each arc?), including one by Hanazawa Kana; However, only a single ending song is used, “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” sung by Supercell’s Nagi.
The actual background music is also very well done, and adds a lot to each scene, whether it’s a loving moment between two characters, or an intense battle between Araragi and an aberration.

Characters: (9 / 10)
This would also be a section very important to an anime like this, but yet again they’ve succeeded in creating interesting & enjoyable characters. All of the characters are rather different from each other, which makes for a nice contrast when they’re interacting with each other. There is character development present throughout the story, though all characters don’t share as much of this as the others do, however it’s not really needed for these characters to develop any further at the moment either.

It’s really a well done and interesting cast of characters which, again, is important to a series so focused on dialog, because having emotionless drawings talk about stuff would really take away from the feeling they’ve managed to draw out with their work.

Enjoyment: (9 / 10)
At first I was a bit reluctant, and didn’t think I’d enjoy this very much (or well, not as much as I did), since as far as I knew it was basically 90% dialog. But somehow, because it’s so well done and whatnot, I really enjoyed just watching the characters talk to each other even if it did feel slow at first, and I’ll happily watch the rest of the franchise hoping for the same level of enjoyment.

Quite possibly the most weirdest, most unique and quite possibly the most amazing created anime =P. I could honestly say that this anime is a much watch altough the art may put you off, its the dialogue that truly makes this anime amazing. One of the very few anime that uses dialogue to create a masterpiece.

Story 10

Based on the light novel bakemonogatari by Nisioisin sensei, writer of Medaka box swell. Bakemonogatari tells of Araragi Koyomi, a half kinda vampire that encounters various characters each with a monster associated with them, from crabs to snails. Each with a unique story line that leaves the viewers amazed ... at each story leaving them loving the characters more and more.

Art 8

The art, is very unique and weird. To be honest at first i was kinda put off with the animation, due to the weirdness, but once i realised how well the animation worked so well with the Dialogue then the magic finally happened, with an average of about 100 eye shots per episode, the art with minimum movement truly creates a weird and mysterious atmosphere when watching this anime.

Sound 7

The sound is nothing special it doesnt really do much in making each episode more enjoyable or anything. But each character does gets its own opening song, which some is fairly well made causing you to listen to it again on youtube, plus the ending of bakemonogatari created by the amazing band Supercell, is a song that regardless how many times you listen to its still amazing.

Character 10

Each Character is very unique, Senjougahara Hitagi is an extreme tsundere and is incredible rude to everyone, this itself creates many comical scenes between her and Araragi Koyomi who's a character that thinks to much with teenage urges =P. Each character each provides a comical experience that puts Koyomi in touch situations in each of their story, and by touch situations i mean awkard situations, while continuing insulting koyomi =P.

Enjoyment 9

I enjoyed this Anime a lot, each comical scene made me laughed my head off, and each of the characters story provided heart warming scenes or Horror/psychological scenes that is very enjoyable.

Overall 10

If your a fan of weird, screwed up, horror and comical animes then this is definitely the one for you. Most likely one of the best weird story that you will ever watch, it provides an expierence you will not forget, it'll be very unlikely you will forget this anime for a long time.

"I don't know everything. I just know what I know." Hanekawa's most used line. Probably.

Well this show definitely surprised me. I didn't really know what to expect when going into this show. I thought it would be about just a normal guy that goes around helping these girls like I did in recent shows I have seen. But bakemonigatari does a fantastic job of making this no ordinary show and has such a unique and interesting storyline and characters. There really are no other shows like this.

Story 9/10
One day araragi (such a fun name to say) goes to school and sees a girl falling and ... he decides to run and catch her, little did he know that she was very light and didn't feel heavy at all when he caught her, and she has an "oddity" and helps her get rid of it. But all before this happened araragi was turned into a vampire. And I felt this was the only weak part of the story. I felt like they didn't explain very well on how araragi got turned into a vampire, I think they did some explaining in the first few minutes of the first episodes, but it didn't seem to clear things up for me, it seemed confusing (maybe I just forget, because its been a few months since I finished this show) and this is really the only weak point in the story, well for me it does, and maybe I didn't listen well enough or something. Anyways, throughout bakemonogatari, araragi and senjougahara (I think that's how you spell it?) are the main characters of this show and we see how they grow in relationship with each other all the while araragi is helping out these other girls with their oddities and we see what he and senjohara do to help them out. The pacing seems slow to some, but overall good constant pace throughout the show. I'll leave the rest to watching the show. And one thing to keep in mind is this show is heavy on the dialogue so you really have to be focused to understand what's going on, so this show isn't for everyone.

Characters 9/10
The characters are all excellent. They all have their roles and play the roles well. Really no dull characters, everyone is well developed, except maybe for araragi's characters but get more development in the sequel. Araragi really wants to help everyone and will do what it takes to help the girls get rid of their oddities. Senjougahara is a very interesting character, seems frightening at first but actually cares about people and how her actions impact others. Hanekawa is a genius and might actually know everything, but says she doesn't. Her and araragi are real good friends and we get to see her always helping out araragi when he doesn't know what to do. There are much more interesting characters and you'll have to watch to see how amazing they all are

Sound 8/10
I did enjoy the soundtrack a lot. I liked the eerie music they played when the conversations were serious and prolonged which really fit into the scenes perfectly. I felt they were lacking the action songs during the action moments, or maybe its just me. But overall the soundtrack is great. They also have different openings for each arc (person). Endings were good. I also liked the air sounds you could say when the characters moved the arms or something or when moving the camera from one person to the other. Probably the weak point of this show for me but still really good.

Art/Animation 9/10 (close to a 10/10)
This show has one of the best animations and art. I loved all of the weird camera angles shaft does, it can feel over excessive at some points but it really has a huge impact on the show. Like one example is that one person will be talking on camera, just statically, and then when the next person talks they'll zoom in a little, then the static person, then zoom in more on the zooming in person, and does for a few lines for each people and gives a very unique view of camera angles. The character art was just stunning. They all looked very proportioned and highly realistic. Well the only un realistic part would be when someone's arm gets cut off and about 100 gallons of blood spurts out and I say to myself, is that even possible? But overall animations were great. Especially the fighting scenes, they were very fluid and the visuals were amazing. Also this show is pretty darn graphic so be prepared.

Overall 9/10
Very unique and highly interesting storyline. Extremely nice art. Great characters with great development. Decent soundtrack. Highly enjoyable, all makes this show amazing. I definitely felt for each character at the end, all very likeable. I probably could of watched the whole show in one go or day but couldn't cause of time restrictions (school..). One of the more interesting and fascinating storylines which made the show highly enjoyable for me. Recommend this to anyone wanting an amazing story, characters, art, and a little romance here and there, not much comedy but still there.

+Great unique storyline
+Stunning visuals
+Senjougahara is in this
+Araragi is fun to say
+Awesome camera angles
+Never gets boring (not for me)
-A little weak on the soundtrack
-Unrealistic amounts of blood

Did I make you want to watch this? I hope so, you wont be disappointed

Bakemonogatari -

Lemme start by saying that this entire show has been a fun ride from beginning to the end. It is quite possibly the best slice of life anime I've ever watched. And I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.

The show is very funny, constantly teetering between high brow social commentary, to surreal meta humor, to slapstick nonsense. It's just so goddamned funny and that's the one aspect I enjoyed most out of Bakemonogatari. It's lighthearted and overall cheerful and fun all around.

Usually I'd dismiss light novel-to-anime adaptations, but this show really works well as an anime, more so than as a light novel ... thanks to the surreal animation courtesy of Shaft. The constant switching of artstyle per episode and the freeze-frame cuts randomly juxtapositioned in strangely fit the scene depicted onscreen really well. And the surreal atmosphere is perfectly portrayed by the unnatural character animations and backgrounds. Fantastic stuff.

The characters in this series are all genuinely enjoyable, while Nadeko and Hanekawa_(human) are a bit too cliched for my tastes, te rest of the cast is very well written. The protagonist in particular is a lovable idiot who sticks his nose in place where it don't belong. While in other animes I'd abhor characters like this, Bakemonogatari makes it work by making him a foil to almost every other character he meets, making it an excellent story telling technique.

Senjougahara in particular I believe to be quite possibly the best characterized character in the show, being an unusual tsundere character as far as tsunderes go, and overall being very likable due to her witty banter with Araragi.

I do like the structure of a short story system in which different episodes focuses on different stories with an arc tying all of them together. It makes for a very relaxing pace and it's a nice break from the usual "protagonist gets thrown into complicated scenarios every episode except in one or two" animes I've been used to.

The music is very excellently composed. The very relaxing contemporary lounge like music fits the lightheartedness of the series very well, in particularly the piano tune that accompanies most comedic moments and the spaghetti western-esque leitmotif of Oshino Meme, both of which I consider to be the most memorable themes in the series. And the OPs are all catchy and fun too, Renai Circulation on one hand is very evil in the sense that it can't leave your mind ever.

I wasn't too fond of moments where the anime got too serious, not really a fan of how they handled serious scenes, they tend to be too ordinary or too normal for my tastes. It somewhat betrays the lightheartedness and surreality of the rest of the anime IMO. Of course they had to be there for plot purposes, but at times I wished Araragi wasn't that much of a white knight type of character.

The fanservice moments I didn't mind. The main protag is portrayed as a pervert anyway, so fanservice somewhat makes sense in terms of plot, and they aren't intrusive.

Still, Bakemonogatari is highly highly enjoyable and one of the best animes I've the pleasure of watching.

8/10 Better than the regular Madoka series.

In terms of character short stories :

Mayoi>Hitagi>Kanbaru>Hanekawa>Nadeko

(My goodness all the names are weird)

Bakemonogatari is a show that is the very definition of wit. It's a show that conveys emotions and pure personality through intellectual conversations that are shared between characters. That being said, the show may turn off many viewers because of the fact that it mainly revolves around dialogue. I'm here to tell you otherwise. What you will experience from Bakemonogatari is something that is both comedic and expressive on a personal level, making the experience an unforgettable one.

The story of Bakemonogatari has you follow the life of a high school student named Araragi Koyomi and how he interacts with a cast of girls who ... all contain supernatural related issues in their lives. The story is, however, not a big factor of the show simply because of how the show focuses specifically on characters rather than an overarching plot.

Now, one thing that should be understood clearly is that this is a show focused on character interactions, something that you would not typically find within an anime. Characters may converse with others for minutes upon minutes of time, but that is what makes this show so appealing. The conversations that you will hear are funny, dramatic, and sometimes even thought-provoking, or they may even contain relativity to certain aspects of your own life. Watching the characters indulge themselves with a multitude of intriguing conversations is one of the many things that makes this show so special.

Speaking of the characters, they are some of the most colorful that you can find within any show. What makes them standout so much is how each of them have certain facets and aspects to their personalities. One character is a sexually frustrated man/vampire who has trouble interacting with others, while another character is an overly-educated woman who is stubborn towards her own issues, causing herself to gather up ginormous amounts of stress. I have only described two characters out of a cast of that is extremely unforgettable for there many quirks and features.

One other factor that makes Bakemonogatari so special is the art. I'm not lying to you when I say that the show is one of the best looking anime's that you will ever watch. Shots of characters are shown in locales that are aesthetically breathtaking. The show also manages to effectively use a wide variety of different colors. The different colors that are used in the show excellently capture the mood of the characters in many scenes, proving that the art is more than just being flashy and bright for the sake of being beautiful.

One thing that may or may not frustrate you are the many different shots of text that will appear in conversations between characters. I personally had no qualms with them, but it should be noted that they are used frequently in the show. However, they should not distract you too much from your viewing experience, for they will even sometimes add more depth to the characters.

Aside from a somewhat cheesy and awkward ending, Bakemonogatari is a one-of-a-kind show. The amount of characterization and depth in its writing is unlike any show that I have come across. Watching this show is like watching a masterfully done character piece with beautiful artwork. If you're fine with a heavy usage of dialogue and wordplay then Bakemonogatari is your type of show. What you will gain out of this show is a new take on the word "unique".

*Spoilers included*

Regret lives inside everyone: It's an unstoppable feeling that at times can drive some into a corner — make them stop progressing as they can't overcome the hurdle that is their past. But that doesn't have to weigh people down. They can't change their past, neither should they desire to. People are who they are because of all of their experiences. No matter how big of a hit a person takes, they can get back up and learn from it, find ways to utilize it and make their lives better in the future.

In Bakemonogatari that regret is personified through "aberrations": gods and beings that ... take advantage of people when they're at their worst. Often times however, they do so with the consent of the "victims". People are given a chance to fix their situation with the help of inhuman powers, and so they take it without a second thought. While aberrations initially seem to just be a depiction of their pasts and regrets; they also symbolize the parts of them hidden deep in their hearts, waiting to be unleashed...

With that in mind, one could see why Araragi is such a fitting protagonist for the Monogatari series. As I mentioned, the show is mostly about characters understanding their feelings and facing them to remove their inner demons; both figuratively and literally. In that case, the person that would interact with them would have to be someone who would allow for that process to be put in motion, and Araragi is exactly that. He's the show's catalyst thanks to his specific set of traits. The main one would be his empathy, which allows him to spot the problems in the first place. He himself is half vampire and has helped his friend get rid of an aberration before, so it's safe to say that he's at least knowledgeable enough to spot a similar issue, but that's not the only reason why he decides to help. Simply put: He's just like that. He really wants to help people, or how he puts it, allow others to help themselves. If the person wants to change but just can't do it, he will do anything in his power to allow for that to happen, often time without regard for his own well being, so not only is he empathetic, he's an altruist as well. That combination can prove to be all sorts of dangerous, as he pushes himself far more than any mortal can. He comes close to death numerous times for the sake of people he barely knows and doesn't really owe anything to. Again, he's just that type of a person.

This attitude proves to be difficult not only to him, but to others that he interacts with. As Araragi develops bonds with other characters, he becomes a meaningful part of their lives; everyone sees him as someone special, be that their savior or their love interest.
The first character we see Araragi push towards a better future is Senjougahara Hitagi: His mysterious and withdrawn classmate. Her tragic past is revealed in the second episode, and more importantly, so is the reason for her frigid persona. She doesn't want to get close to others because her trust has already been severely damaged. Her mother, who's been a part of a cult, brought home a person that attempted to rape young Senjougahara. The impact of that situation followed her around until she met the aberration that caused a massive change in her life. From there on out, her future started revolving only around getting rid of that creature, and after experiencing people failing at that and cheating her out of her money, her distrust in humanity kept progressing... until she met Araragi.
Meeting him - the first person who offered help without a promise of a reward and came out with actual results - allows for a healing process to start. Senjougahara can once again believe in and get close to someone, not to mention that she was finally freed of her burden. A relationships starts to blossom between the two. That relationship technically comes out of nowhere. Senjougahara revealed her feelings all of a sudden and Araragi responded with a "yes". It could've been anyone else for both of them, but it just so happened that one had the courage to ask and the other had the courage to respond.

There are a lot of things that "just happen" in Monogatari, as you'll notice. The main storyline focuses a lot on destiny and fate, things that just sort of happen and how that sets others in motion.

Monogatari is structured in a way where every character gets their own arc or arcs, in which they take the main stage. In this instalment, we are presented with five smaller storylines, however they do create a cohesive and coherent plot for the season, mainly revolving around Araragi's and Senjougahara's relationship. Them beginning to date sets off a chain reaction, starting with Kanbaru Suruga's arc and culminating in Hanekawa Tsubasa's arc. One simple, on the spot decision caused major consequences for the rest of the cast, be that immediately or throughout the next seasons. Each event from the past gains more and more meaning as the time goes on, because you understand it's importance and what has it caused. The flow that it maintains is precisely what makes Monogatari's style of storytelling so impressive.

Other than that, like a proper story would, Bakemonogatari's plot has a beginning, then proceeds to add crises along the way, raising the tension until the climax point, and finally resolving it, definitely or indefinitely in some cases. However, on top of that, it's also able to consistently introduce new characters; while also giving them proper exposition and develop their own storylines. Nothing really stands still in Monogatari. Each new element seems like it can't work, like there's too much for the writers to work with already, but the show handles it with such care and attention to detail, leaving subtle clues along the way so that no event will ever feel like it lacked meaning. Making the whole thing even more impressive is the fact that each addition is unlike anything we've seen before, they all bring in new traits, attitudes, gags, questions and ways of exploring Monogatari's thematic depth. All that and it still manages to maintain a good, steady flow and a clear idea of what it wants to do. There's no amount of words that could describe my respect for Bakemonogatari's writers upon a realization of the work they put into this and how great it truly ended up being.

Thanks to a competent team, the show gets enough time and space to really dig deeper than most anime stories do. Unlike them, it has time to explore its values, not just rush through the story and leave no human emotions behind. Bakemonogatari takes time to look into most of the characters views on topics important to the show's thematic depth, giving the viewer an understanding of things such as Araragi's and Kanbaru's moral codes, Hanekawa's inner dilemmas, or Senjougahara's doubts and thoughts about people creates a certain image. That image responds directly to the viewer. It often holds very little importance to other characters, but to people watching, knowing the characters so well not only helps with a better comprehension of their future actions, but also provides dilemmas to think about.
Nobody in Monogatari is inherently right about everything, their worldviews are twisted by their pasts, by the aberrations that dwell inside them. It's through the bits and pieces of happy moments that we see what's truly right. Araragi's and Senjougahara's first date is a prime example of a way things should be like. It's a pure moment, clear of any evil and doubt, as it replaces them with passion, trust and truth, all that wrapped inside a beautiful, heart grabbing conversation between two lovers. This is truly how it should be, and the show sells you on this idea by inserting it in episode twelve, amidst all the chaos that goes on in Araragi's life, after he's nearly been killed and just before he nearly gets killed again. And to think that this episode, as well as most of the show leading up to it, consists primarily of dialogues and monologues.

Monogatari rarely gets flashy, if it does it's for a climax of an arc where the aberrations reveal themselves, which really requires a lot of tension and excitement given their fantastical nature, however besides that, the show is pure talk. Initially off-putting, this kind of storytelling supports the two pillars on which the story is built: Character interactions and exploration of their psyche. Despite the constant array of words, almost nothing is thrown in your face; each trait is showcased through individual decisions and actions, only being revealed at the end, for those who couldn't catch onto their meaning. Araragi choosing to help people constantly showcases his empathy. Hanekawa hiding her true feelings is a sign of her shyness and modesty. Senjougahara's obnoxious behaviour is a part of her defence mechanism. Hachikuji telling everyone that she hates them provides a clue to her real intentions. There's just almost no dialogue in which character relationships don't progress or the viewer doesn't learn something about said characters. Bakemonogatari is very dense in that aspect. It can get confusing at some points because of it, but if you pay close attention, there's something that should help with catching onto the most important aspects: It's the directing.

Akiyuki Shinbou and his team utilized a few ways to both make the dialogue interesting visually and to emphasize the flow of a conversation. Undoubtedly their best idea was using silence when a discussion ends or stops to change to a different one, giving the viewer an easily noticeable sign of a change in topic or pace. This is often accompanied by an out of place shot, focusing on things like the outside of the place the scene is taking place in, an object inside the room, the characters eyes and so on. Due to the rather fast pace of the dialogue and the plot in general, those shots are a great way to give out fast bits of information, like the layout of a room or the current feelings of people included in the scene. Those types of shots are also often used for comedic effect, for example, during a conversation we switch between two perspectives of Araragi and Senjougahara talking, until at one point she casually throws a witty remark and as we cut back to Araragi, we can't see him, until the camera pans down and we see the defeated man lying on the floor. There's lots of stuff like that throughout the show, making it never feel like it's running out of steam. Lastly, the use of sound. The music isn't supposed to draw attention to itself, it serves as background for the characters as their tone of voice and their line delivery sets the tone and pace of a scene. For that reason most of the soundtrack is comprised of monotonous, steady sounds put on repeat, all of which are certainly pleasant to hear. Because the music isn't all that noticeable, the show uses sound in other ways: There are sudden burst or cut outs of sound accompanying the previously mentioned breaks in conversations. One of my personal favorite things is how the key lines are often highlighted by some sort of an effect mixed in with the characters voice, allowing for an easier watch for people paying attention.

Those examples are only a few of the ways Bakemonogatari makes itself interesting. I think this shows how much passion and creativity was put into this project, as well as how fun it was to make it. There are so many little touches and so many big ideas in the show, it truly feels like it aimed for something more, like it was meant to nudge its viewers with certain ideas, to give them a sort of a lesson, not just an experience that will fade as time goes on. I believe it succeeded in that. Despite me needing a re-watch to give it a proper chance, once I did I came to a realization that Bakemonogatari does go that extra step. It dares to state an opinion about the world as a whole, about human cruelty and the faults that reside within our society. By giving them a physical form, their consequences become more than just thoughts inside of the victim's head. Crab Gods that take away people's weight, invisible snakes that squeeze your body or cat aberrations that take over your body to release stress may not exist, but you know what does? Problems such as people hating their body after being raped, leading to medical issues like anorexia, bullying leading to the bullied kids scarring themselves, uncontrollable fits of rage as a result of pathology and other issues in life.
Bakemonogatari doesn't provide all the answers, it's only the first season of a long story. Slowly, episode after episode it analyses individual issues of each character, even adding some along the way, and eventually arrives at conclusions for each, giving off the author's overall look on the world, as cruel as it is. That's exactly why I believe watching Monogatari is worth it. You may not like it's style that I gushed about, you may not like the way the plot works, but if watched with enough attention it can really provide the viewer with something important, but finding that is something everyone has to do for themselves. After all, nobody can save you, you can only save yourself.

I was so confident that I was going to enjoy Bakemonogatari. Like most other people's introduction to the series, I was promised an insightful, complex story that would change my outlook on anime FOREVER. What I got was... quite the letdown.

Sure, I enjoyed the intertextual references constantly thrown about, it definitely added depth; it connected characters to more expanded upon ideas so at least there was substance in that regard. However, when placed in the show... every characters' interactions with Araragi were, quite simply, exhausting. Now, it's probably a stretch to call Araragi '(ex)Vampire Kirito' but it's just so tiring to watch the same short-black-haired-high-school-student ... aloofly stroll around picking up every girl in eye's reach. Seriously! Those girls can hardly walk around without Araragi's help, please, give them some autonomy. For a show that is praised for its characters, most of them just exist for Araragi to fix then throw away. What a savior...

I did genuinely enjoy the style the show presented though, if you can ignore how poorly the characters are treated by the narrative, it could definitely be called interesting at the very least.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't look past it. Furthermore, the veneer of pretentiousness that the show tries to use to cover its lacking story (yeah, I get it, "it's not lacking, it's just abstract! You wouldn't understand!") turns markedly more distasteful when you consider the fanservice elements. I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the long-prevailing ecchi culture on one show, but it's pretty uncomfortable watching the gratuitous fanservice plaguing like, every scene. While I do agree that voyeuristic elements can be incorporated to help provide whatever commentary a show is trying to convey, the fact that Araragi is allowed to act- quite frankly- creepy as hell, without any pushback from the narrative implies that this behaviour is perfectly acceptable and meant to be celebrated.