Bakemonogatari

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

"Save you ? Me ? I can't do that. You're the only one that can save yourself."

If you're here, you are definitely a fan of the Monogatari Series, or maybe just a random person just looking for a manga. In all cases, I recommend you this manga. \NO SPOILERS/

Story : 9.5

The story is really awesome, it's about the relationships between Araragi, the main character, and 6 other girls, who all have awesome personalities. I must also say that it's not your typical vampire story tho.

Art : 10

If i could add 11/10, I would definitely, it's just the BEST art I've EVER seen. The scenery ... is really abstract, like Shaft usually do. The chara-design are just like in the anime, but really well drawn. The alternation between serious and funny faces is well-done. For me it's better drawn than Berserk (please don't hurt me =)

Character : 10

Probably the best bit of the monogatari series. The relation ship and the talking between the characters is just so damn good. Araragi can be really serious and really hilarious at the same time, he's a half vampire. The other girls have awesome (sorry to repeat, but it's the best world to describe it) personalities. There's a tsundere, two lolis, a class rep, a childhood friend and a tomboy. BUT it's not as usual and I must specify this point.

Enjoyment : 9.5

Nothing to tell, but I really did have fun reading Bakemonogatari. If you're a shônen type reader, maybe it's not your type, but you should definitely have a look at it. For the romance fan, there is a few, but not too much.

Overall : 9.75 ~ 10

So I recommend everyone to, AT LEAST, have a look at this masterpiece. It's NOT better than the anime (obviously lol), but still, if you judge it individually, it's really good. Thanks for reading.

P.S. It's my first review, and English is not my native language.

Oh! Great is an incredible visual artist, no one could deny that. But I do not think the manga adaptation is in good hands with him at the helm. Why? For starters, this scene (which I believe took place in the late 60's page wise) from the first chapter. It's an absolute atrocity.

--- https://i.imgur.com/7j5REaX.png ---

Let's put aside how logistically absurd it is for a moment.

Let's put aside the question of how a girl with no weight could possibly snap a metal railing, even in a dilapidated building, simply by leaning against it.

Let's put aside the question of how Senjougahara could possibly be a floor above ... Araragi WHENEVER HE IS LITERALLY GUIDING HER THROUGH THE CRAM SCHOOL FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

No, putting that all aside, the primary issue here is the way it completely abandons the characterization that the original light-novels and anime so adamantly established.

The primary intention of Hitagi Crab was to set up a world where idiosyncrasies plague characters in the form of aberrations, and the way the characters who inhabit that world come to terms and cope with said aberrations. The main takeaway from the first few arches has always been that you cannot save someone, you can only help guide them to the path to save themselves. Araragi was never a white-knight and Senjougahara was never a princess in a castle. After all, even an act of kindness or generosity will be perceived as an act of hostility, right?

Having the very first chapter culminate in a terribly disappointing scene where Senjougahara nonsensically ends up an entire floor ahead of Araragi despite having never entered the cram school prior only to end up, whoops, falling into the palm of his hand before turning a faint pink and thanking him like some sort of savior.... And then having a Araragi give the "you save yourself" speech in COMPLETE IRONY after that--

It leaves such a bad taste in my mouth.

I've seen the manga receiving praise, and I'll probably be downvoted and disagreed with; but, really--

This is just bad, guys. Oh! Great really missed the mark and misunderstood the framework of the story.

From my perspective that haven't seen bakemonogatari the anime this is not just fairly good, in my opoinion i got a whole lot of enjoyment and wonderful art in one book, and i have never seen anything like it!

When i was reading other really good mangas like death note and uzumaki i got this kinda vibe that only the really good books give you! Bakemonogatari is one of them and with a unique feeling of tension, beautie and horror in one set.

The anime includes therefore:

1. Beautiful art that is 10/10

2. Wonderful story = 9/10 where there isn't any obvious reason for this, just feel like ... it somehow could have been just a little easier to understand, but it's nothing fatal

3. The characters are perfect and one of a kind, 10/10

4. I really enjoyed this but sometimes the explanation and story was a little tricky to understand at first = 9/10

Overall this is a really, really good manga that you should pick up soon since this series has just started out, started out as a lovely piece of art and culture = 9/10

Note: In the future i might consider a 10/10 but i feel i can't do that yet since i've only read one volume!

Note:Bakemonogatari means monster (bake) story (monogatari). And feel the title!!

'Bakemonogatari' is, without a doubt, an interesting interpretation of Nisio's works. Some diehard fans will be disappointed with its somewhat lax interpretation of some events (both in terms of LNs or the anime). Others won't mind it, as they're open to a more novel take on an already experimental series.

I belong to the latter, but I'd completely understand if you were in the former camp. The manga does take some adjusting to how the arcs are explored. Sometimes you'd get some slight, nuanced differences. Sometimes the changes imposed on the reader are rather...significant and can even appear confusing.

What obviously makes these otherwise glaring differences smoother ... is Oh! Great's art. Were it not for it, I'd put the manga at 8/10, but considering his talent I can't score anything less than 9/10.

'Bakemonogatari' is significantly more shonen-esque than both the LNs and the anime. More focus is put on fight sequences, and they're definitely flashier. In some cases, even filled with more gore too.

If you've itched for [MINOR SPOILERS] Koyomi growing some wings and joining the heat of battle like a half-vamp [MINOR SPOILERS/], you'll get that. I didn't particularly want to read something like this, but it worked out nevertheless.

(Don't worry, the shonen-esque approach doesn't detract from the verbal soup and verbose give-and-take we're accustomed to seeing. This works perfectly fine in the manga adaptation too.)

As far as character designs go, some of them are slightly more different than what you'd see in the anime. At first, I didn't like Kanbaru's slight differences, for example, but they grew on me. And considering I've always enjoyed her banter with Araragi, in some scenes the manga did an even more hilarious take on their ridiculous conversations.

In the end, 'Bakemonogatari' is a fresh and slightly altered take on its source material. I suggest you give it at least 15-20 chapters before you decided whether it's your thing or not. It took me around 10-12 chapters to get in the groove, and it was a very pleasant read after that.

First and foremost: I really do not like this adaptation of monogatari and it pains me to not like something like this. The art is fantastic and Oh! Great did a great job with some of the panel work and art direction. Maybe minus kissshot's design. But I just can't get over how bad of an adaptation of the original story this is. Some may not have an issue with how things have changed. But for me there are so many little differences in story beats and characters that I just can't stand it. And see this as nothing more than some glorified fan fiction.

[Warning: ... some minor spoilers for monogatari in this next paragraph]
One of the biggest offensives for me is right in the beginning. Senjougahara is afflicted with having essentially no weight. This is due to her having a crab god remove her emotions, as she couldn't handle the things in her personal life, mostly her mother. This meant that Senjougahara was cold and stern with everyone she encountered. Because she simply did not feel anything towards anyone. So, why do I mention all of this? Well because in this manga version of the same story, we see multiple times that Senjougahara is flustered with Araragi and shown to be blushing. All of this before she was given back her emotions. I think this completely undermines her character development as she is meant to start off as a girl who doesn't know how to control her emotions and ends up being maybe a bit too harsh on Araragi at the start. But as the series goes on, she is meant to be shown more and more loving towards Araragi. Or I guess we could just shove it in the face of the viewers by showing Senjougahara is flustered by Araragi's face being equally shoved into Senjougahara 's crotch. Which, by the way, never happened in the books or the anime. Just extra fanservice for the sake of it, I guess? Ugh.

Again these changes might not seem like a big deal to some, but for me this is one example of how the story is changed from the original. Shaft may have took some liberties when making the animes, but it seems Oh! Great has created a whole new set of characters that just share the names from Monogatari. With some of the story beats added in there. This reads more like fan fiction than it does an actual adaptation in manga form.

Now, I have only read through to ch.8 before I dropped the manga. After all why keep reading something if I'm not enjoying it. So, who knows it might have gotten better over time. But I seriously doubt that the *little* changes to the story are ever going to stop.

Some may even wonder why I would write a review on something like this. Clearly people tend to enjoy this adaptation and my view is quite a niche one. I just wanted to write down my own thoughts on this and give a clear conscience to anyone out there that might be feeling the same way about this manga.

If you like this adaptation, I am happy for you. I just worry if this is anyone's first interaction with the series, and they go to the books or anime, they might be in a for a surprise to find things different from what they are used to.

Wow this manga is something crazy. I love monogatari series world and anime is at the same time a Masterpiece. Oh, Great did a truly amazing job, he's from another world, every minimal details are here, character design is so well done, the world around is full of details, and reading dialogues and monologues feel very gratifying since you can read again without any problem to understand better the situation.
Another amazing things are manga covers, one better than the other and my god vol.13 cover is one of the best I've ever seen, honestly speaking.
Sadly in my country we are at vol. 9, but ... I will support the manga with each release.

I feel like with this manga my love for monogatari series increased even more than before, and this is only a plus.

Recommended for everyone!

7/10. That's a pretty solid score. If I'm rating something a 7, then I at least consider it to be "good".

So why is it hard for me to recommend this manga to most people?

TL;DR - I think this manga is good, but I don't recommend this series to someone who is new to the series, as I think it's the worst way to experience it. Please watch the anime and light novel instead if you haven't.

Edit: Fair warning, I'm going to be comparing the other versions of Monogatari a few times

Bakemonogatari is a manga based off of the Monogatari light novel series, taking the name ... of the first part. It's a rather popular series known for its characterization and witty dialogue with frequent use of wordplay and references in its writing. This can be seen in the name itself, a combination of bakemono(monster) and monogatari(story) to create the completed "bakemonogatari".

When it comes to the writing itself, it's a rather solid manga in my opinion. The story, very basically, revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a high school student who encounters numerous supernatural phenomena called "oddities" and helps out various girls struggling with their own oddity issues. The supernatural phenomena are generally connected to some part of the characters' psychology in some way, and solving these incidents require many vastly different methods. I thoroughly enjoyed Bakemonogatari's dialogue and wit, and personally found it very entertaining. Characterization is also a fantastic point for this series, with each arc introducing a new unique member of the cast that the main character can compliment pretty well in all their interactions. However, the story is by no means even close to being finished (judging by source material), and there are still plenty of developments left to go over in this manga. With that in mind, the story is really interesting and good for one that's only in its beginning stage. The presentation is pretty good as well, and while I prefer both the anime and LN designs of the characters, I can't deny that this manga still manages to look great.

That being said, I can't in good faith recommend this manga for a two major reasons. First of all, I don't expect this series, whether it be anime, manga, or light novel, to appeal to everyone. This series is 90% about the dialogue, and I'm barely exaggerating with that figure. If you don't enjoy long winded conversations seemingly about nothing and plenty of banter, this series is definitely not for you. If you have a strong distaste for fanservice, you should probably keep away as well - while it's not the absolute worst, if you REALLY hate fanservice you will not find yourself enjoying a good amount of frames. The nonlinear storytelling may also be kind of off-putting; one arc tells the events preceding the events that happened in the previous 4 arcs.

Suppose you make it past all the hurdles that this series has across all mediums. Now you've reached the second obstacle - you're choosing an inferior way to experience this series. Whether it be anime or light novel, both have at least finished Final Season, which concludes Araragi's overarching story and ends at a good place. This manga, on the other hand, is still in its introductory phases and won't be out of it for a while. This is also disregarding the most important aspect - Bakemonogatari is NOT a faithful adaptation of the series. There's many creative liberties being taken here, such as, notably, completely rewriting Araragi's character to be more in line of a "cool" shounen protagonist (personally I think he works way better the way he did originally). With this in mind, there's no way I'd even consider recommending what I, as a huge Monogatari fan, consider the worst way to experience this series hands down to a newcomer.

When it comes down to it, I like Bakemonogatari. However, that's only through the lens of someone already a Monogatari fan. For me, the only appeal is seeing an alternate retelling of the story I already enjoy, which many other fans don't even enjoy for its botched adaptation compared to the anime and light novel that we thoroughly liked. I only recommend this to people who liked the Light Novel or Anime, and just want to experience a different version.

I thought I should leave a review praising what Oh Great! and Nisio Oisin are doing here because I think it is fantastic on every level and deserves to have more people talking about it.

Now to start off with, like many manga/anime fans, for a long time I had only second hand knowledge of the Monogatari series. I had seen a couple of gifs from the Kizu movies when they came out, I heard of the infamous toothbrush scene and maybe an arist I followed drew Hanekawa. On a whim, I decided to read this manga because of a buddy of mine, not really ... sure what to expect. Needless to say, I think it surpassed whatever could possibly be expected of a manga adaptation of a light novel after it's already been adapted into an anime. That's the kicker here, this is not an adaptation of the anime, either Bake or any of it's subsequent material. This is purely Oh Great's interpretation of the LN on many levels.

Now to flat out state it, after reading the first official translation of the LN and watching the anime (just got done with the Kizu movies today), as well as starting to rewatch the anime with character commentary turned on, I think I can safely say that this is the definitive interpretation of the story, bar some scenes or the order that is down to personal preference. Not only is Oh Great's art excellent and only continues to improve, the translation being easy to follow and I think sheds some light onto confusing elements of the previous adaptations due to the gap between Japanese and English, the visual flair of Oh Great! and the elements of the story that have been added either from the Light Novel or purely from Oh Great enhance the story in fascinating ways. It is fun in the way that comics can only provide, compiling imagery and visual metaphor together to create something that neither novels or animation can fully capture, purely on it's own merit. Give it a shot.

Monogatari is known for its complex narrative and deep storyline that covers themes such as love, friendship, overcoming personal problems, and social issues.

The series revolves around a young man named Koyomi Araragi, who becomes involved in various supernatural stories while trying to help his friends and classmates who are facing similar problems. In each story, Koyomi is faced with different challenges, but always tries to find ways to help people and solve the problems they face.

The series also has a strong theme of self-reflection, with the characters questioning their beliefs, desires, and goals throughout the plot. There is also a lot of metaphysics and existentialism ... touched on.

The series also highlights the importance of communication and understanding between people, and shows how people sometimes need to overcome their problems on their own, but also how the help and support of others can be instrumental in overcoming challenges.

In summary, Monogatari is a very beautiful and deep series, with many messages and reflections for the viewer/reader.

The work is not for everyone, those who will enjoy it will be those who know how to appreciate its eccentricity.

After reading the first 5 volumes of "Bakemonogatari" I've come to the conclusion that the manga adaptation of NISIOISIN's most popular work is truly magnificent!
Story:
The greatest aspect of Monogatari is that it can be enjoyed on a superficial level through comedy and interesting character interactions, yet at the same time the series is filled with symbolism and themes that inspire and are thought-provoking. Moreover, even though we might feel clueless and lost at certain points, near the end of each arc we get a "punchline" that connects all the strings from before and provides a satisfying conclusion. For some, the ammount of dialogue might be ... overwhelming at times. However, after you get attached to the characters you'll be longing for every single interaction.
Characters:
Monogatari's characters recieive common praise for being some of the best written and fun to watch. They all go through their own character development and are a great represantation of the themes presented in their own arcs. At first you might get the impression that characters are just walking anime tropes and cliches, but don't be mistaken. It was made on puropse in order to surprise the viewer and show a more realistic side to these tropes.
Art:
Oh Great's art is among one of the best you can find. It has that cinematic feeling to it. What is more, every single panel is extremely detailed and some are filled with easter eggs. So far the best art can be seen in volumes 4 and 5 as we are greated with some stellar fight sequences. The character designs are also great and depict their personality in a great way.
Enjoyment and overall thoughts:
As you may guess I found "Bakemonogatari" to be one of the best ongoing series I've read. I'm giving it a 9 so far as it still looks like it has more place to grow. Now, for all the anime-only fans - give it a try! From my point of view, the manga adaptation expands what was presented in the anime and adds new layers to it making characters even more fleshed-out. I'd gladly recommend it to any Monogatari fan or somebody who's into rom-com, mystery type of stuff.

Since I already covered every major Monogatari (anime) part, I figured I could do the same with the manga and make it my last review about the franchise. Comparisons will be made but nothing regarding major plot points, of which I already wrote about, so this review theoretically could work for newcomers as well, though it’s better to read those other reviews before, I think.

Although somewhat praised and still quite popular, the Monogatari manga seems to be seen as an inferior version within at least the western fanbase of the franchise. How do I think it fares as someone outside of it and that didn’t ... really enjoyed it?

The first big difference that fans aren’t pleased about is the visual style. Certainly, usually you can’t expect to match all the craziness of such an anime with a manga, and although Oh! Great is a good artist, he didn’t do much to fare with the wild directing of its anime counterpart. Not to say that he doesn’t do his own things, like drawing a character between two vignettes, making it seem like they are “jumping” off the manga on certain scenes, or drawing over black paper (I think, at least it looks like that to me) during some dark moments for a more shocking effect, or going for the typical comical gag of having just one character in a page that is otherwise full of dialogue, to mimic some moments from the anime and novel where, well, the characters talk a lot, but otherwise aren’t really saying much. This was done before on different titles, some even by the Monogatari author himself, like Medaka Box, and it’s present here as well.

But still, what Oh! Great goes for obviously can’t compete with the visuals of the anime. Not to say that his art style is bad though, he is still an overall good artist who keeps a permanently consistent artwork and very good special effects, and is usually very good at drawing fighting scenes, which are more prominent and violent here than in the anime counterpart, and he also keeps the same bizarre and dreamy feeling of the backgrounds, although nowhere near as much as the other version. He also does an accurate imitation of the art style of different manga whenever there is a reference, as it happens in the different animated series and movies of the franchise.

The worse aspects of his are his character designs, you can tell he is the artist right away if you ever read something from him, despite all the hairstyles, hair colours and clothes which he uses to make his characters stand out from the others, he tends to repeat faces a lot, and it happens here as well. Not to say that you won’t notice which character is who, but if you are a fan of the character designs of the anime, the difference might be quite big to accept.

Finally, the worst thing about this artist, is the fanservice. If you don’t know a thing about him, let me tell you the two biggest problems of his, he tends to overstuff and overcomplicate his plots and from a certain point take them very seriously despite his silly premises, and yet still fill them with loads and loads of naked minors. So, Monogatari seemed like a match made in heaven for him. There isn’t a single one of my Monogatari reviews where I didn’t bitch about the fanservice, and it is actually worse as a whole in here, more present, more prominent, more explicit, thrown in more inappropriate moments, but at least he keeps it away from the youngest characters for the most part, along with the pedophilic humor, which is something that the manga has in its favor compared with the anime.

As someone who doesn’t pay all that much attention to the visuals and doesn’t consider them as important as other people do, and finds liking or disliking something entirely because of that aspect to be incredibly fake and superficial, I didn’t mind all these changes much. In fact, I preferred the visuals of the manga, as I was never a fan of the antics of the anime, I like the more straightforward but still quite artistic presentation of the manga a lot more, and I especially like not having to pause every few moments to try to read a wall of text representing the inner monologue of a character, taken from the light novel. But I also really wish it toned down the fucking lewdness. As a whole, despite my personal preference, the artsy visuals of the anime franchise are still better than what’s present in here, but I want to make it clear that the visual presentation of the manga is overall still very good, besides all that fucking excessive nudity.

Now we can finally move to what really matters, plot and characters. And if you are a newcomer that doesn’t know the first thing about this franchise, is a harem located in a weird city where supernatural things happen and supernatural creatures and deities appear, mostly at night, having a direct effect on the mentality, and even the looks, of the characters, and the plot structure, much like almost every other harem in existence, has the protagonist helping his potential love or lust interests with their problems and making them fall in love with him for his kindness and stuff, like in a dating sim videogame, that much didn’t change, the premise stays the same.

What Oh! Great changed, is making the overall plot far simpler and more straightforward than the anime counterpart, which is rare for him, as he, like I previously said, tends to overstuff and overcomplicate the plots of his works. I don’t know why this was done this way, but that’s how it is.

The overall basics and important plot points are still there, but several relevant details are modified or even skipped, the reasons for things within the setting are explained differently or even skipped, secondary characters have a much minor role and exploration here, and even entire arcs, both of the plot and the supporting cast, are nowhere to be found, heck, a big part of that secondary cast doesn’t even appear, as the manga focuses almost entirely on Kiyomi Araragi, Tsubasa Hanekawa, Hitagi Senjougahara and Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade. This way the plot is faster and far more focused, but also loses a lot of the layers, scope and mysterious vibes that played a big part on drawing such a huge fanbase in the first place.

As someone who didn’t like all the pointless talking and slow pacing of the franchise as a whole, I much preferred this far more straightforward version, but it is understandable for the fans of it not to like it as much, as part of what they found appealing in the first place is now either gone or heavily modified.

In specific, Bakemonogatari (arc/volume/part, however you want to call it) is kept practically the same, as a buildup of a season for what’s to come in the future. It has the same ups and downs of the anime, fleshing out every girl but at the cost of not moving the plot. Since this is a manga, one can read it at their own pace, and since it doesn’t have all those inner monologues from the light novels thrown in as walls of text for split seconds like the anime, it is a much easier and more pleasing and tolerable experience than the endless, and a lot of the time pointless, talking of the anime, but that still doesn’t change the fact that most of the arc is still lots of pointless talking that doesn’t let the plot move in the end. There is a reward for toughing through that in the anime franchise, but since most of the secondary girls don’t have their own arcs here, it is all not only pointless, but it also doesn’t lead to something worthwhile in the end, making it an overall inferior version of its anime counterpart in retrospect.

A good thing of this version, however, is how it completely skips the absolutely pointless, useless and disgusting part that was Nisemonogatari. Sure, it presents characters that are relevant in the future, but since they do not appear here, erasing it from the continuity, along with all of its crappiness, was a really good thing.

Instead, the manga goes directly into flashback territory, as it adapts Kizumonogatari, the only part/arc/whatever I enjoyed in the whole franchise, and that’s actually thanks to this version, which I consumed before I watched the anime movie trilogy. Skipping Nisemonogatari but adapting this one makes it perfectly clear that the overall manga focuses on the characters I mentioned earlier, as this arc shows how they got to know each other and form their relationships, as well as how the protagonist got his super powers and got himself into a big mess of an enmity between different super powerful supernatural entities, along with all the cool action that comes along with it.

Compared with the anime, it’s equally or slightly more brutal and explicit about it, but not gruesome or exploitive. The ecchi aspect of it is, again, worse, and somehow even more stupid, perhaps you have seen an infamous memed panel of Araragi walking into the mountains that are the boobs of Hanekawa, yup, stuff like that is present throughout this arc. Another issue, which wasn’t on the previous arc, is how sometimes the author throws very silly comedy between the serious moments, something that doesn’t happen in the other adaptation, even though it does in the, surely coincidentally, worst seasons of the anime.

What’s better in the manga, however, is being more psychological, as it has all the main characters introspecting about their pasts, how they show themselves to others and interact with them, and their flaws, thus being closer to the other parts in that regard, something that was missing from the anime. And also, the exposition is far better in this arc, as it has a flashbackception where Kiss Shot not only tells her past, but also the mangaka chooses to actually show that, instead of having characters just talking about it, as it happens in the anime.

Anyways, just like the movies, this is an arc that explains and actually shows why the characters are the way they are, instead of just being extreme versions of common anime, and harem, stereotypes, and fleshes out each of them while setting up events and character dynamics to come, along with cool and brutal action, thus it’s fine even though at the end of the day it’s still an arc without real stakes because the protagonists are practically immortal and far stronger than their enemies.

After that, the manga follows with a heavily modified version of Nekomonogatari and Second Season, focusing itself entirely on Hanekawa, Araragi and Kiss Shot, showing how the first got to put up an image of a perfect know it all harem girl because of all her familial troubles, in an even darker, as in, more messed up and brutal way than the anime, with some of the darkest scenes and visual metaphors in the manga. Unfortunately that also means that it needlessly takes it to the extreme at times, in a far more violent fashion than needed, as this manga is far gorier and action oriented than its anime counterpart.

Like I said, Second Season is heavily modified, as Araragi basically rejects every secondary, not fleshed out girl and rushes to…well, where the plot needs him, you know if you consumed any of the other two versions. While that is happening, Hanekawa is fighting and accepting her dark and true self, both mentally, and literally, since, as I said, this version is far more action oriented and at times needlessly gory, and don’t forget the fanservice and poorly mixed comedy, there is a lot of that as well. The messages are perhaps delivered more directly than in the anime, and some details are changed (Tsubasa never goes to the Araragis’ house here, is Hitagi’s father the one that tells her to stop running from her problems instead), but as a whole it was a good alternative version of both Neko Kuro and Shiro/Tsubasa Tiger.

Unlike the anime, which would run an entire arc in its entirety before showing what was happening at the same time, here both the aforementioned arc and the second one from Owarimonogatari are shown simultaneously, the manga goes back and forth between Hanekawa and Araragi, and what he was doing regarding Kiss Shot and the other vampire, in a more comical but still very similar fashion, and since over here neither Izuko nor Yozuru are present, Koyomi is the one that makes the deal, thanks to being influenced by Meme, which was a cool detail honestly.

Anyways, this part of the arc shows the beginning of how the setting came to be, everything basically being the result of a tragic, kind of unrequited or perhaps forgotten love, as it was in the anime, and kind of cheesy as a whole, but good in making the characters face their pasts and move on from them. Things are not as well explained nor in a satisfactory way as in the anime, but it was still fine, except for the part where the main antagonist of the arc turns out to be the main antagonist of the whole thing, of which I have a mixed opinion about, him being a proactive antagonist instead of a semi tragic figure that couldn’t do anything to prevent his actions was a nice detail, but it came with the cost of taking away proactivity from other characters, such as Tsubasa, and that’s a bit of a shame.

Still, the connection between the two arcs and the split presentation of the narrative, as well as the messages and themes explored through it make it a decent double arc, with some major changes in its favor, but it is still not as good as the anime version, except for the aspect of being faster and not having all the silly comedy from the beginning.

After that is over and practically the whole plot covered, the manga moves on to the date of the last arc of Bakemonogatari, skipping Hanamonogatari, Tsukimonogatari, and thank fuck also the disgraces of Koyomimonogatari and Zoku Owarimonogatari. As I said, as an alternative version it can weird out longtime fans. There isn’t much to say about this final part, it’s there to give Senjougahara some spotlight which she didn’t have for a good while, and also to give a needed closure for both the characters and the romantic aspect of the plot, as well as the story as a whole. The one off chapters about each secondary girl were a mixed result for me, the ones about Hanekawa, Shinobu and Kanbaru were fine as a closure for the characters, the ones about Hachikuji, the Araragi sisters and Sengoku were disgusting, a failed attempt to rush through the most famous or infamous parts of their anime arcs, and they don’t even address important plot points even when they are mentioned, it would have been better to skip them entirely like the manga was doing before instead, this way the it feels like the manga was initially going to be longer but had to be rushed and compressed for some reason.

My final opinion about the manga is that it’s more casual friendly, as a tighter, faster, simpler and easier to follow version, without all the weird antics in the visuals and directing of the anime, reasons why I preferred it over the other alternative. Despite my personal enjoyment, and the aspects which I found better done here, I also have to admit that Bakemonogatari, as a single arc or season or whatever, was done poorly in retrospect, exactly because it took away the later importance of almost everything that happens in it, as it also happened with several details in world building and characterization for the supporting cast. Fine as an alternative version mostly for newcomers, as long as they can stand big amounts of fanservice, but most likely a disappointment for longtime fans. Inferior than the anime, but still ok as a whole.