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Art and sound

This show is very nice on the eyes and ears. The art and animation are solid with a good use of lightning, though it does have some jarring 3D. The soundtrack is really cool and fitting and the first half has an opening and ending that I think are among some of the best ever. The acting is also good, most actors have to switch from harmless to batshit crazy and it's always believable.


Story and characters

The story and characters are rather ridiculous, though, if you apply your sense of realism to it for one second the whole thing will collapse in on itself. ... The way to watch Mirai Nikki is to just go with the flow, the plot is fast and full of surprises and it will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The characters are colourful and there's some nice ideas in there, but the show falls into the trap of going "see, this bad thing happened so of course they're psychopaths now!", which was really simple and nonsensical a lot of the time, like there's a primary school kid that's capable of elaborate maniacal murder. The lead is another one of those whiny anime protagonists, whose big tragedy is that his parents are divorced and now he doesn't have a perfect family, but really who cares this is the anime that has Yuno in it. For those who aren't in on it, Yuno is the most yanderest yandere that has ever picked up a cleaver for the dude she loves and she is terrible and impossible to hate. A lot of the time she's basically the perfect girlfriend and completely devoted to Yuki, except she's also murderous and obsessive and all round crazy as hell. Yuki uses her devotion but gets so wrapped up in his act and Yuno's possessive declarations of love that he starts to fall for her and that is some psychological horror right there except I think we're supposed to think it's positive by the end. Eh.
There are a lot more characters but I can't go into the entire cast, I will just briefly highlight that there's a Kaworu ripoff for the slash shippers and that I think the most likeable character is the terrorist that blew up half of Yuki's school while there were people in it. It's that kind of show.


Final thoughts

I watched this show when I was sick and just wanted to see things get killed, it is absolutely great for that. I could write for ages about why this show is disturbing, nonsensical and wrong, but if you just take it for what it is and enjoy the plot it's very entertaining.

Bakemonogatari is part monster of the week, part harem, part slice of life. This combination is served in a visual style so creative and pretty that if you're interesed in pretty backgrounds or visual storytelling it's worth watching the show for that alone. The openings and endings are also creative and fun, because this is Studio Shaft and I hope other companies are taking notes because the visuals of anime could use to be shaken up more. The songs and music are also great, so atmosphere-wise, Bakemonogatari gets two thumbs up.
But yeah, the rest of it. The stories are fairly interesting, though nothing that hasn't ... been done before. The characters are... special, alright, this show has it's own very warped view on human dynamics where you can totally be friends with someone that recently disemboweled you. I can barely even comment on that, it is what it is and it either works or doesn't work for you. Be prepared for lengthy verbal exchanges that get kinda lost in translation. One thing I really liked was that the protagonist wasn't an audience surrogate, he feels like a person with a mindset that's really his own and his actions surprised me. He is totally checking out all those girls around him and there is a lot of male gaze fanservice, but he also sees the girls as people and isn't looking for a reward when he helps them. It's nice to see a guy whose libido doesn't turn him into a creepy moron. Oh, except when they're dishing out the pedo-bait. Seriously, if you have a problem with lolicon (and you should) you have to mentally prepare yourself. Or fast forward and think of pretty pictures. I knocked one and a half points of off my enjoyment for that, but Bakemonogatari remains well-made and different, so do check it out.

I wish there were more anime like Welcome To The NHK. Much slice of life is intent on giving off an "it's all alright"-vibe throughout, which is good television in the same way cotton candy is a good meal. NHK critisizes, sympathizes and makes fun of people that don't know what to do with their lives. You'd expect to find these characters on the internet, rather than in your anime. It addresses a lot of things I think many people will relate to, whether it's being a nerd who can't get a girlfriend, believing your life isn't going to go anywhere, or feeling the reason ... you hardly go outside is because an evil television network is conspiring against you.

I didn't go through this anime quickly, though. You're not given many reasons to sympathize with the characters, I was quite far in before I grew to care about any of them and the Satou-Misaki relationship left me cold throughout most of the show's run. Luckily there is a lot more to the show than drama: It's criticism and messages are strong and when it's funny, it's hilarious. The humour is pitch black but still light enough to make your day. Settings don't get more mundane than they are in this show, but Satou's imagination is kind enough to supply talking fridges and moe-pudding. It doesn't use chibis (thank the lord) but uses the faces it has for expressions and the dialogue gets positively hammy when it needs to, especially in the dub. Seriously, this dub is awesome. It's only real flaw is that no one realized we sometimes need to read on screen text. I would also like to mention the first season has the best ending theme ever, both in lyrics and music, and I hope to one day discover what conspiracy decided the next season needed it replaced with sugar.

By the end of the show I did care for the characters and it's finale worked very well. The show hiccups sometimes, but in the end it is definitely worth a watch if you like realism and dark humour. People say it's grim, which it is, but there really is plenty of hope. The show's suicide success rate is very low!

Nice concept and great visuals make this an interesting show, it knows exactly where it wants to go and gets there with confidence and style. Many people will feel that the message hits home and that the visuals are stunning.
However in the show's confident rush I felt the characters were viewed more like cogs in the machine than actual people, with just enough details to keep that from being too obvious. Tatami works as an efficiently delivered message and doesn't get boring, but it lacks heart.