May 4, 2016
This “review” is over the entire Monogatari series and aimed towards those—like me—who were discouraged in their first viewing of Bakemonogatari. After the second arc I started to dislike Monogatari. “This is what all those people love? It’s boring fanservice.” I thought. Hoping to find something to persuade me to continue watching it, I Googled around. Most of the answers I found said something along the lines of “If you don’t like it now, it’s wasted on you. Just drop it before you waste more time.”
But I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. Monogatari is an acquired taste, and it’s my goal to persuade
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you to give it one more shot—or give it a shot if you haven’t yet. This is what you should know going into Monogatari for the first time.
First of all, you need time to get used to the strange story telling methods, camera angles, monologues, etc. Just the way it’s put together is very different than most anime and harder to digest right away. Monogatari has a reoccurring thing in it where it will display single-colored backgrounds with text on them for often less than a second. Sometimes they say the scene number, sometimes what a character is thinking, sometimes something completely different. It’s not required to read these. Often they go by too fast to read them unless you pause, anyway.
Second of all, you may get confused. Bakemonogatari does not start at the, well, start. It begins sort of in the middle of the story. But don’t worry, you’re left out on purpose. Everything will be explained given enough time. If you’re going to enjoy Monogatari, you’re going to need to go with the flow of things. Monogatari is split into various arcs, spanning usually between 3-5 episodes. These arcs are roughly chronological, but not always. They overlap. Sometimes an arc may focus on one character’s story and you’ll notice something different about another character in this arc that hasn’t been explained yet. That’s because that change isn’t relevant to the story that is being told in this arc, but it did happen at the same time. Rest assured, it’ll be explained later in that character’s respective arc.
Third of all, the characters are not likable right away, for me at least. I’m not sure if they are even intended to be likable at the beginning. That’s the fun of Monogatari, and probably one of the best things about it. The characters grow so much that you become attached to them, up to the point where you worry for them if they’re in trouble. Every arc affects a character somehow, as well as gives the viewer some insight into that character’s life and past. Monogatari is pretty much the king of character development.
Lastly, fanservice. Monogatari is, as a genre, ecchi. But that’s not all it is. Its fanservice isn’t random ass shots that have no effect on anyone but the viewer. There’s always a reason why a character is almost (or completely) naked. I don’t even find women sexually attractive, and I enjoy the fanservice. Like anime reviewer Digibro said, “[Monogatari] presents fanservice as though [it’s] making high art as opposed to the trashy fanservice of your local harem anime.” If you want to hear more of his review talking about the self-indulgent nature of Monogatari, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbXcnA82B7U
What I’m saying, basically, is that you shouldn’t judge the Monogatari series until you’ve at least finished Bakemonogatari. If you choose to watch Bakemonogatari, and I highly suggest you do, see it through. If you don’t like it by the end feel free to not watch the rest of the series.
There are plenty of positive things to say about Monogatari. The characters are unique, quirky, funny, and oh my god that character design. The art style is probably the most beautiful in any TV anime I’ve seen, and the animation is smooth and gorgeous. Point is, Monogatari is a joy to watch, and it brings with it an atmosphere and style it created that is completely unique to itself. Don’t sell it short before it can sell itself to you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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