Bakemonogatari aka Ghostories or Monstories is an anime about an uncommon boy (ex vampire) meeting five uncommon girls, and he will just solve their problem.
It's divided in five arcs, one for each girl, so I'll consider each arc.
First Arc: Senjougahara, Hitagi
This is the best and the shortest arc of the whole series. Why? The art is at his best. The story and the characters are good, and it's still too early to get pissed by the continuous popup "Black" or "Red".
But, meh, it's the shorter arc, just 2 episodes.
Story: 8/19
Art: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 9/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Second Arc: Hachikuji, Mayoi
This is the most boring three episodes I've ever seen. Really, just skip them, you will not lose anything, just one hour of your life watching Araragi (the main character) chatting with Senjougahara first and with Mayoi then. They try to do funny comments, but well, they fail. It would have been a bad episode, and I may have ignored that, but they kept this arc for three episodes... JUST SKIP IT, trust me.
Story: 2/10
Art: 6/10 (It's just all white and gray, I feel that the art is just worse than the first arc)
Sound: 9/10
Character: 4/10
Enjoyment: Suicide/10
Overall: 4/10
Third arc: Suruga Kanbaru
This girl is kinda intresting, and I can say that I enjoyed this arc somehow. The story isn't too complicated, but I won't explain it, I won't spoil.
Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 8/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
Fourth arc: Nadeko Sengoku
Arc moemoe based, not bad. Sengoku was the target of a weird curse, and of course Araragi will help her. Anyway, a good arc.
Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 7/10
Fifth (and last) arc: Hanekawa, Tsubasa
Meh arc. The only very good episode was episode 12, wich isn't focused on Tsubasa but on Senjougahara, and I'll discuss it later.
This arc try to create some suspance (why the manifestation of her stress is back? Holy f***, I would have never told it!) but well, they fail. The reason is just obvious, and you will get it while you see your first episode... Just nope.
Anyway it was a decent arc, the art are really good.
Story: 6/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: Meh/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 7/10
Episode 12: This is located during the fifth arc, but it focus on Senjougahara (my favourite character from this show). She is a tsundere, and yeah, she is really cute in her way. I really loved this line:
“You can open your eyes now.
Denab, Altair, Vega.
That’s all… that’s all I have. Being able to help you study. A cute junior and a direct father.
And this starry sky.
That’s all I have. That’s all I can give you, Araragi-kun. That’s everything.
Everything.
My life hasn’t been very fortunate until now. I’m glad I caught your eye before of that misfortune. Because of that, I was able to fall for you. So we’ll definitely do something, but I want to wait just a little bit. So right now, the last thing I can offer you… is this starry sky.”
This speech saved the show. 10/10 for this episode.
Overall: 6/10 because arc 2 is just too bad, and the continuous spamming of "Black" and "Red" are annoying. Hope you won't kill me for spitting on one of the most-rated show.
