As for the characters, its a harem, but they were much more unique than any harem I had ever seen before, which kind of doesn't say anything given standard harem fare. Unique, but they could have been further developed
I enjoyed the music as the background material it was, no pieces that really stood out, but at least their wasn't anything too forte or out of place either.
The story does have slow pacing, Ginko would have solved all the problems in 5 episodes opposed to 15 but I guess Arararagi isn't a mushi master either. But in truth Bakemonogatari better serves itself as anthology of clever conversations than something built off of supernatural occurances. Although the occasional piece of jaw dropping action does provide some of its charm, its more like a desert than the main course. and yes I stuttered, on purpose.
The animation is an Akiyuki Shinbo/Shaft production. Incredibly abstract and memorable, and while it goes out of its way to make some things look amazing it often cuts corners with a lack of animation when it thinks it can get away with it. A matter of budgeting I'm sure. The show was truly dialogue driven and with its own artistic style and nature it really didn't need to have anything done differently than how it was.
If you felt like the last few things you have seen were unoriginal and you have yet to see this, I would recommend giving it a shot. Given you are up for a dialogue heavy show.
