Our story begins with a conversation between our main character Araragi Koyomi and the class representative Hanekawa Tsubasa. Araragi then leaves the classroom and meets one of the most interesting anime characters I’ve ever seen, Senjougahara Hitagi. During this brief meeting and the next, Araragi has his cheek stapled before deciding to help Hitagi with her supernatural issue of being practically weightless.
This is the structure of the show. A new character is introduced, we learn their issue and Araragi attempts to solve it. Usually with varying amounts of success. Each of these character arcs is entirely independent from one another after Hitagi Crab, and could probably be watched in any order without any major issues.
There are arguably only two major aspects to Bakemonogatari: Characters and dialogue. Luckily, Bakemonogatari hits both of those out of the park. Each character is wonderful in their own way. They all have their own issues and motivations and they all have varying and often hilarious dialogue with Araragi. Each one of them has different mannerisms and topics of conversations and each one has a running gag. Whether it’s Hachikuji flubbing Araragi’s name or Kanaru’s playful insistence on being his mistress, all of the conversations are witty and humorous and thoroughly enjoyable.
Sadly, the same can not be said for the plot. Honestly the plot is more hit or miss than anything else. If you’re really into supernatural stuff this show will probably draw you in, however there was nothing really in the plot that surprised or particularly interested me. The thing that kept me going was the character interactions. There were only two parts of the plot that made me think, “Oh damn.” And that was when Hachikuji’s existence was revealed, and when Kanaru admitted she was a lesbian.
There isn’t much to say about the animation except that it is SHAFT at it’s finest. If you've seen a Shaft show you know what to expect, although I will say the fan service was largely unnecessary. Sadly, I hear it only gets worse.
I normally don’t take time to talk about sound unless I really have to, and I feel in Bakemonogatari’s case I really do. All of the voice acting was stellar, there wasn’t a single character that I felt was poorly characterized or come off as annoying. The soundtrack is absolutely astounding. Not only does it manage to create multiple catchy OPs for each character arc, it has one of the best EDs of an anime I have ever heard. The background music used for each of the scenes is also all very well done and lends to the overall supernatural atmosphere.
Overall Bakemonogatari is a fantastic show with some really good characters and some of the best dialogue I’ve ever seen. I will point out that I had an extreme negative bias when starting this show due to it’s lolicon themes but I am able to overlook that as the rest of the show is extremely enjoyable.
Bakemonogatari was an almost instant classic, and I can certainly see why.
