Probably the most overrated anime I have ever seen, do not watch with high expectations from glowing reviews like I did - this is, at heart, another cliche rom-com. The only reason scores are so high is because the "art" (refer to the art section right below for an explanation of the sarcastic quotes) is so different and the waifus are numerous.
-Art-
This section is first because it is one of the biggest reasons for the show's popularity. The simplest explanation for all the praise is this analogy: imagine our world without any of the art movements that started with the 19th century until today; someone then decides to let their cats step in paint and then on a canvas, the art world is taken by storm.
Because 99% of anime takes so little chances with animation, what Bakemonogatari does is lauded as a masterpiece. The problem is it's all a facade, there is rarely any meaning or intent behind what is done - it is done just for the sake of doing it. Sure you can try to look for some symbolism in this show but you can do that for any work of art/literature and what you find may not be what the artist intended.
Other shows, if only a handful, pull off the art card much more successfully and meaningfully. Example: Gankutsuou - just about every character wears epilepsy-inducing, flamboyant clothes; the count has nearly no pattern on the surface of his clothes but the inside of his cloak is insanely vibrant. The art was not only used to beautifully set the mood of scenes in the show but also as a basic symbol for character motives - simple yet effective use.
It's wrong to be overly critical of someone trying something different, god knows the anime world needs that, but it's important to keep perspective with praise, to differentiate between someone trying something different artistically to illustrate a certain view of the world and someone just letting their cats step in paint then on a canvas because they thought it would be neat and different.
-Plot-
Probably the best part of the show is the premise: supernatural presences affecting characters due to their personal problems. Sounds great on paper, the problem lies in the quantity and execution.
There just isn't enough story aspect to these events, you basically have a one minute supernatural explanation from the Hermit Guru and a one minute exposition from MC at the end about why it happened to the victim and that's it - the rest is all dialogue over 2 episodes that attempts to be witty but comes off as incredibly unrealistic or explains the nature of a character with the subtlety of a Wiki article.
Oh and of course, supernatural events involve only young, attractive girls - to be fair they seem to be the only population around the MC. They could have at least inserted a bs line of dialogue such as "women are more emotionally in tune with themselves than men and that causes the supernatural to gravitate toward them." I just made that crap line up with zero effort and it sounds like a plausible explanation, but the writers couldn't be bothered to even do that.
Also aggravating, the first episode spends a brief minute depicting this very interesting story that happened to the MC. The point is to explain his situation but it shows so many cool 5 second scenes that it becomes quite disappointing not to see the whole story.
-Characters-
The weakest link and the final straw as to why it it's hard to recommend this anime. Take away the overly long dialogue and the show's style and what do you have?
Bland protagonist that every girl gravitates to because he just can't help but try to solve their problems. And he actually doesn't do much, except for getting beat up, the Hermit Guru is the one with all the answers and solutions so why do the girls like the MC? Because they're supposed to.
The girls are supposed to be the high point of the show because they are more interesting and have more depth than those of the average anime, but the fact that they ALL fall for the MC negates any positives that could be said about their personality.
The MC has got to be one of the stupidest I have ever seen in ALL of anime. Take this spoiler-free example from episode 11: Your attractive, intelligent friend of the opposite sex, your ONLY friend seen thus far, shares their deepest problems with you: the highlight being that, because their parents are so horrible, they are depressed about a one week school vacation because it means they will be home where they're not even wanted. What would you do? Whether you are attracted to them or not, the correct thing to do as a friend would probably be to invite them to spend time with you over break. Oh wait, sorry the correct answer is to just nod along and act slightly bothered by the parents' attitude; and of course by doing that the friend couldn't love you more if they wanted to.
-Conclusion-
Whether it's the incredibly dense protagonist with no redeeming features, or the girls that all fall for him for just being the intermediary in solving their problems, or the sisters that wake up their onii-chan in the morning (said sisters make a COMPLETE 180 in their attitude in season 2 for no reason), or the absence of any type of character -except for the Hermit Guru- that isn't an attractive girl, or the out of place fanservice..... This show is just cliche after cliche but the brain fails to notice because of the pretty colors and the massive amount of dialogue that needs to be processed.
Bakemonogatari is simply a rom-com with supernatural elements and there's nothing wrong with that premise. It's just that it tries too hard to set itself apart and act like something that transcends the medium when it really doesn't. Watch it as you would any rom-com with the clueless, bland MC that has girls falling for him left and right for no good reason and you won't be disappointed.
