It's been a long time since i felt this much satisfaction from a new show and series that i get into. I can easily and safely say monogatari series untel the part i experienced(and i bet it will be this way until the end) has one of the best character developments and characterizations in any piece of media. monogatari is wrong. It's monoGOATari. But why i praise this show this much? Well this review is exactly for answering that. But before that keep in mind "i believe there is no such thing as "Objectively" reviewing or giving an opinion on a show/novel/book/movie/manga/game or whatever. I'm not saying it's about taste. Many may like a show that if they think about it come to the conclusion that the show is shit. I'm talking about the point of view.the way someone looks at a show and thinks about it. So being disagree with me or anyone else isn't wrong. Nor strange. That's all"
"when it comes to music everything that i would say is just taste. I just think about like it or not. The music parts are so casually in my reviews. Because i don't know any particular thing about the music"
"i'm not a native English speaker so if someparts have grammar and spelling problems i just can apologize for that"
"Enjoyment part is not how much i enjoyed the show myself. But how much i think it can entertain a person who may like it. Can i recommend it to someone who likes this type of anime easily? Is it even enjoyable to watch in my opinion? These type of things"
# [Story:9] Koyomi arararagi a high school boy who one day because of an accident became a vampire after coming back to his normal life thanks to the Hawaiian shirt man oshino meme. Meets with different characters who have different types of supernatural problems and helps them to solve their problems. Bakemonogatari has 5 story arcs.
Hitagi crab
Mayui snail
Suruga monkey
Nadeko snake
Tsubasa cat
Each arc has it's own main heroine and araragi is gonna help them. Sounds very basic and stereotypical right? Unlike many other anime series that came to the method of "show don't tell" the author of the series (nisio isin) was like "dudes how about we tell everything and show almost nothing?" On the paper such an idea is shit and won't work. But when you have such a genius as writer it will work. Monogatari is a character driven and dialogue heavy series that most of the show we have characters talking with each other and damn trust me. The dialogues are great. Each arc has it's own focus point and the show develops all of the main characters when the right time comes. And that's why characters in monogatari are fantastic. Though i talk about the characters in character part more. The only parts of the story i think could have been better are mainly two parts. The first is that in the third arc "nadeko snake" we have a "shed scene" where a certain character questions araragi about the situation of the main heroine (nadeko sengoku). The problem is that this scene isn't actually in the light novel and is original. But the real problem is that the character is questioning araragi about something that she herself knows maybe better than anyone else in the entire series. It actually ringed a WTF bell in my mind in the first time that i couldn't understand why such a scene exists. I think if nadeko arc was completely like light novel and hadn't that original scenes it could developed that character more. It isn't something that Hurts your overall experience that much and when you know about it it doesn't hurt your perspective of that character very much but i still think it was a absurd scene. The next thing i find a bit annoying was that the characters has the opportunity of answering some of the viewers questions. But they just act like a certain part is something that they couldn't find out about. For example Spoiler, click to viewin nadeko snake arc we don't know what happens to the boy that cursed nadeko. My problem is that after few days nadeko can easily find out about it because they are in the same school. so What happens? If the boy doesn't come back to the school then she can say he didn't come to school anymore. But we actually don't get any dialogue about that boy. I mean nadeko could easily find out what happened to him the only ones who can't are we the viewers. I think some of these questions that could have been answered with just 1 minute dialogue would be better to be answered.
Exept these i pretty much enjoyed everything else. But you need to know that in monogatari. The characters are the real story
# [Characters:10] I think it's where bakemonogatari shines the most. In most of the anime the worthy characters are mostly the main cast and the show has so many side characters that many of them feel like plot tools. In another word. 30 percent of the characters are developed. 70 percent are mostly plot tools (it isn't necessarily a bad thing though if the series has its own good characters). But in monogatari almost all of the characters has their own arc and get developed in their own arc. In another word 90 percent of the characters are worthy and developed and at most 10 percent are plot tools. So as the viewer you know that the characters in the show are valuable to the story. But Like i said the characters are the story. Their backstory and motivations their personality and beliefs their life style etc.... Is explored and you can understand almost all of them. Watching monogatari means to enter their very mind and seeing the characters at their best and worst. The characters are not just real but memorable. In many anime you have the misconception of "if the characters are normal and real then they are good" but that's not all of the case. Many say it's better to have normal characters rather than stereotypical characters. But why you would choose such characters when you can have real yet unique characters? That's why when monogatari's arcs come to an end you will most of the time have just one feeling and that's satisfaction. Monogatari needs patience and it is dialogue heavy and unfortunately due to being different from many types of anime it will not please a wide audience like attak on titan or Code Geass. But if monogatari be someone's type of anime it will absolutely gives the viewer one of his/her best experiences.and one of it's reasons is exactly this. Characters. Character development in monogatari isn't something that can be explained with words alone you should experience it for yourself and then come to your own conclusion. When many anime series tend to develop their characters through many battle heavy and hyped arcs or flashbacks(repeat. There is no problem with such things) monogatari tends to develop it's characters with few dialogue heavy arcs that every single piece of dialogue has value and is essential to the character development. The characters are not Clichy or stereotypical and they have identity. Real identity. The only difference between them isn't their names or their three sizes but from the way they act to the way they think and decide is what makes them who they are. Characters that really are created because of their own decisions and in monogatari you are not gonna just see one side of the spectrum. Like i said monogatari is about entering the very mind of the characters. And saying that the characters have identity means that they are different from each other. Not just in behaviour but also in way of thinking or deciding or their point of views etc..... Which means you can almost understand all of them (specially the main focus if each arc) And also you can relate to many of them. Because you are seeing real people. Many anime series tend to sacrifice their characters for nothing.giving the viewers many characters that none of them has no agenda or motivation of their own but also are without the slightest personality.beliefs. development. The characters have no value. They are worthless. They lack everything. But in monogatari characters have everything. They have backstory.personality. beliefs. responsibility and almost everything that a real person has. In many parts you can even say they are even more real than the real humans. and i still think i couldn't even explain the surface level of monogatari's characterization. So i think it whould be better for you to experience it for yourself. But remember. The show is character driven and dialogue heavy. It needs patience sometimes. And even the most appreciated thing in the existence can't pleases everyone. But i assure you if you love character driven shows with peak character development then i doubt you don't enjoy monogatari.
# [Art:9] Shaft did a great job in monogatari adaptations not just for character development and story but also art and direction. The artstyle is great for it's own time and is still great and beautiful to this day(12 years after the show's broadcast). There isn't actually that much for complaint about art. The only thing that annoyed me a bit was that in some scenes when the camera is zoomed we see some details that are too different from the standard camera perspective. For example in many scenes that are standard characters lips(specially female characters) are drawn normally but sometimes that the camera is zoomed the details are too different from the normal thing that the viewer usually sees. For example in one of the scenes in the show that is zoomed on shinobu's face we see a bigger mouth on her face than what we usually see. Her normal image is like a little girl with small body and mouth but in that scene her mouth was covered more of her face compared to the normal scene. I i think some details actually don't quite fit the characters in zoomed camera. For example hanekawa's lips actually fits to her image in zoomed camera too but for some other characters like shinobu i think it doesn't fit the character. It isn't that much annoying but i think I'm to obsessive about changing artstyle in an anime. Either way it isn't something important because the art is 95 percent of the time so beautiful and eyecandy. So you will like it.
# [Music:10] I think when an anime has different openings for each arc (15 episodes. 5 opening and endings) it shows that the studio worked hard for the show. And not just opening and ending but i loved most of the tracks in the anime too. I mean i think i can say it was satisfying for me.
# [Enjoyment:10] Why 10? That's right that i said it will not please a wide audience like mainstream shows and that it is dialogue heavy. But that's the point. If you really enjoy a series with great character development and great dialogues i doubt you don't enjoy it. Characters have as much screentime and dialogue that they need to fully express their feelings and show the viewer who they really are. Direction and art style and also music are great and even looking at the dialogue scenes isn't boring (if you really care About the story and the characters) and well i think there is no need to say this for the third time that "the characters are the real story". So that means for enjoying this series you need to have real patience and care for the characters. Because it doesn't matter how much a series is good or great. If you just complain about everything and Don't care about the characters then you will not enjoy anything. But if you really try to understand monogatari you will enjoy almost everything.
>Overall maximum score with my taste: 9.5 Overall maximum score: 9.6 Overall minimum score: 9.3
