I’m gonna be honest, never in a million years did I think I was gonna be tackling Bakemonogatari. This was essentially what made Studio Shaft into the powerhouse that they are today. Yes, I am aware shaft did things like Hidamari Sketch & Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei before hand, but Bakemonogatari was the one that made everyone pay attention. I won’t waste anymore time on this intro sok, let's begin. There will probably be some mild spoilers in this review, read at your own risk.

Story:

Bakemonogatari is a series about a guy named Koyomi Araragi helping out people & riding them of their problems (such as helping Senjogahara get her weight back after having it stolen from a crab apparition). It’s a simple set-up, but it becomes more complex with involved character interactions and heavy bouts of dialogue. Now, I would usually criticize a series for its over-reliance on dialogue, however for this series, I really can’t do that. Yes there is a lot of dialogue, but it doesn’t come at the expense of fleshing out the characters, timing, or any such loss to where the dialogue becomes tedious to listen to. The dialogue allows the characters to still be themselves whilst balancing it with how much of the story they tell.

Monogatari can also be pretty damn funny at times. There’s meta humor in here (which I’m usually not a fan of) but it works well. The entire joke is that Monogatari takes character archetypes and still fleshes them out into deep & well throughout characters who have their own problems & things that hold them down. While these may sound like basic traits to give a character, with the amount of meta anime out there that pretty much only relies on the characters breaking the fourth wall in order to get laughs out of the viewer it’s not only refreshing, but engaging to see these characters not only fleshed out, but fleshed out as much as they are, such as Suruga Kanbaru looking up to Senjougahara & attacking Araragi because she’s genuinely terrified at the thought of Araragi taking all of Senjo’s attention to a point where Senjo will forget about Kanbaru . What also helps Monogatari’s comedy is its pacing, Monogatari will never spend any longer on a joke than it needs to & gets right to the punchline.

Characters:

The characters in Monogatari are stellar. I already mentioned how all of them are fleshed out individuals with their own character arcs that they go through, but the way they play off of each other is another thing. From Senjougahara’s witty insults to Araragi, Hanekawa being the smart one out of the bunch using only what she knows to help Araragi out, & Kanbaru in general. The character interactions are all witty & allow for some great dynamics to ensue. The characters are also incredibly well designed, from the colors used on their hair & cloths, to their bodies in general, the character designs are sleek and through their use of color stand out amongst the backgrounds and look good no matter what setting you put them in, so they’re also flexible in that sense.

Art & Sound:

Bakemonogatari is an artistic masterpiece. Backgrounds are quite often involved & have a lot of detail put into them. The art also helps with the fact that Monogatari is a very dialogue heavy series. Series director Akiyuki Shinbou will usually be up to something in the background or create a still shot but with a lot to look at in said shot so that the dialogue never becomes tiring. The storyboarding on the sequences also helps to distract from the heavy dialogue, so it’s sort of similar to what Kunihiko Ikuhara does with Revolutionary Girl Utena in the more expository scenes in that series, which is only a good thing in my mind. Real quick too, another thing Monogatari does is have 0 characters in it that don’t in some way relate to the story at hand, so you don’t have to worry about seeing any terrible, out of place background characters, REJOICE!

Animation is stellar, I’ve seen anime movies that came out after this series (like the god awful Girls & Panzer movie) that can’t even come close to the level of sublime animation present in a TV anime from 2009. The animation all flows well & there’s almost, if never a drop in animation throughout not just this entry, but the Monogatari franchise as a whole. The minute details are also very welcomed & look great, it’s incredible how TV animation from 2009, that at times can pass as movie quality animation puts to shame a movie from 2015 with animation that seldom rises above general TV quality animation.

The voice acting is the best thing I’ve ever seen in anime, hands down. Everyone plays the part brilliantly and it sounds like the characters are all in the booth recording the dialogue rather than actual VA’s. Every actor brings their SSS game to the table & create some of the most memorable performances out there & reflect the personalities, whilst bringing the charisma so masterfully, I really cannot begin to say enough great things about this cast. The music is also stellar, OPs, EDs, BGMs, it’s all great stuff.

Overall:

Bakemonogatari is one of the greatest things ever made. It’s one of the most well directed shows out there, the animation quality puts anime movies to shame, the characters are excellents, the voice action is quite possibly the best in the business, Bakemonogatari ticks all of the boxes of what a good anime should strive to achieve, it’s no wonder to see why this anime was such an influence on the industry & the community back when it came out, & it has only gotten better as the years have gone on. I cannot help but give Bakemonogatari a full 10/10. If you have not watched this series for any reason, mate get on it all ready, you’re in for a unique experience that few, if any anime will ever come close to replicating