Review of Bakemonogatari

The later entries of Monogatari are full of rapid cuts and zoom-ins, characters drawn in different art styles that reference something, characters in the background moving around – tricks done for the purpose of breaking up the long conversations to be easily digestible. As this method is repeated you see the issue being that there is no relation between what’s happening and what’s being described. So your mind filters it out, and focuses on what’s being described. Rather than working together, the writing and visuals are now put at odds and this is bad because it’s wasteful. Bakemonogatari is better than the rest of the seriesbecause it’s not like this.

An example: Hitagi speaking to Araragi in Mayoi Snail: one of the best sequences in the show, with seamless transitions between each scene, and with each scene – and each action in the scene – corresponding to what is being described. Even on mute, you can tell what’s happening by seeing Hitagi and Araragi cycle around. Something similar is in the first conversation between Araragi and Kanbaru, or in the cram school with Araragi and Oshino. This makes you understand what’s happening better, which makes for more fun, because you’re better able to understand the characters, their situations, and sympathize with them more, and give more attention and respect, and this is enjoyment you get regardless.

Bakemonogatari jeopardizes this enjoyment is in its writing. The second story after Hitagi’s, Mayoi Snail, has a lot of aimless dialogue that wastes time. This aimlessness raises its head again in the final volume with a protracted gag involving anonymous names chiming into a radio show to tell jokes relating to their names. Some conversations don’t get to the point or last too long. The dialogue is otherwise great. The stories work well until the climax, where they then crumble, because Nisioisin has to contrive a feeling to suit the scene, rather than doing it other way around. When it gets real though, it’s good.