Review of Bakemonogatari

Bakemonogatari, more like Half-bakemonogatari; put it back in the oven. I do not usually write reviews, but for this show (along with some behind the scenes incentives) I kind of must. Bakemonotgatari was honestly one of the most painful experiences I had to sit through and the unlikable characters, story structure, and the religiously presented exposition were the prime contributors to such an underwhelming show. Characters It is obvious that this anime was designed to be a character focused show with their personalities and qualities driving the show forward. Unfortunately, Bake presents us with characters that have illegitimate issues that are hard to buy into with extremely unlikablecharacters. It was increasingly difficult to care about the Monkey, Snail, and Snake's (I will be referring to them by there Zodiac sign) issues when they were all of a sudden introduced out of nowhere and all of their issues were solved by some deus ex machina BS.

Araragi and Senjou are both easy to hate as their relationship had no chemistry and I struggle to see why they continue to be together. Senjou is just a bitch; not a baaaaaadd bitch; but just a terrible person. Araragi was just a generic MC and I fail to see what differentiates him from the multitude of other MCs. He is not unique in anyways.

Only salvageable character were Hanekawa because it is easy to care about her because she is present for so much of the story so when she gets her moment to shine, it is far more deserved. Meme Oshino is the ultimate bro and the character that should have been the MC in another timeline.

Story

Story is tied to the characters but the structure and style of this show was abysmal. The amount of times I wanted to punch my screen by all of the goddamn "Black Scenes" and "Red Scenes" is actually ridiculous. It is absolutely immersion breaking and adds absolutely no value whatsoever to the show. It is one of the most pretentious and frustrating elements this show tries to force down our throats. The "flash cards" or the scenes that RANDOMLY highlight a COUPLE of words to show EMPHASIS grew OLD really fast.

The structure of the show where 90% of the episode is just lifeless exposition makes the show feel like an over glorified podcast. I do not want to see 2 characters just talking the whole time and then we maybe get a godawful fight scene that feels completely out of place. The supernatural concept of this show had potential, but execution was flat out abysmal

Art and Sound

The silver lining for this show is the artstyle, but at the end of the day its just icing on top of the cake if the cake was made of cow dung, spinach, and orange peels. As in it is to say it does not save this nightmare of a show. The decision to literally not include ANY background characters made the world feel devoid of any life and bland. I don't want to here that it was "art", it feels lazy and uninspiring.

OPs are pretty cool and a different one for each girl was a nice touch. My favorite ones were the Snail and Snake ones while the others didn't click for me in the slightest.

OST was solid for the most part and the "Cowboy" harmonica music was utilized well and probably one of the best tracks. The piano was used way too much during those calm scenes though.

Conclusion

This show had to be one of the biggest disappointments I have ever seen, and I cannot fathom how this could be so many people's number one show. Not to compare it to Bunny Girl Senpai, but that show blows Bakemonogatari out of the water in literally every single aspect (and I thought Bunny Girl was pretty underwhelming). This show was one of the biggest chores to get through. This show was beyond a failure for me.