Review of Bakemonogatari
When I started watching this anime, I was expecting one of those typical romance/comedy animes. A general warning to everyone about to watch this: this could very well be a great watch for you or a waste of time. For me, I found it enjoyable. Let's begin with the story. The story is about a former vampire boy who tries to help other people (well, really, girls) with their supernatural powers by leading them to a man who is an expert in dealing with supernatural beings. You can call it a harem, but the main character stays loyal to the first girl he helped. It hasa sense of humor, but what's different between this anime and the other romance/comedy animes is that this anime is also dark. All the girls get their supernatural powers through a variety of different negative emotions, ex. despair and jealously. And in the solution of each of these problems, we can clearly see what the poor girls went through to get their supernatural powers. It makes us sympathize. It makes us think, which is why this anime is special among other similar animes.
Because of the fact that those negative emotions are strongly presented, the characters are basically one of the strongest aspects of this anime. The main character, Araragi, went through many different trials to help these girls (including getting his intestines torn out), yet we see that he is truly a benevolent, responsible person. However, he's not static. He undergoes changes that show that because he is loyal to Senjougahara, he no longer throws his life on the line to save others. Similarly to Senjougahara, she undergoes a change that shows us that she is a caring, likable character that is also loyal to Araragi, though she maintains her tsundere side. Lastly, the fact that all the girls went through a trial to lose their supernatural powers, we can easily sympathize their problems and emotions, making each individual girls strong characters.
The art is very different from other anime. In a nutshell, it is 3-D characters thrown into an abstract, 2-D world. I admit that I don't really understand the purpose behind this, but the art manages to support the anime well enough. The sound does fit with the anime, though. Most of the music is somewhat melancholy, which supports this somewhat emotional anime. Voice characters did their job well, I have to say.
Like I said: this anime could be one of the better ones you've watched or it could be a bust. I personally enjoyed this anime, but someone else could absolutely hate it. If you would like to try something new, I suggest trying this. Watch the first one or two episodes and see if you want to continue it, drop it if you don't.
Overall grade: 8/10