Review of Bakemonogatari

Ahh Bakemonogatari. I wanted to like this show. The concept behind it sounded like it would be an interesting anime. I was told that this would be a harem with intelligent dialogue and supernatural elements by a competent staff. So I settled in, put the show on and prepared myself for a wonderful ride. Episode one begins and the first thing that strikes me is the art style. Words flash on screen too fast to be read that would usually describe an emotion a character is feeling or what they are thinking. The lighting and backgrounds also have a quirky touch to it, giving me afeeling that this could be fun and interesting.

First we meet Araragi; the "average" protagonist, then Tsubasa; the class rep, and finally, Senjougahara; the "tsundere". These are regular characters in the harem genre, but that doesn't suggest anything is wrong, yet. The rest of the episode focuses mostly on the supernatural and I can say the show has grabbed my attention.

Then the first scene of episode two happens and it becomes clear the direction Bakemonogatari is taking. Fan service galore, girls only existing to fill an anime character trope and to flirt with Araragi without having any reason to like him, plots that have no interaction nor lead to any development for Araragi and no other male existing other than Oshino who is only involved in the supernatural side of things.

Bakemonogatari is generally praised not for the supernatural side, but for its take on the harem genre where the dialogue is described as "witty" and that there's "great wordplay". I disagree. The supernatural side is what seems to be the most competent part of Bakemonogatari's storytelling. The dialogue though is childish. The girls don't flirt the same way a normal person would; instead they are completely openly sexual towards Araragi. The dialogue is especially flawed when the girl would be naked in front of Araragi yet acting like she's not interested in him and for some reason he believes that she isn't interested. Either he is braindead or they couldn't think of a better way to portray flirtation. Don't get me started on the amount of times Araragi would be called generous or caring when he's clearly doing things that no one in a monogamous relationship would ever do.

The art style had potential in this series but never really added anything once the show got going. The female characters are all drawn exactly how you'd expect a fan service anime would portray its women. It was amusing that the girls didn't just have beautiful bodies, but their skin was actually shiny. The backgrounds and settings were interesting to look at though; generally having weird lighting to give a unique feel. What was most prominent though was the SHAFT awkward body positions and head tilts.

The soundtrack does its job in attempting to give a quirky feel to each scene. You get the feeling that the show's creators wanted this to complement the many jokes throughout the show, but it falls flat when the dialogue is poorly written. The openings and endings aren't remarkable. The voice acting is done decently well enough to portray each character trope.

I watched this anime because I had heard Nisemonogatari and Monogatari: Second Season were must see animes. In the end though I gave up on Nisemonogatari a few episodes in because it had the same flaws as Bakemonogatari. I understand people enjoyed this and I can see why. If you're into fan service and simple dialogue, you will enjoy this and I have nothing against that. But if you're looking for something more intelligent, with actual witty dialogue in a romance type anime, watch something like Spice and Wolf instead.