Review of Bakemonogatari
The monogatari series was introduced to me by a huge bunch of friends who were extremely passionate about it, constantly telling me how great it is. Naturally i went on my laptop and just checked it out. This being (as told) my first series of monogatari. Bakemonogatari (as i would call it bake later on, bleh) was an experimental series as told by my friends. After watching it, I was confused. Not about the story but more of what they were experimenting with. But still, the anime is good. Not so good to give it a 10 but good enough to be enjoyable to even thosewho are new to the series like i am.
I like how simple the concept of the story is (Typically I am a fan of implementation over concept). Just some dude helping people out with occult stuff. That's about it. This is what made the "experimental series" feel less out of beta and more of final testing. Where the series isn't a big pile of ideas just left there but a well thought out brainstorm. Implementation wise, it did well as to bring the story out. It had a blend of comedy, action and to my surprise, a touch of emotions. It never to me felt like it was bland. Oversimplistic, perhaps but definitely not too predictable and boring. The touch of key studio was most apparent, turning any hateful characters into a lovable person. Most apparent in episode 1 and 2 where it literally felt like a key series (specifically rewrite in a good way).
However where things starts to go wrong was at the halfway point. It wasn't bad mind you, but it felt lacking. The magic of episode 1 and 2 left me hopeful that i would be hit by this emotional endings. That soon slowly washed off as most endings seem to lack the impact delivered. Episode 9 and 10 had endings that were at best average. I was even confused whether the person they were trying to save was saved even. It just felt half made. Episode 11 and onwards soon take off again as it delivered great impact endings, with a blend of nostalgia with great emotions. It felt real.
Action in general was implemented well enough, great tense scenes, a bit bloody but not gore yet. However it did gave a typical hint of that "useless protagonist" where the protagonist will look like they're losing but then somehow flipped the table. Not too much of a deal as it was properly controlled.
Dialogue was plenty excessive but i didn't felt that it was boring. There's a lot of dialogue. Constant thoughts and questions being asked. Conversations felt realistically long most of the time. Hints of comedy were placed inside. Typical comedy that includes incest jokes, lolicon jokes and ample amounts of "hell no!" exaggeration.
I gave this an 8 overall.
Summary: Great benchmark set on the first few episodes but was led down by the somewhat mediocre middle. Rescued again by the ending.
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Art is where is discuss the most in depth to even the outline and surrounding colour and the word to summarize my thoughts is "Danganrompa" or "Different".
It didn't feel the need to create a typical realistic surrounding, just threw that off the window and gave us this really unique feel of semi realism semi minimalism kind of thing. Buildings sometimes look realistic enough, sometimes look like just white patches. Signboards are redundantly excessive and really the only way to explain it is either by watching it or just knowing how danganrompa looks like. Sometimes especially nearing the ending, i was given snippets of overly realistic images of arms, eyes and bodies. (Like not even drawing, just literally someone took a picture of their arm and just placed it there). This is where i can see the experimental part comes in as it blends together literally everything that makes it different from other series. Therefore i can't really grade colour accuracy as this literally just ignores that for the sake of standing out. But i say extremely well done. A bit overhanded on the nudity maybe?
High action scenes were on par with most anime. Great if you don't pixel peep. It's fast paced, full of expression and matches the POV which i would go on about later. Pixel peeping gives the usual combination of softness in outlines along with some jagged mismatched lines. But then again you shouldn't be doing that in the first place.
One thing i like about the series is that it sometimes uses another character's voice over a different character. Like character A is speaking with character B's voice. It's definitely something that's rare. And it gives that sort of really strangely good effect. Especially in occult based series like this.
POVs are really well complimented by great details. First person POVs, the one I am constantly wishing every anime implemented it more, was really apparent here. It makes immersion super easy as it feels like I am taking to the person rather than a camera. The typical frame drops in slow pans are still apparent. I love some of the pans like a cinematic pan (typically a 360 pan) which makes background objects move but keeps the target stationary. That blended with the awesome cinematic effects, kudos for using appropriate filters and that 21:9 aspect ratio. More so the great blend of shakiness (making it feel like it was handheld) only makes it even more immersive. Every POV and panning effect was used appropriately and well handled.
Character design was decent, especially for 2009 though had the issue of it lacking certain facial features and making it look like makeup was put on. One particular area did well was the eye which had good detail, but highlighting the tear duct with great exaggeration was a plus for me. Character design overall felt cartoonish, average but nothing more.
Overall, the basics of the art in bake was average. Maybe a 7. But what really stood out was in how it was experimented. Blending in realism and outlandish minimalism with massive hints of danganrompa. Pair that with great panning and POVs along with cinematic immersion, i feel that it wasn't a 10 but it was so good that i didn't mind the cartoonish design of characters.
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Audio was great in general. Great emphasis of dialogue audio, maybe a bit too focused which sounded a bit too direct in the face kind but it's a typical issue. Clarity was great too, didn't felt like the male's voice was too muddy or the child's voice being too high pitched and squeaky. Immersion was a mixed thing as music background is one of the best i heard. Blending in various forms of music to create different moods. It complimented extremely well. Sound effects were a meh. I would love to hear some creaky staircase or gates, or some more reverb in an abandoned building. Open areas fair better with reverb as i can hear the slight echo of a snake being dissipated into the environment. Opening and closing was overall good but i was turned away by the second OP. Suddenly turning an occult opening into a lolicon's dream. Fortunately that was the only hiccup and all of the other songs follow suit the more typical expected approach.
9 points as i feel most of the time really immersed into the scene, 1 point off for the usual hiccups and maybe the slight quibble over the lack of certain obvious sound effects.
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Character development was generally a bit too main character focused. Some characters who appeared more often generally have good character development, others just fell short of the main character, partly due to screen on time. However for the most part, the "tragicness" portrayed by the characters were strong. Variety of characters are rather typical, some being a bit unexpected. The typical "mr helpful main character", "the cool bro that helps you out" (extremely likeable), "Tsundere asshole", "the nerdy girl who is really helpful" and the bunch of little girls with excessive incest hints. The unexpected part is really how the story portrays each character when under this "tragicness", making even that "tsundere asshole" i mentioned earlier seem pitiful and lovable or "the nerdy girl" that is often very nice look like a very desperate depressed emo. It all comes together. It didn't feel like they were constantly playing the same role but rather as part of the person with the other half being completely different and unexpected.
I gave this a 9, personalities were excellent, character development was mixed, some characters didn't have the time to be fully developed for maximum impact.
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Overall, I love this anime. My friends were right. It is enjoyable, reminiscence of what key would have delivered. (Note: I love key series animes) I never once felt the need to skip because it was too boring. The blend of unique art design, immersive sound, lovable characters and good punch in the endings makes for an anime that could have gotten a 10. The flaws like cartoonish character design, mediocre middle half, and a wish for more consistent development for all the characters loses that 1 point. It didn't feel like it was lacking, but there is definitely hope for what I'll watch next. Nisemonogatari.
PS: Seriously, why can't they pick a simpler name. What a mouthful.