Review of Bakemonogatari

I'll admit my bias right up front. This is my second favorite series (Second only to Welcome to the NHK), so I'm going to be very impartial in my views. However, I think I can come to a compromise with this review by stating that this show isn't for everyone. Thus, I'll keep it simple in "what you should like" and "what might turn you off". What you should like: First and foremost, you must like reading or listening to the dialogue. There is no way around this. The story can be at a very crucial moment where you feel tensions should be at their highest,and yet you'll have two characters bullshitting about definitions for shit that doesn't matter. If you don't like heavy dialogue, this series will turn you off very fast.

Additionally, while the series is generally regarded as beautiful, you will need to enjoy the art style as well. I've watched each season and arc of the different Monogatari series's. With the exception of the Kizumonogatari movies, there are no changes at all in art style. It's a very bright, colorful, and surreal style that draws attention to how Araragi perceives the world and also shows the "isolation" he feels besides those he cares about. The art is thematically relevant, and often you'll see Araragi and a classmate talking in what should be an obviously busy area with no one around. This is intentional as the idea of the series is that a "story" is being told, so background characters/people would not be brought up in the discussion. Liking this is relevant to a point in the next section, which I'll start off with.

What might turn you off:

While I don't perceive the series this way at all, it's very easy to feel like Bakemonogatari is trying to be pretentious. It seems to be making fun by calling itself out on what it does, like it's making some witty comeback while winking at you. While it might seem this way, it's really just making fun of itself. If you don't like self-referencing/deprecating jokes in a series, it could be that you also just don't enjoy it's "deconstruction" tones. I know that word is kind of a meme at this point, however I've seen the words "harem deconstruction" used more than once for the Monogatari series. I'd be hard pressed to disagree, as often satire is the best form of flattery. Subsequently, true satire is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

As a second point: to be honest the amount of fanservice in the series overall might turn you off. It's used almost as a juxtaposition where you'll have a bathing scene flashing before your eyes, yet really intense and thought-provoking dialogue going on simultaneously. The music generally aids in this endeavor by giving you feelings often counter to what the scene looks like. However, it can get gratuitous in later seasons and arcs. If this is something that you just can't stand on it's own, whether it serves a purpose or not, avoid this show.

If you feel I'm talking up my own ass, feel free to let me know. I thoroughly enjoy the depth and layers to this series, and as the seasons moved on my investment kept giving me greater returns.