Review of Bakemonogatari

A great story is a story that can express multiple themes and contain many that still are to be discovered. Bakemonogatari is a collection of stories narrated by Araragi Koyomi, who helps to resolve the aberrations that are damaging or in some way affecting each victim's lives. Each story arc has a certain theme as well; all unique and important to recognize. Bakemonogatari consists of 5 stories, each one focusing on a new character. Each character contains an aberration, or simply, a sort of spirit. These spirits enter the lives of those with "problems" in which they can not handle alone. These problems can range to aboutanything, such as jealousy of others or a fear of the past. These problems contain multiple lessons, in which the characters must come to understand. Hitagi Crab,for example, explains you must accept your past instead of running away from it, and this is only the general theme of the arc. There are many smaller sub themes as well, but that is up to you as the watcher to determine.

Bakemonogatari is considered a dialogue-heavy show. Dialogue heavy shows consists of large amounts of confusing dialogue and what Bakemonogatari does best at; wordplay. Many times the characters twist words into interesting yet clever statements and multiple puns. It will definitely take a while to understand the series due to it focusing heavily on dialogue and wordplay, but once you understand them, the series gets very entertaining.

Art is one of Bakemonogatari's strongest points. Shaft studios decided to try out their unique animation, and it fits the anime almost perfectly. The setting of the series is supposed to feel both like a normal city and an otherworldly universe, in which aberrations strike those who least expect it. While most animations focus on the characters and portraying them to their best ability, Shaft Studios focused more on the background, giving the audience a feel like they are truly delving into an ominous world full of mysteries. Including this, many times they added words into the background, and cutscenes with more details on what the characters are thinking. The animation is surprisingly high quality and well done, especially for a series that was released 9 years ago.

Bakemonogatari's OST contains many moods and styles, ranging from vivid to dark and cryptic. Each soundtrack fits so well with every scene, amplifying the enjoyment of the show. Upbeat music is played during comedic character conversations, mysterious pieces are played during important dialogue and many more. Some of these OST's, such as Hiyori and Ika, Kaisou, are well known for establishing the perfect mood. The focus on percussion and multiple sound effects are greatly well done. This is by far Bakemonogatari's greatest quality.

Each story arc contains a new OP to fit the theme of the story and the life and personality of the characters that are being focused on. The first OP, Staple Stable, is one of the anime's big successful OP hits. Other OP, such as Renai's Circulation, are well known, especially in popular memes( Everyone's Circulation to be exact).

The main protagonist, Araragi Koyomi, follows an ideology in which he wants everyone to follow a route of "happiness", and one that would reward you in the future. He is the type of character who would help others without their consent, and would damage himself for the sake of others. Just from the first episode you can see that he is a stubborn character who is unable to give up on helping others, even if he is helping a stranger. And this stubborness eventually pays off, as he is able to help Hitagi Senjougahara, the deuteragonist, from living a painful life wounded from the past. The character cast of Bakemonogatari contains very unique characters, such as the sadistic tsundere Hitagi, clever Meme Oshino, and supportive Hanekawa. Each character helps Araragi in resolving other people's aberrations.

Overall, Bakemonogatari is an excellent story with great characters, sound and art. My only concerns with the anime are the small amount of cameo some of the characters other than Araragi get, and it's somewhat slow pace. But these are all minor details that can be overlooked. With a combination of great sound, art, and story, Bakemonogatari clearly ranks as one of my favorite stories to be animated. But remember, like Hanekawa says," I don't know everything, I just know what I know." Overall Rating: 9

Note: Bakemonogatari is not the start of the story series. There are 3 movies and one season that comes before this, but I would recommend you watch from broadcast order, which is Bakemonogatari. This way you can enjoy the series more with less confusion.