Review of Bakemonogatari

Ah, Bakemonogatari. An anime which I, in my first immersion into the world of Japanese animation, never really understood. I liked it, don't get me wrong, it was - and is - a super stylish anime that makes for great AMVs, but other than that I didn't really get it and the hype arround it. So while writing this review of my rewatch after a long ass time, I realised how amazing an anime it really is. Story: 8/10 At first Bakemonogatari seems to share some shounen-aspects; gorgeous and cute women surround a nice but average highschooler who helps them in one way or another. That's whenthe very interesting part kicks in. The main character, Araragi Koyomi, is part vampire (around 10%) and is well connected to some sort of spiritualist named Oshino Meme. Together, they help those girls with their own supernatural troubles. It still sounds pretty basic, but the way the story is told and narrated is interesting. Each of the parts of the story (titled, for example, Hitagi snail) is both an enclosed story and a part of the overarching story. The cool thing aboput the way the story is told is that characters of an already done story have an impact on later episodes or have single episodes focused on them even though their own tale is already told. I hope that makes sense. Also, the aforementioned harem effect never really kicks in which was, admittedly, a bit unexpected when I watched it the first time.

Art & Sound: 20/20
Perfect scores. The artstyle is experimental and gorgeous to look at, especially the character designs are fantastic. I know that SHAFT got shafted (heh) a lot for the copious amount of detailled shots focused on a character's eyes or our mouth which reduced the need to animate a whole body or scene, but I loved that. I was quite amazed at how smoothly and realistic stuff like twitchy eyes or speaking mouths were animated. The colour palette used on the characters was also surprisingly subdued for an anime; no garish pink or icy blue hair, no over the top clothing. The worst offender in the "this is not realistic!" department was Shinobu with orange eyes and that weird helmet with goggles on top.
The rest of the animation was minimalistic. a lot of simple colours and repeated patterns, for example the bike parking lot in front of Koyomi's high school. It also often is a weird mxi between what looks like to be 3D rendered, cut from white paper and actual photographies. In a couple of one word attributes, I'd describe Bakemonogatari's visuals as: daring, dazzling, bizarre, experimental (as noted above) and recognizable. The last one is especially true cause as far as I know, only the Monogatari-series looks like the Monogatari-series.
As for the sound, it was just perfection. Kimi No Shiranai Monogatari, the series ending, is by FAR and away my favorite ending ever. Period. ESPECIALLY after Episode 11, I think (can't tell why cause I try to keep this spoiler free). Something Bakemonogatari also does is change the opening with each arc. Of those openings, I love both Staple Staple (the first) and Sugar Sweet Nightmare (the fifth) the most. Not only is it really good pop/poprock, the lyrics also fit the character arcs pretty well. OTher than that, the soundtrack is great at increasing or erasing the tension of a situation, spice up the comedy and whatnot. On to the last point about sound, the voice actors are equally amazing, their voices fit the characters to a T. Special mentions go to Yui Horie (Hanekawa) and Chiwa Saito (Senjougarhara; I already talked highly of her in my PMMM review). Art-and soundwise, Bakemonogatari is a masterpiece.

Characters: 8/10
My only real criticism is that in a 15 episode anime, we have 7 prominent characters and Shinobu who is sorta there. That makes eight characters for a rather short show. Compared to Madoka, those eight characters don't really have the time to develop. That being said, I like every character cause all of their issues which weigh them down are sorta relatable, in a sense. Sure, stuff like Nadeko's small snake problem is supernatural, but the reason why she has that problem in the first place is very human and, to a degree, understandable. My favorite character, by the way, is Suruga. Her arc is pretty damn cool, her design is great, her VA is stellar and her personality is just great; I love characters who tease other characters just for the hell of it.

Enjoyment: 10/10
It's even better than I remembered. I got absorbed and was never bored; there ususally is a point in each series where going gets tough for me before it becomes interesting again. Bakemonogatari just didn't. It was entertaining 100% of the time because of how non-standard it was. SHAFT really did a great job with the show.

Overall: 9.2/10
I highly recommend it.