Review of Bakemonogatari
Well where do I start with this show? It's one of the most highly praised anime out there, ostensibly so on most social media sites where anime fans frequent, so I was looking forward to it and hoping to see something good. And for a bit I thought that was turning out to be true but alas. The art direction and sound design in this anime are really great and unique, and I was pretty impressed by it for the first few episodes. The ed is also a complete banger. However, even the interesting art direction and animation style loses its novelty over the course of theanime due to supporting a wholly lackluster story pretending to be something deeper than it is. It's a dolled up show that makes it seem more novel and profound; a pretty cake but take away the intermittent splices of quirky frames, cinematography, and "wordplay" and it's really nothing special. I understand why many people have it as their favorite anime because it makes you seem artistic and intelligent for having liked it.
The "clever wordplay" that most people praise revolves around the japanese characters used in the show and how they sometimes serve as double meanings or make new words if used in conjunction with others. Taking aside the fact that most of the ones presented in the show were pretty much juvenile ideas that really had no relevance for the plot other than to insert some "witty" dialogue in a scene, they really don't have as much weight or make as much sense without you being Japanese or speaking Japanese yourself and being versed in the lettering. Most western fans who take pride in the show's use of this thus, are like people laughing at another group's inside joke without even knowing the context of the inside joke. It's gratingly pretentious.
Moreover, most of the characters are unlikable and this is what ultimately made me unable to enjoy the show much. The main character isn't really someone to hate but he isn't likeable either; he's more of just a guy to keep the plot going and there really isn't anything special to say about him. They say indifference can be worse than hate. But I digress. Hate is worse in this case.
Senjougahara is really unlikeable and for what I've seen some call the best romance anime, the romance utterly sucks. Like, it's unjustifiably not good. I won't get into the details of how they got together though that was also rushed as hell, but everything about it is just.. unrealistic and I'm sure no one would actually want a relationship like it in real life. Their "relationship" centers around Hitagi constantly talking down to Araragi condescendingly as if speaking from a level above him, despite herself acknowledging her myriad of flaws. Nothing felt organic in their development, as the whole time their interactions boiled down to snide remarks and bullying that made Araragi uncomfortable, and somehow at the end of one episode they express their undying love for one another? Where'd that come from?? Has any relationship in real life been like that ??? Come on man.
I could go on and on about SJgahara like how she's stated to be lauded and admired by all her peers despite also being said to be standoffish and a loner, but I'm too lazy to complain more about it.
The only character I liked was Hanekawa.
"Overrated" is a term I hate, but it feels appropriate for this anime due to the overwhelming amount of praise the whole series gets. It's one of those rare things that I feel like the term is suitable for. If you can look past the dull story and vapid characters for the great art direction and some occasional nice music (I still listen to the ed cause it's just so good), then maybe you'll enjoy it.
Notice how I didn't even touch upon the more problematic issues regarding minors and fanservice in the series, or the horrid fanbase, because I wanted to detail how the show falls flat even without these two.