It's ART Dang It! - Bakemonogatari Review

As one of my favorite anime reviewers, Gigguk, has said. It is very easy to determine what a certain anime will be like based on the show's fanbase, more specifically its most diehard fans. For a show like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya you'll often find a group of otaku's who worship a 16 year old girl and whose only joy in life is to perform a perfect Hare Hare Yukai at an anime convention. There's the die hard Neon Genesis Evangelion fans (which includes myself) who have probably all written college level thesis' on the significance of Shinji Ikari's pinky in that one scene. For a show like Bakemonogatari, you get the most hipster fans of the anime genre, those looking for shows that push the boundaries by more stylistic means (I'll come back to these fans later because I'm not done). Getting on to the real point of this article, the kind of reviews that I had read about Bakemonogatari told me the story about this series before I really got started; get ready for a dialogue heavy, push your mental limits, philosophical HAREM ANIME. Buckle up...

As far as plot goes (and believe me there is not much to go on), Bakemonogatari is about Koyomi Araragi, a regular, lazy, high school student who turns out to be one-tenth of a vampire. One day while walking up the stairs, he manages to catch Hitagi Senjougahara, a beautiful high school student who, it turns out, has had her weight stolen from her by a crab god. Seeing as Araragi has already had dealings with the supernatural, Senjougahara accepts his help in order to get her weight back. The rest of the episodes form themselves into story arcs which follow a simple formula: Araragi meets girl with supernatural problem, he hangs out with them for a bit, it gets solved. There really isn't that much more to the plot that needs to be explained. To be perfectly honest, the plot of the show is the least important part of this show. In fact, if you sit down to watch this show, you had better buckle up to prepare yourself for the lack of anything really going on. Most episodes feature the characters just sitting around and talking, most of the time about absolutely nothing. I could probably count the number of true action sequences on one hand, most them involving Araragi either beating up of sexually harassing a grade schooler (I'll elaborate later). So those looking for a fast-paced action packed show would be better off watching the show I last reviewed, Akame ga Kill!. However, what Bakemonogatari manages to do is make this into something really cool. The show is incredibly clever and the writing follows a mix of snappy humor, pop culture references, and a whole lot of other good stuff. I always found myself pleasantly surprised by the writing, often making me laugh out loud in my seat.  So yes, most of the episodes are around the characters doing absolutely nothing which reveals itself to be both a good and a bad thing. The slow pace can make it hard to watch more than 2-3 episodes at a time, which is good, since each plot arc is about that long. The "camera" is always changing perspective, at a rate of nearly every second, as if trying to keep your brain from getting bored.

These characters will not leave this area and will talk to each other the whole episode...get used to it.

 Before I continue with this review, there is one thing that I definitely need to mention. Bakemonogatari is made by Studio SHAFT and if there is one thing you could say about SHAFT is that they're a studio which can be very divisive. Bakemonogatari is so SHAFT all of the time. What does this mean exactly? It means loads of establishing shots, constantly changing perspectives, surrealism, loads of dialogue, loads of color everywhere, seems like the characters are the only ones who live in the city etc. It isn't hard to spot a SHAFT piece when watching an anime. This is the same studio that gave us Puella Magi Madoka Magica which should give you some perspective on what Bakemonogatari is like, though saying it is exactly like Madoka is a huge exaggeration. Bakemonogatari pushes stylistic barriers and honestly I can't say that I've ever watched anything like it. Being a SHAFT piece means that you are going to get a series that is absolutely beautiful and Bakemonogatari is no exception. This is one of those times where anime truly becomes an art form and I would say that Bakemonogatari succeeds in creating a stylistically beautiful and elegant piece of art.

Anyways, back to the review, the issue with Bakemonogatari is not these slow scenes but more about when that thing called a plot rears its ugly head. Araragi helps all of these girls deal with their supernatural problems which in reality are just giant metaphors for deeper psychological issues that each of the girls have. Like I said before, the show is at its best when two characters are just talking. Then suddenly the plot jams itself in there and you get the supernatural expert, Meme Oshino, explaining what exactly is happening. The plot is not a bad thing by any means but it seems to take a bit away from the excellent dialogue and character development and it is hard to truly care about it. Like I said before, the best scenes are when the characters are simply talking about nothing so when it shifts to the actual plot, I lose some interest. Regardless, those scenes are some of the most elegant and beautiful in the entire series. What I liked most about these plot arcs was that Araragi actually ended up playing a very small role in these girls facing and solving their problems. Most of the time, the character he's "helping" will solve her problem by simply facing it and figuring it out by herself. I thought that this was one of the best aspects of the show.

The girls, like Kanbaru here, often solve their own problems simply by having the courage to face them, rather than any intervention on Araragi's part.

 The story is viewed through the eyes of Koyomi Araragi who is either the lazy and laid back protagonist or the one who occasionally erupts into a frantically yelling crazy man who takes pride in beating up a grade schooler. Yes, Araragi is certainly an interesting character. The real highlight of the series however is Senjougahara, his sharp tongued, absolutely nuts, and yet lovable girlfriend. She is by far the best written character in the show and has the right combination of character traits to make her such an enjoyable character. I found that the episodes that she was most heavily involved with were the best ones of the series. The rest of the characters however, aren't anything entirely new. Each of the girls that Araragi deals with can easily be summarized into a harem stereotype. Senjougahara is two types of dere; yandere and tsundere, Mayoi is a loli, Kanbaru a genki girl, Sengoku the moe one, and Hanekawa a cat-girl/meganekko. Regardless, this show is so well written that simply dismissing each character as such would be a disservice. I would say that there wasn't a character to dislike in the show but I will say that Bakemonogatari does not always make the best use of its best character, Senjougahara, as some episodes go by where she barely makes an appearance.

Finally, I have to bring up my most major gripe with this series. Before I do, I feel the need for a quick disclaimer. I really enjoyed this series because it was unlike anything that I had ever watched before. It is incredibly well written, the characters are enjoyable, and the art and the music were absolutely fantastic. The hardest part of this series to swallow is that at its core, this show is simply a harem anime hiding behind a shield of pretentious philosophical language. What takes away from the deeper themes of the series is the constant overload of fanservice and the harem anime esque antics of Araragi. Now I'm sure that somebody could give me an explanation of what exactly all of that fanservice means but to be perfectly honest, I found most of it shallow and unnecessary and to be honest, undermined many of the show's deeper themes for me. This leads me back into a discussion about how the fans of the series can often impact your image of a series. This a show that definitely attracts a certain amount of pretentious and snoody anime fans who claim this show is the best thing sliced bread simply because it is so different when in reality Bakemonogatari is simply a very good show. It sounds a little hypocritical coming from a big Evangelion fan like myself but while I enjoyed this show a great deal, I don't think I enjoyed it in the way its most hardcore fans do. While it has all the flashy art, it honestly felt like a show that was trying to stash away its more generic aspects by covering it over with nonsense that its fans would inevitably attach frivolous meaning to, call it art, and then fire expletives at whomever disagrees with them. That being said, I still enjoyed this show because it did take a unique approach to some played out aspects of anime and managed to do them very well.

Its ART DAMMIT

So where exactly does that leave us with Bakemonogatari? It is certainly not for everyone; the slow pace of the episodes, the heavy dialogue, and the graututious fanservice (not to mention the amount of scenes that make you say WTF) will turn off a lot of people. At its best, however, you have a show with excellent art, slick animation, snappy dialogue, and a lot of really great character development. It is also worth watching purely to see Senjougahara, since she is one of the best characters that I have experienced in my time watching anime. Bakemonogatari is certainly one of the best thought provoking animes out there, though perhaps not in the way its most hardcore fans see it.

My Score: 4/5