Author: Nishio Ishin
Studio: Shaft
Released: July 3, 2009
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Comedy
The Plot
Koyomi Araragi is a third year high school student who, after being made a vampire for a short time, is finally recovering. Unfortunately for him, he is soon thrust back into the unnatural when he catches fellow classmate and loner Hitage Senjogahara after she falls down the stairs and is amazed to find she weighs next to nothing...literally. After being threatened Araragi soon volunteers to take her to the same person who helped him overcome his vampirism, the homeless middle aged man Meme Oshino.
What's Good
The series' primary focus is on conversations between different characters. It is delightful to see some of these interplays and I find it enjoyable to see the different characters interact with Araragi and each other. The attitude of main character, Araragi, is also entertaining as he can go from calm and laid back to distressed and comically panicked in a split second. The series' new spin on the traditional supernatural monsters and main character saving the day formula is certainly interesting, especially since his first port of call after encountering people afflicted by the supernatural is to approach the expert, Meme.
The artwork is frankly gorgeous and I find the colouring of the art especially appealing, but that is an aspect you need to be shown rather than told.
The music for the opening and ending is also fantastic and are some of my favourites of this season.
What's bad
With the series focusing primarily on conversation, its habit of flashing up various words every now and again and the Author's well-known love for wordplay it is understandable that the inability to understand some parts of conversation and text can be frustrating, but this is a rather a gripe at my own inability to understand the language, although I do wonder how many Japanese people themselves are able to follow some of the wordplay. As well as being a conversation-heavy show the show can be rather slow-paced and this can become tiresome, especially if your interests are more action-oriented.
Conclusion
Bakemonogatari is a good series if you can look past the insanity of various flashing cards with words like 'red' and 'black' on them (a habit that Shaft is notorious for and it is certainly used just as often in their previous production “Zetsubou Sensei”) and losing out on some of the word play and satire. Even missing that the series is still fun to watch, though the slow pace can be off-putting and despite watching several episodes I'm still working my way slowly through the series.
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