Dangerous, mysterious, beautiful and riveting, Hitagi falls for Araragi soon after he saves her and they become a canon couple in episode 5. While Kanbaru, Hanekawa, Nadeko and Hachikuji are all wonderful characters in their own right, and excellent and welcomed members of the cast, the real stars are Araragi and the transcendent Hitagi Senjougahara. They are the heart and the true stars of the show, along with their voice actors, all of whom are excellent, at the very worst. Now that I’ve more or less covered the presentation, I want to talk about the part of the show that I care about the most: the characters. The tone and atmosphere of Bakemonogatari, derived from the music, direction and animation, are splendid, evocative and unique to the show. The fact that these occurred occasionally (usually at critical moments of the story) just proves how good the music is. Sonically, the highlights among the four OPs are the already linked “Staple Stable” and Hana Kanazawa’s “Renai Circulation,” as well as supercell’s ED, “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari.” The soundtrack didn’t really catch my ear most of the time, but there were also a number of time when it grabbed me like a monkey hand and plunged me even deeper into the show. I can’t really adequately describe them, so have a few screenshots instead Characterized by dramatic poses, imposing facial expressions, sharp cuts and bold color pallets, the animation is pretty much inseparable from the story. SHAFT’s distinctive style and director Akiyuki Shinbo’s violent direction combine with the story and characters to create a visual production that is unlike anything I’ve seen before, differing even from the previous SHAFT shows I have seen. Sadly, I am quite ignorant of the myths to which the show refers (as I suspect most are), but happily no prior knowledge is necessary to enjoy the show.īakemonogatari rings in as the third show that I have seen from the anime studio SHAFT (the previous two being Madoka Magica and the currently broadcasting Nisekoi), and these three shows are definitely all from the same studio. Each arc focuses on the aid he gives five different girls as they deal with supernatural problems of their own, each derived from a different part of Japanese mythology and folklore. Structurally, Bakemonogatari is set up in five distinct arcs, all held together by the main character, Koyomi Araragi, who has recently been turned into a vampire, then restored (9/10 of the way, at least) to being a human. But before that, I present you with the gorgeous first opening of the show: “Staple Stable,” sung by the voice of Hitagi Sanjougahara, Chiwa Saito. I will do my best to break it down into tangible pieces as I work through this review, but forgive me if I occasionally break down into incoherent babble. It’s not a show that you watch from a distance it grabs you and pulls you in. Like my favorite anime, Blast of Tempest, for which you’ll notice I’ve never written a review, Bakemonogatari is difficult to review because it has the “it” factor in spades.
BAKEMONOGATARI EPISODE 14 OPENING SERIES
There may need to be some revisions in my rankings as I continue with the Monogatari series ( Nisemonogatari is up next).
I ended up giving Bakemonogatari an 8/10, but to be honest, I’m not incredibly happy with that rating.
Put another way, I now understand why a lot of people swear by the Monogatari series, because Bakemonogatari was an incredible experience, one I truly feel blessed to have been able to have. Let’s just put it this way: after I finished Bakemonogatari (by finished I mean watched all 15 episodes in one day), everything on my currently simulcasting list looked like utter crap & I didn’t want to watch any of it (sorry, Nobunagun and Wizard Barristers).
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