Bakemonogatari
Studio Shaft
2009
Episodes: 15 [Finished]
Medium: Blu-Ray
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Mystery
Content Rating: Around NC-16
Studio Shaft
2009
Episodes: 15 [Finished]
Medium: Blu-Ray
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Mystery
Content Rating: Around NC-16
(Warning: Minor spoilers may follow!)
Sypnosis
Third-year high school student Koyomi Araragi leads a peaceful life. However, one day, he is attacked by a vampire, and with the help of a mysterious middle-aged man, Meme Oshino, he retains his humanity, but gains minor powers from the vampire attack. As he goes about life with his newfound powers, he encounters and helps five different girls, all with different backgrounds and different struggles, as well as certain phenomena plaguing them.
Intro
First and foremost, this anime is hard to describe. It absolutely refuses to be pigeonholed into any specific genre. I'd call it a shounen anime, but the level of maturity it presents transcends any form of it I've seen to date. You could call it a mystery anime, but mystery is only one of the aspects and themes surrounding this. In ways, this anime is extremely similar to real life itself, in how the characters interact in a very human and multidimensional way, and how no genre can aptly describe the series.
While reviewing this anime, the words “unique†and “masterpiece†come to mind. Bakemonogatari has effectively gone where no anime has gone before: the magnamious use of different media to portray the story, and in that regard, it has aced its use with flying colours. Bakemonogatari offers an engaging story of one man trying to help the girls he meets, and while that may in itself sound rather shallow and cliched, that generalization could not be farther from the truth: There are startling amounts of depth in each character, expressed through the ways in which they interact, and the generous utilization of symbolism and imagery. Based on the light novel by Nisio Isin, it is evident why this anime has turned out to be one of the best of 2009, and possibly for years to come.
Review
Opening Sequences
(But first, a little justification behind this: I believe that a opening sequence of an anime is key to giving its viewers an initial impression. If an OP is well done, viewers generally have a better regard of the anime from the onset, but if it is subpar, then it drags down the entire viewing experience.)
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The first opening sequence, Staple Stable.
The opening sequences for Bakemonogatari vary greatly. There is the use of live action in the first and last (out of five, one for each arc) opening sequences, but the medium switches to traditional animation for the rest.
The opening sequences can be described as being engaging purely through their uniqueness. Each opening sequence conveys a different emotion, and the stark juxtaposition between different opening sequences helps to better segregate each arc. Yet, all the opening sequences feature a similar motif, and that is a description (though abstract at times) of each girl's troubles.
However, each opening sequence by itself is hardly remarkable. On their own, they come across as just very basic and perhaps even default opening sequences unrelated to the arc itself. However, they contribute to the entire arc, and by extension entire anime, as a whole.
All in all, the opening sequences, though rather unexceptional, still contribute to the viewing experience due to the variety of media used to present them, in line with the anime's style.
Rating: 8/10
Story
At first, the plot seems simple; childish, even: One guy helping a few other girls with their problems. That is exactly true, and yet it is wondrous how Bakemonogatari executes such a basic plot with such excellence. Part of it lies in the story's intricacy: The use of mysticism and deities to explain phenomena, with helpful expository monologue from Meme. The background of each character also helps to give the story depth, and leaves the viewer wanting more: Though sufficiently explained, some details are lacking, acting as a drawing point for the next batch of novels in the Bakemonogatari series.
Rating: 8/10
Characters
Clockwise from top left: Koyomi, Hitagi, Suruga, Tsubasa, Nadeko and Mayoi.
The characters in Bakemonogatari are extremely different from, maybe even diametrically opposed to, each other. The story starts out with Hitagi Senjougahara, a self-aware tsundere (though you'd never guess it from how she acts) with a sharp tongue and a propensity for sarcasm. Following her, there's Mayoi Hachikuji, a stubborn little girl who is prone to violence. Then, there's Suruga Kanbaru, a professing lesbian who plays basketball and has a crush on Hitagi. Fourth is Nadeko Sengoku, a timid girl who has a shy personality. Last (but chronologically first) is Tsubasa Hanekawa, Koyomi's classmate and class representative. However, running through the girls' differences is the same need for help each girl posseses, the underlying story of Bakemonogatari.
In the midst of all these troubles are Koyomo Araragi, a normal high school student with certain powers derived from a vampire attack, and Meme Oshino, a mysterious man who acts as a teacher and helps the girls Koyomi encounters.
The main drawing point of the characters in Bakemonogatari is that they are not stereotypes. There isn't a central “comic-relief†or “fiesty†character, or any character who adheres to a certain sterotype at all. All the characters show remarkable depth, expressed through their conversation. The series derives its moments of comedy from situations, not characters, and this frees the characters from having to follow certain stereotypes, presenting them as more human in the process.
Rating: 9/10
Voice Acting
Bakemonogatari consists nearly entirely of dialogue. There are few action scenes, most of the scenes being either scenery or the characters interacting. In this sense, voice acting is crucial to Bakemonogatari, and Studio Shaft has pulled off an excellent job. With the likes of Chiwa Saito (Hitagi), Yui Horie (Tsubasa) and Kana Hanazawa (Nadeko), it may be easy for viewers to assume that the reputation of these voice actors is what makes the voice acting so good, but the reality is that the dialogue itself plays an important role. The dialogue in Bakemonogatari is styled in a way that emulates real human conversation. There aren't any one-dimensional stock lines, but the whole dialogue in Bakemonogatari is infused with realism. Characters interact in a way that we'd expect humans to interact, and the voice acting helps this immensely. All the characters sound extremely natural, and the voice acting helps to reflect their personality, whether it be outgoing or introverted and shy.
Rating: 10/10
Art
One of the main drawing points of Bakemonogatari is its art. The style of art is unlike any anime I have ever seen to date. The reason for this uniqueness lies in how character designer Akio Watanabe based his designs on the concepts of the light novel's illustrator, Vofan (who is from Taiwan). The characters are designed in a style more realistic than other anime, yet there is a subtle surreal quality in them.
Backgrounds
These are just some of the amazing backgrounds you will see in Bakemonogatari.
In particular, the backgrounds, accounting for a good percentage of the entire animation, are absolutely stunning. A certain sense of abstraction and surrealism is created with the use of repeating images, such as the houses. The colours are gorgeous, forgoing generic bright and dark colours for gradients that give the art a “real†and yet “unreal†quality. The detail, or the particular lack of detail in some scenes enhances this surreal aspect. Most of the art is unconventianally done, forgoing black borders to create a more real effect. A good way to describe them would be to say that they create an atmosphere of mystery. Yet, they are exceedingly beautiful in a surreal way. In fact, I would go as far as to say that you can watch Bakemonogatari for the art alone, due to how many background scenes there are, all of which are visually astounding.
Rating: 10/10
Music
Bakemonogatari boasts minimalistic background music, to the point where some tracks in its OST are just repeated piano loops with some variation. Yet, it is this simplicity that gives the music its charm. The music serves well as a backdrop for the characters' thoughts and interactions. Dokuzetsu (Youtube link) espouses a mysterious atmosphere due to its 'uncertain' piano melody; Suteki Meppou (Youtube link) gives an impression of witty and educated conversation, with both parties trying to outsmart each other linguistically; and Hyouri (Youtube link) provides a tense buildup, exuding an aura of mystery. Two motifs are evident throughout the soundtrack, the piano, symbolizing the thought processes of the characters, and the harmonica, played whenever Meme is around, in an almost mournful yet mysterious tone.
The whole anime wraps up with the heartwarming Ohitoyoshi (Youtube link), where all the characters meet to visit Meme's hideout. It marries both musical motifs together into a warm and perhaps bittersweet theme apt for the end of the anime when the girls' troubles are resolved, and yet the ending of the theme is without the harmonica, an apt description of the ending scenario (which I shall not spoil).
Rating: 9/10
Presentation
A small percentage of the many presentation styles used in Bakemonogatari.
Presentation is possibly the most striking thing about Bakemonogatari, and are also what gives it an edge over other animes. The use of mixed media is astounding, and the anime nearly religiously uses symbolism and imagery instead of actual reality. For example, instead of showing a character mispronouncing “Araragiâ€, a screen where words are typed out is used, showing the one extra syllable the character has used, wrongly pronouncing it as “Arararagiâ€. The use of mass media, including diagrams and live action, contributes greatly to the surreal feel of the anime, and the symbolism gives it a mysterious feel.
Another gem of presentation is the use of humour. The humour presented in Bakemonogatari isn't outright hilarious, but a mature humour, lying mostly in wordplay and metahumour, such as when Hitagi claims to be able to voice a man well due to the versatality of her voice actor (complete with a card showing the details of Chiwa Saito). This is humour for the educated mind, humour that will appeal to thinkers, due to its abstract and usually dark nature.
Rating: 10/10
Overall Rating
10/10
10/10
Bakemonogatari presents what is truly a groundbreaking anime, choosing to utilize mixed media, and along with it a wit and intelligence that is hard to come by. Not for people who love action sequences, but Bakemonogatari will most definitely appeal to those who love to endear themselves to characters, through how realistically they are protrayed through a cooperation of art, voice acting, music and presentation. Though each individual aspect of the anime may not be amazing in itself, the successful interaction of these features, akin to the interaction between the characters themselves, is what truly makes Bakemonogatari an amazing anime which will undoubtedly be remembered for years to come.