Nisemonogatari Reviews

The second season, Nisemonogatari, is one that I personally enjoyed a bit more than the first, because it’s notably shorter and the slapstick bits are this time around done by the sisters of the main character instead of his girlfriend, thus I find those bits more believable and amusing, than the kind of abusive relationship from the previous series.

Sadly, leaving my own experience aside, as a whole, it was a way worse season than the previous one. Not in terms of animation though, which was in fact way better, since this one came out some years later and had a much more polished artwork, while still keeping all the crazy and artsy visuals, too bad this one was even more static than Bakemonogatari, as it didn’t have any similar action bits.

The one aspect that remained exactly the same was the audio, as this sequel retains the same level in every aspect, from voice acting to sound effects to music. I loved Karen’s opening, Marshmallow Justice, for its energy and for not being the typical jpop song, but it is still nothing special and not that different either. Besides that, any other opening and the ending left as indifferent as the many from Bakemonogatari.

What makes Nisemonogatari way worse than the previous season was that it had all of the negatives in more obvious ways, with none of the positives besides the improved visuals. There are only two arcs this time around, and although that could have been good to have a more consistent quality among them than the series before this one, that wasn’t the case, as they were both even more empty of content, and with even more meandering.

There is lots of talking and none of it feel substantial, there are lots of characters appearing and none of them feel like they add anything to the whole, they even act a bit differently than before and even have a bit different dynamic with each other, to the point you’ll have to guess that something happened to them out of screen or something. The main issue is supposed to revolve around the Araragi sisters but they feel mostly secondary to what is not happening and being discussed, they feel like side characters even in their own season, and that’s something that will be said out loud as a joke in the Second Season.

Other than that, the setting still feels unaware of anything that is not happening, as the locations are even more limited than what was previously shown, and as a whole everything still feels inconsequential to anyone that isn’t the main characters, or that’s what I would say if the city didn’t look even emptier as it did before.

Plus, this anime has all the issues from the previous ones, all the perversions, this time with way younger looking characters, and on top of that it now added incestuous vibes and complexes that would be confirmed in Second Season. The infamous toothbrush scene is one of my most disgusting and hated of all time, why couldn’t it just be wholesome slapstick like in the beginning?

The only positive I’m willing to give to this season is that, just like the one before it, it anticipates future characters and events, this time with the apparition of other exorcists said to be as powerful and knowledgeable or even more than Meme Oshino, in the form of Kaiki Deishuu and Yozuru Kagenui, but other than that, it was a disaster of a season, and if not for the next one and the manga, it would have made me drop the franchise for good, despite my own personal preference above Bakemonogatari for its early comedy and for not being as bombastic in its directing.