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I am no fan of the Monogatari franchise, it’s one I could never get into because it’s very long, it consists of many entries and arcs, and keeping track of the timeline is one big mess, as the release date has you watching stuff that goes before something you have already watched, or even in-between a season that already aired.
The basic idea that spawned such a colossus of a franchise is kinda interesting although not that special, it has to do with fantasy monsters lurking within a certain city and possessing people, which is why different exorcists and demi humans take care of them.
The pacing is tremendously slow to the point where the plot becomes an afterthought, despite whatever the characters might say about the situation, it never feels like it’s urgent or that serious, because the series is still mostly a harem comedy, and because the focus is rather placed on the characters, instead of moving the plot forward. That is why, besides the main and secondary cast, the city where the show takes place in is empty, it doesn’t matter what might be happening in the setting, what truly matters are the girls and how they feel.
Despite being referred as the different harem, the show is still a harem, it has the typical character archetypes, the fetishes and sexualization of minors you can expect from its genre, characters from the same family having incestuous complexes with each other, as confirmed in Nisemonogatari and Second Season, and overall the same plot structure that feels like a dating simulator, as the main character goes around, bumps into girls from either his school or his own family, or acquaintances of someone from those two groups, finds about their problems, tries to help them because he is a good guy, and most females in existence fall in love with him because of it.
The differences with all the other harem anime is existence is how the cast seems to be aware of the fact, as a kind of semi parody of the genre. The girls know that they fit an archetype and play around with the expectations around them and even go meta at points, while also making lots of references to famous anime and manga from different eras, and a lot of wordplay that make the heavy dialogue scenes more dynamic and fun for some.
That still doesn’t change the fact that a lot of conversations are meandering that go nowhere and stall the plot progression and pacing, but at least the talking speed, the way the dialogues are constructed and the self-aware characters are to be appreciated, especially for its genre, where normally all those things are of a very poor level.
The other difference with other series of its kind is that this one sends a message of one having to resolve their problems on their own and not depend of others, as a big part of what affects them is directly connected with their own mentalities. They may be possessed by supernatural entities, but it’s their own actions what makes the situation worse for them, and their own resolutions what lead to solve them at the end. On top of that, it’s not like the girls are passive, they try to find the reason for their issues on their own and solve whatever is troubling them by themselves, instead of waiting for someone to do it for them.
It’s a good message but it’s not very well supported by the narrative, since despite what they might do, at the end they still are mostly able to do that because they are helped by the goodie protagonist, the series wouldn’t be a harem otherwise, as the girls wouldn’t fall in love with him. Not only that but he is not even able to fix whatever is troubling them at times, which is why secondary character Meme Oshino steps in at the end of each arc to solve the problems, although more temporarily than permanently, but that is something that doesn’t become known until later seasons.
The biggest issue of this season is basically that, not only it doesn’t move the plot past its premise, but it’s also mostly a buildup of a series. It exists to present the setup, the recurring characters, the main message, and to anticipate future events and character arcs. Other than that, the only thing that actually happens in Bakemonogatari is that the main couple is established, and the rest of the harem is introduced.
But like I said, it’s not like this series is watched because of the plot, it’s the dialogues and the characters that draw people in. The protagonist, Araragi, is the same kind main character that makes everyone around him to fall in love with him that you come to expect from this type of series, but he doesn’t hides how much of a pervert of a teenager he is, without going to such extremes like others of his kind that become nauseating because of how they treat the girls.
But the real characters that stand out and the focus of the series are the girls. They crack jokes, they break the fourth wall, they are self-aware of their harem archetype and even extreme versions of them, they are sarcastic towards the main character, they have plenty of hobbies and different familial relationships, they interact with each other in ways that are not just flickering or teasing, and everyone has their own problem and backdrop story. From scamming and bullying (Nadeko), to jealousy (Kanbaru), to being unaware of their own state (Hachikuji), to make up a fake persona because of a fucked up family (Hanekawa), or even being victims of scamming and, to my understanding, even sexual assaults (Senjougahara). Plus, the show is full of their monologues, both internal and external, so their archetype is based and explained in their pasts, and their mentality is constantly explored and both shown and told. That’s the main difference with many series of its genre, the girls are way more than just fetishes for a male audience to look at. Unfortunately I can’t really say that anyone has a development or catharsis to speak of, those would come on future seasons, and even if they were, like I already said, they aren’t really supported by the narrative.
As many later imitators would prove, the franchise wouldn’t have become such a phenomenon in the medium if not for its visual presentation. Another reason why this title became as big as it is it’s because of its artsy visuals. Being the first and oldest season, Bakemonogatari suffers from quality drops, inconsistent character models, and very static animation, but makes up for it with crazy imagery, character designs that somehow stand out despite being based on typical designs for each harem archetype, trippy backgrounds that make lots of people write essays about what they could mean, as it isn’t uncommon for a room or building to seem surreal and falling apart, plenty of very different special effects and changes in coloring, lighting and shading, lots of references to many old school anime and manga, thus changing its artstyle completely, and at times, casually pulled out action scenes with some of the best and most dynamic motions in the whole medium. Heck, the anime even throws part of the inner monologues to the screen, taking direct passages of its source material, the light novel, as quick succession of inner thoughts of the characters. Good luck reading them though, as sometimes not even pausing the episode gives you enough time to do so.
If you are an experienced watcher, all this stuff wouldn’t surprise you much, as similar things can be seen on different works from the same director or studio (The Soul-Taker, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Madoka Magica, to name a few), but for a casual audience, it’s a before and after type of visual experience.
The audio department became as iconic but it’s definitely not as polished. The sound effects are good, and the voice acting is delivered rather fast and well, albeit with not that special performances from its cast, although it could be that many of their later ones would be based on these ones, and that ended up taking away its uniqueness, instead of the other way around. I give a full mark to the voices here considering how long ago the anime came out, but not to the rest. The soundtrack is very standard, the background music is just serviceable and the many openings are well done in terms of reflecting what the characters think on their lyrics and are accompanied by good visuals, but other than that, I didn’t like any of them, and skipped all of them after one or two times, simply because I find none of them to be special. Some of them are performed by the voice actresses of the girls, which is a fine detail but hardly one that I’m unfamiliar with, as it’s something that I’ve heard since at least Ranma ½. I loved the ending, Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, for both its song and animation, but it’s still nothing truly special.
At the end of the day, this is a series with well presented characters and a good dressing, that make up for a season that is mostly a setup for future events and character arcs, and otherwise very empty in actual content and with very little substance in it, and the little it has is not well supported by the narrative. Well done in terms of distracting you from its many weaknesses, but still almost as weak as many other series from the harem genre. I find it to be among the better anime of its kind, but still paling in front of others like alternative versions of it, some of its future seasons, the final season of the Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai adaptation, and Ouran Koukou Host Club.
5/10
