Reat

Bakemonogatari is a strange kind of story. It doesn't fit neatly in any category of anime, which is a good thing. It can appear as a slice of life type anime, simply because so much of the time in the anime is spent sitting around talking. There are some intense action sequences though, and then of course the supernatural elements. But the action and fantasy aspects are spaced so far from each other you can't help but get relaxed and interested with all the conversation going on.

STORY - 8/10

The story is pretty interesting. The action sequences are rare but intense, which really give them a feeling of intensity. This anime is dialogue heavy, and most of it is intelligent and witty. Very rarely was I feeling bored when the characters were talking, and just as rarely did they ever feel the need to reiterate. The pace of the story moved rather quickly as well, giving a good sense of flow to the viewer. Most importantly, there was far more information and back story than could have been told in the limited number of episodes, so they simply did without. Previous events are mention without being shown in full, leaving the viewer wanting for more. That is good storytelling.

ART - 10/10

More than anything else, this anime can be recommended because of its creative and artistic visuals. The designs are high quality, but more importantly, the creators of Bakemonogatari used their artistic license to display a visual feast for the eyes.

CHARACTERS - 3/10

This is the element that Bakemonogatari really dropped the ball on. The protagonist is constantly identifying whatever situations he's in compared to his relationship with his love interest, but other than the first story arc and the twelfth episode, she barely has any screen time. What little time they do spend together comes across as forced on his part, as if he's just in the relationship out of convince. This isn't helped by the fact that he is your typical perverted anime character, even going to far as to molest an elementary school girl. It's actions like that that really strain any credibility of 'love' on his part for his girlfriend. Reminds me of those girls in high school who were totally in love with their boyfriends who were totally cheating on them the entire time.

Unfortunately, the mistakes with characters doesn't end with the protagonist. Characters are introduced and then mostly forgotten about. The middle school girl is the worst offender, as her entire character trait can be summarize as, 'gets naked and is secretly in love with the protagonist'. She has no personality otherwise. I actually found the girlfriend to be the most interesting character by far, so you can image my disappointment when she's basically sent to the kitchen to make way for all the younger girls who only exist to be molested.

OVERALL - 6/10 - Decent

Bakemonogatari was really a mixed bag. The art was simply fantastic, and the story was good as well. The fact that the characters were horribly mishandled wouldn't have been so bad if this anime wasn't so focused on the characters. The action sequences were top notch, but they barely occurred. Some of the fantasy aspects were very interesting, like the vampire back story and the monkey paw, but others were eye rolling bad, like the perverted cat girl. The fan service was also mishandled, as the show was otherwise fairly intelligent.