Again, another anime that doesn't seem to get a lot of mainstream love over in the west, however it is a show not to be missed!



Bakemonogatari is based on a teenage Japanese schoolboy named Koyomi Araragi (Or if you have a stutter Ararararraragi) and his romance with Hitagi Senjougahara, a girl who is seemingly weightless due to a crab attack of all things that could have happened...

Story
As already mentioned Koyomi enters a relationship with Hitagi. They meet each other after Hitagi falls down the biggest set of stairs I have ever seen in my life and just happens to fall into Koyomi. Hitagi happens to be some sort of mentalist after pulling out staplers against Koyomi even though he basically just saved her life. However it does turn out she does have a reason for this as she is basically weightless after being attacked by a crab. To fix this Koyomi goes to see his well what should I say. He is some sort of genius that happened to fix Koyomi after he was turned into a vampire. Needless to say Hitagi gives the cutest cry I have ever seen in Anime and gets fixed up. She also becomes friends with Koyomi and the relationship advances as each episode goes past
Their are also several different Arcs that are included in the series. The first is a primary school girl called Mayoi who Koyomi seems to love to stalk. She is basically a "lost Snail" who seems to have a hand fetish because whenever Koyomi gets his stalk on she seems to bite him on his hand. The second girl is a basketball player called Suruga the "Monkey Paw" who happens to have a arm which basically controls itself. She begins to stalk Koyomi after she dates Hitagi although she is a lesbian who happened to be good friends with Hitagi in Middle School although since Hitagi had a problem however never talked again until Suruga's problem is fixed. The third girl is a middle school teenager called Nadeko. She is a friend of one of Koyomi's sisters. She seems to love killing Snakes to lift off her curse which was given to her by one of her friends. She also seems to have a massive crush on Koyomi, dresses up like one of those saucy blondes you see on edgy but not quite there websites made for teenagers in episode 14. She also talks about Doraemon in episode 11. The last arc is a girl that you do see throughout the series called Tsubasa. She was Koyomi's study partner until Hitagi comes along. She turns into a cat that attacks people once her stress level goes to high. A lot of these episodes though were not on TV and had to be watched through the internet.

Art
This art in Bakemonogatari is quality. The opening dialogue that flies across the screen that makes you feel like you had a acid trip is the only thing that doesn't get this section a 10. The rest of it is grear from the normal scenes, the action scenes and the fan service scenes. And the animation is great as well.
Sound
I liked the voices of the characters. I also liked all of the sound effects. I thought the OPs were pretty good with the song in Nadekos arc being the best. I never listen to EDs so I cannot comment on them.

Character
I like most of the characters in Bakemonogatari. My favorites personally were Hitagi, Koyomi, Meme (the genius), Suruga and Nadeko. I loved Hitagi's cold approach to Koyomi and their relationship, Koyomi and his willingness to do anything to any girl he meets, Meme just because how awesome he is, Suruga because she plays basketball and just because she does anything not caring about the people around her and Nadeko because she is cute but a silent snake killer. The only character I really did not enjoy is Mayoi because I really just found her annoying as heck.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed this series and if anyone does not care that their are a lot of action scenes then you guys should enjoy this anime as well. Although most people regard the series as a success and one of the best Animes of that season I really believe more people (at least in Australia) should give this brilliant series a watch. I give this anime a solid 8/10 with 1 point being deducted because the Anime does go away from the main story a bit during the middle of the series

Excellent review. I never considered watching this particular anime, but now I want to give it a chance. Well done.