Created by studio Shaft known for its peculiar animation style, Bakemonogatari (Monstory in english) is more of an arts show than it is a story. It concentrates on semi-episodic storytelling behind the paranormal adventures of Araragi Koyomi, former vampire, and his love interest Senjougahara Hitagi, self-proclaimed psychotic tsundere. While the plot itself is somewhat thin, its presentation is nothing short of awesome and great characters will keep you interested even if you wont feel anything special towards the plot. I can also guarantee - you haven’t seen a love story like this before, if you will actually be able to notice it. Give this show a shot if you want something new, though I recommend getting more experience on common anime beforehand, as ‘being different’ is its strongest point.

Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.

Originally written as a series of light novels by Nishio Ishin (Katanagatari) and directed by Shinbou Akiyuki (SoulTaker) Bakemonogatari is an eccentric show centered on paranormal adventures of Araragi Koyomi, former vampire, and his love interest Senjougahara Hitagi, self-proclaimed psychotic tsundere. It follows the tried and true path of episodic “ghost story” themed anime telling one mysterious tale at a time. However, unlike xxxHolic or Natsume Yuujinchou, Bakemonogatari does its stuff with so much style and peculiarity that it easily gets a spot on the “good” side of the genre, along with Mushishi and Mononoke.

If there was a word to sum up this show it would be “perplexing”. Not only I was perplexed at the art-show like direction and brilliant dialogue which makes you feel the author was weird in the head, I was even perplexed at my own feelings regarding this show. Frankly, Bakemonogatari kind of reminded me of the last year’s Kurozuka, in the way how aesthetic sense which is usually secondary takes spotlight from what is usually main - plot. Unlike Kurozuka, however, Bakemonogatari also offers awesome character cast and story which, albeit weak, actually makes sense. In the end it all comes down to your preferences, if you are open to forgive faults for innovation you will most likely love Bakemonogatari, mostly due to its surreal direction and profound dialogue. Likewise, if you want your shows to start at a point A and follow to a point B, everything solid and simple, you will most likely drop Bakemonogatari after a few episodes. While I do indeed love good stories told well, the more anime I watch the more I feel inclined to enjoy bizarre stories told weird, and you bet, Bakemonogatari is one of them. What I find the most perplexing of all though, is the implausibly high average score of this show… could it be that an average otaku developed aesthetic sense when I wasn’t looking?

Animation: 5

It seems Shaft have just gotten themselves a new fan. I remember noticing Shinbou Akiyuki’s talent back in the day I watched SoulTaker, a mediocre show turned good by the god-like direction. And now, eight years later, he comes back armed with huge production values and a story premise much more befitting his bizarre direction style. The end result is… well, the best work of animation I have ever seen in anything animated. The style of animation is so strong and distinctive you will feel like in an arts show: all camera angles are weird in one way or another, backgrounds are always filled with things you would never see in a real world, some scenes have colors change every few frames and you never know when camera will start dancing around or people will start falling upwards and… There is really no way to describe the affect of animation this show exhibits, let’s just say it makes you feel as if you are stuck in a dream of someone not particularly sane. What’s the most important though, is that it freaking works. It works so well with the mentally questionable behavior of characters and surreal plot I am kind of perplexed at how could Bakemonogatari had originally been a novel? I mean, without the clever animation half the fun wouldn’t be there…

However, I’m not such an artsy person to give animation perfect grades just for aesthetics - production values are also extraordinary. It might lose to some modern anime movies, but I haven’t seen such careful detail in backgrounds and character designs in any other TV series yet. I guess, being artsy as hell saved them here as well, since some backgrounds, being weird and unrealistic don’t really have that many little things to detail, but who cares about the cost, awesome is still awesome. Character designs, while not exactly the very best I have ever seen, are still extremely attractive. Careful detail of course helps there, but the fact that characters change clothes and hairstyles every few episodes brings them even closer to life. Not to mention the clever direction of erotic scenes, which I can hardly call ecchi as even those are delivered in an artsy way (I literally skipped a breath in the last episode). There is little movement in the show, as the majority of action is told via dialogues and facial expressions of characters, but even the few scenes of movement are fluid, realistic and, in few particular cases, even outstanding. About the only thing I could ever nag on in regard to this brilliant animation work is some shots at real world, which I personally find grotesque when compared to the anime visuals… Wait, maybe there is a hidden meaning in this one too..?

Sound: 4

While I can’t really say there are outstanding themes in the background music composed by Kousaki Satoru (Haruhi), I can still say that this show has some of the best atmospheric music work to ever grace anime world. Every single theme is fit to the mood of the show with absolute precision, not to mention the few ones which are able to marvelously build tension accompanying nothing but dialogue. If there is actually a thing to reprove, is that the plot of the show itself doesn’t allow music to stand out too much, or it wold likely mess the efforts of visual direction. Anyway, you wont be buying the soundtracks, but you will surely be audio-pleased when watching. OPs, on the other hand, don’t particularly stand out in the therms of music, but they certainly do in the therms of animation, being as artsy as the show itself. It is also interesting that this show spurts four different OPs despite being 12 episodes long. ED Kimi no Shiranai Monogotari by Rio, on the other hand, is a pretty cool piece of work, though it’s certainly hard to describe why. While it sounds like your everyday pop song the rhythm and lyrics, kind of, fit the style of Bakemonogatari so well, at times, I listened to it three or four times after closing the episode down.

I must say there are very few shows which depend on good seiyuu work as hard as Bakemonogatari does (being completely driven by dialogues and all), and you bet, this time around, voice-acting is outstanding. I must say I am really surprised I have never noticed Saito Chiwa before. Her role as Senjougahara in this show is one of the best female performances I have heard in years. I mean, pulling out a voice which would suit a mentally imbalanced tsundere-wannabe character shouldn’t be easy, but she does it with style and precision I’d get shivers from some of the lines. Kamiya Hiroshi, on the other hand, has a distinctive voice which doesn’t fall in neither geekish nor solemn categories, making Araragi perfect for narration and elaborate dialogues.

Story: 3

The plot of the show sure adopts some innovative ideas. I must say I was quite impressed when I realized that what I had thought to be an opening in the first episode was actually a flashback. The problem with the overall story, however, is that it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere. If you take awesome presentation away, all you are left with are some ghost stories at the level of Natsume Yuujinchou. I found it cool that some of them tie mysteries with word play, but I kind of doubt anyone without Japanese proficiency would care. Anyway one story ends, another starts and you are left wondering if something is really happening or not. Be it not for the awesome character wordy exchanges and linguistic inspired jokes, Bakemonogatari wouldn’t have escaped boredom even with that awesome animation. Though I must say even the subbing group didn’t seem to catch some of the jokes (I wonder how many I’ve missed, watched every episode twice though). Kanji expressions are also used from time to time to express the joke, or even to tie a plot point in one particular case, so I kind of believe people who know Japanese would certainly get more out of this show than the ones who don’t. Maybe that’s one of the reasons behind Bakemonogatari being labeled as the best show of 2009 in Japan (and I agree).

Anyway, unless the three following episodes will tie the plot up like in a real ending, the only really worthwhile plot point in this show which actually advances will be the romantic relationship between the two main characters. The greatness of their relationship is, of course, attributable to their original characteristics and clever dialogue. This might also be the vaguest romantic relationship I have ever seen as they cleverly center on a Tsundere, at least self-proclaimed, who never, even once, goes into extroverted mode. Freshness of the love story comes from the fact that it’s so weird you are usually unsure if it even exists, as Senjougahara is unpredictable enough to make you unable to tell if she will confess next or stab someone in the face. However, it is certainly there, and the last episode finally proves that. You can at best guess what Senjougahara thinks, and I found that the most rewarding point of the plot.

I would have certainly loved this show more if it just discarded all that ghost story stuff and concentrated on its intuitive dialogues (like in episode 3).

Characters: 4

I must say that the mentally imbalanced cast of characters was the last thing I expected in the show from “ghost stories” genre. While Araragi comes off as perfectly normal most of the time, even able to pull out some common sense slapstick, his tendency to save anyone involved with the supernatural no matter what’s the cost is certainly not very healthy. Though it took me a lot of insanity from other characters to account for that. The show, like no other ghost story I have watched, ties its paranormal side stories with the mental condition of the characters, usually with perversive themes even. There is an obsessive lesbian, older brother complex having loli, stressed out family abuse undertaking girl and so on. On the other hand, however interesting they are and however brilliant their dialogue is, side cast is still one step away from being fully fleshed out, mainly due to the series’ short length. That hardly matters though, as the main heroine of Bakemonogatari is one of the best mentally imbalanced characters I have seen.

Even if you wouldn’t account for some vague flashbacks relating to Senjougahara’s past, you would still soon notice that she is, well, weird. Not eccentric weird, but like, dangerously weird. The fact that show at best hints at her condition and her real feelings doesn’t stop her to come off as a living and charismatic character. There are certainly many characteristics which can make one fall for her, be it her extremely clever insults or eccentric behavior similar, but somehow different from usual tsundere archetype. However, I myself found her almost manic inability to speak her true feelings and those sparks of obsessive insanity the most attractive. She sure isn’t your everyday tsundere, and her head is sure not normal, but damn, is she interesting. Anyway, I was really pleasantly amazed at how Bakemonogatari never let’s the viewers unto their characters feelings easily, you have to interpret a lot to even guess what’s going on in their weird heads. The only real complaint about Senjougahara would be that there isn’t enough of her, she sure holds much more potential than she has used and hopefully the following three episodes will mark my words true.

Conclusion: Even though it follows a tried and true path, Bakemonogatari offers intuitive visuals and many thought provoking themes setting itself apart from the rest of the stuff of the genre and becoming one of the most original shows to grace anime realm. It will make your day if you can forgive faults for innovation and you will certainly love it if you favor aesthetic pleasures. If you are tired from your everyday stereotypical anime and you want something new - open your mind and put Bakemonogatari on your screen. I can’t guarantee you’ll like it, but you will likely remember it, at least for its visual presentation. You might actually want to check SoulTaker out if you’ve liked this, at least, direction wise.