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Synopsis:
Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student, manages to survive a vampire attack with the help of Meme Oshino, a strange man residing in an abandoned building. Though being saved from vampirism and now a human again, several side effects such as superhuman healing abilities and enhanced vision still remain. Regardless, Araragi tries to live the life of a normal student, with the help of his friend and the class president, Tsubasa Hanekawa.
When fellow classmate Hitagi Senjougahara falls down the stairs and is caught by Araragi, the boy realizes that the girl is unnaturally weightless. Despite Senjougahara's protests, Araragi insists he help her, deciding to enlist the aid of Oshino, the very man who had once helped him with his own predicament.
Through several tales involving demons and gods, Bakemonogatari follows Araragi as he attempts to help those who suffer from supernatural maladies.
Information: [15 eps] Jul 3, 2009 to Jun 25, 2010
Genres: Mystery, Romance, Supernatural
THE STORY
The show is divided into five arcs, each one focusing on the series' main protagonist, Koyomi Araragi interacting with a different girl, each of whom is being troubled by an oddity. Oddities are mysterious supernatural beings capable of latching onto humans and, to put it simply, screwing with them. For different reasons and in different ways, seemingly always connected to their mental and/or emotional issues and twisted emotions that they try to bury deep down.
Right of the bat, I believe that to be an ingenious set-up. Exploring and effectively personifying psychological issues through strange supernatural occurrences is incredibly unique and allows for a lot of creativity when it comes to approaching character development. Thankfully, the execution is just as good as the idea here. Every arc of Bakemonogatari (with one exception to which we'll get to) is brilliantly crafted. They all have an engaging and natural flow to them, which never fails to keep the viewer interested. Throughout each arc, the issues of each girl is gradually revealed, the writers very skilfully peeling off the layers of their respective problems. That by itself is already quite enticing, and the fact that it usually leads to a highly exciting climax feels satisfying, after the slower, dialogue-driven part of the arc. Something that the Monogatari franchise is known for is how dialogue heavy it is, but it’s impossible to get bored during it, as the dialogue itself is oftentimes so whacky, bizarre and just plain entertaining.
THE CHARACTERS
Starting with the male lead, Koyomi Araragi, he is what every harem protagonist should be. What I mean by that is that he feels like an actual person, rather than just acting as a self-insert for the audience. He cares deeply about the people around him, but you wouldn't be able to tell as his general outward personality is lazy, irritable and gloomy. He is very shy when it comes to anything having to do with sexuality, being easily embarrassed and annoyed by the teasing that he experiences at the hands of Hitagi and Suruga. He is also kind of a pathetic moron, who unironically gets satisfaction from beating a little girl in a fight, something that he has enough self-awareness to berate himself over. Yet in spite of all that he is still perfectly capable of having a normal conversation and to be generally pleasant to the people he feels close to. His main character flaw is that despite the exterior, he cares about other people to the point of constantly putting himself at horrible risk for them. Now, having a protagonist whose defining flaw is being "too good for his own good" is something of a slippery slope. What makes Koyomi work however is that there is an actual sense of progression with him. The show is clearly willing to explore his self-destructive tendencies and how they may hurt the people he cares about just as much as himself, rather than just throwing it in as a cheap pretend character flaw.
Then of course, there are the girls themselves, starting with Koyomi's love interest, Hitagi Senjougahara. Hitagi starts out as a snarky, rude, sometimes low-key psychotic asshole, who takes a great deal of pleasure in teasing Koyomi and verbally annihilating him in various humorous ways. And she is absolutely perfect. Her attitude rarely comes off as unlikeable or genuinely malicious (and when it does the show acknowledges it to be a character flaw). She never takes it so far as to be deeply hurtful. It's honestly just funny. As she grows closer to Koyomi, her jabs at him become significantly tamer and turn into charming banter. For all her posturing, she genuinely cares for and likes Koyomi, and appreciates his willingness to help people. Certain horrible events in Hitagi's past caused her to become detached from the people around her, and in Koyomi, she finally has someone she finds comfort in. A chance to heal.
The second girl, Mayoi Hachikuji is a lost child, whom Koyomi and Hitagi find on a playground, looking for her mother. She is initially an abrasive rude little brat, but once more time is spent with her, she begins to reveal a friendly side. Similar to Hitagi, her sarcasm and teasing of Koyomi becomes more friendly than spiteful, and she is given some very endearing little character quirks. Like her signature regular mispronunciations of Arararagi's name, that are very obviously done on purpose just to piss him off. Mayoi is a character who seems to be trying to keep others at a distance, even those who want to help her. The show gives her interesting reasons for being this way, while showcasing how destructive this kind of a mindset can be to herself and those that care about her.
Suruga Kanbaru is a friendly, sociable and outgoing individual, loved by the student population and considered a kind of celebrity, particularly idolized by younger girls. To her senior, Koyomi Araragi, she is shown to be overly respectful and polite, often praising him for trivial things, to the point where she can sometimes come across as annoying. Unbeknownst to her admirers, however, she is a huge pervert, being able to overwhelm even Araragi, leading to the boy trying to keep his sister Karen Araragi from meeting Kanbaru, worried that she would be seduced. As a lesbian, Suruga is sometimes shown swooning over the younger girls she meets (particularly Shinobu Oshino and Nadeko Sengoku), although the only one she is truly in love with is her senior, Senjougahara. She has a passion for reading BL novels, leading to her room being covered in them. She is a fairly sloppy person, having to call Araragi over to clean her room, as she can never do it herself, although she dilligently keeps up with her exercise.
(fav girl sa monogatari series) Tsubasa Hanekawa is Koyomi Araragi's classmate, close friend, and a class representative in Naoetsu Private High School. She is known at school as an overachiever and model student who is admired by many. However, hidden by her achievements in school and her kind personality is a tense family life caused by unfortunate circumstances. She was bewitched by an oddity on the first day of Golden Week, giving birth to her "alternate self" called Black Hanekawa, and for some time was responsible for a series of attacks on various people in town. She and Black Hanekawa are the narrators of Nekomonogatari (White), and she is also the narrator of an arc in Wazamonogatari. She is the titular protagonist of four main arcs: Tsubasa Cat, Tsubasa Family, Tsubasa Tiger, and Tsubasa Sleeping, and of three minor arcs: Tsubasa Song, Tsubasa Board, and Tsubasa Lion.
Tsubasa is a teenage girl with glasses, black hair, purple pupils, and a fair complexion. She is stated to be beautiful by Suruga Kanbaru, Hitagi Senjougahara, and Koyomi Araragi. She is almost always seen wearing her Naoetsu Private High School uniform, even outside of school days. Chronologically early on in the series she wears glasses and styles her hair into braids. In Kizumonogatari, she has only one pony tail while in Nekomonogatari Black and Bakemonogatari, she ties them into two with a hair ribbon that has a cat design. After the events of Tsubasa Cat, she allows Koyomi to cut her hair as a symbol of her growth (Koyomi secretly keeps her braids). She also begins wearing contact lenses instead of her usual pair of glasses. After the events in Tsubasa Tiger, her hair has silvery-white stripes, resembling a tiger's, although she commonly dyes her hair back to its normal color each morning. As shown during her moments as Black Hanekawa, Tsubasa has a slim figure and is well-endowed. Koyomi once commented in Tsubasa Family that Tsubasa's breasts are "so appealing that one would want to cop a feel." Another interesting detail is her rather unique choice of underwear, which is often decorated with lace.
To most people she interacts with, Tsubasa is a soft-spoken girl with a kind heart and a positive personality. Her top grades make her a favorite of the teachers, while her approachable character makes admirers out of her classmates. Tsubasa is also a wealth of information due to her study habits, but keeps humble about it, always stating that "I don’t know everything, I just know what I know" to those who commend her knowledge (although it should be noted that she only says this to Koyomi as this catchphrase makes Koyomi happy). She is never seen angry, but even when she does get mad, she retains her positive appearance, and often resorts to scolding the offender like a teacher, only to show a smile afterwards. The only instance where she is seen with a genuiely angry expression is during Sodachi Lost, when she confronts the trickster Ougi Oshino. However, those who are familiar with her true identity know that all of those are a facade that she shows to the public. The truth is that she often does things without the sentiment that comes along with it, and moves only through common sense. She also possesses a strong sense of righteousness that becomes a double-edged sword, to the point of interacting with her may cause oneself to notice one's imperfections. In Tsubasa Tiger, her personality was described as "accepting whatever comes her way without any objections" and "shunning all of her undesirable traits somewhere else". The latter was what caused the manifestation of Black Hanekawa and Kako, which symbolizes her stress and her envy and negative emotions, respectively. Despite this, Koyomi stated that Hanekawa is the individual he respects the most. She is his first and best friend as well as his "savior" during Kizumonogatari, causing him to deify her as his "ideal girl."
"Renai Circulation girl" haha. Nadeko Sengoku is Tsukihi Araragi's childhood friend and an acquaintance of Tsukihi's brother Koyomi Araragi. She was a victim of a painful curse that caused an invisible snake to coil around her and manifest scars that resemble snake scales. During her attempts to cure herself of the curse, she met Koyomi once again after not seeing him for a long time. She is the narrator of Otorimonogatari, Nademonogatari, as well as arcs in Yoimonogatari and Shinomonogatari. She is the titular protagonist of four main arcs: Nadeko Snake, Nadeko Medusa, Nadeko Draw and Nadeko Around, and three minor arcs: Nadeko Pool, Nadeko Mirror, and Kimi to Nadekko!.
Nadeko is a young girl with dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She is 153 cm(5'0") and her weight is around 38 kg. During the times when she was still cursed by the jagirinawa, her outfit consisted of a waist pouch, an orange newsboy cap, a pink blouse, an orange jacket and a pair of baggy denims — all of which were designed to hide the scars that covered her body. She also always casts her eyes downward, with long fringes covering her eyes. It can be assumed that her newsboy cap represents the "snake" that cursed her, as its shape resembles a snake's head. She later changes her style to a more comfortable set of clothes after being relieved of the curse, and she shows a preference to wearing skirts. Later in the series, she cuts her hair short.
Nadeko has a shy personality, and can be easily amused. She's quite protective of her hair (particularly her forelocks) thinking that it's her place to guard more than her panties. She later develops a dependence towards Koyomi (whom she calls "Koyomi-onii-chan") which slowly intensified as the events relating to the snake curse puts a pressure on her. she is one of villian in second season
There are two notable side characters in Bakemonogatari. The first one being Meme Oshino, a specialist whose occupation is helping people out with oddity related issues. He is very likeable, his personality being a blend of a shady weirdo, and a genuinely kind, helpful, and all around cool guy. And then of course, there is everyone’s favourite vampire loli, Shinobu, who doesn’t actually get much to do here (she doesn’t even speak), but she does make for a decently interesting minor character, through her implied history, her relationship to Koyomi, as well as her current role as his reluctant ally. Bakemonogatari sets this character up decently, even though it’s not till the next season when we get to know her properly.
Bakemonogatari, the first adaptation of Isin Nisio's Monogatari novel series, can be summed up as an allegory of how problems grow beyond our control when we don't tend to them. In this story, unsolved problems transform into apparitions that can handicap, possess, and even attack people. This premise was likely inspired by the Buddhist "āsavā" concept, which is defined as an influence or mental bias that binds people to their desires and attachments. In this story, various types of mental biases are illustrated through the lives and interactions of the characters.
This series was headed by veteran director and animator Akiyuki Shinbou, whose style has become synonymous with the Shaft animation studio. His distinctive use of lines, shadows, and off-centered shot compositions are in full effect here. There are some scenes that are likely just meant to look cool, but, generally, the visuals have purpose and avoid garishness. The visuals are specific, and help to establish tension, isolation, and other tones.
Monogatari series watch order
