AnimeSuki Forums

Register Forum Rules FAQ Members List Social Groups Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   AnimeSuki Forum > Anime Discussion > Older Series > Monogatari Series

Notices

View Poll Results: Bakemonogatari - Total Series Rating
Perfect 10 47 40.52%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 38 32.76%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 10 8.62%
7 out of 10 : Good 10 8.62%
6 out of 10 : Average 8 6.90%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 1 0.86%
4 out of 10 : Poor 0 0%
3 out of 10 : Bad 0 0%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 2 1.72%
Voters: 116. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 2010-08-15, 11:29   Link #21
Kotohono
Yuri µ'serator
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: FL, USA
Age: 36
Quote:
Originally Posted by Irenicus View Post
One might notice that I omit both the sisters and Shinobu on account of them not being shown very much. Do I like them? Yes I do, quite a lot actually. But I don't think there's enough material to declare definitively that I totally love them, as I could for the other characters that have been focused on.
Well that's cause
Spoiler for minor spoiler:
__________________
Kotori Minami - Love Live! School Idol Project
Sig by Patchy
Avatar by TheEroKing
MAL
Kotohono is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-15, 19:43   Link #22
Irenicus
Le fou, c'est moi
 
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Age: 34
Quote:
Originally Posted by Konakaga View Post
Well that's cause
Spoiler for minor spoiler:
Ah, so that's the name of the prequel I've heard about. And you say there's also a sequel with the sisters involved? Awesome.
Irenicus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-15, 21:38   Link #23
solomon
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Suburban DC
Can't believe I havent rated this show considering how much I loved it.

Anyways, A-/B+. Music nice, visuals AWESOME (design and animation), seiyuu great (Chiwa Saito SAIKOU!!!)

Yea, the characters are cool, but let's be frank. It's ALL ABOUT SENJOUGAHARA_SAMA.

Too lazy to write anything else.
solomon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-15, 22:11   Link #24
Vexx
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
*Author
 
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
Only reason I didn't toss this one a "10" was because, once again, they set their production time budgets too tight and we get several episodes that consists of slide shows during broadcast. Yeah, they fix it in the DVDs... but really, guys, build production schedules you can meet.

Great story, great voice work, great pacing.
__________________
Vexx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-16, 08:38   Link #25
roriconfan
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Thessaloniki - Greece
Send a message via MSN to roriconfan
Quote:
Originally Posted by omimon View Post
The guy who voted this 6 shouldn't animes ever again.
Make me!

Nice panels. Not much animation.
Nice dialogues. Music did not hit a nerve.
Nice characters. Most disappear from the story after their arc is over and that is cheap.
Simple story, easily divided into stand-alone arcs.
Enjoyment? I prefer a more tight story and characters who don't disappear.

I give it a 6, as I will never watch it again and the stand alone arcs took out a lot of my likingness.

In other news, I place Tatami Galaxy way over this one.
roriconfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-16, 17:50   Link #26
omimon
Professional Hikkikomori
 
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by roriconfan View Post
Make me!

Nice panels. Not much animation.
Nice dialogues. Music did not hit a nerve.
Nice characters. Most disappear from the story after their arc is over and that is cheap.
Simple story, easily divided into stand-alone arcs.
Enjoyment? I prefer a more tight story and characters who don't disappear.

I give it a 6, as I will never watch it again and the stand alone arcs took out a lot of my likingness.

In other news, I place Tatami Galaxy way over this one.
Well all I can say is it's your lost. Kizu has just been announced and I'm sure a lot of people would be following this series for a while. There is always going to be people who don't like certain animes and I've accepted that so whatever.
omimon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-19, 06:53   Link #27
AC730
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Australia
Quote:
Originally Posted by roriconfan View Post
Make me!

Nice panels. Not much animation.
Nice dialogues. Music did not hit a nerve.
Nice characters. Most disappear from the story after their arc is over and that is cheap.
Simple story, easily divided into stand-alone arcs.
Enjoyment? I prefer a more tight story and characters who don't disappear.

I give it a 6, as I will never watch it again and the stand alone arcs took out a lot of my likingness.

In other news, I place Tatami Galaxy way over this one.
Don't try and start a fight.
It's very hard to distinguish between sarcasm and a serious tone with text only.
But overall very childish.

If you had the time to read that part I'm sure you would've known that line was meant for another person and that dispute is over with.

Anyways, I'm sure SHAFT will take all the necessary prep time to make Kizu amazing.
AC730 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-26, 17:40   Link #28
alucard13mm
Member
 
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
i didnt like senjougahara either XD
well actually she was wonderful, until she had her crab god lifted away.. then she was just eugh.
i kinda wish araragi fell for tsubasa instead, since senjougahara kinda forced araragi with her teasing and such. to me, it seems like the relationship is built on senjougahara having the power to control araragi by being sexually suggestive and araragi buying into it. Tsubasa seems to be the better girl, mainly because, even though she "loves" him, she doesn't really show it or try to coerce araragi into liking her.

im sortve new to the forum.. i don't think the rating of 10 is appropriate for ANY anime series. there is nothing that is perfect. you cannot have perfection without something to compare it to.

i remember back in the days.. golden eye for N64 had a rating of like 9.2 and zelda OoT had a rating of 10 >.> which was rediculous. the two games are equally awesome, but what makes zelda perfect? biased? hates FPS?.. the system is broken when "perfect" is being used as a rating.

haha i know, this is just a poll for fun.. but yeh XD...
__________________
alucard13mm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-08-29, 09:20   Link #29
zato_1one
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
I base everything purely on my enjoyment alone. So this is definitely a 10/10. The dialogues are the best. I enjoy every interaction between characters in the series especially from Senjougahara. I can listen to Senjougahara teasing Araragi all days even if it's the same scene in the entire episode. Episode 12 is one of the best I've ever seen. Senjougahara is my most favorite character of all time. This series can't be this awesome without Senjougahara. Oh yeah, Senjougahara fascination! Seriously, I really don't care about all of those over the top fanservices from Nadeko.

On other note, I actually wish that all characters in this series don't go too far in Saimoe tournament. It will prove that this series doesn't sell well because of fanservices/moe (it's tore!) character.

I hope Kizu will air in next year. I prefer Shinobu in her adult form more than loli form.
__________________

Last edited by zato_1one; 2010-08-29 at 09:44.
zato_1one is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-20, 12:56   Link #30
roriconfan
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Thessaloniki - Greece
Send a message via MSN to roriconfan
IT'S REVIEW TIME if you so much want to know why I gave it a 6. The sections are named differently as it was made based on those on another site. Enjoy the raeg.

Bakemonogatary (directly translated to English as Monstory) is a series whose parts are better than the whole. It is a combination of so many themes and genres that individually it seems to be pure win. Yet, combining all of them into a unified series eventually created a big mess of good ideas without the proper time or space (ie money) to be implemented properly. So, at best it can be seen as an interesting series of smart gags and wordplays in a psychedelic setting of artistic expression. At worse it can be seen as a big pile of weirdness that never seems to get anywhere other than confusing you and promising you things that eventually never happen.

ANIMATION SECTION

General Artwork 2/2: Artistic as hell. Every second of it is a blend of real life images, pasted cardboards, 3D images, walls of Kataganas, plain character designs, major deformities, parody references to other anime and lots of high quality fan service. The designers gave their best to create a series that is making your mind think like it’s on LSD. A wonderful work of fiction that is set apart by the rest just by looking at it.

Sure, it ain’t unique as the same team also made the far similar Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei and Maria: Holic. Still, it is a trademark you will love at first sight… or at least hate for being so damn multilayered. Every scene is a symbolism to something around Japanese tradition or way of life or a cultural reference in general. And it even makes fun of this by presenting clichés in a way they look funny for being like that. For example, every few episodes, the intro changes to something that has nothing to do with the series. It just presents the current girl in the show in slice of life situations, as if the series is some moe school romance or comedy. It is just a joke as you never get to see all that. It is just an intro to the character’s supposed normal life.

Character Figures 2/2: The characters are generally drawn simple and most of the time they get deformed or turn to weird references to some other anime or cultural symbol. Yet, the high budget was given only to fan service. For you see, the only moments it looks highly detailed is when some girl undresses or shows of her underwear or the camera zooms to her moe face. This is what I meant by saying it combines the abstract with the mainstream. It aims to make you feel weird but still does not forget to offer you the stuff you find in run of the mill ecchi shows. Although I always found fan service to be distracting you from the real quality of the series and generally lowering its credibility, over here it is just some extra before the next joke jumps in. So, I didn’t found all this simplicity or focused erotism as bad.

Backgrounds and Visual Effects 4/4: It is almost impossible to separate backgrounds from visual effects as they both serve as symbolisms and cinematics at the same time. They are used intellectually to transmit ideas and emotions to the viewer so I consider them far more successful than just dry pictures that just fill the background with colors. Of course, there are so many references and Japanese texts flashing by that you will miss most of the meanings if you are not very well informed of Japanese tradition and the history of animation in general. Still, they are both marvelous to stare just for their weirdness alone.

Motion Fluidity 0/2: Well, if I can detract points, this is the place to do so. Motion is very rare in this series as the characters mostly stand still and flap their mouths allowing the backgrounds to transmit the rest. Although that does not seem as a bad thing, they still feel like everything is rolling or sliding and not walking with 18 frames per second. It kinda gets to your nerves after awhile. Even the few action scenes in this series appear as random attacks and throws thus they have little to none realism. Not that this series is realistic but it feels way too much like a picture book story. Also, the general quality drops a lot in the final episodes (budget ran out and screwed the series again) so even that leaves you with the impression that everything in this series is cartons and Playmobils sliding by without joint movements.

TOTAL FOR ANIMATION: 8/10

SOUND SECTION

Voice Acting 3/3: Ah, great dialogues full of phrases that you will remember for a life time. The talking is sarcastic and highly symbolical, turning even the most mundane topic to a spiritual insight, a wordplay, an arousing erotic remark or a shout of human angst. You will love them even if you don’t get them.

Music Themes 2/4: Nothing memorable. Unlike the animation the music themes are either average silly pop songs or repetitive monotonic background music.

Sound Effects 3/3: Just like the visuals, the sound effects are blending along with cinematics and backgrounds and timing with character reactions to something, thus becoming very pleasing to listen to.

TOTAL FOR SOUND: 8/10

STORY SECTION

General Scenario 1/2: Although it begins very mysteriously, it soon turns to some episodic formula of “help girl A and then head for girl B”. It is supposed to be about the lead being surrounded by pretty girls (loli included) that have something supernatural about them and need his help to get rid of their curse. Think of Mushishi to get the basic idea. Well, it is not that serious as down to it they just talk, make jokes, show bare skin for a couple of episodes and then get healed and leave from the center of the story. In fact, the story is closer to a run by the mill harem anime ala Air, where the lead helps one pretty girl at the time before moving to the next and practically never seeing the previous one again. Or even closer to xxxHolic for being too focused on aesthetics rather than plot or development. Nothing much but an excuse in all.

Side Stories/Extra Spices 0/2: Being episodic, means there is little to no relation of one arc to another. Some characters return as cameos but in all don’t aid in the plot in any serious way. Thus, it is a generally linear scenario made of stand alone arcs.

Form of Development/ Pace of Plot 1/2: All things considered, the pace was ok in the first half. It was still weird and was giving off the idea of a solid plot. Sadly, towards the end it becomes very erratic, with events running in fast forward and missions feeling uninspired. Thus, it ends up being another series that went under the pressure of time and lack of money.

Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2: Well, everything mentioned makes sense, no matter how much extreme it sounds. The plot is the thing that suffers as battles and looking for answers just doesn’t mean anything to the plot other than making you laugh or arousing you with spicy talking.

Conclusion 1/2: Meh, there was never much of a story in it and the one that was there was left incomplete. The vampire girl was not even dealt with. They did make three extra episodes to wrap the story later on but the series itself has no ending at all. And even the one provided by the extras was again nothing you wouldn’t guess anyway.

TOTAL FOR STORY: 4/10

CHARACTER SECTION

Presence 2/2: Sure, they are all very attractive and funny and erotic and crazy enough to pay attention to them. By the way, the lead is voiced by the same person who voices Zetsubo Sensei, and the production team is the same so he will probably pass to you like a spin off from that cast. If not the show entirely that is.

Personality 2/2: Just like in Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei or Maria: Holic, the characters behave almost entirely as caricatures. Stereotypes being made fun of and plot elements to an otherwise simple story. SHAFT seems to make only such kinds of characters and they feel too similar in behaviors and too unrealistic as personalities to actually care about them as entities and not comic reliefs or ero archetypes. Still, as far as caricatures go, they offer the best of their archetypes through dialogues that practically troll the male lead into hilarious reactions. The verbal abuse everyone uses on him is more than enough to not ask for more.

Backdrop - Development - Catharsis 3/6: Eh, half their backdrop is presented in an ironic intro for each girl individually and the other half comes from monologues. Sure, it works. But not like they end up as different people. They hardly ever affect other arcs. And the fact that the series ends suddenly, leaving at least one girl overlooked hardly meant they ended their development. But even the later episodes had nothing to add to their personas so who cares…

TOTAL FOR CHARACTERS: 7/10

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5

Nah, I half liked it. Unlike Zetsubo Sensei, Bekemonogatari (and any other similar series like Maria: Holic) have a very specific story and setting which end up outliving their interest from the viewer. They are supposed to head for something but end up being nothing other than trolling monologues just to make you laugh. Stopping suddenly because the money ran out also damaged its image, as by the time the last special came out, most didn’t care about it anymore.

So, it is a good idea as far as presentation goes but in practice it fails to deliver any closure or even a believable plot that doesn’t repeat itself to the point of saturation. This drops the chance to watch it again or even finish it with good impressions. Personally, I think the chances to rewatch it are fifty-fifty as you will either don’t like the craziness; or will like and rewatch just to remember all those arrays of bullet trolling and smart dialogue.

SUGGESTION LIST
Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei
Maria: Holic
Mushishi
xxxHolic
roriconfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-20, 14:06   Link #31
omimon
Professional Hikkikomori
 
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by roriconfan View Post
IT'S REVIEW TIME if you so much want to know why I gave it a 6. The sections are named differently as it was made based on those on another site. Enjoy the raeg.

Bakemonogatary (directly translated to English as Monstory) is a series whose parts are better than the whole. It is a combination of so many themes and genres that individually it seems to be pure win. Yet, combining all of them into a unified series eventually created a big mess of good ideas without the proper time or space (ie money) to be implemented properly. So, at best it can be seen as an interesting series of smart gags and wordplays in a psychedelic setting of artistic expression. At worse it can be seen as a big pile of weirdness that never seems to get anywhere other than confusing you and promising you things that eventually never happen.

ANIMATION SECTION

General Artwork 2/2: Artistic as hell. Every second of it is a blend of real life images, pasted cardboards, 3D images, walls of Kataganas, plain character designs, major deformities, parody references to other anime and lots of high quality fan service. The designers gave their best to create a series that is making your mind think like it’s on LSD. A wonderful work of fiction that is set apart by the rest just by looking at it.

Sure, it ain’t unique as the same team also made the far similar Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei and Maria: Holic. Still, it is a trademark you will love at first sight… or at least hate for being so damn multilayered. Every scene is a symbolism to something around Japanese tradition or way of life or a cultural reference in general. And it even makes fun of this by presenting clichés in a way they look funny for being like that. For example, every few episodes, the intro changes to something that has nothing to do with the series. It just presents the current girl in the show in slice of life situations, as if the series is some moe school romance or comedy. It is just a joke as you never get to see all that. It is just an intro to the character’s supposed normal life.

Character Figures 2/2: The characters are generally drawn simple and most of the time they get deformed or turn to weird references to some other anime or cultural symbol. Yet, the high budget was given only to fan service. For you see, the only moments it looks highly detailed is when some girl undresses or shows of her underwear or the camera zooms to her moe face. This is what I meant by saying it combines the abstract with the mainstream. It aims to make you feel weird but still does not forget to offer you the stuff you find in run of the mill ecchi shows. Although I always found fan service to be distracting you from the real quality of the series and generally lowering its credibility, over here it is just some extra before the next joke jumps in. So, I didn’t found all this simplicity or focused erotism as bad.

Backgrounds and Visual Effects 4/4: It is almost impossible to separate backgrounds from visual effects as they both serve as symbolisms and cinematics at the same time. They are used intellectually to transmit ideas and emotions to the viewer so I consider them far more successful than just dry pictures that just fill the background with colors. Of course, there are so many references and Japanese texts flashing by that you will miss most of the meanings if you are not very well informed of Japanese tradition and the history of animation in general. Still, they are both marvelous to stare just for their weirdness alone.

Motion Fluidity 0/2: Well, if I can detract points, this is the place to do so. Motion is very rare in this series as the characters mostly stand still and flap their mouths allowing the backgrounds to transmit the rest. Although that does not seem as a bad thing, they still feel like everything is rolling or sliding and not walking with 18 frames per second. It kinda gets to your nerves after awhile. Even the few action scenes in this series appear as random attacks and throws thus they have little to none realism. Not that this series is realistic but it feels way too much like a picture book story. Also, the general quality drops a lot in the final episodes (budget ran out and screwed the series again) so even that leaves you with the impression that everything in this series is cartons and Playmobils sliding by without joint movements.

TOTAL FOR ANIMATION: 8/10

SOUND SECTION

Voice Acting 3/3: Ah, great dialogues full of phrases that you will remember for a life time. The talking is sarcastic and highly symbolical, turning even the most mundane topic to a spiritual insight, a wordplay, an arousing erotic remark or a shout of human angst. You will love them even if you don’t get them.

Music Themes 2/4: Nothing memorable. Unlike the animation the music themes are either average silly pop songs or repetitive monotonic background music.

Sound Effects 3/3: Just like the visuals, the sound effects are blending along with cinematics and backgrounds and timing with character reactions to something, thus becoming very pleasing to listen to.

TOTAL FOR SOUND: 8/10

STORY SECTION

General Scenario 1/2: Although it begins very mysteriously, it soon turns to some episodic formula of “help girl A and then head for girl B”. It is supposed to be about the lead being surrounded by pretty girls (loli included) that have something supernatural about them and need his help to get rid of their curse. Think of Mushishi to get the basic idea. Well, it is not that serious as down to it they just talk, make jokes, show bare skin for a couple of episodes and then get healed and leave from the center of the story. In fact, the story is closer to a run by the mill harem anime ala Air, where the lead helps one pretty girl at the time before moving to the next and practically never seeing the previous one again. Or even closer to xxxHolic for being too focused on aesthetics rather than plot or development. Nothing much but an excuse in all.

Side Stories/Extra Spices 0/2: Being episodic, means there is little to no relation of one arc to another. Some characters return as cameos but in all don’t aid in the plot in any serious way. Thus, it is a generally linear scenario made of stand alone arcs.

Form of Development/ Pace of Plot 1/2: All things considered, the pace was ok in the first half. It was still weird and was giving off the idea of a solid plot. Sadly, towards the end it becomes very erratic, with events running in fast forward and missions feeling uninspired. Thus, it ends up being another series that went under the pressure of time and lack of money.

Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2: Well, everything mentioned makes sense, no matter how much extreme it sounds. The plot is the thing that suffers as battles and looking for answers just doesn’t mean anything to the plot other than making you laugh or arousing you with spicy talking.

Conclusion 1/2: Meh, there was never much of a story in it and the one that was there was left incomplete. The vampire girl was not even dealt with. They did make three extra episodes to wrap the story later on but the series itself has no ending at all. And even the one provided by the extras was again nothing you wouldn’t guess anyway.

TOTAL FOR STORY: 4/10

CHARACTER SECTION

Presence 2/2: Sure, they are all very attractive and funny and erotic and crazy enough to pay attention to them. By the way, the lead is voiced by the same person who voices Zetsubo Sensei, and the production team is the same so he will probably pass to you like a spin off from that cast. If not the show entirely that is.

Personality 2/2: Just like in Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei or Maria: Holic, the characters behave almost entirely as caricatures. Stereotypes being made fun of and plot elements to an otherwise simple story. SHAFT seems to make only such kinds of characters and they feel too similar in behaviors and too unrealistic as personalities to actually care about them as entities and not comic reliefs or ero archetypes. Still, as far as caricatures go, they offer the best of their archetypes through dialogues that practically troll the male lead into hilarious reactions. The verbal abuse everyone uses on him is more than enough to not ask for more.

Backdrop - Development - Catharsis 3/6: Eh, half their backdrop is presented in an ironic intro for each girl individually and the other half comes from monologues. Sure, it works. But not like they end up as different people. They hardly ever affect other arcs. And the fact that the series ends suddenly, leaving at least one girl overlooked hardly meant they ended their development. But even the later episodes had nothing to add to their personas so who cares…

TOTAL FOR CHARACTERS: 7/10

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5

Nah, I half liked it. Unlike Zetsubo Sensei, Bekemonogatari (and any other similar series like Maria: Holic) have a very specific story and setting which end up outliving their interest from the viewer. They are supposed to head for something but end up being nothing other than trolling monologues just to make you laugh. Stopping suddenly because the money ran out also damaged its image, as by the time the last special came out, most didn’t care about it anymore.

So, it is a good idea as far as presentation goes but in practice it fails to deliver any closure or even a believable plot that doesn’t repeat itself to the point of saturation. This drops the chance to watch it again or even finish it with good impressions. Personally, I think the chances to rewatch it are fifty-fifty as you will either don’t like the craziness; or will like and rewatch just to remember all those arrays of bullet trolling and smart dialogue.

SUGGESTION LIST
Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei
Maria: Holic
Mushishi
xxxHolic
All I can say is I am honestly surprised that someone in this world can say that they found the animation better than the story in this series. All the hype behind this series was the plot and dialog so for you think this way is completely beyond me. Same thing with the animation, I personally love Shaft's animation but even I'm aware of the problems Shaft had. As for sounds, "nothing memorable" for music themes........all I will say is that the ending theme and Nadeko's theme had such a large following it was meme worthy.
omimon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-20, 19:36   Link #32
roriconfan
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Thessaloniki - Greece
Send a message via MSN to roriconfan
^ And it's beyond me why the story is so special when it's two lines long, not original, episodic, simplistic (the story, not the dialogues) and so many more.

I do admit the dialogue is what makes it special. And I did like the artsy animation more than the "plot" or whatever it was.

And memes come and go in a few weeks. It's still nothing to remember in the longrun IMO.
roriconfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-20, 21:48   Link #33
omimon
Professional Hikkikomori
 
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by roriconfan View Post
^ And it's beyond me why the story is so special when it's two lines long, not original, episodic, simplistic (the story, not the dialogues) and so many more.

I do admit the dialogue is what makes it special. And I did like the artsy animation more than the "plot" or whatever it was.

And memes come and go in a few weeks. It's still nothing to remember in the longrun IMO.
Clearly you've haven't been on Nico Nico. They are still making remixes with Nadeko's theme. I guess there will always be people out there being the black sheep.
omimon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-22, 09:41   Link #34
applejuice
I kill you
*Graphic Designer
 
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: In your brain
For the hell of being so-called-bakefag;

Story:

...was there, I suppose. But I don't think plot is all to make anime fantastic. Mushi-shi had like zero story line whatsoever, but still called one of the greatest anime, due to its calming atmosphere and heart-warming slice-of-life stories. Same goes with this one. Each arc heavily focuses on specific girl with surreal supernatural oddities. I found it more refreshing than average harem/romance/whatever shitty moemoe driven show's antics. I liked most of the arcs, probably except Nadeko one; which was bad in terms of how story was presented in ambiguous and unexplained manner. Heavy Nadeko fetish in BD wasn't really my cup of tea. However, other arcs were almost flawless, especially Hitagi and Suruga arc. It had very good pacing and some minor twists. There were a lot tensions and enjoyment watching those two, probably assisted by their amazing dialogues. Stories themselves are nothing realistic, but you know; Code Geass is unrealistic, Death Note is unrealistic. They are simple, but well structured.

and yes; dialogues are the key of this anime. I mean... entire show is just non-stop talking, yet I was entertained. They are witty and well-structured. There were also some puns I giggled at. I was smiling whenever I hear Arararararagi Gomi X Shenjougahara-sama conversation, since it is just too fun to watch Arwarwagi getting owned by 99% of spites with 0% 'hiding embarrassment'.

Animation:

Yes and no. In terms of 'production' alone, this series was epic failure. However, I will judge this anime for BD releases, not fail TV airings.

Honestly, character design and BG art was just spot on. Possibly one of the best I've seen from any anime from SHAFT. However, I think the way those were presented was much superior than how they look. 12th episode basically proved what SHAFT can make us entertained only using same fuckin 'INSIDE TEH FATHERS CAR' scene and dialogues for like... dun know 15 minutes?. Cut scenes/live-actions are SHAFT's distinct style, so ones will either instantly hate it, or love it. (Not to mention Ima SHAFTfag too.)

However; animation was... lacking. There were some animation that was just outstanding. The first and second episode had perfect quality in terms of both arts and animations. Suruga arc action scene and 15th episode was brilliant too. However, Mayoi+Nadeko arc = BAD BAD BAD. A lot of scene was repeated and slide-show heavy, especially Mayoi arc. Slideshows in Nadeko one was fixed in BD, but I still think it is the worst one out all. Since I'm SHAFTfag, I can ignore anything related to 'slide-show' business, so please excuse me.

Sound;

Oh my, where do I start?... That ED, is the best. Ryo+Nagi is just amazing. Song itself is extremely hard to sing, as Ryo was only used to making vocalioid pieces, which can sing almost anything; even the most impossible songs. Surprisingly, Nagi did it, and it was even better than anything she has done. It will be one of my favourite anime theme I've heard all the time.

OPs were also great, all the seiyuus did some very nice job on performing those songs. Not to mentioned that the lyrics were really supporting the story of each arc which I liked a lot. BG sound were also very interesting, unique and creative, supporting the overall mood and atmosphere of the series.

Characters:

Shenjougahara's my goddess.

Period

This is what makes this anime so good (Please exclude Nadeko since she sucks.) Shenjougahara will be my forever favourite anime character of all time. She is nothing like any stereotypical characters or moe archetypes. She is more of combination of Kuudere, Yandere and Tsundere. She expresses her feeling way more than directly, but also all those hurtful words to Gomi which is just hilarious. There was absolutely nothing I couldn't love about her.

Arararari Gomi is center of series and mighty demon among all shenjougahara lovers. His ultimate dream is building his unbreakable harem kingdom and make all otakus go despair like Kamiya Hiroshi. Well, knowing 'ZETSUBOU SHITA', I'm pretty sure you will be either hater/lover of his voice. Kamiya has great dignity in his voice, and does not try to change it forcefully. However, he KNOWS how to 'act'. Even though his voice is exactly like zetsubou sensei, his character is nothing like him. He is over-reactive, but helpful and friendly to everyone. He is funny, but serious at the same time. He also consider his relationship with shenjougahara with deeper extent, as it should in the last arc. Relationship between Shenjougahara and Muraragi was built up in very clever manner, and never felt so forceful (even though... it was kinda forced from Shenjougahara's side.) Other side characters? They are all supplementary to the AraragiXHitagi relationship, nothing more. Mayoi and Suruga definitely did her best job on supporting Hitagi and Gomi's development, so did Hanekawa. (please exclude Nadeko again since she sucks.)

And FIRE SISTERS!!!

Enjoyment: I said this before, I'm a bakefag.

Overall: 10/10, flawless EXCEPT NADEKO AND HER LOL SLIDESHOWS. But I said this before, I'm a bakefag. It had unique concept, Hitagi X Gomi was fantastic, Supercell won the game, dialogues are plus. It wasn't usual "Harem idiodic male leads gets all the females and indicisive then head choped ofvv". Instead, it was full of SHENJOUGAHARA AND MARARAGI AWESOMENESS.

Imaout.

Quote:
Originally Posted by omimon
Clearly you've haven't been on Nico Nico. They are still making remixes with Nadeko's theme. I guess there will always be people out there being the black sheep.
IZAYA RENAI CIRCULATION
__________________
If anyone attacks Shaft
I will be there to defend it to death.
applejuice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-22, 10:11   Link #35
Miyuki-ism
Corpse in Pieces
 
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Canada/Ontario
Age: 31
Send a message via MSN to Miyuki-ism
I wish people would stop calling episodes 13-15 extra or OVAs, they're not, they're part of the main season. Shaft just didn't plan ahead enough to put them on TV broadcast.
__________________
Miyuki-ism is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-22, 12:04   Link #36
omimon
Professional Hikkikomori
 
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by applejuice View Post
For the hell of being so-called-bakefag;

Other side characters? They are all supplementary to the AraragiXHitagi relationship, nothing more. Mayoi and Suruga definitely did her best job on supporting Hitagi and Gomi's development, so did Hanekawa. (please exclude Nadeko again since she sucks.)
I would have to disagree. If you look at the whole series and when I say whole series I mean Kizu, Neko and Nise too, you'll see that the whole series has always been and probably always will about Araragi alone. I guess if you are just looking at this with only Bake in mind then I guess it's possible to think that it's about AraragixSenjougahara but I personally like to look at something as a whole. I mean in terms of the 6 books out right now, Senjougahara isn't even in 45% of them. Hell, Oshino has more parts than her. This series isn't a romance novel, the fact that those two are together is only because it breaks stereotypes that characters did need to have long-winded sexual tension before anything happens. Also, just for the people who thinks Araragi is dedicated to Senjougahara, it's true that he loves her but she certainly isn't the most important person to him. Shinobu and Hanekawa is in a completely different league compare to her. Either way, back to what I was trying to say, the series is only about Araragi, all the other people are merely side characters that are there to develop Araragi's struggle with his life as a Kaii. Their conversations are there to show HIS character.

As for the Nadeko hate....? She is so MOE!!!!
omimon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-23, 04:31   Link #37
roriconfan
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Thessaloniki - Greece
Send a message via MSN to roriconfan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miyuki-ism View Post
I wish people would stop calling episodes 13-15 extra or OVAs, they're not, they're part of the main season. Shaft just didn't plan ahead enough to put them on TV broadcast.
And that is why they call them OVAs...

But anyway, the last 3 didn't really change anything series-wise. They just made SHAFT look a bit bad at planning and raised some rage from many fans.

Quote:
Originally Posted by omimon View Post
the whole series has always been and probably always will about Araragi alone.
True. It's a one-man show with others being stimuli to his persona.
roriconfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-23, 07:01   Link #38
Miyuki-ism
Corpse in Pieces
 
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Canada/Ontario
Age: 31
Send a message via MSN to Miyuki-ism
Quote:
Originally Posted by roriconfan View Post
And that is why they call them OVAs...

But anyway, the last 3 didn't really change anything series-wise. They just made SHAFT look a bit bad at planning and raised some rage from many fans.
Yea they didn't really change anything except finish the story....
__________________
Miyuki-ism is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-23, 08:16   Link #39
zato_1one
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
@omimon
You need to understand that not everyone read all novels. Most of us only watch the anime.

@applejuice
Senjougahara FTW! And yeah, Nadeko sucks.
__________________
zato_1one is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010-09-23, 16:11   Link #40
roriconfan
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Thessaloniki - Greece
Send a message via MSN to roriconfan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miyuki-ism View Post
Yea they didn't really change anything except finish the story....
There wasn't much story to begin with. And nobody cared about the story.
roriconfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 00:31.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
We use Silk.