FIF#122-Bakemonogatari

 

Koyomi Aragi has had an interesting life since he was turned into a vampire.  Barely surviving being attacked, changed, then changed back to a human, the young student has found himself drawn more and more to cases of a supernatural element.  A string of girls all seem to gravitate towards him, all afflicted after encounters with Ghosts who may or may not be Gods walking among them.  Aragi has been through that kind of torment before and he’s not ready to stand by while others suffers.  He’s determined to help these girls…even if they try to kill him in the process.

The Monogatari series is a long running saga of Japanese Light Novels connected by a varied cast of characters and the fact that each title has “gatari” in it.  Bakemonogatari is the first of this long running franchise to receive an Anime treatment.  It’s been around a bit, so naturally the name, and the name of its similarly titled brethren, has crossed my desk at one point or another.  Finally decided to take a peek into this deep rabbit hole and…well I can say I probs wont be sticking around for more but that’s not to say the first episode of Bakemonogatari didn’t leave a few memorable impressions.

The immediate stand out of this episode is the rapid fire storytelling.  People ramble off dialogue so quickly and with tons of hidden meaning and frames change literally at the blink of an eye.  Bakemonotgatari and its other series are probably ones meant to be watched at the lowest possible speed just to read every subtitle and inserted notification card.  This show doesn’t want you to pay attention, it DEMANDS it.  This isn’t a straightforward approach to telling a supernatural ghost story, nor is it as subdued as say Mushishi.  I’d say in terms of how it presents itself and how it sounds, Bakemonogatari could surpass Fate/Stay Night for the need to sound important at all times.  From the way characters talk to how psychopathic damsel in distress Senjōgahara puts a staple into Aragi’s mouth (yes if you ever wondered where that Meme came from, it’s right here in Episode One), it’s like being in a club where the people running it know way more than you and will lord it over you all day and sort of make you feel unwelcome in the process.  Also, going back to that pause every frame aspect, Bakemonogatari is another project produced by Studio Shaft, the production behind Madoka Magica.  The artwork is fascinating, to say the least, and easily the more alluring sell point of any Monogatari series.  This is experimental Anime imagery at its finest, a borderline fever dream akin to Devilman Crybaby.  The story and characters might not have grabbed me but ive gotta applaud how nice the show looks. 

Based on what little I knew about it, I knew Monogatari probably wasn’t for me.  Now that ive watched the first episode of Bakemonogatari, I can confirm that theory.  There’s a lot to process from a visual standpoint and if you’re not paying 110% attention I feel like you’re gonna miss something.  This series and its franchise has succeeded for a very long time so I know Bakemonogatari has its fandom in droves.  I’m glad I gave it a shot but I think I’ll stick to other supernatural mystery Anime in the future.