Bakemonogatari

Yes, it’s “that” type of series.

Bakemonogatari, or Ghost Story, is the story of Araragi, a student who tries who help out people who’ve ended up in weird predicaments as a result of their interactions with spirits/gods/etc. Luckily for Araragi, he’s no ordinary student; he’s part vampire (he’s vampire enough to conveniently live through many “deaths”, but not vampire enough to need blood). The story more or less follows the “Monster of the Week formula”, except it’s a monster every two episodes instead of every episode. Aside from the main plot of Araragi helping out different girls with their problems, there’s a sub plot; the relationship between Senjougahara and Araragi. Unfortunately for the series, the main plot takes a backseat during the final episode, and we hear more about what’s going on with those two characters than we do anyone else. The series is slated to have three more episodes, but at the time of this writing, only twelve were available.

The artwork is easily the most impressive aspect of Bakemonogatari, and this is due to its dynamic nature. The art style will change based on the situation; one style is used for fighting sequences, another is used when the characters are feeling nervous, etc. Besides that, there’s no chibi to be found, which is always a plus.

The soundtrack is by far the most unimpressive part of Bakemonogatari. Most of the songs that are used sound like sound loops (as in, one minute of a real musical piece looped over and over and over). It’s really nerve wracking at times, and this may very well be result of a director that wants to screw with the minds of its viewership.

Bakemonogatari has one huge flaw; there are too many occurrences of frames rapidly flashing. In the beginning of each episode, there are about five to six frames that flash only for a few seconds that actually contain important information relevant to the episode. There’s simply not enough time to catch everything that happens during those few seconds. Aside from this, there are also random frames that flash during the episodes, and yet again, there’s just not enough time to see what’s written on each frame.

All in all, Bakemonogatari is interesting. There’s really no other way to describe it. If you can get over the initial disappointment of there not being as much fighting as the first episode alluded to, you’ll probably enjoy it.

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