D, on 19 September 2013 - 01:14 PM, said:
Silencer, on 19 September 2013 - 09:18 AM, said:
HOLD. EVERYTHING.
I don't know how, but I somehow completely forgot that Monogatari Series season two was scheduled for this season. I have missed ten episodes of it already. Catchup commencing ASAP. Episode one was delightfully batshit insane and already has me hooked. Goodbye, life.
(I, unfortunately, must confess to a rapidly establishing catch-up list, having not watched much anime in the past month or two, at all, for reasons unknown. However, none of that matters right now, because MONOGATARI GOODNESS is here!)
What is it and should other people watch it?
OK...how the hell does one describe the Monogatari stories...
Full of wordplay, most of the episodes are 90% talking heads, making use of incredibly abstract art, non-sequential cuts, and fourth-wall defying scenes to make it more visually stimulating. This is not an easy series to watch. It's like a Picasso; you can kinda-sorta see what it is, but the pieces are too disparate for you to be comfortable with calling it something definitively. Kinda.
More or less, it revolves around our main protagonist, who is not entirely human, and his encounters with a bunch of his friends, family, and strangers who become friends, all of whom have some sort of supernatural problem for him to aid them with. Things like being cursed by a Crab god so that you weigh next to nothing. Except, usually, it's not what it originally seemed on the surface. Which is more or less how every conversation and the entire thing goes, honestly.
Filled with weird wordplay (harder to follow, as it's Japanese wordplay, to boot), watching requires a bit of engagement for it to be worthwhile. This isn't a series you can afford to look away from the screen for a second; you'll miss something. And even when paying attention, or rewatching, parts of it will still not make sense. It's a brain-twister in anime form, basically. Great fun, but boy does it leave you spinning.
QuickTidal, on 19 September 2013 - 01:41 PM, said:
I ask this as well as after watching the trailer and reading the wiki synopsis I am nowhere nearer to knowing what exactly it's about.
And you will be only marginally more clued in once you watch it. It has a cohesive story to tell, it just doesn't worry about that too much and is more of a bunch of linked but separate side stories mashed together, where the director took perverse pleasure in overcomplicating the dialogue and throwing it all against a noisy background that is constantly changing to distract from the fact that most of the episodes could just be talking heads.
Full of dodgy jokes, too. I believe the first episode starts with a ludicrously long panty shot that is just plain gratuitous...and has almost nothing to do with anything, ever, except for the numerous other perverted jokes. Though this is not really that kind of show; the fanservice/what have you is almost exclusively played for laughs, and variety of perspective, rather than being in any way a focus or necessary to the show; it's just there. And I don't even care that it is (normally gratuitous fanservice scenes annoy me to heck, but here it just...doesn't intrude? The show is that trippy that it barely counts as fanservice, most of the time).
Dolmen+, on 19 September 2013 - 05:24 PM, said:
I think he's talking about part 1.5 of the series? I watched BAKEMONOGATARI and Nisemonogatari. they are pretty witty, I like them. The third installation is called Nekomonogatari I think and its hard to follow as I cant tell if I'm getting incomplete episodes or not...
So yeah, it's actually split up like this:
SEASON ONE
Bakemonogatari ('Ghostory' (see, a lot of the puns/wordplay work in English too! XD) roughly is the first story arch/what would normally be a 'season'. Much fun.)
Nisemonogatari ('IMPOssible/imposterSTORY', second story arch, more pervy, but also possibly more awesome, if shorter. Also contains the most epic, crowning example of PG-rated sex substitute scene
ever. And it's like five minutes long. And it fits the story and characters. Mostly. Which is amazing in and of itself.)
Nekomonogatari BLACK (short movie/4 OVAs, prequel, have not actually watched all the way through, and I don't know why.)
Also supposed to have Kizemonogatari, a theatrical film release prequel, which is apparently in Development Hell.
SEASON TWO, which is why this shit is so damn confusing, is what is currently airing, and contains Nekomongatari WHITE, along with five other story arcs. Normally this would count as at *least* season three of the series, but no, it's season two. And collectively referred to as such, even though the other ones are usually referred to individually by, i.e. 'Bakemonogatari'. Which totally fits with the nature of the shows. But is still annoying.
Oh, and it's by Studio SHAFT. They are fucking awesome. And anyone who is familiar with their work will now be nodding their heads, in complete understanding of why this series is batshit insane. >.> They did Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and the
ef seasons, for reference. I have waxed lyrical about their greatness before, but I still think Bake/Nise are their greatest works.
So...check 'em out. At the very least, give the first episode or two of Bakemonogatari a try. Totally worth it. Will also totally understand if you don't like them - I imagine they are a lot like Malazan in that some people love it, others just...don't.
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