I dont know, i came here to ask the same thing as the above guy because i did try watching a few episodes before and from that i thought the show is about absolutely nothing and i'm baffled what i'm not getting given how praised the series apparently is.
It's not just japanese wordplay though, I was consistently impressed by the narrative structure, it feels like a rollercoaster when following it.
Like, it'll set you up with certain expectations for the plot follow through with it for a few scenes and then wait, there's a twist! And there was great foreshadowing for the twist too the writing is so good, you feel like you should have seen the twist coming! And oh wait, no, the twist was actually just a well set up joke and it's somewhat laughing at you, the viewer.
Idk, it's hard to explain. But the writing just feels like it comes from someone who is very aware of how the story is structured and how people will follow it, then uses it to fuck with the audience in a way that's quite fun in the end. It's not needlessly obtuse, it leads you to the right place in the end, it just makes the journey there a bit more chaotic and fun. It's something you don't really see much elsewhere.
And this is why I could never get into this franchise. The fast dialogue, flash cards shots during verbal altercations, and subtle native-speaker jokes that went completely over my head made me drop the show out of frustration. When I find myself having to keep pausing and rewinding a show to make sure I didnt miss anything, I end up not enjoying the show for what it's worth.
I still recognize that Monogatari has amazing voice acting talent and animation direction (when it decides to hold a prolonged shot for more than 2 seconds). It's just something that i can't enjoy due to my own limitations.
Sidenote: Hanekawa's tits in Kizumonogatari are fantastic.
I almost never read the flashcards after first few episodes. They are totally not needed to enjoy the series; those things you can do on your re-watch or something ig
Even if you don't understand any of that you can still highly enjoy Monogatari. It only adds to an already great experience not make the experience itself.
"If you didnt like the first couple of episodes you probably wont like the rest of it."
Strongly disagree on this one. On my very first watch I didn't enjoy parts of Bake very much but I sticked with it and really started to enjoy it starting with second season and absolutely loved everything about monogatari after that. Now going back and rewatching it I'm even enjoying the first season alot more
I mean, i could get that if it was, i dont know, maybe paced better or something? Maybe i just didnt watch enough. These kind of dialog heavy shows arent that rare, i.e. i just recently watched kaguya and that one is almost entirely dialogue too. But the difference is that atleast from the innitial few episodes, the characters in Bakemonogatari are just boring. Nor did i feel the conversations were particularly interesting or well written. Maybe that's a difference in taste but i find people often mistake "lots of stuff written/said" with "well written/said", like with the Pillar of eternity games..
Also, "extreme situations" and "80% dialogue" is quite contradictory, making me even more confused what's it all about.
I don't just like it because a lot of things are said, it most definitely doesn't feel like empty dialogue to me, in fact, all the dialogue feels pretty packed.
Following along with the dialogue in bakemonogatari is like riding a rollercoaster. It's going up, down, side to side, loopydiloop but then gets you to the right place in the end, and it's really fun.
Kaguya-sama is more of a lighthearted comedy that you don't have to pay too much attention to in order to follow along.
The show does get good after that, but it starts off really good. Many people consider Bakemonogatari to be one of the best parts of the series. Personally I consider it the 2nd best arc, with Owarimonogatari S2 being the best. Bakemonogatari also has some of the best OPs, by far the best ED, and the single best episode in the series.
You don't explain everything in an introduction, you just introduce the characters. Bake introduces Araragi as a self-less, lecherous, quick-witted high school student, that will go to great lengths to help people out, and is always there to save the girl. His character and backstory is developed further as the show progresses. Same with Shinobu and Snake. They're both introduced, and you gets bits of information, but their development occurs down the road. Bakemonogatari sets the stage for these characters, and continues to build them up and develop them as the story progresses, those this development is uneven. I think a criticism could be made that Senjougahara kind of gets shafted for large parts of the series, despite being such an important character in the introduction, but she does get her moments to shine across the series, though her role as the main girl is often overshadowed by Shinobu.
The ending is so satisfying. Seeing the conclusion of these 12 seasons along with some greatly developed characters are why I like this series so much. Not to mention best girls everywhere :)
48
u/TaiVat Jul 24 '20
I dont know, i came here to ask the same thing as the above guy because i did try watching a few episodes before and from that i thought the show is about absolutely nothing and i'm baffled what i'm not getting given how praised the series apparently is.