Bakemonogatari (2009-2010)

[化物語]

Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio: Shaft
Starring: Hiroshi Kamiya, Chiwa Saito, Yui Horie
Episodes: 15

Synopsis:
A high school student who survived an encounter with a vampire helps others with paranormal problems.

Impressions:
The poster for this caught my eye years back and so it was in the back of my mind as something to check out and as I noticed more people talking about it (even all these years after the original release), I decided to check it out. This is, to say the least, a very weird series. The opening shot had me doubting what I was getting myself into, but while there's definitely a fair dose of fanservice, it doesn't get too out of hand. The storytelling style and visual presentation are very particular. If you know enough Japanese to appreciate the play on words, you'll get more out of it. Also, it's quite meta as well, with the characters talking about the archetypes they represent and so on. Also, you go from having mostly comedy to sudden bursts of bloody action. The series is mostly broken up into a series of cases covered in two or three episodes, except for the final five-episode stretch. One thing I didn't like was that after setting up Senjougahara as the female lead, she fades into the background a lot of the time. I guess if you don't expect the Araragi-Senjougahara dynamic to be the focus of the story, it's not as much of a problem. (Also, Araragi being a bit of a lolicon rubs me the wrong way, even if he's supposedly just screwing around.) It's definitely not for everyone, but if you want an off-kilter trip into the paranormal, consider giving this a watch.

Rating:
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