xlebsack - 2017-02-03 09:48:51

Another five-part series, I enjoyed how the different character focus allowed for many resolutions. Each of the first five ladies gets an arc.

I am disappointed that Crab’s arc was given to Kaiki. I did not feel she received the slot she deserved. All I want is to see more of her and Araragi together but the writers appear to want to write about anything else.

Also, the final straw from getting a perfect score, there are too many side characters built up in the second season who will be important later and who contribute only to then fill the “we have a secret, not going to tell you, but we have one so keep looking at us.”

zraynor - 2016-02-18 11:59:27

Still lives up to the hype that the Bakemonogatari series started. No matter how complicated the story may be, it is wrapped up nicely making the anime fans sigh collectively. 

welch.camila - 2015-01-07 01:42:58

The best sequel to the monogatari series to date and the one series that starts the process of disbanding the main character's amazing harem.

sabryna.morar - 2014-05-24 17:00:02

I went into the Monogatari series with every intention of hating it. Watching the first couple episodes of Bakemonogatari was excruciating because I was nitpicking everything. From the conversations being boring, to the characters not making sense, anything I could think of. So how is it that a series I tried so hard to hate ended up becoming one of my favorites?

The Monogatari Second Season starts out a few months after the events of Nisemonogatari. There are no new characters introduced, but some characters receive more screen time and while they don’t develop they are fleshed out somewhat. However, their contribution to the plot is almost nonexistent or extremely spoilery so I won’t spend too much time talking about them.

The main difference in the Monogatari Second Season is the way the individual arcs are handled. In previous seasons we were following Araragi as he attempted to help various girls from problems with spirits. These arcs were told in present tense. They were “happening” at that moment. Us viewers were watching it unfold as an observer. That is not the case in most of the Monogatari Second Season. Instead, we are being told a story.

This is arguably my favorite part of this season. We are in the minds of one of these outstanding characters. We see the world the way they do, and this affects their story. For instance, if you and your friend experience the same event, two years later when telling someone about it, you may have different memories of how the event happened. This is usually due to perception. Everyone sees the world in a different light. So, this idea has been applied to the stories. Characters are perceived differently than they may be.

For example, Araragi is usually just a goofy over the top pervert with a lolita and sister complex. However, when Hanekawa is telling us a story about an event in her life, it’s hard to not see Araragi as a knight in shining armor. Her view and her love for him change how she perceives his actions. This is present in Nadeko’s arc as well. How the characters perceive certain events changes as well depending on their mental stability and even their personality. The entire concept is astounding.

This is all made even more enjoyable simply because these are such fantastic characters. However, even outside of the characters the story is quite grand. I’ve never been so intrigued in the plot of a Monogatari story arc as I was with the Second Season. Each is very well written and all are suspiciously connected, something that has not appeared in the previous seasons.

Only other thing left mentioning is, the fan service. Although, this time around it’s a bit different mostly because… There isn’t much. I was shocked. Other than a shower scene in the first arc where Hitagi and Hanekawa were having way too much fun taking a shower together and a quick Hachikuji skirt flip there wasn’t any until the final arc, but even then that was a male. However, this just proves my previous statements that Monogatari is perfectly capable of telling a compelling story without needing to show us it’s wonderful characters bodies near nude every few moments.

With all the praise I have given I figure it’s about time to talk about my only real issue with the show. That is: The soundtrack. None of the music was particularly noteworthy other than Kaiki’s theme. This also applies to the OPs. While each one was able to match the personality of the characters they were portraying and sported some great animation that fit well with the music, all were pretty basic and forgotten the moment they ended. I suppose this is only an issue with this show specifically, simply because the Monogarai series has had some truly great OPs and EDs in the past.

Overall the Monogatari Second Season took every major issue I had with the Monogatari series and remove it almost completely. For a show to do so much while also delivering a compelling story, staying true to the characters, while also adding a completely unique spin on things is absolutely incredible.

The Monogatari series is a series steeped in controversy, but despite it’s issues I think it’s a fantastic anime and one at least everyone should give a try.

pfeffer.jayden - 2014-05-18 16:00:20

A review of Monogatari Season 2

What happened? The only thing I though of while watching season two is what happened that made this season so incredibly disappointing compared to the first season?

In order to describe the disappointment of Monogatari 2, its important to dissect the idea of the sequel, and what a sequel needs to do in order to be successful. While a sequel does not necessarily have to be better than its prequel, the key fact is that it needs to improve on things that the first season did wrong or did average. The first season of Monogatari was fun. Especially the second half of Nisemonogatari, which is easily the most fun I had with the series. Although, Monogatari was fun, sometimes it would take a more serious direction, like the last arc of the first half, Bakemonogatari. And these serious scenes were very well directed, offering some of the best moments of the entire show. However, these scenes were very scarce for the first season as the show often decided to take a more comedic approach, which was perfectly ok. Something else a sequel should do is to look better than the first season did, especially when the first season was a complete success granting you a bigger budget to do more. The first season of Monogatari was a huge success, giving Shaft a way larger budget to do way more with the second season. That's why it wasn't split into two different parts like Bake and Nise were for season one. But, the most important thing a sequel should do is to capture the spirit of the original, but to be different enough to not just be a clone of the same thing. Especially when the first season's formulaic approach started to run dry by the end of it.

And now we get to Monogatari Season 2 and how it manages to completely drop the ball so hard, that I'm completely convinced that the director of Devil may Cry 2 had a hand in making this sequel.

Monogatari Season 2, tried to improve on the first season by shifting it towards a more serious tone, attempting to give it some kind of plot that was severely lacking from the first season. Unfortunately, this plot was so boring, that I'd rather have a debate on the aspects of the plot from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, then talk about the plot of this show. But at its core, its the same approach to finding the spirits that are causing chaos around the town and stopping them. However, this show is a lot more serious in its approach. Any kind of comedy, which was the strongest point of the first season, has disappeared. And any jokes they attempt to tell fall so flat on its face, resulting in an incredibly boring show to watch. But that's probably because they were dumb enough to take away the source of the humor and the source that made Season 1 so good. That's right, Araragi is nowhere to be found. Great way to start the new season, just get rid of the best character in the show. This just screams DmC 2 where they pretty much eliminated Dante from the game, by giving him no dialogue or anything that made him so great in the first game. But there's still potential to save this show. Just because Araragi isn't there, it doesn't mean its too late to save this show right?

Unfortunately, its too late

But before we get on to how the show manages to function without Araragi (it doesn't), its important to note the animation and character designs take a major drop off from Season 1. Though I am somewhat excusing the animation, since I watched S1 in blu ray and watched the TV version for S2. Still does not excuse Shaft from being lazy, but that's not really the point. The character designs range from pretty good to extremely ugly. Characters like Hanekawa and Karen look great (as I am a complete sucker for short hair), but characters like Senjougahara, Kanbaru, and Tsukihi look awful, with new hairstyles that look like they're from a really bad fashion magazine. And yes I love short hair so, so much, but not every girl can rock the short hair style and Senjougahara is one of those girls. Also, I'm pretty sure her breast size has inflated a lot more compared to season 1, but again, who cares. My gripes with the character designs sounds more like complaining, but there were scenes from the anime where I was genuinely disgusted by the ugly animation.

And if I were him, I'd dump your ugly ass

Last, but not least, the new direction the show decides to take compared to its prequel. So instead of Araragi having conversations with one character at a time like in season 1. The show decides to have different characters talking to each other, sometimes more than two. Obviously, Shaft's approach to the show is "since none of our characters are as good as Araragi, let's just throw more characters into a conversation and that should save it." Unfortunately it didn't. Senjougahara, who at least was an interesting character, becomes completely boring in her conversations with Hanekawa and others. So the question is, Why did you take Araragi, who is the best character, out of the show? Well it would be spoilers to say why, but just know when he does come back, the show doesn't get much better anyway. Hopefully, the next season will completely redeem this show, and be the Devil may Cry 3 of the Monogatari series.

The voice acting and music is still as great as ever though, no complaints in that area, though the first OP was nowhere near as good as Bake's or Nise's.

Edit: After finishing the show, my thoughts haven't changed at all. Animation is still ugly (especially episode 18), though the show is masked behind really good lighting. Characters are still bastardized or ignored entirely and the plot is something out of a really bad mashup of a random SoL and Mortal Kombat. The OPs are mediocre except for the last one. In fact the only good thing about this show is the last arc and its all because of one man.

This show is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and will soon be for sale by Aniplex. Considering how much better the blu rays will look compared to the TV version, I'd only recommend buying it if you REALLY enjoyed the show, but considering how expensive it will be, I can't recommend it like I could recommend Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari.

If you enjoyed this show, then I highly recommend the show Katanagatari as it is written by the same writer and frankly, is much better written, directed, and animated compared to the Monogatari series.

stokes.horacio - 2014-02-01 22:09:50

Hi Anime Universe Fans! You can see my fresh Review of Monogatari in my blog:

http://inanimeshadow.blogspot.pt/2014/02/monogatari-series-second-season-anime.html

cassandra.anderson - 2013-12-30 09:24:03

Monogatari Series: Second Season is the sequel to Nisimonogatari and Bakemonogatari and written by Nisin.

It’s quite rare to find something actually good in the harem genre where every show is exactly same only with new coat of paint. But that’s not the case with Bakemonogatari as it did not fall into this trap here every character was unique, even though they can be easily categorized in your typical anime archetypes it’s their uniqueness that make them more than what they appear them to be increasing their overall appeal.

Like its successor Monogatari Series: Second Season is very dialog heavy, every part of the story is conveyed through its dialog. It retain everything in its writing that make the previous seasons so enjoyable, it’s witty, funny and organic. In fact the writing is even more stronger this season. The previous seasons did have great writing but the overall plot were quite simple leading to quite stale end result. The comedy might not be as good as it used to be (it’s still better than most of the anime I have seen) but it is far more philosophical and emotional, the story get more and more complex with each passing episode and show become immensely tense towards the end.

The difference is in animation, the animation in Monogatari Series: Second Season is combination of Nisimogatari and Bakemonogatari but it loses the weirdness and uniqueness that was present in Bakemonogatari. Gone are manga like exposition or weird shots like these

that were quite prominent in bakemonogatari and were toned down in Nisemonogatari. Now they are just missing. The animation might be one best this year but not as good as its prequel. Knowing shaft they will probably improve it in their BD version but as for now the T.V version don’t match up to their predecessor. The fan service is also reduce this season but now more loli’s are added (you know just to balance things up). You will also miss hearing araragi’s monolog as the narrator keep changing in each arc and with changing of narrators the point of view also changes. This helps to flesh out different sides of same character, from araragi’s point of view Hitagi appeared to be sarcastic, clever, weird and cold but from Hanekawa’s prospective she is looks more kind, caring and more feminine (She still retains hers sarcastic tone and odd sense of humor).

In characters department Monogatari Series: Second Season is step forward from its predecessor as they get more and more developed. Even the least interesting character like Sengeku get far more development than it got in previous seasons and best part of the show is the last arc which includes Kaiki. He is one hell of a character and is the cream of this series. He is so much than one dimensional evil guy that he appeared to be in Nissemonogatari. Every arcs ending is very satisfying and there are quite a few cliff hangers but they function phenomenally and adds a layer of tension that the previous seasons lacks.

Sound is what you would expect from the series it is very subtle and calming but throughout and fits the mood perfectly. For me the opening and ending weren’t anything special, in fact bakemonogatari had better opening and ending but the ambient and background music outstanding and one best soundtracks this year after Attack on Titan

Monogatari is pinnacle of storytelling in anime and something truly unique that no other medium posses.

jstreich - 2013-12-02 07:50:11

This show has 3 main good points and 1 flaw.

1. The art is beautiful. The shows art style is beautiful and completely unique. Like something you would see in up to date graphic design and juxtapose. It keeps you interested even if there isn’t a lot going on in the scene. The journey through this anime, takes you to familiar everyday locations with incredible design twists that makes every environment enjoyable. The anime tries to be subliminal with its freeze frame style interjects of color, emotion and thought, making Monogatari a truly unique viewing experience.
2. The context and storyline. The actual premise for the show is another reason to enjoy the experience. It takes old concepts like; vampires, paranormal phenomenon’s and everyday emotion, and rehashes them into a fresh thought. I can’t tell you how many vampire shows I’ve tried to get into but have failed to enthrall me because the characters seemed to limited by preconceived notions of what a vampire should be. Frankly I find those shows boring.
3. The characters. Every character in this anime has their own unique personality, while they all may be a little to smart for their own good it adds a great charm to the show. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched a show and thought “I can’t believe they don’t realize what’s happening right now. They can’t be that dense can they?” Monogatari takes that logic, crushes it and stabs it repeatedly with logic that makes you question whether or not you know what’s going on. Plus the constant (actually tasteful) fanservice is a plus.

• The one flaw that I really found myself coming back to with this show had to be… The fillers and repeat scene animations. Sure, every anime is known to do something like this. But with Monogatari constantly pushing all this information into your skull, it’s hard to rewatch the same scenes over and over. The show is amazing fresh because it’s all new information. But when I rewatch it over again it seems like I’m in a college lecture hall where half the class is sleeping because the teacher forgot what chapter we where on, but no one stops to tell him we already did the chapter he’s reading because everyones on their electronics anyways. It’s sort of painful, at least it looks pretty though.

I gave it a 8/10, because for me it was really low on my rewatch list. But too beautiful for anything below a 4.

kristian63 - 2013-12-01 21:21:22

Monogatari Second Series is a show i would recommend to anyone that has watched the original series (bake and nisemonogatari which btw are flawless) but do keep in mind that its not as humorous. They tell stories about individual characters and make you feel lots of different emotions and you feel like you can somehow connect to each person. true the story is more serious but its still good and contains a lot of "slice of life" lessons.