The -Monogatari Thread

[soul.assassin]

Does this proposed game would include those signature head-leans?
http://www.japanator.com/oh-hey-bakemon ... 2172.phtml

[InstrumentalityOne]

THAT TSUKIHI OP
THAT TOOTHBRUSHING

[Fireball]

New fetish acquired.

[Mr. Tines]

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=394105

[Defectron]

ep 8

Bwahahaha! oh god, this was the best episode of the series so far!

[soul.assassin]

EP8 = crazy as fuck. We have found Karen's weak spot.

[Fireball]

Mmm, Tsukihi didn't appear in her own arc again. I wonder how they are going to wrap this up with 2 remaining episodes. There were some cool references though.






Get your defibrillator ready

SPOILER: Show

[soul.assassin]

Final episode of Nise up now.

Personally I thought Bakemonogatari was more fucking awesome and well-balanced.

[InstrumentalityOne]

Bravo, Shinbou.
Bravo.

[toe mash]

Nise was fun as hell to watch although imo it wasn't as good as Bake. How come Senjougahara just disappears after Karen Bee? :( The 2nd arc could use a whole lot more Senjougahara (a common factor shared by every anime ever)

I sure do hope there will be an extra episode or something, though.

SPOILER: Show

I'm a bit disappoint we didn't get to see Shinobu fight, but w/e. Seeing her older form was really cool.

[Fireball]

Hmmm, didn't expect a discourse in Mencius and Shun Tzu.

Underwhelming ending to an underwhelming series, dare to say platinum meh. Hopefully Kizumonogatari will be more entertaining.

[soul.assassin]

I was like, "That's all?"

[Bagheera]

I didn't mind the ending, but I thought the series was underwhelming. I was disappointed that the titular characters had so little screen time in their respective arcs. I can't say it was bad, just . . . random? Meandering? There was some plot there, but it involved the wrong people and had too much sidestory to make it really work.

[soul.assassin]

At any rate, whoever said that this was Nisio wanking with his pen was right. Entertaining it may be, this chunk of the saga was like going on crazy tangents, it's like putting too much creamer in my coffee.

Maybe the next one (the movie, I think) should be better than this.

[InstrumentalityOne]

Why would anyone complain about it being not an end?
We finally know what the Araragi's family, Oshino's old friends, Shinobu is like and we probably will see how the friends he made in Bake will be involved with his sisters in the next story arc.
Koyomi also had a pretty outstanding moment at the end there, too.

And maybe one shouldn't view it as an end to an anime, but just another closure of just another story arc.

[Defectron]

I liked the ending to Nise as well as the series overall. I'll agree that bake was the stronger of the two but this wasn't bad. Also this had episode 8 toothbrushing action which was awesome.

[symbv]

'm a bit disappoint we didn't get to see Shinobu fight, but w/e. Seeing her older form was really cool.

One thing though - this is her older form but not her old form. Did anybody notice that her older form took on Karen's appearance including her ponytail on the side?

Hmmm, didn't expect a discourse in Mencius and Shun Tzu.

I am more inclined to Shun Tzu's view on inborn human nature and having done some study in Confucian philosophy when I was younger the taking up of Mencius and Shun Tzu's theories in the novel and the anime is fascinating to me.

Underwhelming ending to an underwhelming series, dare to say platinum meh. Hopefully Kizumonogatari will be more entertaining.

It depends on what you are expecting from Nise. Opinions among otaku in Japan are also very divided - there are many who really dislike it but then there are apparently quite a big number of people who did not come to expect the standard approach from NisiOisiN, which means when conventionally we should expect a big fight between Gahara and Kaiki we in fact expect some resolution that does not follow that path. The same goes with the Tsukihi arc.

As I said before the show starts, people should expect a much higher level of moe and fan service, and much less "plot", but the same level of engaging sharpness is to be expected for the dialogues and character interaction. This is what has been delivered. Because the story is actually quite thin (meaning not much happens in term of plot progress -- I estimated only 30% of the text in the book is used on advancing the story) Shinbo and his staff wisely decided to pick and choose the tangents that appeal most to those who enjoy the novels or those who came to look for what the novels are famous for - the dialogues and the character interaction. I would admit that the choice did have an impact to the pacing - fans of the novels will most likely refuse to accept anything less than one episode for the notorious "toothbrush scene", and yet they decided they had to squeeze the final battle to save Tsukihi into one single episode.

One other gripe I have is the animation is less catchy and well executed in later episodes, and it may have to do with the usual Shaft's running out of time before release. I hope this can be fixed in the BD release.

I can't say it was bad, just . . . random? Meandering? There was some plot there, but it involved the wrong people and had too much sidestory to make it really work.

Yeah, the plot is really not the most key thing to take in Nise. NisiOisN actually gave a higher prominence to the sidestories in the novel, so the highlights shed on the sidestories in the anime only reflects the novel. Nise is easily the less suitable novel to adapt to anime compared to Bake (although NisiOisiN had previously said that he thought Bake was unadaptable for anime), but the way Shaft did the anime, it also means that whoever reads and loves the novel he/she will most likely find the anime extremely pleasing (I being one example).

Maybe the next one (the movie, I think) should be better than this.

One review I read put it this way: Take the moe and fan service in Bake and maximize it at the expense of the action and serious mystery solving and you get Nise; do it the other way round and you get Kizu.

Kizumonogatari is a very serious story about how Araragi and Shinobu reached their current state, why both seemed to have a lot of conflicts behind them and yet they bonded so well to each other, and why Araragi said he owed his life to Hanekawa (and she also seemed to reciprocate the thought). And it is filled to the brim with actions and adventure.

Why would anyone complain about it being not an end?
We finally know what the Araragi's family, Oshino's old friends, Shinobu is like and we probably will see how the friends he made in Bake will be involved with his sisters in the next story arc.
Koyomi also had a pretty outstanding moment at the end there, too.

And maybe one shouldn't view it as an end to an anime, but just another closure of just another story arc.

Indeed. Don't forget in one cour (or two volumes of text) Nise covers 2 arcs while in Bake there is 5 arcs for the same length.

And I want to stress that while there may not look a lot has happened, we are always reminded about the subject from the title - it is about what is "fake (nise)" and it is concluded with the renewed discovery and realisation that full-hearted bonding within a family is a valid answer to such question (it is elaborated much more in the novel but in the anime it is still given a good focus).

[Fireball]

It depends on what you are expecting from Nise.

Personally, I didn't expect anything and it still felt pretty dull throughout. Certainly one cannot blame SHAFT for adapting a thin book to begin with.

Kizumonogatari on the other hand I have some hopes for.

[symbv]

Personally, I didn't expect anything and it still felt pretty dull throughout.

Well, taste differs I guess? Just like I may not expect anything when I taste a new dish of food but I may still find it bland and not to my taste. I won't call it a dull food just because I don't enjoy it though.

Anyway, besides an upcoming PSP game of Bakemonogatri (check http://youtu.be/40oXBEtnXh8 and official website http://www.bakemonogatari-game.channel.or.jp/ - really love the "introduction" by Senjogahara in the PV though) there are a bunch of merchandise for -monogatari and some of them are quite... unusual...:

This is a pen


Even the unique caricature form of the characters in the ED will get their figure treatment:


And for a change, some more conventional figures from -monogatari

[Kerath]

I can't wait for Kizumonogatari after reading the novel. It's definitely going to be very action packed.