Nisemonogatari (偽物語)
Nisemonogatari, as a sequel to the hit series Bakemonogatari, had much of the same trademark features that made it’s predecessor a rather controversial (or at least, infamous) series. The monogatari series itself was originally written by Nisiosin, whom writes with a rather eccentric style that’s resulted in dialogue-heavy, quirky and almost surreal stories with tons of wordplay and puns. Add to the story the rather bizarre directing style Shaft brought to the monogatari series, and you have an anime that feels either creative or annoying, depending on your tastes.
With that being said, Nisemonogatari’s story itself is a mixed bag. Nisemonogatari has characters with some rather unique personalities, and thus, has resulted in some witty dialogue that’s both humorous and thought-provoking. However, there was also a tremendous amount of fanservice. Creative fanservice at times, sure, but a vast majority of the series had unwarranted fanservice that used vast amounts of screentime that could have otherwise been used towards advancing the main story. The story did get serious when necessary though, and some of the character interactions were brilliantly played.
Nisemonogatari is also the 1st series I’ve seen that takes more than 4 episodes to completely reintroduce the main cast, only for half of the characters ending up being irrelevant in the main story. The issue here is that the 11 episode length was too long for the two arcs the story was supposed to entail, and thus, the story had to be padded with a lot of scenes that were entertaining but unnecessary. The story drags out excessively, and though it does have it’s brilliant moments, they are vastly outnumbered by unnecessary excess.
Bakemonogatari, the predecessor to this sereies, suffered from some a noticeable lack of production values, primarily from the large amounts of blank frames, still frames, faraway shots, and so forth; it felt more like a slideshow than an anime at times. Nisemonogatari completely avoids those flaws, with some spectacularly well done animation that’s smooth and consistent. The visuals themselves are creative and imaginative, with some very memorable yet surreal scenes that are unforgettable.
When the story gets serious though, everything about the story is great. The dialogue is great, the conflict gets really tense, and at times there’s some great action. Character development also kicks it up a notch during the serious moments, in particular for the main protagonist Koyomi. The story also sticks to it’s themes, and has some deep, thoughtful moments.
Animation/Art: 8.5/10
Music: 8.0/10
Setting: 8.0/10
Characters: 8.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Overall Enjoyment: 8.1/10