Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Bakemonogatari Blu-ray Movie Review

Interview with the kind of ex-vampire.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 15, 2012

Kermit the Frog may lament about how it isn’t easy being green, but he has nothing on Koyomi Araragi, a Japanese high school student who is a “recovering vampire”. Koyomi is at least a more or less normal color, but he’s dealing both with the after effects of the vampire attack itself, as well as some unintended consequences, which allows him (to paraphrase yet another great character from the pop culture universe, Haley Joel Osment’s Cole from The Sixth Sense) to “see dead people”, not to mention all sorts of other ghouls, goblins and scary phenomena that might make even a one time vampire quake in his anemic boots. Bakemonogatari is a kind of anecdotal anime based on a popular light novel series, and while it has something of a through line, it is basically a set of separate stories which are woven together due to Koyomi’s involvement. Aiding and abetting Koyomi is fellow high school classmate Hitagi Senjyogahara, a pretty young girl who has already attracted Koyomi’s interest, but who becomes irresistible to the boy when she stumbles on a staircase and falls right into his arms (what is it with this recurring anime trope of girls falling from above into relatively hapless male arms?). Koyomi is shocked to discover that Hitagi weighs nothing, and evidently not due to bulimia or anorexia, as she is rather nicely proportioned. Hitagi, despite seeming like a well behaved young lass, turns out to be something of a tsundere, upbraiding Koyomi for having the temerity to wonder about her lack of mass, and ending up kind of viciously attacking him with a weird claw shaped stapler she carries. That doesn’t dissuade Koyomi, who runs after her and show her that his wounds from her attack have already more or less healed, which at least piques her interest. Koyomi in turn offers to help Hitagi figure out what’s going on with her weightlessness, taking her to meet a sort of mysterious shaman named Meme Oshino. Meme doesn’t take long to figure out what’s ailing Hitagi, and that sets the pair up to start meeting others who have various weird and sundry ailments, typically of a supernatural order.

Each multi-part Bakemonogatari episode tends to focus on a distraught young girl to whom something inexplicable is happening. Of course the lead character in this regard is Hitagi, but we soon meet several other strange young females who have various bizarre things happening either to them or in some cases because of them. First up is Mayoi Hachikuji, a sweet very young girl who is desperately trying to find her way home. Koyomi of course wants to chip in immediately to help, and Hitagi follows that lead, quite reluctantly. Hitagi’s tsundere tendencies are well on display here, as she is confrontational not just with Koyomi but with the frightened little girl as well. This episode, as several of the others in this set, has a kind of surreal Twilight Zone feeling about it, especially as the reason for Mayoi’s predicament is revealed.

Later we meet such characters as Suruga Kanibaru, a onetime close friend of Hitagi’s who, like Hitagi, has come under the spell of a demonic spirit. In fact most of the “victims” in this series have totemic elements, which is to say they have various symbols (often animals or other creatures) that somehow figure into their predicaments. In Hitagi’s case, it’s a crab (the stapler she uses is actually a crab pincer), in Mayoi’s story it’s a snail, and in Suruga’s yarn it turns out to be a monkey. Other episodes feature a snake and a cat. This all gives Bakemonogatari a sort of folklorish quality that adds to the feeling that we’re witnessing very dark and sometimes twisted fairy tales.

This series is also a fascinating example of what might be termed “montage theory”, almost as if it’s being assembled by an anime loving version of Sergei Eisenstein. Quick flashes of competing ideas and images whiz by in each episode virtually at the speed of light. Many of these images contain text (it’s almost a necessity to have your pause button handy to catch all of the information that zooms by). We get little snippets of imagery that initially might seem fractured, but which actually pertains to various elements in each of the stories. It’s a really interesting technique and something that really sets Bakemonogatari apart from its anime kin.

One thing that does hobble the series is that there’s a paucity of people to really root for. Hitagi takes being a tsundere to heretofore unexplored heights, and even Koyomi seems kind of weirdly dissociative a lot of the time. Most of the supporting characters become repetitive after a while and even Koyomi’s confidante Tsubasa ends up being just another spirit possessed victim. One thing that might have helped the series is a bit more emphasis on Koyomi’s vampiric roots. Meme has helped to mostly cure the boy of his predicament, with the only “after effect” being that Koyomi is basically invincible. Bakemonogatari seems to want to be a more childlike affair than, say, Hellsing (despite some flirtation with fan service), but it might have been more compelling had it taken a darker, less playful path.

Bakemonogatari Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bakemonogatari is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Aniplex with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 and 2.35:1. This is an extremely beautiful looking series which offers consistently strong line detail and an extremely appealing overall design aesthetic which is reproduced very well in this high definition presentation. Colors are lush, varied and extremely robust. Some episodes dabble in rosy colored sunset hues, while others are invested with an almost sickly green ambience. Hitagi's design is especially fetching, with her long (often purplish) hair being very distinctive. A lot of the quick cut interstitials are very beautifully designed and almost purely graphical in content.

Bakemonogatari Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bakemonogatari features an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mix in the original Japanese language. This is a well rendered mix that also offers some nice sounding music, with very enjoyable opening and closing themes. Dialogue is clean and easy to hear, and both ambient environmental effect and other showier sound effects are reproduced with excellent fidelity and at times rather wide dynamic range.

Bakemonogatari Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This another very handsome (if pricey) box set from Aniplex. Housed in a sturdy slipcase, there are three keepcases each with two Blu-ray discs, as well as a nice 36 page illustrated booklet with episode summaries and character designs. The on-disc supplements include:

Disc One

• Disc 1 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Ep. 2 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Ep. 2 TV Version Ending (HD; 2:31)


• Ep. 3 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:16)


• Textless Ending (HD; 1:31)


• Character Commentary. All of the character commentaries feature characters like Tsubasa talking about individual episodes. All are in Japanese with English subtitles.

Disc Two

• Disc 2 TV Version Preview (HD: 00:48)


• Textless Opening (HD: 1:31)


• Episode 4 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Episode 5 Textless Ending (HD; 1:49)


• Episode 5 TV Version Preview (HD: 00:32)


• Episode 6 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:16)


• Character Commentary

Disc Three

• Disc 3 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:48)


• Textless Opening (HD; 1:31)


• Episode 7 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:48)


• Episode 8 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Episode 8 Textless Ending (HD; 1:31)


• Episode 9 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:16)


• Character Commentary

Disc Four

• Disc 4 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Episode 9 Textless Opening (HD; 1:31)


• Episode 10 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Episode 10 Textless Opening (HD; 1:31)


• Episode 11 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:16)


• Character Commentary

Disc Five

• Disc 5 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Textless Ending (Tsubasa Hanekawa Version) (HD; 1:31)


• Episode 12 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:32)


• Episode 13 TV Version Preview (HD; 00:16)


• Character Commentary

Disc Six

• Textless Opening (HD; 1:31)


• Textless Ending (Everyone Version) (HD; 1:31)


• 2008 Spring Promo Video (1080i; 1:02)


• Character Commentary

Bakemonogatari Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bakemonogatari is a very enjoyable series that dabbles in the supernatural with some interesting folklore-esque elements. The series tends to fall into a rut with one spirit possessed girl after another coming into contact with Koyomi and Hitagi, but the show is so consistently compelling from a visual standpoint that most viewers will probably be willing to overlook any repetitive tendencies. This is a fairly pricey box set from Aniplex, but the series is distinctive enough to warrant coming Recommended.