8.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Foreign | 100% |
Anime | 98% |
Supernatural | 14% |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1, 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Japanese: LPCM 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Six-disc set (6 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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