Reviews

I don't question everyone's criticisms - I confess I was lazy reading them all. Only I do not agree with this argument at all. The series is beautiful, it's true. I was attracted by the promotional images, that's true too. However, to consider it a beautiful work only for that reason is degrading, for two reasons. The first one, even if it stays in the visual realm, is that Shaft, beyond the set and the characters, does a very big job on symbolism. To say "it's beautiful" is to completely miss these shots and a good portion of the anime.
The second reason concerns what makes the essence of "Bakemonogatari", and a fortiori that of many of Nisioisin's works: the dialogues. When you look closely at "Bakemonogatari", it's 90% blabla and 10% fanservice (you can negotiate the proportions). But when it comes to finding a plot, what you normally expect from a series or a story, you can go back. Yes, this series is based on dialogue, hence the importance of semantic games (between homonymy and paronymy, with a good dose of humor, there's a wide range), and on the interactions between the different characters; there's nothing else. This explains why many people felt like they were wasting their time, which I find also makes it difficult to judge. Puzzle issues are always a matter of taste, the same goes for humor, the amount of dialogue, and so on.