Name: Nisemonogatari, Nekomonogatari, Monogatari Season 2
Theme: Grief, Family, Magic, Romance
Version: Anime (Sub)
Number of Episodes: 13
External Links:
EXPLANATION:
So, this is a Redux for my previous review on . Go ahead and click that link to read that one as well. I wont be going over the events of the first season so itll help you understand what I'm saying in this one.
The Monogatari Seasons are a little hard to figure, so I'm going to do that for you.
In order from Release:
Bake
Nise
Neko
Mono 2nd Season
In order from first to last in the actual Story Line:
Neko
Bake
Nise
Mono Second Season
Does that make sense? Choose whichever order to watch them in that you desire. I would personally suggest The chronological one from the story line...but another and even farther back prequel will be coming out soon (and thus so will another Flak Redux) so it might just be best to go by release date.
I'm going to do this review semi differently than I normally would. This is because I'm dealing with 3 seasons with completely different plots, story elements and at times even narration styles. Each season could be considered as a stand alone book among a set and thus each season will get its own review and explanation. Which means there sadly won't be as much meat for each.
PLOT:
NISE: Koyomi's two younger sisters are known through out town as the Fire Sisters. They fight injustice, which in Nise gets them into some trouble only their part way vampire brother can figure out. The first half of the story focuses on the elder sister, who gets stung by a magical hornet. It just so happens that the stings venom may just turn fatal for her unless Koyomi can find the swindler who set the bug loose in the first place. The second half of the season focuses on the youngest sister. Who happens to be the newest target for a couple of monster hunters. Koyomi has to figure out what his sister is, and then a way to save her.
NEKO: Mostly taking place before the events of Bake Koyomi's friend is possessed by a cat spirit. Who has a will of its own and a goal of causing some serious harm to people unless Koyomi can stop her. The narration being pinned to Tsubasa's viewpoint and deals a lot with her newly found supernatural existence.
MONO (THE SECOND): Half of the story focuses entirely on ending what nekomonotagari starts. Tsubasa starts to realize shes been taken over by a cat. And the drama and trouble which comes from this revelation will be ground breaking for her character.This somehow leads into Koyomi going missing and finally travelling to an odd alternate universe. Its a bit hard to explain.
FLAK:
NISE: By far the weakest season as of yet. After watching it I wondered if neko and Mono would be worth the sit through.
The Pros:
-Same good ol fashioned action sequences
-Artistic, surreal, pacing
-Characters are fleshed out
-The world doesn't remain static
The Cons
-Gore is set to low
-More Loli doing loli things
-Fan service is set to an all time high and really starts to get in the way
-Story progression is too fast
-Important characters in Bake seem a bit less...deep
-Strange developments
-Certain characters are completely ignored
-Antagonists who are introduced and swept away quickly
-Overtly and distressingly anti climatic
NEKO: The Rebuttal to Nise, really brings back the Bake story charm by giving depth, drama and dry comedy to a story in need of all three. Going through Nise was worth it to get to Neko.
The Pros
-Narration changes to Tsubasa (which is interesting)
- Dark, Artistic, Surreal pacing
-A main character is fleshed out incredibly well
- Really fills in some of the gaps Bake left
-Fan service exists, its sidelined though
Cons
-Apparant lack of a real conclusion (its a prequel that's supposed to explain later trouble so no trouble is really stopped, if it was..how could it occur later on?)
-Some confusing dialogue choices (may have been my subs)
-Incredibly short, feels a bit too condensed
-Loli
MONO THE SECOND SEASON: Often considered to be the truer sequel to Bake at this point. They return to Bake and Nekos story telling devices which is great. The story itself however starts incredibly slow, gets incredibly weird and the end of the middle arc is a bit of a cop out. The harem troupe really comes out to play in this season.
The Pros:
- A finish or perhaps a new direction for the story started by Bake and Explained by Neko
- Surrealism is in high-foots in this one
- Good action, good drama and good romance
- Characters that were mostly ignored for the past few seasons make a wonderful come back
-The arcs tie in pretty well for the overall story
The Cons
- Lolis
- Snail Slow pacing in the first arc only
- In my opinion a bit of a weird story and a cop out ending for the middle arc
- Some awkward scenes depending on who you're shipping in the third arc
FINAL THOUGHTS:
NISE: If it were a stand alone, I'd say no. Since it actually works well as an introduction to a large set of characters who are connected to the rest of the series and is a bit of an over exaggerated fun ride I will instead say yes.
NEKO: Gets the odd taste of Nise out of your mouth. Which makes it worth every second
MONO THE 2ND: The middle arc is the only actually troubling one to me. The first is a bit slow but is jam packed with character growth and tying off some previous loose ends. Worth a watch
FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE ENTIRE THING: The Monogatari series is worth a watch. Its funny, has a good balance between upper brain humor and surface laughs. The animation is beautiful. The story telling is surreal, usually well paced and has scenes of mindless and awesome action thrown into it to keep the blood pumping. Its worth a watch.
Full Post
No comments:
Post a Comment