The main male protagonist, and also one of the two best characters in this anime. He is also one of the most dangerous threats to humanity since the appearance of his counterpart in Speed Grapher.

After patiently waiting for all 15 episodes of this series coming out on Blu-ray (and then sitting on it for a few months), I finally gets around to watch one of the most talked-about anime series in 2009, titled Bakemonogatari. Highly rated in ANN, this anime will compete with the current ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ incumbent, Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. These two anime titles’ main male protagonists are voiced by the same person, therefore will this anime be able to at least match the height that the current best anime of 2009 has attained?

And here he is, sizing up his underaged victim (who is also the other best character in this anime).

Story:-
Continuing from a story arc that will be made into a money-spinning OVA, the main male protagonist started his third year in high school. Late to school one day, he encounters a mysterious girl falling down on the stairway hall and managed to catch her, discovering her ‘weight’ problem in the process. He then helped solved her problem, then moved on onto sexually assaulting female middle-schoolers, chasing invisible snakes and running away from deranged white-haired woman-cat, amongst others.

Yet another one of those multiple-arc anime series in the mold of Index and Kaze no Stigma (maybe the majority of light novels’ anime adaptations are that way), the general storyline is quite good; not tanking most of the time unlike the two aforementioned examples above, but is not consistent enough like the similarly-formatted excellent first season of Kuroshitsuji. Here I am talking about the quality of the ending arc (which is also the longest one) which simply doesn’t match the strong performances that prior story arcs has shown before that point.

This anime makes many passing references upon the supposedly mysterious story arc (mentioned in the first paragraph) that happened before this anime’s main storyline started. The usage of flashbacks for this purpose is excellent; they are properly timed and also kept to the minimum. And those flashbacks sure had kept me very interested on the upcoming OVA that is supposed to be the prequel of this anime. If those flashbacks are any indication of the quality of the OVA, there will be more action scenes there than in this dialogue-heavy title. And that can only be a good thing.

He then used the usual baits employed by criminals in the same profession to lure the unsuspecting victim to him…

As for the presentation, I see only minimal problems with this anime’s pacing and control of the story progression. The pacing is pretty much spot on even in the below-average final arc, and there are no such things like fillers that interrupts the flow of the story progression. There are some references made to other TV shows too, but the most outstanding one definitely can be seen in the screenshot at the bottom of this entry. The way the ending was written, I would have thought that there will be no sequel to this anime, but I have come to understand that there is a sequel of this series still in novel format. If a second season is confirmed, a good composition like the one seen in Kodomo no Jikan ni Gakki will be essential.

Character development in this anime is good, helped by small numbers of recurring characters. The main male protagonist is definitely the best character in this anime, alongside the ghost that carries the huge backpack. Their ‘relationship’ is definitely one of the highlights of this anime. Meanwhile, the tsundere main female protagonist is nowhere as good as her counterpart in B gata H kei, in fact, she is the kind of tsundere that make me wish I have the ability to kill a 2D character. Fortunately for me, whoever wrote the story has the foresight to remove her character out from the storyline for a significant amount of airtime. She doesn’t suffer the fate of Index, but she is bloody damn close. And for once, this phenomenon is a very good thing.

…before the unrefined and lusty main male protagonist shows his vampire fangs (hahaha) and went for the jugular of his sized-up victim.

Character Design:-
The character design in this anime is decent, but not exactly outstanding. Black hairs are common though in this supernatural romantic comedy title, and that’s a good thing.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this anime is excellent. There are no bad performances in this anime, and the two best characters of this anime that are mentioned in the story section above also surpass others in the regard. Definitely a positive aspect for this anime.

The victim tried to struggle back, fighting the evil intentions of the main male protagonist, but alas her efforts is in vain…

Music:-
The OST is quite good, but only the 2nd OP theme is worth listening from all the OP/ED themes in this anime.

Animation/Direction:-
Excellent animation quality all around (is it the Blu-ray effect?) even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography in action scenes in actually very good too, which is quite surprising. The director has done nothing wrong that I can spot; this is probably just your common safe and conservative directing gig. A positive aspect for this anime.

…and as the victim loses her consciousness, the vision of the true face of the innocence-busting main male protagonist will be etched into her memories forever.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei will still remain the best anime of 2009 in this blog for the time being. Want to know what I will watch next? Visit this blog Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/imouto.my. I will put the name of the show I will review next there.

There are quite a number of external references made in this anime, but the 'reaction guys' parody is by far the best one you can see in this anime.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-iB