Anime Review: NISEMONOGATARI – Premiere Review

Here we are again… another season of anime and another entertaining review from the DGrey Writing Collective; this time, on the premiere episode of Nisemonogatari!

Premiere Review by the DGrey Writing Collective

Introduction – Love

The famous Mongolian philosopher Genghis Khan once said: “Love makes the world go ’round.” Whether or not this is true is doubly debatable. What is undeniably undebatable is that love makes this series go ’round, and it is a dark, delicious love, filled with fun, torture and vampire demons. Internationally, France is a country associated with love, and we are privileged to be able to go there now, to Abby and Yves, for this review. – Darien

What is Love?

Bon jour, cher cheris. J’m'appel Yves St. Gilles-Gerard. Enchante.

(Like so: Ahn-shahnn-tay – Abby)

I am reviewing to you from Dinan, in the Northwest of France.

(Literally, I am enchanted to meet you. Such woo-ness. I just melted when Yves said that to me — well, I actually melted later when he said other, more dramatic things. He’s so cute — sigh — like a slightly older Ouran High School Host Clubber, but French guys can be such…… coqs. - A)

In France we love lengthy and descriptive words and expressions; par exemple we would say “Qu’est que c’est” instead of your American expression “Huh?” As this is so, I found myself intrigued by the seven-syllable title.

(If you’re lucky you’ll get to be seduced by one — they just envelope you in a dazzling array of words and attention — and then they are gone like the last zephyr of spri.. of.. of.. sniff sniff… sob… excuse me, please… I’m going to go watch some Darker Than Black to cheer up. - A)

Hmmmm… J’regarde… “Nisemonogatari, when combined with its progenitor, Bakemonogatari (2009), means ‘Second-Generation Epic Ghost Story.’” Oh, mais! Que enorme! Alors, to know the child we must introduce ourselves to the parent. Pardon, as I do just that. Merci pour votre patience. Ahhhh, it is amour verite! What else can it be when the girl you just saved from falling to her death staples you in the mouth? Beautiful love affairs always start in an interesting way, no? Oui.

(Oui?! Wii?! We?! There is no “WE” anymore, you arrogant ————–

It appears that we’re having some Broadband problems with our French connection. Or rather some French problems with our Broadband connection. But who can blame Abby for being excited about such a promising series? Let’s go back to the States to finish up for this one; here’s Space Farmer Donyell.

LOVE IS A SCHIZOPHRENIC VAMPIRE GIRL FROM HELL WHO HOLDS YOU HOSTAGE IN A DUNGEON

“I love you, Araragi-kun! So much that I could embrace you without hesitation, even if you were covered entirely in feces.”

You are fortunate to be experiencing this anime, with or without wearing an excrement suit, because it is so wonderful, and it will prove all the more enriching if you see the first series to understand the intricate character relationships. At a mandatory minimum check out Episode One of Bakemonogatari; THAT is how to begin a series!

The Story…

The ongoing adventures of masochistic former vampire high school student Koyomi Araragi and his smart ahoge (stupid hair — you’ll see), who are surrounded by a harem of charming, magical, occasionally schizophrenic and demonic, women, all of whom love him in one way and/or another. He has two younger sisters to look after (they really look after him), an iincho girl to unrequitedly adore him, one moe girl to pal around with, another faux moe girl who hides in his shadow and is incredibly dangerous, and of course a tsundere to alternately love and abuse him. His mentor, the delightfully madao and much missed Meme Oshino, has disappeared; who will fill this male relationship gap in Araragi’s life? The girls are much more than they appear to be — in so many fun ways (play menacing music in your head here) — as girls always are.

Art / Style -

So good. You feel that you are in the hands of a master of cinematography. The colors, the changing of anime styles, the gorgeousness of the framing — even the sexploitation is done with the proper flair! It will all just blow you away, which brings me to the:

Key to the Series - EIGA KANTOKU CUT!!!

And cutting. And cutting. And let’s cut a little more. Red Screens. Black Screens. Quick. Mega-quick. Almost subliminal advertising quick. So much information flashes by at times, and the pace changes seemingly without warning or reason, although I am certain there is a reason. What is all this information overwhelming my brain, and what part of my brain is it stimulating and/or manipulating? Am I a sleeper agent, and will watching this anime activate me for my hidden, nefarious task? You must watch this series when you are alert, very alert, two cups of Joe and higher alert, because there is so much there. Like its predecessor Bakemonogatari, which challenged the viewer in a similar fashion, Nisemonogatari provides this one potential deal breaker, and it is very Japanese in this fashion: Akiyuki Shinbo has thrown down the gauntlet. Are you animan enough to pick it up? If you’re not, become so. It’s worth it. Anime + man. Is it lexiconable? I am shhhhhhhhharp tonight! Plus the show is side-splittingly funny at times. – Space Farmer Donyell

HELP! HELP! FRANCE NEEDS ANIME! It is wonderful to get in on the ground floor, and if you are a francophile anime artist that’s where you will be if you hop across the big pond Atlantic. France has a titanic boatload of Franga and the French have yet to develop an anime culture around it. Like the Japanese, they have a tremendous appreciation for beautiful things, yet their culture moves comparatively slowly. The best example of this I can think of is that their schools teach the children that there are only five continents. America, from Alaska to Argentina, is only one continent, just as it was when LaSalle and Marquette first ventured out five centuries ago, and either Australia or Antarctica is just a big island. – Darien

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