I stopped watching Bakemonogatari after the second episode or so (I think I got through about half of number three), mainly through finding all sorts of excuses not to continue watching. Too little time, too many other anime I prefer watching… to be honest, it's really the latter reason which indirectly points to why I never got into the buzz for the show: it's not quite that I want to watch other anime more, it's that I don't want to watch Bakemonogatari as much.

The reasons are fairly petty, as can be seen from the fact that I never got past the first few episodes. It's not SHAFT's weirdness in art direction, although I'd be happier if they went without. After all, my candidate for third-favourite series of all time is Hidamari Sketch. It's SHAFT's tendencies in mood direction which bother me: Bakemonogatari, at least in the first few episodes, is not a happy show. It's dark and gothic and edgy. And SHAFT has a tendency, in edgy works, to brutally subvert audience expectations and audience demographic stereotypes (cf. Pani Poni Dash).

The comments about "moe characters" in the first episode made me feel immediately defensive: is it making fun of me? Saying "oh, it's just a general stab, you'll feel offended only if it doesn't apply to you" is a rhetorical tactic on par with the ad hominem. Why shouldn't I feel offended if it doesn't apply to me? If it does, and I am rightly offended, then why can't I be offended? Being in the fanfiction-writing contingent of fandom in general has made me conscious of the important parts of Constructive Criticism, which simple insults, however friendly, are not. (Criticism is Constructive only if it mentions how to improve and why, in much more detail than "don't do that" or "don't be like that".)

So as it stands, the humour itself is clearly not aimed at me and my ilk. Since this is SHAFT, plot is probably a side consideration. Already, my interest in this anime is limited to watching cute girls.

There are some, of course. But the greatest gut reaction was to Senjougahara.

From other accounts of Bakemonogatari on the blogosphere, she's a popular character. I'm well aware that I don't have to like characters that most other people do (Miyuki from Lucky Star, Tsumugi from K-On), but I cannot bring myself to see Senjougahara as anything other than an unpleasant character.

In the first portion of the very first episode, she threatens and physically assaults, in cold blood (which is somehow worse than if she had another, more emotional reason), a guy whose only crime was curiosity, and according to a friend who has watched most of the series, she has failed to apologize for that specific action. Whatever her reasons for it, no matter how justified in her viewpoint, I don't think there's anything she can do to redeem herself in my eyes.

"What about Haruhi?", I hear the accusatory cries. How can I like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya when Haruhi also treats Mikuru like dirt? The answer is that I don't like Haruhi as a character, but the rest of the show makes up for that.

The first few episodes of Bakemonogatari do not have that advantage. I'm giving it another go because it would only be fair to see if the rest of it does.