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REVIEW: Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu

Every time I hear about a new Monogatari thing coming out, I read the synopsis and think "hey, that sounds pretty interesting!" But I saw the first season a while back and was overall pretty mixed on it. On one hand, I was really impressed with the artistry and directing on display, and all of the various Japanese mythology and such that was being explored, but the cold and detached delivery of exposition and characters frustrated me. It's hard for me to get invested in characters who are near-literally unrelatable, like the girl who's problem was that she was too perfect. It's like the writing makes up its own fake rules and emotional basis, which made it hard for me to give a shit about anybody. And then there was all of the... fanservice? Or at least, I think that's what that stuff was supposed to be. Again, it felt like it was trying to be so avant-garde that not even something as pedestrian as that could be simple. But something I was sure I understood was that the main character likes groping little girls (But it's okay for the vampire girl! She's actually centuries old so it's totally legal!). Again, why should I care about this person? Is he even the main character? Does this series even have one? Speaking of fanservice, seeing a clip of that "toothbrush scene" from the second season solidified my decision to never watch anything Monogatari related ever again. So what it mainly comes down to is that I feel like the show's constantly directly telling me that I don't like it because I "just don't get it." And the fans kind of act that way too. Whenever I bring it up, they'll usually say something like "I didn't get it at first either," like I just need to give it time to sink in. But that was years ago when I watched it, and my opinion still hasn't changed at all.

I apologize for turning this review discussion into a rant about my thoughts on the series as a whole (or I guess just the first season). I suppose I had to get it out since I've never really talked with anybody whose felt the same way (though I'm sure they're out there somewhere). Maybe I'll give the series another chance someday, if not just for the absolutely beautiful animation and overall design of everything (which I love).

Being too perfect isn't Hanekawa's problem. To avoid spoilers (cause I don't remember how much they got into that in the first season) I'll just say significant family issues to say the least. That seeming perfection is also ultimately a facade. It's not that she doesn't have negative qualities or emotions, but that she represses them, which manifest themselves in Black Hanekawa. Personally, I find her line of "I don't know everything. I only know what I know" very relatable. Not just the line itself, as everyone doesn't know everything and can relate to that, but rather in the context of her being a model student, I understand the sentiment behind it well. So at least for me, she is not nigh unrelatable.

As to fanservice, it is definitely meant as fanservice. Even if they were doing other stuff in those scenes, the fanservice component of those scenes were definitely meant as fanservice.

And the fans kind of act that way too. Whenever I bring it up, they'll usually say something like "I didn't get it at first either,"

It did increase my drive to give it another shot. I know that the series' chronological order is different from its release order. Which would you recommend following if I'd go down the rabbit hole again?