Hanamonogatari Review | Anime Review
Finally Suruga
Kanbaru gets the main lead with a 5 short episodes season. Will studio Shaft
keep the quality and the interest of Monogatari series? Find out in a review
that I called by:
"Kuroko no Basket meets Monogatari"
Anime Score:
Total Score: 70,75%
Top 2014 entrance: 3º
All Time Top entrance: 53º
STUDIO – Shaft: 80%
Directed by – Akiyuki
Shinbo
Studio – Shaft
Year – 2014
Season 5 / 5
episodes
Warning this review could contain spoilers!
If the reader wasn't watched this anime,
this could reduce the enjoyment!
For instance Sasuke will kill Naruto in
season finale!
See the danger of a Spoiler? Now this was a
lie, only to show the power of a spoiler!
The reader was been warned!
Loose notes – Past Seasons
Obviously this is a fifth
season, so you need watch the past seasons. Nevertheless you can watch this
season without previous knowledge, but you will not understand a big percentage
of the plot!
To fully enjoy Hanamonogatari,
first see the past seasons in his release order:
- · Bakemonogatari
- · Nisemonogatari
- · Nekomonogatari (Kuro)
- · Monogatari season 2
(Order of
Monogatari)
The Soundtrack
Song: The last day of my adolescence
Artist: Miyuki Sawashiro
(Hanamonogatari–opening)
A typical opening
for the Monogatari Series, in line with the previous season, there are not much
to say about it. The opening come to confirm that Hanamonogatari is an
extension of the Monogatari
Second Season.
Just a final word for the ending song: it is a little to strange for me, but by rule I generally don’t like ending sequence (with very, very rare exceptions), but this one was too out of context, even for studio Shaft!
Analysis
For me this series is more worthy because
it creates interest for upcoming stories and the new loose ends than due to the
story, which only have five episodes.
Let’s start the review, continuing the
logic of Monogatari Second Season this was the time to Suruga Kanbaru (and
it was predictable because of Kaichi’s strange interest by her). It wasn’t a
great performance but was much better than the Tsubasa Hanekawa performance in
Tsubasa Tiger.
Araragi appears in the episodes but
instead of the feeling that he can show up at any minute to save the day, this
time it was more natural (it only serve to increase the interest by Araragi and
his new life, now that he and Senjōgahara finished School). He appears only to
give advices and complement some funny dialogs with Suruga Kanbaru and not to
save/fix all in the last minute!
Concentrating in the Hanamonogatari plot,
this season it felt like a continuation of Monogatari Second Season that it
doesn't aired, because it had to be chronologically after of Hitagi End story,
which is a better story than Hanamonogatari, due of the great performance of
Kaiki and Senjōgahara!
The plot revolve
about Kanbaru's cursed monkey's paw, focusing more in their past (before she
got the paw), from their childhood to her basketball achievements!
A fierce battle (with some twists) between
Kanbaru versus her old basketball's rival Rouka Numachi (despite they never
played an official basketball match).
The rivalry (Kanbaru on top, Numachiin bottom)
We can take small conclusions from this
season: studio Shaft maintained his bet on giving the main spot to other
characters and keep his high quality animation, but with a little decrease of
the story.
The rivalry between Kanbaru and Numachi
ended in a high quality basketball match. An one to one epic match where the
animation compensates for the slight weaker story, makes it worth this season.
It’s just Studio Shaft at their best!
Example of the superior animation
The most interesting part of this season
is the plot possibilities that opened!
I already talked about Araragi's new life
and the interest of seeing that, but for a few characters increased the
interest to know their past story and their future:
Kaiki
It was a strange Hitagi that show up, the
time that passed between the end of Monogatari Second Season is unknown. The
doubt about if he survived the shoot is still in the air, I bet he is alive but
you never knows (this season could serve as proof but we don't know when Kaiki
was shot!).
But the interest is not only about Hitagi
future/present, now there are also some interest in his past relation with
Kanbaru’s mother and the rest of the gang (Oshino and Gaen)!
Meme Oshino and Izuko Gaen
Oshino keeps disappeared since season one,
many times referenced, but still disappeared. Some info about his past and
about his present situation, would be interesting!
Kaiki at left, Oshino at top center, Izuko
Gaenbottom center, Yozuru Kagenui at right
We can’t talk about Oshino’s past without
getting some appetite to know about Izuko Gaen, about her sister (Kanbaru’s
mother) and also about Gaen’s assistant, Kagenui!
Oshino, Ougi
This character appear to represent
trouble. We still don’t know what their intentions are: if is simply to
generate chaos, be an observer, solve problems with oddities or simply to
follow orders!?
This character is so
sinister that we even don’t know his genre! Girl in Monogatari Second season,
male in this season!
Ougi Oshino What are you?
The only information that we had about
him, is that he/she played with Suruga Kanbaru in childhood and he/she claims
to be Oshino’s niece!
Final Thoughts
In only 5 episodes Shaft managed (for me
at least) to increase the interest for new stories, until Hanamonogatari my
focus was in the night that Shinobu transformed Araragi in a vampire!
Now I care about
other character’s stories: the future of Kaiki and Araragi; the new life of
Araragi/ Senjōgahara; who shot (and why) Kaiki and what is he going to do about
it; and Gaen's story starts to get the need for explanations.
Araragi with a car instead of his bicycle!
All this new questions in only 5 episodes,
despite the simple story (with a great animation), studio Shaft gave room to a
new pack of stories to future seasons!
Future Seasons !?
As I
already written my interest for stories just increased with this 5 episodes
season. I want to know more from Gaen and Oshino and I still want to know what
happened in the night that Araragi was bitten by Shinobu!
The Kizumonogatari film is announced!
*Watched by me in 2015 – originally
released in 2014
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