my humble opinion: Bakemonogatari

there is a good way to describe something applying analyses and without boring explanations. 'tis naming good points and bad points one after another. shall I try to use it?

the animation itself

will anyone argue that SHAFT is great in terms of animation? I doubt...

a good point - both the moving parts and the static views were created for us to enjoy. the colours are vivid, and the scenes are psychedelic enough to make us stare with all our might. white silhouettes instead of furniture or some everyday life objects, strange shapes and angles, just everything one may need to get lost in an artificial word

a bad point - someone might get tired with such a concept. 'tis obviously not for admirers of nature, pastel colours etc (I am not one of them, so I was never tired though)

the music

a bad point - the theme songs are utterly boring. hearing them for the first time I thought they were pretty good, but the key point is - first time. first time is good, but the second time I heard the melody I was already fed up with it. moreover, 'twas such a waste of seiyuus' voices... we have brilliant Saitou-san, Sawashiro-chan, Horie-chan, and others whom I do not happen to have heard earlier, but the voices are pretty good. what spoileth them is the music itself - spoileth by giving them no chance to show their beauty, or cuteness - better to say. the only one that had an interesting part was the theme song of Nadeko ('de mo sore ja dame' line was good). I should say I was especially disappointed in supercell - why so plain? both the melody and the girl's voice. a free indie band should have something more than that...

a good point - the back melodies were great, again - psychedelic, but very nice, always following the mood of the psychedelic images, and sometimes even making the anime more psychedelic than it could be. however, 'tis not the kind of ost I would listen to as a separate piece

the seiyuus' work

a good point - as I already mentioned, we have a whole company of good girls this time

a bad point - they would not consider voicing these characters as one of their best works. obviously... nothing special, nothing memorable, and I even did not recognize them at once - I speak of Horie-chan, Saitou-san and Sawashiro-chan, though I have heard them already in other works

a good point - there were nice lines in the script which were quite funny and the intonation was also contributing to the impression of those parts

a bad point - apart from those funny lines, most of other seiyuus were quite plain and some of the main characters were a kind of epic fail... Araragi and Oshino, for example, were created as quite distinguishing characters, but their seiyuus spoiled everything, especially Oshino's one. but that' already the next paragraph

the characters

so, a good point - Oshino was really meant to be a 'cool, and he knows he is cool' guy type. the same as Sanosuke from RK or Onizuka, for example.

a bad point - what a disappointment, his seiyuu sounded as if he was chosen out of a crowd of amateurs because his former seiyuu's heel was itching and he could not come to work... I want to say, the seiyuu completely ruined the image, though he did his best, obviously

a good or a bad point, I cannot even decide, but Araragi is that typical UJS - usual Japanese schooler, as we call them. of course, he is a vampire partially, so he could not be a UJS precisely, but his behaviour and his 'type' is certainly the UJS one. and that is not my type, so I was simpy enjoying him shouting funny things from time to time. as for his striving to help everyone - that was cool, but I could not appreciate it very much actually... somehow I just did not. I would prescribe it to the manner of the storytelling

the good point - the girls were much more interesting. a harem, but not the usual one, though the types are quite usual. all of them are cute and have their own nice/funny/adorable points

the bad point - none of them was the one I could really like from the very bottom of my heart. at first, Hitagi seemed to be the one, as I loved her swiftness and determination, but to my surprise I got tired with her very soon, and I was not amused very much with her teasing Araragi. I also liked Tsubasa at the beginning of the first episode, as I tend to like calm 'supporting' characters - supporting in terms of their importance in the story, as opposed to the main ones. however, she turned up to be more important than a supporting one, and less attractive than I expected her to be. 'twas not that I was disappointed with her 'problem' in the Tsubasa Cat chapter, but I simply lost the impressing point of hers. finally the one whom I sympathized the most turned out to be Kambaru, though come to think of it - and there is nothing special about her I could take as an advantage

the plot itself

as I plan to end in a good point, I shall start with the bad one - the plot itself is not the plot at all, too illogical and separated - in terms of separation not only into chapters, but also separation of the events. somehow it feeleth as if a lot of things are omitted and we never understand how the things developed while we were 'absent'. moreover, the overall impression is somewhat mixed, so stating that the plot is gorgeous would be a big lie

but the good point - though I have much to complain of, I did not drop the series, and moreover, while my 初心 (I have learnt the word two days ago and I have just recalled of it unintentionally) - my initial intention was to watch 5 episodes a day in order to while away the time before the 2nd episode of Sherlock is aired - as I had precisely three days to wait - I ended up watching 13 episodes in one day. the first ones were passing like an instant. several times the episode ended I was thinking 'tis the break for commercial which is usually dividing the episode in two parts. this meaneth, I was waiting for the episode to last two times longer. no, I am wrong, I was waiting for the episode to develop two times slower - better to say, two times less absorbing. even taking into account I was absolutely bored and I have not watched anything since July, a bad anime just doth not do that, doth not have that effect of making thou stare at the screen without noticing time pass

therefore, the conclusion is

a stylish thing with every element possible being unique - maybe excluding seiyuus only. a nice thing, though not a masterpiece, entertaining and interesting. at least, 'tis good to have such a thing in 2009, where almost all the animes have already become the 'conveyor' type
_____
forgot to mention... beware of ecchi - nothing harmful (even I could endure it), but there is some

my humble opinion and a couple of interesting facts: Porno Graffitti

meseems, I was listening to them when I first watched Sherlock, and I am listening to them again for the reason I have recently downloaded their new single - and I am again watching Sherlock. that is nice

while many of their songs have a clear Latino mood, I am already fed up with them, and this time I am enjoying the other kind a little bit more. however, I should at least list the ones I liked then and the ones I like now, to be fair

'Apollo' - the very first single, merry and energetic. 'tis a rare thing that the very first single already hath the mood which will be present in the whole band's discography. and I respect them very much that they were confident in their style from the very beginning

'hitori no yoru' was good when 'twas a OP theme from Onizuka, and now I am enjoying it much less

'century lovers' is a good song, and though I do not love it to the extent of adding it to my walkman playlist, I think 'tis a song that is very characteristic of Porno Graffitti

'machine-gun-talk' is a song I have been in love with from the very first time I heard it. what is surprising it that I do not like the verse at all, but the chorus redeems greatly

'dessin #1' is a great song, I cannot name it a soft one, but 'tis so as to say 'smoothed' and slower, reminding thee of the sky or the sea or something like that... it smelleth of freedom, yep

'saudade' is the Latino piece, a great one, making thee wanna dance wearing feathers and fruits and palm leaves as thy clothing, but thou cannot listen to it many times, as it soon makes thee tired with its sound

'tsumetai te' and 'search the best way' are almost the same, as thou canst notice very soon. the problem is, I like both of them and I cannot choose which is better

'saboten' is a good song, but it soon bores me

'guava juice' is a nice piece, especially the 'amai amaaaaaaai guava juice' line. but the melody just doth not make me get off on it

'ore, tenshi' is a cool thing. however, apart from that I cannot say anything good of it

'kuusou kagaku shounen' is a very cheerful song which maketh thee smile a lot. still 'tis also the kind which is worth of being a ringtone or something, but not a song thou wilt constantly listen to

'agehachou' was the first song of Porno that I heard and I probably shall always consider it to be the greatest masterpiece of them. 'tis a song that maketh thee listen to it again and again, even if thou dost not like it that much, thou just cannot stop. I wonder if there are a lot of other songs in the would that have the same strength of the style and special mood, which maketh the image of the song so vivid

'heart' is a nice example of the tender Porno. 6/8 is not a waltz actually, but I cannot help yielding to the rhythm...

'n. t' is a great thing in terms of style. 'tis the first of its kind in Porno's discography, I daresay, as it shows the 'darker' Porno, the despair-crying side of them, if I can say so

'yoru wa shizuka ni' is proving its name, as 'tis calm and maketh thee want to sleep very much...

'wakusei no kimi' is again breaking our previous image of Porno by introducing a greater part of synthetic soundm, making them sound much more modern and... urban?

'vintage' is a very cute song which is really destined to be performed on the stage by a huge company, presumably as a final song for a kind of performance/show/etc

'karma no saka' is again a 'dark' song with a very tragic story. the problem is, however hard I tried to translate the words, I am not very good at guessing, and unfortunately half of the story is not revealed, so I still cannot get where the morals of the story is... well, 'tis clear the girl is dead, but how exactly it happened, and what is the meaning of the boy's feeling in the end? better pay no attention to the lyrics at all

'oto no nai mori' is a good single, but both track #1 and #3 are sleepy... o___O

'melissa' was not as good as I expected, but both 'melissa' and 'mienai sekai' are nice and positive

'lack' was meant to be the only 'heavy' song, as far as I can say. and 'tis quite good, but too noisy for me

'anotherday for "74ers"' is a great theme, but I am a little bit puzzled both with the name and with the melody, as it obviously contains a kind of 'mix' or 'medley' of ther previous songs, but I cannot understand particular song used. well, at least the name of the song is understandable, as it contains the year of birth of the soloist and as far as I remember the second member, too

'sister' is again a Latino thing, positive and nice, though the instrumental part seemeth to be more attractive to me, than the singing part

'neomelodramatic' is a second great masterpiece of Porno. it is energetic and hath a very special mood. I could describe the melody of the verse as 'cunning' and 'intricate' and the chorus is vice versa, 'straight' and 'powerful'

'roll' is the second song I heard in the times of my youth... I clearly remember my first impression of Porno, when I knew nothing about them, and about j-rock in the whole. and 'tis a brilliant thing, wonderful and inspiring. there was a moment I thought I am already tired of it, but then I listened to the 'development' part somewhere on 3-30, which is a modified chorus, and I was conquered by the song again

'utakata' is a very nice oriental thing with a concept I love very much. the instrumental part is very strong while the verse is much softer and maketh an impression of something ethereal

'lightning thunder 99' is another attempt to creat something heavier an this one is quite successful, being a very cute rock'n'roll experiment for Porno

'yo bailo' is loved by many as another Latino piece, better to say tango one. as for me I do not like it, and it even loses to the others of its kind

'haneuma rider' is also a positive thing, especially if watch the vid

'wendy no usui moji' is a very strange song for Porno. let it be, however, if they wanted to have fun

'M-cabi' seemeth the most boring album of them, though 'tis nice and all...

'tettsui' is again a dark piece, and 'tis a surprise 'tis put in the middle of very nice and positive songs... that doth not mean I dislike this fact, I love the song very much

'light and shadow' is a very good song and could be considered as a classics, not only for Porno, but for the whole j-rock in its best manifestation

'rock band ga yatte kita' is a thing one should listen to when sad or bored. a nice cure for bad mood

'itai tachi ichi' is the energetic kind thou might have missed for a long time in Porno's discography. a brilliant and Pornish thing, I daresay, and a good improvement for the song not to bee too alike the previous of its kind - I mean the sax parts, which can be heard in the very beginning and throughout the whole song

'night train' is a sad thing, and I like it, though I did not imagine a night train to be that sad...

'love too death too' is a nice thing, though I do not like it very much. it hath the ancient Pornish style and the rhythm is very cheerful, especially coupled with the hands clasping on the background

'time or distance' is a great thing, the 'freedom' one, inspiring and making thee want to sing together with Porno. do not be deceived by the verse, it might seem a little boring

'koyoi tsuki ga miezu tomo' is a surprise, as usually Porno did not make such disco things. but the experiment went well, and I am only more and more impressed with the quality of Bleach theme songs, while the anime itself is not that prominent with its high quality

'anima rossa' - am I right, is this again a Bleach song? I am asking as I love the piece very much again. actually I was almost rejecting the song because of its verse, but the chorus is great, and I am glad I did listen until it starts. and especially the part which goes after the main chorus part... 'tu-ru-ru, tu-tu-tu-ru-ru...'

'hitomi no oku o nozokasete' was actually a little disappointing, but 'tis the rare case when b-side is better than the title song itself

'cliche' is a calmer piece, and I should say 'tis nice, well, the chorus part, at least

'in the dark' hath a very nice trembling thing on the background, and that is again an improvement, as the song itself would be not that great

'introduction ~ semarikuru monster' is a very big surprise. if thou wantst to know what is said, I can provide thee with a link

http://gurennofune.blog6.fc2.com/blog-entry-396.html

I have written down the words and checked my spelling by putting them in Google. then I saw this blog post, and to my surprise I was almost right in my guessing of the words I did not know (and which could not be checked in a dictionary, as there are no such words usually in dictionaries), but as I had some minor mistakes, I better show thee the original

I tried very hard to guess what it might be, but I am at a loss. 'tis obviously a dialogue read by seiyuu, but whether it belongs to an anime or not, remains unclear. the author of the post mentioned that one of the voices sounds like Hitagi's, and as far as I can understand 'tis the Hitagi from 'bakemonogatari'. the name of the anime corresponds very well with the name of the next song in the album 'monster', and this could be a great evidence, but for one thing: the anime (if it exists) in the 'introduction' has another kind of monsters in it, and presumably involves mecha or some kind of special equipment - otherwise the 'low interval limit' is not explained. if thou ask for my own prediction, the voice of the younger girl sound very much as that of Yukana's, but that might be an impression she left on me after I watched 'Code Geass' and some other things

*upd* checked another site and all that's provided there is the same text, but with seiyuu's names written there. so, the main text is read by Nana Mizuki and Yukana. that's better than before, but still unclear where 'tis from

http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1138519166

'hikari no ya' is much more brutal than one might expect of it. though, I like it this way very much

'lost' is also a very sad but beautiful song. not very characteristic of Porno, however, so I would not advise it to those not acquainted with Porno's 'brand' ones

'kimi wa 100%' is a little boring but very nice

'kemuri' is also too boring to listen repeatedly, but still a nice thing, and the chorus is even enrergetic enough to make thee dance a little, and there is a very rockish guitar instrumental part in the middle to make us less bored (though it doth not cope with this problem)

'get it on' is also not a great masterpiece, but I should admit their attempt to add a little rock'n'roll is laudable

'exit' reminds us of the good old Porno from the very first moments when it starts to play. still the chorus is too plain to be considered a great invention

'regret' is a quite unexpected reggae, which is also good, as they should surprise us more and more, eh?

'live on live' is a much more touching thing, the only problem - 'tis really live, so the sound is not as 'clean' as we wish it to be

'one more time' is a very nice pop thing, even a little parapara, if not for the electro-guitar in the space between the chorus and the next verse, I daresay. is it not good that Porno is so diverse and is still trying every possible style?

the next songs in the single, however, were written as if in a hurry and do not present anything outstanding

'yuki no iro' is just as it should be - a calm and romantic Christmas song. I am not fond of this kind of songs, so let me skip it

actually the other songs in the single are in the same calm winter mood, and we even have some kind of... bossa nova? in 'GensoL'. 'tis not bad, 'tis that I just do not like such songs very much. still, they can become a good Christmas background, very cute and peaceful - while thou pack gifts and decorate the Christmas tree

what is really wonderful is that the style and voice of Porno doth not change at all, though 12 years passed since the band was formed...

definitely Porno is one of my favourite bands, and the only thing that pisses me off about them is that they named their band after some album of some star of the XX century, and I can see no link between that star and Porno music style. and Porno music style couled with the voice of soloist is one of the most memorable in the Japanese rock community

my humble opinion on Sakurada Junko ~ the world is full of discoveries

I am aware of the fact Japanese singers love to make covers on famous songs. it was a discovery for me that Aikawa Nanase-san covered 'Roppongi Shinjuu', and now I have discovered another interesting cover.

though I already knew that misono has covered 'kojin jugyou' I was not very eager to check the origin of the song and so I believed it to be Yamaguchi Momoe-san's one. however that is not true.
it was the Sakurada-san's version that made me think of the song's first appearance. and I have checked this time, to learn that it is a song of Finger 5.

well, I did not start to like the songb better, but at least I have a kind of direction to move on in my recent trend to explore the world of Japanese 70's. meseems, I shall begin to love it quite soon... why not? 

the other song which presents some interesting point is '恋はみずいろ' (koi wa mizuiro) which is actually a great masterpiece calles 'Love Is Blue' which is quite famous in the version by Paul Mauriat, and still is not an original composition by him.

meseems, I begin to love musical comparisons and I would like to provide the three versions of the song.

the original

the one by mister Paul

and unfortunately I found the Japanese version only by Abe Shizue

so I must leave Sakurada-san's version up to you

the rest of the songs by Sakurada-san are original, is I am not teerribly mistaken. I hope I am not, because the percentage of the ones I really liked is so awfully tiny. I wonder how much the person who made the advice for Momoe-san's lover to listen to Junko-san was wrong. I should admit there are some songs which seem to be quite related in terms of their style, though it seems to be inevitable to me, as they belong to the same epoch. at the same time, I cannot name the resemblance a good one. while Momoe-san eventually grew up to be a real woman though being still a girl in terms of her age, Junko-san seems to stay a careless girl, or at least she makes such an impression in her songs. they are light and cheerful, most of them are. that would be a good point, but meseems, we did not come to listen to some 2 gigabytes of the light and cheerful songs which we can not even distinguish between each other.

in general, Sakurada-san is not a singer I would give advice to listen to, as she obviously loses to Yamaguchi-san. well, this is however IMHO, and as far as I have understood, Yamaguchi-san was even less popular and prize-gaining. about that I do not care even a little, however, as I prefer the usual criteria - the presence of deep and true emotions which are obviously rare in the discography of Sakurada-san

me hast skipped too many playlists...

it turned out that me hast already heard the 'kojin jugyou' thing by misono but me didn't know it ist an old song by Momoe!
the next interesting thing ist that the song called 'cosmos - 宇宙' is not the same song as the 'kosumosu' which is actually called 'akizakura' but the piano parts art quite the same

the next tale

how me managed to encounter with Nana Kitade was a hard thing to remember. but me recalled it successfully
me was searching for bands created by seiyuus, and me remembered of Peach Hips, who were Sailormoon's seiyuus. then me started watching vids connected with the anime, and me watched a cover of 'moonlight densetsu' by Kitade. 'twas ugly, me daresay. so me thought, me would never ever listen to her other songs. BTW, she also covered 'Versailles no Bara' theme song 'bara wa utsukushiku chiru' and me should tell it didn't gain anything either from Nana's rough voice and rockish background. it sounds much better in the original version with soft voice and calm back
however, what changed my mind was the lolita trend of Nana-san. me likes her look in 'slave of kiss' especially.
still the song mentioned is not what me likes most among Nana's songs.
let me state firstly, that Nana-san belongs to that rare breed whose songs do not only fail to improve with time, but even lose their quality and uniqueness.
as for your humble servant, he got used to the opposite trend when the first albums are experimental and representing the process of performers development searching the most suitable style of 'em, while the later ones seem much more mature.
secondly, me wants to say me shall not review every single song of Nana-san. 'tis quite unnecessary and a waste of time.
the first single was 'kesenai tsumi' and though me doesn't like it too much, the main song was a FMA theme song, if you understand what me is speaking about. that is a significant fact, me daresay.
then we have 'utareru ame' which is also great, and the 'b-sides' are also good, especially the 'utakata' called one.
me also liked 'call me' of the next single 'kanashimi no kizu' though the main song of the single was not too outstanding.
let me tell you that 'pureness' was also a theme song for a shounen. coupled with the previously mentioned anime, this fact gives us an impression of Nana-san as a slightly tomboyish and strong girl, with a clearly distinguished j-rock style.
the album 'eighteen' was the best. it included the songs me named and also the greatest masterpiece of Nana-san called 'rasen' which means 'spiral'. the line 'these thoughts only draw a spiral' in the chorus made me believe in the strong feelings there were in the song, while the words generally matched the mood of the melody itself, making the song quite sincere and credible.
then we have the covers album which left no particular impression (so that me believes the originals were cooler) and some other songs which were also nothing to me.
the album 'I scream' (the name is a play on the word 'ice-cream' as me honourable guests may understand from the cover presenting Nana-san with the sweet thing on her face) provided me with an only song me liked - that is 'm'aider'. quite disappointing...
then we come to the 'Antoinette blue' single. as wikipedia tell us, 'the title is a reference to Marie Antoinette, who was famous for having a grey-blue diamond ring'. me is reading SP at the moment so me was really interested in Marie Antoinette, and me was hoping to hear something decent but the song proved to be just disgusting. the usual female-j-rock-would-be-pop-but-too-heavy-for-it ways and nothing in particular. me also managed to know the song was the D.Gray-man's theme song. they make a pair.
that is how me hate for Kitade started growing in the depth of me soul, for that she lost her style and strength.
what follows the single is a number of pretty useless and uninteresting songs, which me doesn't remember the names of. me only payed attention to 'lamia' which has a gothic mood, and also 'ehter' and 'under babydoll' which go in the same stream, the latter being really good, like a sunray through the cloud. 'lamia' however was spoiled by Nana-san's screaming in the end which is not really adding any charm to the song and to be honest sound like something odd, though me understands her attentions.
Kitade then joined the band Loveless, which is some... noise-pop-rock or what? well since 'tis noise, we hear mainly noise in the songs, and me can't say anything good 'bout 'em.
me should also mention Nana-san hasn't released any singles from 2009 but for the Loveless EP. methinks 'tis for the better as me is not willing to listen to her gothic experiments anymore.

a comparison

me finally found the strength to watch other interpretations of 'Scarlet Pimpernel' than the Zuka's.
the first one is of the year of grace 1982. the second is of the 1934
the first one was a great delight. the second was a disappointment.
the first one is British and 'tis comparatively new. the second is American and 'tis black'n'white.
the first one combined the 'SP' book itself with that of 'Eldorado' showing the brightness of the skills to design a new plot of those screenplay writers and the director. the second followes the book to the letter in some details, such as singing Percy entering the house of Brogart in France, but changes the other details so that Margo's connections with Cyr are quite the opposite and the behaviour of Percy is sometimes simply in contradiction with what they were in the book, that can bee noticed by an unaided eye while they speak in the cabinet somewhere in the middle of the movie
the first one was full of true feelings. the second presents a mere effort to create something real.
the first one is that me could believe. the second one was just a show.
let your humble servant try to explain.
sir Anthony Andrews was not too handsome, as me dares to think. still he was the best choice I could imagine. so full of gallantry, so noble and firm. and the eyes were the greatest. those eyes betrayed his every emotion, his adoration for Marguerite, his sadness when he knew her possible betrayal, his hope when she came to his cell. his accent changed when he was serious and when he was playing the part of the idle fop. he was the best, and me will be ever firm in this conviction.
some said madam Jane Seymour isn't that suitable for the part of Marguerite. she isn't, that me can agree, as she has brown hair and looks a bit older that Marguerite was. real Marguerite had the hair of the colour of gold and blue eyes and childlike face, as my honourable guests may remember. apart from this me cannot blame Jane for that she failed in portraying the loving woman in happiness and sorrow.
me cannot say anything for the others, as me didn't pay enough attention to them, but they were credible enough, otherwise me would notice.
as for Chauvelin, he's much more of a human than he is in the book, and there's some feeling in his heart for Marguerite, which could even be called as love by someone, though me doesn't like the variant quite much.
when we proceed to the American old movie, we see an arrogant Margo who is just too proud of her beauty that she is even not capable of casting her pride away to seem tender and cute. her words to her husband are all insincere, her intonation doesn't indicate any of her feelings and her look never changes so we are only to guess that we see the Margo grieving. sir Percy is not much better in terms of verisimilitude. he's trying hard to do something close to what is necessary not able to do it the way we don't notice his efforts. and those are in vain. just a semblance of that famous smile, that fire in the eyes... self-admiration we can see in the movie, nothing more.
all the happenings seem to be in a great hurry and the jokes, however clever and sophisticated, never made me laugh. there's everything we need to be in a complete admiration for the 1934 movie, and still me is not. so disgusting me finds it that me could hardly watch it to the end...
there are so many lines and situations that are exactly the same in the 1934 version and in the 1982 version. my dear visitors may compare those parts themselves if only they pay a little attention to the movies. the obvious conclusion would be, methinks, that the lines in the old version are simply lines while there is a whole universe of feelings in those spoken by sir Anthony and lady Jane
considering the ending of both films, 'tis quite different from that of the book and methinks that's a pity. though 'tis not very spectacular 'tis rather interesting and quite worthy of being presented in a movie
me would like to state that the series of 1998 seem that far from the original and the actors are that unsuitable that me will never waste me time for that 'piece of art'.
the conclusion is, that the 1982's version is much better than the others, though there are obvious changes in the plot. still what is that you want to see, my dear guests? is it the frame, the skeleton, the plot itself, just a ghost of the book? or is it the true people whose sufferings and happiness were tangible to the extent you can touch 'em?