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Cliffnotes for this review: if you haven't seen Bakemonogatari, go watch that, then move onto Nisemonogatari before the fever wears off. If you have seen Bake, Nise is more of the same with triple fanservice.

(Eps seen: 7/11)

Nisemonogatari, like its forebear, Bakemonogatari, tends to cast a charm on you. So far, I've really been enjoying this, but more in a guilty fanservice way than anything else.

For the uninitiated, Nisemonogatari is essentially a bunch of dialog set to different, stylized backgrounds. Usually they are talking about supernatural curses that beautiful local girls tend to fall prey to, and then they help that person in some semi-shintoey way. ... Due to the dialog based storytelling, very little would be lost in the plot if this were a book-on-tape as opposed to an anime.

The artwork itself is stunningly pretty, but I feel at this point that it's just going through the motions. Every female character in the series leans waaaaaaay back and stretches out her neck sexily in the midst of normal conversation. (Why? Because the animators think chin-shots are hot!) What was edgy and breathtaking in Season 1 is now just ho-hum. It feels like they stopped taking chances, except for the sake of making anime-references (which are awesome when you get it) The animation as a whole has gotten so stylized and choppy that it feels more like flipping through a nudie-magazine whilst listening to that book on tape than watching an anime.

In fact, Nisegatari is one of those animes where I would slam my laptop shut if anyone walked in the door. Bakegatari, on the other hand, is not. While Bakegatari readily addresses the cast's raging hormones (who doesn't appreciate a grope or two?) Nisegatari often borders on soft porn.

All those criticisms aside, the character development in this series is enthralling, mostly because Bakemonogatari already did the footwork to make you love them. (I just don't like Araragi's sisters. I don't really know them from the more demure Bakegatari and they just aren't working for me under Nisegatari's hyper-sexualized lens)

For all the other characters in Araragi's harem, my response is a deep, bellowing, YES! They all develop, change, and show other facets of themselves, all while the camera flashes back and forth between their boobs and upskirt views.

I must also mention that the sound has improved in this iteration. Bakemonogatari's music was so quirky that it got repetitive quite quickly.

In short, I really like this, in the way I liked Higurashi-Rei, as fluffy bonus material. It didn't really hit the mark for me as a sewwious continuation of the original, despite it's attempts to do so.

If you liked Bake, watch Nise. If you hated Bake, skip this, you're not missing much. If you didn't watch Bake, go do it because absolutely nothing will make sense in Nise.

I enjoyed Hourou Musuko a lot, actually. It was really refreshing, since it is sweet and innocent, but not juvenile and filled with slapstick, like other anime portraying schoolchildren.

Story: 3/10 The story really drew me in, and it isn't a bad story per se, just not really executed well. Here's the thing. The pacing is slow...very slow....but starts in the middle and makes lurching jumps in time. Dropping stuff from manga is OK with me, but not when characters bring those other story-lines up with no explanation of where they came from. I don't need to be spoon-fed, all I'm saying is that this anime ... isn't a coherent whole. There's always that niggling thought that "Maybe that made sense in the manga, or in the bonus scenes" But as far as I'm concerned, that really detracted from my overall experience. Also, repetitive plot arcs. In only 13 episodes. Hghnngn

Character: 9/10 This is where Hourou really shines. The characters in the middle school all have such interesting relationships, and so much awkward sexual tension ^^(Cute!). I like how they're just trying to live their lives, not bare their souls through exposition. It's really hard to figure the characters out. Most of the time, they really can't figure themselves out, but their growth feels realistic and plausible. (At least where the plot holes don't get in the way- this happens quite a bit with secondary characters. I felt myself asking, 'Who the heck is that and why should I care about them?' I feel like many secondary characters could have been cut)

Art: 9/10 VERY cute. I didn't get tired of the characters cute round faces or the muted color palette. It felt like I was watching something new and unique, but the art style wasn't so brash that it was distracting from the story.

Sound: 8/10 The voice acting is really nice. They seemed to fit really well. I guess I don't have too much to say about it. I didn't notice the sound effects and music much, so that's good, isn't it? The opening and closing themes really grew on me.

Enjoyment: 7/10 I really liked this anime because I was in the mood for it. Get ready to put on your serious face about transgender issues.

Overall: 7/10 As far as great visuals, character-driven story, and intellectual interest, this was great. It hit the nail right on the head for me. The plot holes were just too much for me to ignore, though. I feel like they could have made the story tighter and eliminated some of those loose ends.

I know this is a pretty popular student x teacher manga but I was honestly a little disappointed with this one on the whole.

Art: 9/10
As has already been said, the art is really great. It's refreshing to see those pretty closeups with angry eyes. The panels are visually stimulating and the dialog and action flows nicely. The only reason I put a nine is for personal taste in bishounen. I prefer them just a tad manlier.

Character: 8/10
The characters were done well for a light comedic romance. It's nice to have a heroine with a bad personality who regularly insults people. The neglected ... childhood friend role also has a twist because he acts more like a lead than the klutzes who are usually in that role. He is pretty much the smartest character in the story. The annoying part is how indecisive both the student AND the teacher are. The supporting characters each have a quirk and their lives revolve around the lead. A diamond in the rough is female friend Shiori Koto, whose flat affect and bizarre remarks make the manga quite enjoyable.

Story: 3/10
The story here started out great with some tounge-in-cheek commentary on manga cliche, and some promise to break out. The issue I have is that it peters out toward the end. As the story continues, personalities completely change and loose ends are hastily tied up, and of course it gives into the cliches. The ending feels a little...no, a lot unresolved, and a lot of the foreshadowing and themes from the first half come to naught. However, there are some cute flashback arcs and the slice-of-life aspect is fairly satisfying. I just feel that the author could have either pared the story down or taken a few more volumes to resolve things properly.

Enjoyment: 6/10
There are great "b'awwwww" moments here and there and very snappy dialog. As for fanservice, the author keeps it to around one kiss per volume.

Overall: 6/10
On the whole, it's a nice ride with great artwork and some comedy thrown in. Does it make a statement? Not really.