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Have you ever read, watched or played a piece of media that looks like it was just made for you? Everything from the story and characters that just seems to be made for you, that is Zaregoto for me.
I read all the novels, both the official translations and fan translations of the later volumes, when reading this review I want you to undertstand that one, I won't mention Nisio Isin legendary wordplay as I still don't know Japanese and have only read the english versions, two, this is a complete biased review, I love the Zaregoto series, although I ... will try to bring some criticisms, but don't expect much from that, as I love pretty much every aspect of ths LN series.
With all that said let's begin the review.

Story
Zaregoto is divided into 6 parts, separated into 9 volumes, each part tells a different story, the only thing in common between each story is that they always end with one or more characters being killed brutally and the narrator/protagonist "I" which never changes.
The plot seems simple as first, but anyone who read the books know that this series is absolutely insane, and I don't mean insanely good, I mean genuinely insane. It feels like the story was made by a lunatic, this is due to two factors, Zaregoto incredibly unpredictable narrative and how it will constantly try to break readers expectations and do the exact opposite of what you are waiting, the series begins in a way and ends in a complete different way, it's an extremely frustating plot to read, and I love it.
There is something really enjoyable and even comical abouut seeing everything going crazy and ending in a really anti-climatic way, the books are made with the intention of being almost like some sort of twisted joke. I really like the story, but I have to say that it can be overwhelming at times and also it's not something everyone will enjoy.

Art
The art of Zaregoto is strangely simple and cartoonish, which works as a contrast to the fairly dark stuff that happens in the books. It's all very bubbly and cute, which gives you a feeling like there is something wrong, strangely enough even though it's an LN there are no illustrations of images that show what is happening, rather it's all characters illustrations, speaking of which.

Characters
Zaregoto series is character driven right from the get go, the min focus of Zaregoto is always on the charceters and their conversations, this series is a master of characterizing characters and make them feel distinct and unique, almost all characters are memorable in a fun way, all of them with unique quirks and individualitys that makes them fun to see.
I have lots of favorites, the talakative serial killer Hitoshiki Zerozaki, be the creepy, but happy-go-lucky genius Tomo Kunagisa, and others, but the highlight is definitely the main charcater "I". "I" is without a doubt my favorite charcter of all time, his narration is amazing, being a mix of sarcarsm, nihilism and self-deprication, he is the perfect view point character for a series that focus on the absurd and insane, and his character journey throughout the books is phenomenal.

This series marked me, and is something I would like everyone to read, that is how good this book series is, and I can only hope that the next books can be officially translated soon so that everyone can enjoy this bizzare, insane series that is sheer, but beautiful nonsense.

Bakemonogatari, or better saying, the Monogatari series is overall my favorite animated series of all time, having said, it´s probably also one of the weirdest and most bizzare series of all time.

Nisio Isin brain child, Monogatari is from the get go not your typical anime, rather than most supernatural anime series, this one isn't focus on fighting monsters or paranormal powers, rather its a dialogue based series that really can't exactly fit in any type of conventional genre, you can say it's a fanservice show, or maybe a thriller, or even a horror anime in a way, it plays with so many genres that it ... can become a hassle to describe or even to reccomend to people, some people hate the unconventional atemporal and heavy dialogue story, I am someone that falls heavily into the love category.

I am going to try and explain why, while also reviewing the first part of the series that is Bake, this will be a confusing rambling from a guy that just loves a show, so for the ones that are going to read everything I can only say bare with me and I hope I can correespond to your expectations.

Spoiler Alert, proceed with caution, watch the anime before reading this

If you were to summarize the story in a dumb way it would be "Araragi Koyomi is a normal highschooler that constantly gets wrapped up in supernatural problems, also he is a vampire, also all the time he has to save people from it, normally girls, also he is a pervert", this explanation although not exactly wrong does a disservice in regards to the writing on the show, which is in one word, brilliant.
Araragi at first seems like your generic harem anime protagonist, when in actually he is way more deeper than that, same goes for all the characters, the tsundere, the perfect girl, the loli, the tomboy, etc.

All the girls are introduced perfectly through her arcs, each one talking about how they met Araragi, who serves as an observer and narrator of these girls stories, as he tries to help them with their problems, normally involving oddities/apparitions, supernatural beings that reflect each girl state of mind.
Hitagi apparition is a weight crab, who in her most vulnerable state decided to make a deal with it to take all of her weight, both physical and emotional, so that she could stop feeling anything in realtion her mother, and it takes the form of a crab since she literally creates a shell around her to make her not appear vulnerable in front of people, the same goes for the other girls, the best part however besides the heavy symbolism, is Araragi himself.

Araragi is an unreliable narrator, who is constantly exaggerating facts, like making Senjougahara falling down the stairs seen like a magical, almost divine happening, while ignoring things he consider unimportant, like te people that should walk through the streets, but are never seen cause Araragi doesn't care about them and find them unimportant, or that he just doesn't want to talk about it, like his whole backstory of when he became a vampire, or just passing fast through the happenings of golden week and not telling the whole story.

This is made even better with the visuals that capture the nonsenssical nature of Araragi narration, by making locations very abstract and trippy, to an exagerrated degree, the visual presentation and direction makes it all feel so metaphorical and trippy, like if you're watching someone dreams.

Bakemonogatari has a total of five arcs, each one narrating the story of a different girl, with them being the central character, here is my opinion on each arc:

Hitagi Crab: it introduces all of the key characters in this season while telling a story about a girl who completely shut herself off from other people and how she warms up to the kindness of a boy who was just trying to help, it's only two episodes, but it compesates with extremely good dialogue, well paced story, and being the perfect introduction of the weird ride that is Monogatari.

Mayoi Snail: if the arc before focus on the importance of friendship and how to deal with trauma, this one focus on familial reçationships with a girl that is physically and emotionally lost after her own death, where she can't find her place in the world while wondering without purpose, once more it's shown how everything she nedded was someone to point her the right way, this arc is more of a slow burner, more focus on the witty banter between Araragi and Hachikuji, while also delivering Senjougahara love confession to Araragi and starting the long last relationship between the two, which is one of the main focus of this season, being one of the highlights for me.

Suruga Monkey: This arc talks about inner demons and how we should be careful with our own emotions and wishes or they can make a turn for the worse, Kanbaru is an emotional unstable girl that ends up making a literal deal with a devil in order to be close to the person she loves while killing her current boyfriend and object of hate, this arc is the first one where there is actual action, and Monogatari don't hold punches when it comes to gore, this is one of the weakest for me cause Kanbaru is sort of weak in comparison to Mayoi and Hitagi as characters, rather the main appeal of this arc was Araragi, as we see how far he is willing to go to save someone, which is really sad to see.

Nadeko Snake: the weakest arc of the season, mainly due to the fact that Nadeko is the most cliche character of the show so far, not showing much depth outside of "Koyomi onii-chan", however it does have some interesting moments, like Araragi trying to save someone he barely even knows, and worse, being the main responsible for Nadeko curse that almost killed her, but other than that it´s pretty mid, not holding much story depth as the other arcs.

Tsubasa Cat: ignoring the snake arc, this arc is a resolution to everything we see so far, this time with Hanekawa, the perfect class rep as the main victim and villain, she is the manifestation of all the girls that we've seen so far, she closed her true feelings off like Senjougahara, is completely lost and don't know what to do like Mayoi, and it's struggling to keep her inner demons in check like Kanbaru, she is the final boss of the series, representing how far someone is willing to go so they can escape from facing their own problems, the arc concludes ina fantastic way, with Araragi learning to be aware of his relationships and to ask for help whe he needs it.

Overall bakemonogatari is extremely solid, but I believe bake truly shines as an introduction and set up to everything that is to come for the next seasons, and it truly makes me happy that this is such a good first entry into a fantastic series.
7 or 8/10