, so I decided to watch (or, in Kizumonogatari's case, *read*, since it's really quite important to the plot, but the movie adaptation hasn't been produced yet 
) the rest of it as well, in the order that the novels were published.Which means the next one I watched (after reading Kizu, that is) was Nisemonogatari-- which was mostly a 'meh' for me.
It didn't really 'feel' like Bake much of the time, for one thing; and, for another, there was a whole lot more fanservice/etc. (and Bake already had plenty enough of that to go around in the first place, IMHO 
). I'd heard that this was the (pretty much universally) least-liked part of the Monogatari series, and I can certainly see why-- the extra fanservice did kind-of overpower the story and even the trademark dialogue a number of times. 
Still, once past that now-rather-obnoxious-level of fanservice 
, the underlying plot (...when it actually appeared 
) *was* an intriguing-- and ultimately necessary-- part of Monogatari as a whole, as it served to introduce the rather deliciously evil
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Kaiki, as well as the two new female onmyouji; plus of course that excellent twist with Tsukihi. There were also some nice developments between Araragi and Shinobu (though unfortunately most of that did occur during one of the more gratuitous fanservice sequences ... and it also probably doesn't make much sense unless you already knew what happened in Kizu {...insert more complaints about that movie not being done yet here }), as well as Araragi and Senjougahara. <3 And it did have a great finale. Despite those good points, though, I have to say that if Bakemonogatari is difficult to recommend (as Maokun describes, and I agree), Nisemonogatari is so much more so that if some of the story wasn't necessary to the later series I doubt I'd recommend it at all. ...Thankfully, however, the 4-episode OVA Nekomonogatari: Black goes right back to the formula that worked so well in Bake-- yes, the fanservice/etc. is prominent, but it's not overpowering (and, in fact, is actually surprisingly tolerable); the dialogues are the real focus once more, and are as excellent as ever; the humor is genuinely hilarious again; and the tense and serious parts are fantastic as well. In fact, in some ways I think I actually liked Neko Black even a little more than Bake!
(...Although nothing beats the Araragi x Senjougahara stuff, of course. 
)Looking forward to watching the "Second Season" now.
But I'm okay now.
Tomoya bears his heart to his father, apologizes for being a "worthless ungrateful son" and all but begs for reconciliation (mind you, he is saying all this to his first abusive then neglectful alcoholic father). And what does his dear old Dad say? He says "sure" "okay" and "thank you" like some flipping STORE CLERK! no "I'm sorry I couldn't do better for you" no "I'm sorry for bringing you down like this" not even "don't cry over someone like me" nope; just his normal polite banalities with hardly a shred of fatherly affection beyond one dispassionate pat on the head. But even that's not the worst of it; nope, not Tomoya debasing himself before his sorry excuse for a father and not his father's complete lack of repentance. What really takes the cake is what Nayouki says when Tomoya first asks him to return to his (Nayouki's) mother: Nayouki says "is it finally over?". As if he's been doing something for Tomoya for the last 6 years. Let's see what has he done in the last 6 years... drink, gamble, deal drugs, ooh! and ruin Tomoya's chance at a big job opportunity. Yep, that's our Nayuki! Always working hard for his son! I mean seriously!
), but I was aware of that beforehand, and both the story and the way it was told was well worth the occasional wince. 
And (another big plus in my book, since I'm pretty picky about endings