G-4rce Anime Reviews: Kizumonogatari

WARNING: This review will contain spoilers

Alright, time for me to get back in the game...

MyAnimeList Reception (Tekketsu-hen) 8.44
Ranked #135
(Nekketsu-hen) 8.75
Ranked #37
(Reiketsu-hen) 8.92
Ranked #18


Do you know how long I had to wait for that third part to release? Jesus...

Okay, so if you read my review on Bakemonogatari I wrote a year ago, you would know my love for the Monogatari series. This anime is very bizarre and unique on its own, and I really enjoy it. The writing and story direction is so powerful. For a while, though, I've been waiting to watch all three parts of Kizumonogatari, which is a prequel to the entire series. It tells the story of how Araragi became part vampire, how he met Oshino Meme, and a majority of it explains his relationship with Shinobu. It's basically the part that puts the final pieces to the puzzle of this amazing anime series, so how well does it do? It does way better than I ever thought it could.

For starters, I'll point out that the animation is different from the rest of the series. It's much more rough and hand-drawn. For fast-paced action scenes, this style looks fantastic and the blood animation is probably some of the best I've seen in any anime. The comic relief in the anime is common Monogatari fanservice style, except there are a lot less scenes like this than usual. This trilogy concentrated more on its story. The third part of the trilogy had the longest comic relief scene of all three films. Many people were reluctant about this scene as it was deterring from the seriousness of the plot, but I'm sure that scene was thrown in there to remind viewers that this IS Monogatari. Ongoing fanservice comes with the territory.

Kizumonogatari (which means "wounded story" in English) is split into three 90-minute films, each having their own name: Iron Blood (Tekketsu-hen), Hot Blood (Nekketsu-hen), and Cold Blood (Reiketsu-hen). It is a prequel to the entire series of Monogatari, explaining Koyomi Araragi's beginnings with the supernatural world. It all began where Araragi meets Shinobu the vampire, formerly known by a ridiculously long name that is easy to memorize, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. Araragi finds Kiss-Shot lying with both legs and one arm severed from her body in an empty subway station. As she is succumbing to her wounds, Kiss-Shot bluntly explains to Araragi that she needs to drink his blood in order for her to live. Being completely frightened by just the sight of a vampire lying on the floor in a bloody mess, Araragi freaks out and runs away. Although, him being the kindhearted person who wants to help those in need, Araragi makes the choice that changes his entire life. He willingly gives Kiss-Shot his blood and accepts his death. Yet, Araragi does not die. He becomes a full vampire and Kiss-Shot lives as the small girl we know in the series. Araragi wishes to become a human again, but he first has to retrieve all three of Kiss-Shot's severed limbs from a trio of vampire hunters in order for her to regain her full power. Thus afterwards, Araragi faces major challenges in order to regain his humanity again.

The first part of the trilogy is like the kickstarter. It gets everything set up for the rest of the hype. The next two parts are when things get hype. There are battles and merciless violence, especially in the third part where Araragi faces off against Kiss-Shot herself. I can't walk away from this review without talking about that fight. That final battle was gloriously gory and intense as Kiss-Shot and Araragi continued to trade brutal shots with each other, popping off each others heads, severing each other's limbs, and even making each other explode into pieces. Again, if you read my review on Bakemonogatari, you would know that vampires in this series can regenerate any injury, no matter how lethal (the vampire hunters had a specific way of keeping Kiss-Shot from healing when they removed her limbs). The final battle was brutally gorgeous and not for a weak stomach. The animation also played a major role in these scenes. As I said before, the blood animation is unfairly good and the frames are on point. Movement animation and camera placement were excellent in every aspect of the action scenes. This anime also has another good soundtrack, except, to my disappointment, some of the best songs were a bit too short, like Millennial Tree, which was played at the end of Nekketsu-hen.

Overall, this trilogy was utterly fantastic in every single aspect. The animation, the action, the comedy, the story, the characters... everything. It's simply flawless that I'm now going to make a decision that will change my views on anime...

Overall Score 10/10:
I'm now officially moving Hunter x Hunter 2011 over to the side. After watching this, the Monogatari series is now my #1 favorite anime of all time. This anime is ridiculously good. The main reason I love it so much is because there's no way anyone else can match its style. Monogatari is 100% unique from any anime you will ever watch in your entire life. It's almost as if this series mocks the common style of other anime. This will be my last review for the Monogatari series, as I don't want to repeat myself when I review all of the other parts of the series. You all know what's up. This is a series that you must see before you die. Out of all of the parts in the Monogatari series, Kizumonogatari was undoubtedly the best one yet.

I'm working on other reviews right now, so stay tuned if you want to see more :)

Comments

Great review! - Absolite