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SYNOPSIS
In the spring of his second year of high school, Koyomi Araragi met the beautiful vampire Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade. Koyomi saved Kiss-shot, who was on the verge of death with all four of her limbs cut off, but only at the expense of becoming her minion and a vampire. "In order to go back to being a human again, you must take back all of Kiss-shot's limbs." After receiving advice from Meme Oshino, an expert in the supernatural, Koyomi prepares to go into battle. Awaiting him are three powerful vampire hunters—Dramaturgy, a giant vampire hunter who is a vampire himself. Episode, a half-vampire who wields an enormous cross, and Guillotinecutter, a quiet man who specializes in killing vampires. Will Koyomi be able to take back Kiss-shot's limbs from the vampire hunters? Amidst the soft spring rain, the curtain rises on this fateful blood bath…
- Visuals & Animation - The visuals of the movie as usual were absolutely stunning. Just a quick description of how a character looks in the LN does not match up to seeing their faces change in the movie or all the little visual gags that the Monogatari series as an anime, is famous for.
- Music - The music in this movie stuck out more to me as well as the general sound effects. I'll definitely be getting the soundtrack when it comes out.
- Hanekawa - I think one of the greatest strengths of this movie was how it shaped the story to be around Araragi and Hanekawa. While the book itself just keeps going like normal, the movie takes the events and plays them out well enough that it feels like an independent continuation. If the first movie was something like the introduction, this second movie was about the relationship between Hanekawa and Araragi. There's a lot of the lines that really just carry a lot of meeting between their relationship later in the series from his dedication to her, to her constant perfection. Kiss-Shot didn't play as much of a role in this story as she was mostly just a light advice character in this movie.
- Voice Acting - The VA work is as amazing as usual. I think one of the things that actually stuck out to me surprisingly enough was Kiss-Shot's adult voice after she got back her other leg. I think it's probably my favorite stage of her "age" considering her character design and her voice.
Story
I would like to dedicate this section mostly to NISIOISIN (original story writer). In terms of plot development, Kizumonogatari shows the abilities of both the author of the novel and the animation studio to portrait a story that will serve either as an introduction to the series (as it is chronologically the first arc), a proper explanation to the events preceding many seasons if watched by release order, and a stand-alone story.
"And how is it specifically related to Kizumonogatari II? Aren't you talking about the whole 3 movies?" you might ask me, and the answer is: Nekketsu-hen is the most important part if watched as a stand-alone movie trilogy. Kizumonogatari I had the most unmemorable events of the series (excepting the first minutes), while Kizumono II, on the other hand, was packed with action from literally the first to the last minute, making it the most relevant movie of the trilogy. However, the importance of Nekketsu-hen does not rely solely on whether you watch Kizumonogatari as a stand-alone movie trilogy.
Nekketsu-hen was not a perfect adaptation of the novels (which I read after watching the anime), but it was thrilling enough to call it excellent. NISIOISIN did a great work writing Kizumonogatari, and Shaft did a better one by portraying such a tale and action-packed scenes without hesitating to make their mark on the project. On the other hand, Nekketsu-hen let us meet a serious, distressed version of our comical, carefree protagonist, Araragi Koyomi, but let us discuss that in the characters section.
Characters
In the beginning, Koyomi might feel off in contrast to his personality in the TV series, but you get to understand the reason for his stiffness as you watch the movie. After all, Nekketsu-hen is about Koyomi Vamp.
Stressed out and afraid yet hopeful, Araragi continues his Golden Week journey to take back the limbs of his master and, thus, become human again.
I want to emphasize the fact that Koyomi shows his true self in this movie, and it is something one cannot possibly overlook. As the title of this review indicates, Koyomi is between being a human and a vampire—undead. In an impulse of desperation towards going back to regain his humanity, our protagonist desperately does the impossible to defeat Dramaturgy, Episode, and Guillotine Cutter—who had previously ripped off Kiss-shot’s limbs. By the actions of Koyomi, one can easily infer how much he wanted to go back to being human, showing the change he went through to become the Araragi we all know.
Ironically, in Nekketsu-hen—whose protagonist is Koyomi Vamp—one can see the most human version of Koyomi.
On the other hand, regarding Hanekawa, I would like to conceal part of my thoughts in order to avoid spoilers. However, it is important to mention that Nekketsu-hen does explain why Araragi, a normal student who avoids people; and Hanekawa, who knows everything—no, rather she knows what she knows—got to become close friends. Along with Nekomonogatari, Nekketsu-hen shows Miss Class Rep on her full.
About the cold-blooded yet hot-blooded Kiss-shot Acerola-Orion Heart-under-blade, Memé Oshino, and the three antagonists of the story—Dramaturgy, Episode, and Guillotine Cutter—I will let to you discover what hides behind their personalities and actions.
Animation
In this section, I would like to include: creativity, art style, soundtrack, and animation quality. Also, this is going to be the most subjective section of the review, as the arguments, I justify my rating upon might draw away from what other people take into account to rate anime.
The Kizumonogatari movie trilogy is the best anime movie I have seen so far when it comes to animation. Furthermore, it made me fall in love with Shaft’s style, which is creative and one-of-a-kind. However, I am not here to convince you that Kizumonogatari II is the anime with the best animation.
Nekketsu-hen has nothing to envy its prequel; actually, it is the other way around, it shows a better animation quality and amazing scenes combining CG backgrounds and well-detailed 2D characters. Also, as I mentioned before, Shaft took some freedom to put their mark on this project and give us not only a Kizumonogatari adaptation; this is Shaft’s Kizumonogatari.
The novel was indeed great, but the anime is a totally different experience that managed to best the source material (not contradicting my affirmation about how Kizumono is not a perfect adaptation of the novel as not-well-adapted does not necessarily mean bad). Shaft’s creative style is present, and they will make you know it.
As you enter Nekketsu-hen, the point in the story finally building upon the concepts of humanity and selflessness, where we finally get to the real fight scenes of the movies, it's a little bit hard to shake the feeling that it's constantly, if subtly, off. It's easy to miss the first watch, and if you can brush this feeling aside and enjoy it you'll totally and fully love it anyway. But it feels a bit barebones and skimping on key moments that result in a wobbly progression throughout.
The mark of a good adaptation is being able to change source content or adapt it oddly to fit the medium, but in a way that feels not only natural but easy to immediately love it. Even if it sticks out, you still love it anyway. (See; the constant flash card cut-ins and outs.) In the first movie, there were moments that felt like they were handled in a noticeably different way. But because it fit in with the overall tone of the movie and its relaxed flow, it felt natural to enjoy or even like. This movie does it at points, but even then, because of the weird and uneven flow and story beats, it just feels way off.
Dramaturgy is perhaps the most noticeable example. It's hard to get a clear sense of what his character is, since he's noble and rational even if it's not seen much. You get the sense that there's something critical missing that ties in the themes together (and indeed, there are some stuff missing that some may call critical). After he is defeated, there is no more ruminating about him. He was merely an obstacle.
This wouldn't be a problem if the story was trying to make clear parallels and conflicts for each fight. Koyomi Araragi, a human turned vampire, facing off against a vampire, a half-vampire, and a human, all hunting vampires. The way it is all set up to test Araragi's humanity and his conviction (the Guillotinecutter fight is where all the conflicts get tested in an amazingly-done scene). It falls flat because each time, we miss some context that explains the hunters' goals and motivations. As great as the last battle is, we only get a hint of what Guillotinecutter is capable of, how much of a monster he is. The end result makes it not feel so satisfying, even if the fights are good.
The switch-off to scenes with Tsubasa Hanekawa before each fight doesn't make it any better. In the first ten minutes of the film, Araragi tries to brutally end his friendship with Hanekawa because... he wanted to feel human. With how sudden this sequence happens, everything happens too quickly and it's hard for me to understand the point. Were we supposed to think Araragi is an absolute idiot and asshole? He sort of is both but not to the extent that the scene portrays him as. Luckily, the next two Hanekawa scenes are not as bad in this department, and it feels more natural even for the kind of movie it's in.
This is why I still think this film is really good. There are moments where everything just shines and feels bright and vivid! Hanekawa admiring Araragi shirtless and making excuses to feel his abs. Hanekawa slowly roasting Araragi after finding the adult magazines Shinobu brought back. Hanekawa taking charge and shocking Araragi in the fields in her third scene. Even in the fights there's fantastic moments. Episode's cheesy yet hearty laughter interjecting itself visually during the first half of the fight sells him for me. The baby noises during the moments where Araragi figures out his body parts can regenerate. Guillotinecutter's cold, sadistic laughing when he believes he's already won. It saves what's otherwise an uneven and therefore so-so film.
Special mention to the soundtrack and animation here. The animation gets more adapted to portray fights well, so even in the most gloomy unexciting moments (like Araragi attempting to throw baseballs into Dramaturgy's face, or during sections of Araragi avoiding Episode's cross weapon) it manages to feel fresh. Meanwhile, with the soundtrack, there are climaxes of songs and even brief moments of stuff like intros and bridges, the action or visuals sync up to the music. Even in the calmer scenes with Hanekawa, it manages to hit each mark and strengthen the bond these characters have. It can capture moments better than any monologue can. The absolute best moment musically is when Araragi succumbs to his vampire powers against Guillotinecutter, the Drum and Bass music pounding away as he loses control. The visuals of him tearing up the streets sell it; it's as over-the-top as it needs to be.
In conclusion, I give Kizumonogatari II a 93/100 as it is an anime with a thrilling story with interesting characters under the name of a notorious animation studio, who did their best to convey the tale of a skillful novel author. This is the story of a hot-blooded vampire who does the impossible to regain his humanity. This is Nekketsu-hen.
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