#but im much more interested in exploring the oddities of his physical form as he is in canon

[orcelito]

Surprisingly not that into the "uncanny Vash" trend. Bc like while I am an unrepentant monsterfucker & I LOVE when he gets super inhuman in appearance. A lot of these "uncanny vash" things just... don't feel like him. It feels like knock-off horror portrayals slapped onto his face.

For the ones that actually work with what he is, I LOVE it. But the ones that r just trying to make him some unrelated horror caricature... I'm just not into it.

[dantereviews]

Anime Review: Kizumonogatari

8.5/10

Kizumonogatari is the latest installment of the long-running Monogatari series, featuring Koyomi Araragi, the young man who following a mysterious incident is left part vampire, and then continues to encounter supernatural oddities that he feels compelled to help resolve. The cult hit series written by Nisio Isin has had a divisive effect on the anime community. Animated by studio Shaft, the series is praised for its strong, unusual visuals and extremely cute girls, but also lambasted as too long, too much based on obscure japanese word-play and as a shallow harem show. All of these are true, and like almost everything in life it comes down to personal preference. 

Kizumonogatari is a three episode OVA, each part coming in at about one hour. The story here is the origin story of Araragi, detailing his original meeting with the mysterious vampire Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade and how they came to be in the precarious situation of dependence they exist under for the rest of the series. Its one of the odd quirks of the series that the release order for the anime seasons in no way resembles the chronological order of events, but alas. If you’re maybe looking to get into Monogatari, it could be worth looking for a fan guide on the chronological order to make it more comprehensible. 

Now to actually review the damn thing. I’ve given it a high score, and the best part of the weight for that comes from the visuals and direction. Im not an expert on animation or Shaft’s style in particular, but when watching this OVA, and even regular Monogatari seasons I’m just absolutely struck by the beauty and composition of shots. Long tracking shots across busy streets, wide fields contrasting with industrial backdrops as the wind blows across the flora, great framing and character animations. Even the action is animated well, with the lovely gore splashing everywhere and the creative take on what happens when superhuman vampires go at it. This show really has it all in terms of visuals for me, I just love when a show takes the risk of showing long takes in usual framing and lighting. Kizumonogatari’s animation is really very solid, the characters always look very clean and defined and the character design itself is almost perfect, one of the many reasons why so many fanboys draw their waifu from this series. All the girls (and the guys) have a clear style and are drawn to be idealized versions of their archetypes. I can really understand becoming attached to these characters based only on the designs, they’re just so recognizable and beautiful. 

But while the character designs are great, the characters themselves are less so. Being an idealized version of the sharp-tongued princess type, or the dutiful and loyal class president type and so on gives you a good base to develop further, but I feel like the characters in Monogatari dont ever develop enough to call them actually relatable. In this OVA series our two female leads are Kiss-shot and Hanekawa (known as bat and cat in the community due to the nature of their supernatural oddities). Hanekawa from the start is strangely interested in the protagonist and has no hesitation displaying her bountiful features to the camera at any time. It feels like the story wants her to be the human element in Araragi’s existential dilemma but the way shes comes off is a handy fanservice machine and waifu candidate. Kiss-shot has physical development as she changes forms regenerating her power throughout the OVA, but too much screen time is given to Hanekawa and exploring the start of that relationship, when I was mainly interested in the origins of Kiss-shot and explorations of her character that has been explored so little through the rest of the series. Kiss-shot gets a few monologues in the third part, but is sadly underused overall. I’ve omitted Araragi himself from this character assessment so far, but really his character isnt the most important. His personality is one we’ve seen before - a good guy who gets caught up in a crazy situation where he just wants to do the right thing. Hes fine enough as a lead, but I’ve always felt hes better as the straight man to the crazy antics of the ladies in the series rather than the main man.

Where the series has always shone is in the witty dialog, fanservice and expressive reactions by the characters, and its the same here. Hanekawa and Araragi have some real chemistry that persists even after some very awkward anime cliche lines in the second part. It helps that shes often the focus of the camera’s perverted gaze, and Hanekawa has the chops to attract and hold that attention. Some of the little comedic sequences around her fanservice are excellent, like the scene where she shows Araragi her panties and the 2001 Thus Spake Zarathustra music comes on and we cut to the sun rising over planet earth. Just great visual humour combined with excellently drawn fanservice, which could be the tagline for Monogatari itself. Or in part 3, when Araragi facetiously demands to feel her monstrous bosom and she accepts, the scene goes to Araragi’s fantasy of sadistically making her beg for it, which was masterfully sexy while also revelling in their odd relationship dynamic. Kiss-shot, who goes through a wild ride of transformations, is drawn amazingly at every level. In her voluptuous full power adult form shes larger than life, perfectly sculpted and amazonian in stature. As a weakened child version shes devastatingly cute, expressing youthful glee and childlike vulnerability. Her transformations as she regains her strength are just as well done. 

One of the great strengths of Kizumonogatari is the sheer joy it takes in itself. Someone else may see it as excess, but the way Araragi is so pumped about patting cute child Kiss-shot’s head just perfectly reflects my own feelings about her. The way Araragi is so pumped to see Hanekawa’s body perfectly reflects my own feelings. When the vampire shit goes down and it gets real we get such a strong sense of his fear and hysterical confusion, and when he finally starts to make use of his vampire strength we feel all of his rising power and the emotional fire behind it. Really the fact that Araragi is such an everyman is a huge asset to the show, it makes it really easy to project on to him. 

But the main idea here is that some shows are clearly just made to fill a hole in the market. This is the season’s big action shounen show. This is the slice of life comedy. But rarely do those shows have a real pleasure in themselves, a delight that they are doing this thing they love. I get the sense that Kizumonogatari is made by people that love what they are doing. The care put into all the details and the honest (if exaggerated) emotions are clear to see and it makes the product shine. I loved the visuals and the humour, and even the shallow parts of it were entertaining in their way. Its not a dramatic masterpiece, but it does have a good heart. Supported by such lovely visuals, I cant help but have some love for this. Im giving it a strong 8.5 out of 10, and a hearty recommendation to check it out and see if you agree with me or not.