Anime 31758 Kizumonogatari Iii Reiketsu-hen Reviews Filter Check 3

Note: my native language isn't English. Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes.
Also: this is my opinion. Im not here to regulate thoughts or influence the way you look at this movie. If you loved it: great! More power to you. However, I would like you to remember that I also am entitled to having an opinion.
Also: yes, I've read the book and watched every part of the series till Owarimonogatari.

I'm planning on working this critique out a bit further sometime in the future, but for now, here is my critique of Kizumonogatari part 3.

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This movie tried too hard.

As a mild fan of the Monogatari series (mainly ... bake, Kizu 1 and the Nadeko arcs) This movie really disappoints. It tries too hard to be a work of art while also trying too hard to pander to the otaku crowd, coupled with being inconsistent with/to it's thematic messages/the rest of the series. This doesn't try to be a quirky/semi-serious movie like previous instillments in the series, and coupled with some weird directing choices I think that it hurts this movie overall, on a thematic and artistic level.

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While critiquing individual categories of this movie, I will try to bring to light my main problem with it.

Starting with the:

Art: The base animation and more experimental animation cuts were lovely. Stylistically, I liked this movie a lot. The varying styles/art design could've been used a bit more tactfully, but in the end, they both were okay. The birth imagery and the visual callbacks to the other instalments in the series were interesting, but more on the imagery later. A more questionable addition was the idea of the non-chronological shots during this movie. I get what their trying to do with the idea of the unreliable narrator and the nuances between story and plot, but it was really hit or miss. It was a bit too overused.

the imagery: in my opinion, it was mediocre.
The shots constantly try to evoke underlying thematic deepness, which is unachievable with the:

1. inconsistent tone throughout the movie (first being about the choice between humanity and vampirism, then about the worth of a human life, then about sex, etc. Stick to one theme. Meanwhile it also tried to be otaku-ish with the close to rape scene of Hanekawa which was played off like comedy and was drawn to look very sexual, obviously for bait , while also dangling the message in front of us that hunger is comparable to indulging into someone sexually. This isn't the original series where sexual imagery was just a thing, and the constant popping up of it conveyed the themes of puberty, hormones and sexuality.)

2. wonky shot compositions (no film-school theory applied, except to the colour design)

3. hyperactive (enological) cutting, and scenes that drag on for too long, which prevents a consistent theme from developing in a scene.

This isn't The end of evangelion where the characters can actually support the imagery because of their realism; the characters in the Monogatari series are archetypes of harem anime; just a bit more developed ones.


However, it wasn't all too bad, because it sometimes did the imagery well. A great example is the first scene, where the positions of Araragi and Oshino, the cutting, the shot of the hallway behind them, the lenght of the shots and the color design really complimented each other well to make an engaging, atmospheric, and thematic scene.


Sound: good voice acting. Soundtrack was meh compared to the first and second movie, sound design was okay. Nothing special but not bad.
A thing which irritated me a lot was the amount of dialogue; unlike the first and second movie, this one was very strong on dialogue. Why would you add in a lot of dialogue in a film? It doesn't add to the tone here, (In the original Bake it added to the quirkiness, which wasn't as apparent here as there.) and weakens the effect of the more strongly staged scenes/shots. There is no reason you should have any advantages watching this over reading this because of the amount of info-dumping and dialogue, unlike the first 2 movies.


Character and story: this is a hard one. As I stated earlier, this movie tries too hard to be standalone and tries too hard to be part of the series. What do I mean by that? These movies try to develop their own, interesting narrative (which, is a decent one for the most part. Just poorly executed on every level.), while forgetting that it is:

1. inconsistent with the series (all the character development here is completely thrown out of the window when entering bake, where only a few elements of this story matter. Why try to make a dramatic narrative out of it when it doesn't even add to the story? This is a big problem the Monogatari series has in general.)

2. doesn't awnser many questions in a satisfying or deep/new way. (what is the worth of a human life?, What is the food chain and how does it influence our way of thinking about each other? What is the effect of the male gaze on the perception of female power? The answers provided here, if at all, aren't new, particularly deep or special.)

The character development was decent, for working out some archetypes in the harem genre. However, it suffers from the same fault as the story, with being inconsistent with the rest of the series. Again people, this isn't The end of evangelion, and in the end, these characters are meant as archetypes. Just some well-developed ones.

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Final verdict:

In the end, this movie is okay. This isn't a masterpiece, or a work of art in my opinion, but I just hate the attitude of this movie. It really, really wasn't my thing. I love the Monogatari series as a small, quirky series, but this really wasn't like that experience. And I know that my critique/score for the most part is very personal, but I'm trying to bring some legit problems with this movie to light.

This movie isn't as deep as it looks to be, because of meh craftsmanship or because everything that happens here, doesn't matter in the long run. Nisioisin isn't the next Shakespeare and I feel like people forget that in-between all the admittedly clever wordplay, In the end, he is an otaku, writing stories for otaku while being just being a bit above the norm. Same goes for the staff at studio Shaft. And I do not hate these peope! What I hate however, is the attitude of the fans towards non-fans, declaring them dumb for critiquing this/these movies for legit flaws, while not even looking into the thing that completely panders to their interest. Always look at something critically, don't buy into something blind.

I'm just gonna review all three Kizu movies here if you don't mind.

Every so often I come upon a piece on entertainment where the public opinion differs a lot from my own. But after watching Kizu, I would have never imagined it would fall into this category.

So yes, I think these movies are bad.

I'll start with the animation, because it hurts the least. Kizu has the same abstract art approach as the rest of the series. However, there are two things that are different here. First, Kizu ditches the colorful look of the TV series for a more somber exterior. The palette is murky and ... generally less interesting. Second is the introduction of CGI. It was painfully obvious whenever it appeared, with a few achingly bad instances. E.g. a swinging severed human head, which looked so ridiculous I had a hard time understanding how it got into the final cut of the movie. There are some instances of brilliant 2D animation, but not enough to liven up the rest of the movie.

The main issue I have with Kizu is the story. Specifically Hanekawa. The series has no problem portraying female characters whose sexuality is a natural part of their personality. Kanbaru and Senjogahara being at the top of the list. But they just can't seem to make it work with Hanekawa. She's either the big boobs klutz ready to indulge or the behind the scenes mastermind of whom all the big players are afraid of. I have no idea how these two could possibly mix. In the TV show she tends to fall mostly in the mastermind end of the spectrum, but in the movie they went all out in the big boobs department. And it hurts the character significantly when it's time for her to step up and say something enlightening. It's hard to take her seriously when her cleavage spends most of the screen time fighting back the force of gravity.

Hanekawa's relationship with Araragi in this movie is even more confusing. At the beginning of Bake, their relationship can best be described as camaraderie with hints of it progressing towards something more. But by the end of Kizu, these characters are half a step away from a full blown romance. They have so little to do with their versions in the TV series, they might as well exist in another dimension.

Speaking of Araragi, the movie doesn't feature his trademark inner monologues. Again, it only works to degrade the character. Without them, Araragi in Kizu is just your everyday edgy high schooler. The plot tries to be about him becoming less selfish and learning to interact with the people around him. However, there is no introduction to him being estranged from society in the first place and him changing to a better person is mostly supported by rather vapid interactions with Hanekawa. Most of Araragi in Kizu is just wish fulfillment: turn into a sexy vampire, crush all your enemies and get the girl in the end.

There's a bit here about how Araragi and Shinobu's relationship came to be. It's generally an interesting take on the formulaic vampire story, but is so cramped into the third movie it can barely be digested. Other than exposition, they have only one genuine conversation and then it's straight to the climax of the movie.

Oshino mostly feels out of place. Kizu should have been the story about his introduction to the series, but Oshino only appears when it's time for some deus ex machina bullshit. There's nothing here about his past or motivations. The vampire hunters are not even worth mentioning.

Kizu wouldn't be as bad if it were a standalone movie, but it's triple as bad by being a part of the Monogatari series. The TV show actually raises interesting questions about human interactions and, fuck it, even life. Kizu barely has a point to make and messages it does try to convey are so laughably simplistic it feels like it can't possible be part of the same series. It's only insulting to the fan base when something as vapid as Kizu comes along to carry the series' flag.

TLDR;
-Animation looks really weird
-Fights are random and anticlimactic
-Terrible ending
-Hanekawa

There was a lot wrong with this movie series, and it reached an all-time low with this final movie. So first of all, the CGI. The animators use a really weird combination of live action scenes, traditional anime style, and objects that for some reason are neither anime-style or live action. That, combined with the blatant CGI gives everything a really clunky and bizarre feel, especially the fights, which also were pretty bad. The fights all felt very random, each in their own way. It felt like someone came up with the villains and then told the ... animators to do the rest. The action (aside from the CGI) felt very anticlimactic and lame, despite the interesting concept. Add the CGI, and it just makes things worse. For example, the final fight of the series. What were they even going for? Comedy? Action? Suspense? An emotional moment? Shock factor? As the fight progresses, each of these themes is presented at random points for seemingly no reason. While it is possible to balance comedy and action, or shock factor and suspense, etc, this fight does not even come close to it. It was a mess of emotions and themes that ultimately provided for a ridiculous fight without so much as a satisfying end. Speaking of which, the end was also terrible. It's almost like they wrote season 1 before the prequel movies and had to come up with a reason for why Araragi was part-vampire. Oh wait, that's exactly what they did. They act like they provided a happy ending to the arc, but really if you look past what they're trying to force on you it's very obvious that the ending is a lot more depressing than it seems. Not only is it depressing, it's also very uncharacteristic of Araragi, which is probably because the writers didn't realize how messed up the ending actually is. Finally, Hanekawa. They pretty much changed her from a collected, mild-mannered girl into an overly-flirtatious and outgoing character...for some fanservice scenes? In the first season, it becomes known that Hanekawa has a crush on Araragi. Initially, one would be surprised, because Hanekawa shows 0 romantic/sexual interest in Araragi. But after watching five minutes of the first movie, you could tell immediately.

All in all, this movie series was no where near as well done or enjoyable as the first season Bakemonogatari, and was quite a disappointment.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER not in the first half though.

And so concludes the season. Now that we have all laid on the table I can pull no more punches. If you are interested in the nitty-gritty details, there is a spoiler section as well, but first, a spoiler-free review for hard-awaiting viewers:

As far as the season goes, the plot is satisfied, meaning there are little loose ends. Most of the setup is concluded and works well in the constraints of the season.

The fighting choreography is astounding in this one, visually pleasing, clear and action-pcked at the same time. The few continuity slips can be ... excused, as it would otherwise mean Araragi being naked from the onset, and we don't want that do we. While on the subject of fights, could Hanekawa just learn already? She is present in almost every one from the beginning, only to screw with Araragi's concentration and the natural flow of combat between immortals (as I imagine it anyways).

Art and sound is the same as before, nothing changed there if you expected any more or less.

As for the characters, I'm now determined that Kizumonogatari is the place personalities go to die. Read the spoiler for the rant.

Overall I enjoyed this the least of the three because all of the expectations I previously witheld and left for the end now became unfulfilled. If you are watching this early on, not like me watching it in airing order after Owarimonogatari, you won' get disappointed I assure you. But for me, the gentle hints and mentions to events of "that Golden Week" kept piling up through the roof, seriously building hype for this season. Thereis simply not enough information offered to the viewer for further thought. I almost feel ashamed that I wanted to know now. It's just like one of those restaurants you've never gone to but heard how great it is, only to one day go to and find out the food tastes like boar-urine.

If you don't want to read my rant anymore, this is a good place to stop. You can read a short summary at the end as well.

Now let me guide you through all the specifics, spanning the entire season, through some SPOILERS of course:

The exposition doesn't make sense. The lingering question has been throughout "how could Kiss-Shot be so easily beaten", and the answer given is Oshino stole her heart. Yes. Supposedly he, very sneakily, just took it from her, as if stealing candy from a loli. She was in her peak form at the time and a vampire still seems to feel pain. Hell, suppose he could with some unholy technique take her heart, what does it matter to her? A vampire's power doesn't seem particularly tied to a certain organ, just like it doesn't seem to matter which part of Araragi gets torn off. It could be the exception, bit that's just speculation on my part.

Funnily enough, this was a question raised by Araragi himself, and he was satisfied with the answer, in the typical Japanese fashion of "oh he's just that strong, I'm amazed". Though it is true that power levels are rarely measured in the Monogatari series, I feel this is really too big to not notice. For now let's just have in mind that Oshino can be godlike if he feels like it. Another issue Araragi brings to Oshino is how could the three vampire hunters steal her limbs if they otherwise just evaporate when cut and regenerate anew. He of course doesn't answer this directly as well, completely avoiding the question and instead explaining the reason why they would want her limbs. The reason given is that they want her power for themselves. To method to obtaining power from those limbs is never mentioned again and, needless to say, begets another endless pit of inconsistencies, too numerous for me to describe here.

Let's talk about Hanekawa. In a similar fashion to Oshino, she also seems to have directorial powers, executed through some sort of clairvoyance. Three arguments to this I can find: she is present almost everytime Araragi fights, she knows how to beat Episode and notices Kiss-Shot is throwing the fight against Araragi. None of these "moments of brilliance" are explained, as before, she is just that awesome. Her characters seems to, more and more, mimic a prostitute or a nymphomaniac, let me elaborate. Let's not forget how she met Araragi and how she seemingly fuels her desire to speak and meet with him: his perverse reactions. She likes when he looks at her underwear, reads pornographic material based on her image and swears to never return her panties. Maybe it's just that Araragi is the only Japanese man to ever be so perverse, so maybe thats just her kink. Strange thing that they aren't a couple afterwards.

I have a lot to add regarding the gym storage room scene, and I feel I really should, but let's end here for brevity. Don't want this to become a novel. Also let me know if anyone made it this far, I'm greatly curious.

TL;DR: It's a suiting end for the season, artistically and sonically on a similar level as before. The most startling concern is that it doesn't tell us anything more about the overarching plot and in my eyes only opens up unnecessary plot-holes.