Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu-hen

(Spoilers for the first movie, obviously.)

Shaft continues to adapt the best Monogatari story extremely well. I'm giving it a perfect ten out of ten, but it does have a problem: the way it was presented. Kizu should never have been split into three parts. It just doesn't work, for reasons I'll discuss below. But that's Aniplex's problem, not Kizu's. So I don't count that against this movie.

The animation continues to be amazing. There's no single moment as glorious as the "Araragi on fire" scene from the first movie, but a great many scenes look very neat. Additionally, the voice acting and soundtrack continue to be ... on-point - which is no surprise. These VAs have proven themselves countless times over the course of this series. I shouldn't even have to tell you this.

The direction is noticeably good, especially in the comedy department. The comedic timing, the visual metaphors, the sound effects, and so on enhance the humor of each scene. Additionally, the fights are very well-choreographed. It's easy to tell where each character is at any given time (unless you're not supposed to), and the developments in each fight are believable.

The story here is geared heavily toward developing Araragi as a character and showing how special he and Kissshot are compared to other vampires. The "intensity as a human" theme in particular receives very heavy focus, with the story developments constantly encouraging the viewer to evaluate Araragi's "intensity as a human," in both a literal and figurative sense. Dramaturgy, Episode, and Guillotinecutter exist mainly as devices to illustrate how strong the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, and cold-blooded vampire really is - this is made clear immediately with the reasoning under which the Dramaturgy fight ends. As Araragi grows more accustomed to using his vampire powers, we learn more and more how strong Kissshot was, which leads us to think about how she got into her current predicament and what values she holds. Of course, the main focus of the character development is on Araragi and Hanekawa, and they get it in spades. I really shouldn't even have to talk about this.

Additionally, Kissshot gains the body of a teenager in this movie, so Shaft is now allowed to sexualize her. We get a nude shot, we get some thigh shots, and we even get some butt shots. Strangely, though, this is actually overshadowed by the Araragi fan service. The guy's a hunk! No wonder Hanekawa got so flustered when he took off his shirt.

Nekketsu gives us the action scenes that were promised in the first movie and provides nice set-up for the third movie, where the careful character development we've seen in our vampires will reach its climax. However, this begs the question: why did this have to be split into three movies? Other people have said this before, but Kizu is a very textbook three-act story. And a movie needs to have more than one act in it to be interesting - with only one act per movie, the tone is more or less the same throughout each one, until the next movie comes out and it changes. The Kizu movies are more suited to the binge-watcher than the theatergoer: it's much better to see all three in one sitting, with maybe short intermissions between each act.

In short, here's what I'm saying: watch this movie, but not yet. Wait until Reiketsu is in theaters near you. Watch Tekketsu, then watch this, and then go to the theater and watch Reiketsu. It's best to have the entire story fresh in your mind as you watch each one. And if Reiketsu doesn't come to theaters near you... well, at least watch this one right after Tekketsu, since it'll probably be hard to wait for the Reiketsu BDs.

Story:
Nekketsu-hen, similar to Tekketsu-hen, is quite a mess. Not because Kizumonogatari is split up into 3 films, nor because of the hour length, but because there's no premise, nor a theme, that carries the film. By the time the film ends, it's clear that there's an incredibly missed opportunity in this department, as the balance between man and monster and individual choice could have been incredibly interesting. After about an hour since seeing the film, I can concede to the idea that there is an attempt at crafting a theme, but it's so minor and weak that it comes across as unrelated characterization for people ... we don't care about.

In some regards, I think that's what makes this film such a lackluster experience. I won't get into details about everything as I'm mostly focusing on story here, but there isn't very much investment in the characters within this production to care about what's going on. Rather than create who Araragi is in the beginning of this narrative we're just expected to like him and know everything about him since we saw every other animated feature in the Monogatari story. However, if this is the prequel, in a sense we know nothing about him. Same goes for Shinobu, Oshino, Hanekawa.

Sure, I know some stuff that will come up later and it's neat to see where our characters were and compare it to where they will go, but the problem comes in that the story makes allusions to the future, while never giving a foundation for the past. The same goes for our 3 vampire hunters. I don't care a lick about them. I also don't care what they mean to Araragi nor the story of this film. I may have gotten some information about them in the previous film but not nearly enough is thrown into this production to make them worthwhile.

And, so, that's why the importance of a theme is necessary. Had there been a clear theme in this story (better yet, a good theme) then perhaps this films story could hold itself upright. However, here we are with 3 flashy fight sequences and 3 dialogues that are somewhat unrelated to each other that ultimately climax into an event that, while I didn't expect it, wasn't exactly surprised by it. I merely took it as it was and thought, "Huh, well, there was a lot that could have made this more impactful for me, but it doesn't matter now anyway since the film is over."


Art:
Significantly less enjoyable than the previous film. I was amazed with certain scenes within the first Kizumonogatari production. There's a clear reason why this film is worse than the previous, though. Every scene is set during night time. Well, 90% of it. Backgrounds are so dark that it doesn't really matter how intricate they are.

That's really my only issue. SHAFT really knows how to animate a show even if this particular production was bogged down by its narrative. If we had some day-time sequences, perhaps we could have enjoyed better scenery, but there are plenty of other things to be enjoyed here in Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu-hen. First off, the actor animation is fantastic. Characters move with incredible authenticity, despite jiggle physics being an unfortunate obligatory addition. Objects within the world move realistically as well, and recieve just as much respect from their animators as the actors do. It's ncie to watch grass move out of the way of characters walking, or desks go flying during fight sequences.

The fight sequences definitely need to be mentioned. They start out looking great but progressively become less and less interesting. Honestly, I'm feeling that's how this whole film is. Yikes


Sound:
Pretty cool. I don't know. I'm just losing my enthusiasm for this review as much as I am losing my enthusiasm for Kizumonogatari. I'll save my laments for later though.

The soundtrack is pretty great but because it's wasted on such a horrid portrayal of the source materials events, everything falls on flat scenes and unemotional experiences. I'm not at the passive aggressive tier in which I'd barrate this production for being pretentious in trying to sound incredibly introspective despite being elementary, merely because Monogatari has always been self-aware in its balance of childish antics and indepth character analysis. It's always been a comical review of incredibly sick people, as everyone in Monogatari has something terrible going on in their lives and is suffering because of them, yet still enjoying their lives.

So I can't say Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu-hen is losing that very specific balance. Too far childish and you become immature. Too far introspective and the childishness seems, again, immature and disrespectful. The problem here is that it's neighter immature nor is it on that balance. This film is in some sort of third dimension where its music can potentially move you because there is really something going on that is important and relatable but the film itself is just not doing it right. It's very likely that this is due to the fact that many of us watching have seen hours upon hours of Monogatari and, therefore, see this as just another scene where 2 lovable characters are on screen in dialogue. However, this just means it doesn't matter whether these characters are talking in Kizumonogatari or Nisemonogatari. They could be talking in Bakemonogatari or Nekomonogatari. It means that the barriers of this film on its own mean nothing and that all anyone cares about is what's happening on screen at the very moment for 5 minutes when we hear a relatively similar song.

I know, I know. I very weakly connected that with the music section, but I do believe it fits here.


Character:
I've already mentioned how the characters here are rather 2-dimensional. There are even times where I think to myself that characters were doing things they would never do. This, of course, is why it's important for these characters to be recreated within Kizumonogatari. It's why the above mentioned stuff about us merely watching the film as just another thing with characters in it rather than its own body is so important. It means when scenes happen that are required or exclusive for the film, they must then align with the characters we have. So, when I see a scene where Araragi does something totally against what I've seen him do for hours on end, it makes me confused and I stop paying attention to the film.

I can't stress this enough. This is why the film needs a consistent theme at the least. If not the individual film, at least the trilogy as a whole. However, there wasn't any carried theme from the previous film to this, as the previous film didn't have one. Even then, would I just excuse this film if the previous one had a theme carry over? Not necessarily. An individual film is an individual film. It must carry itself. That's why it was produced separately, was it not?

Oh, Kizumonogatari was split into 3 parts for money? Not because it structures better in 3 parts? OOOOOOH, now it all makes sense! I understand now! It's being done this way as a revival of the franchise since it's basically at the end of its run! Okay, now it all makes sense.


Enjoyment:
Honestly, I really had a good time. I know I make it sound like I'm strapped to a dentist chair, but I really did enjoy my time in the theater. Despite the many faults, despite the missed potential, I found myself having a ton of fun with some of the scenes as they were structured, as well as finding the ending quite cool although unsurprising. I'm eager to finish the story if not for my own curiosity. That said, this trilogy is not without its faults, in fact I'd say it has many of them. They don't take away from the fun experience, though, and that's why we see movies, right? Because they're fun!


((If you liked this review, check out my other reviews by going to my profile and clicking the 'reviews' tab. I review virtually all anime and manga I find!))

But enough about the price. Let's talk about whether Kizumonogatari actually lived up to its promise this time with its second installment. In case you've forgotten, the first part of this serial movie release had Shinobu get turned into a little girl for reasons that I can't be assed to explain the biology of, and Araragi must use his newly acquired vampire powers to defeat a group of supernatural individuals "shonen tournament"-style in order to get the body parts our Heart-Angel-Blade needs to swallow in order to go from "you masturbate to her and you'll get arrested" to "you masturbate to her and you'll get ... humiliated". Thanks to his newly acquired vampire body, Araragi is basically a non-shining version of a Twilight vampire with his toned body and fighting skills, along with the usual regenerative powers, so of course the movie will exploit the shit out of it with over-the-top fight scenes, Araragi bleeding like a geyser in order to showcase how dangerous his opponents are, and making fangirls squee harder than when Sora in Kingdom Hearts II sung "Under the Sea". This is what all those years of production were for, fanboys. Pure fanservice that I seem to recall Madhouse accomplishing with a far less time-consuming schedule back when attaching their name to an anime actually meant something.

Hanekawa also shows up for no reason other than fanservice. No seriously, that's it. Her cat powers don't seem to exist as of yet and she contributes nothing to the plot but overlong "comedic" banter without the humor and giving Araragi a motive to fight harder, because apparently his loli-fetish for a vampire who doesn't wear underwear is not the best choice for drawing out his true inner strength. She also has this weird habit of just teleporting to where Araragi is at the most plot-convenient moment, just in time to get her guts ripped out or to discover that the only teenage boy that seems to exist in this world is going to be young and hot forever. And because nobody seems to exist in the Monogatari universe but the main characters, it's really distracting how much this movie doesn't bother to clarify why she'd be wandering around these battle arenas in the first place, especially given how these fight scenes always take place in the middle of the night. Is her favorite grocery store in the area? Is her internal clock set in Western Hemisphere time? What?

I'm having a really hard time describing the plot to this thing because it's not really up to much. There's not really more to the movie than Araragi fighting vampires (and a vampire hunter), getting closer to Hanekawa, and that cliched "you risk becoming a monster with these powers" narrative with no original ideas whatsoever. Exactly how am I supposed to write a few paragraphs about your story when that's all you're giving me? Describe the fight scenes? I guess I could say that I liked how Araragi won some of them due to tactical planning rather than Dragonball Z-logic, although the overblown emotional nature of the second and third fights was pretty silly, and the comedic nature in the beginning of the first fight was fucking dumb. And because the camera is constantly swinging, it's hard to appreciate any existing choreography that might have snuck in amidst all the power level clashes, although to be fair, I recall the camera being more calm during those scenes than the talking ones.

As for the animation style, what do you want me to say? Nothing has changed from the last Kizumonogatari or any of the other ten Monogatari iterations aside from a little more blood and a little less fire. Nekketsu-hen does increase the amount of humor, so of course that means an increase in the amount of annoying sound effects and stupid reaction faces that would only be funny to twelve year olds who think it's appropriate to make fun of a woman's vagina whilst calling attention to the fact that you're making fun of it as a free pass. Every time Hanekawa banters with Araragi regarding his perverted tendencies and the amazing appeal of the panty she may or may not be wearing, I wanted to reach into the screen and beat both of them up with each other's faces for wasting about half the movie's runtime on something that in any sane universe would be considered "filler", but in the Nisio Isin universe is considered "solid gold".

Please explain to me the appeal of two characters purposefully making bad jokes and calling attention to the fact that said jokes are bad for long stretches of something that's only an hour long. If I was watching Danganronpa, said jokes would be accompanied by someone getting murdered or going through a villainous breakdown in order to keep the energy going. Monogatari though seems to have that stupid mindset that characterization for its own sake is engaging, and self-aware humor where you just do something stupid and point out that said thing is stupid was funny when Mike Myers did it. And that's what's always annoyed me about this series' usage of irony: it doesn't go far enough or attach that irony to something with momentum. Every time characters converse, the plot basically grinds to a halt in order for the actors to banter with each other like a deleted scene that somehow made it into the final cut. Also, someone please tell me the appeal of sexual harassment as humor. What the fuck is the punchline of those sorts of jokes anyways?

Finally, there are the new characters, who I honestly don't remember a thing about because they have no characterization other than being antagonistic and not above playing dirty to get what they want. Honestly, I can't even remember what they look like or what their names are. They don't have any good chemistry with Araragi, making them very pointless villains that makes Doc Ock's relationship with Spiderman look like something from DC comics, and they're never mentioned again after they're defeated, so Araragi might as well have been fighting moving gargoyle statues. It occurs to me that if you had cut out Hanekawa's very existence from this movie and given all that screen time to Araragi and his vampire opponents bantering it up instead, at least it would have given the action more meaning, even if risks falling into that other DBZ trademark of drawn-out anime action by doing so. But then again, Nisio Isin just doesn't seem to like the concept of male-on-male conversations. Why else would Oshino leave the story right the first series?

All in all, Nekketsu-hen just gets a big meh from me. I don't care for the animation because it's the same Shaft-style it's always been except of higher technical quality, but lacking in strong visual metaphors deserving of said quality, and full of so many quick cuts, annoying reaction faces, and title cards that I'm surprised I came out of the theater without a seizure. The story actually goes somewhere in this part so it's not as torturously boring as last time, but anyone who thinks that Araragi sacrificing his humanity to protect those he loves is an engaging tale obviously does not watch monster movies. Not to mention, since this is a prequel, we know he and everyone else are going to make it out okay, so there's no real tension to anything that happens to the established cast unless you were curious regarding whether Hanekawa actually got through the whole ordeal with her virginity intact.

At the end of the day, I just don't understand why this prequel needed to exist. All it does is show us stuff that we already knew happened, except being shown to us visually. And there's nothing being conveyed to us through these visuals that's new and refreshing unless you count another stupid usage of the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey new and refreshing. It's basically what's inevitably going to happen with that new Star Wars movie focused on the spies who stole the Death Star plans, and if there's anything worse than getting compared to the prequel trilogy, it's getting compared to Disney's brand of mediocre nostalgia cash-ins.