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Few spoilers ahead**

Kizumonogatari is something that's been teased by Shaft ever since the very first episode of Bakemonogatari (where the entire intro was basically a highly condensed version of this movie). Having read the novel the anime is based off of, I had some expectations, but I also knew that anime is a different medium from text and that Shaft tries to make full use of that in their adaptations.

To begin with, let's go over the positives of this movie. To be frank, every single aspect of this production was top-notch. The animation quality was a clear step-up, the CG replacing the usual flat ... design served its purpose in creating strong atmospheres, and the music and voice acting were just excellent overall. Unlike the OVAs, this definitely felt like a theatrical rather than just a very long episode.

So I end up in this strange position where every individual piece boasted quality, but I still wasn't satisfied with the movie. Perhaps it's because my initial reaction became skewed from reading the novel. If you've ever wanted to see Shaft do "show, not tell", it's in Kizumonogatari. Gone were most of the voice-over narrations, very few slideshows and text flashes, everything was boldly attempted in a more direct, visual manner with expressive animation and less jarring metaphors.

But that was exactly what seemed off to me. Ultimately, Kizumonogatari's plot is more straightforward than the others in the Monogatari series. And since this movie only really covers the introduction, the overall plot is very much bare-bones. In the novel, this was spruced up by Araragi's thoughts and impressions. If this had been in the style of the TV series, a lot of these thoughts would've shown up in slideshow imagery and narration. And those parts are really the meat of Kizumonogatari: the insights from the characters, their underlying motivations, and how these develop their initial relationships.

On one hand, it's commendable of Shaft to try and convey all this solely through their animation. But on the other hand, it made for odd jumps in pacing and actions as the characters go through the motions, but without enough context to flesh things out. Scenes felt like they came in on signal rather than naturally and the interactions felt almost forced and hollow without Shaft's usual "supporting" devices. "Showing" rather than telling is fine even if the details are subtle, as long as there's enough meat behind it to get the meanings across. But in this case, you get things like Araragi constantly panting like he's having a stroke for 80% of the runtime; Meme Oshino's hero arrival losing all impact because it showed him coming from a mile away (literally); music tracks (albeit, very nice tracks) aggressively spelling out the mood even during lowkey moments.

I'm sure that others will see things differently. Shaft's Monogatari "signatures" are criticized by many for being excessive and jolting at times. However, for me at least, the removal of them in Kizumonogatari seems to have forced Shaft to be even more heavy-handed in order to compensate. So while I can't really fault any one part of the film, it felt as if the strengths of the source material were overshadowed to the point that only its weaknesses remained.

Like others, I was pretty hyped up about the new Digimon and anticipating how it would turn out. Suffice to say, although the look is different, the feel is still there.

I think there are more people familiar with Digimon than not. But for those who aren't, what's always separated Digimon from the often compared-to Pokemon is how they approach their material. Aside from the fact that Digimon has approached darker and more complex themes across its seasons, part of its appeal has also been its focus on the characters. Battles and character quirks are perhaps done better in Pokemon, but for Digimon, much of ... its best content centers around inner struggles that characters have and their growth from dealing with them. The events in the Digimon world usually parallel and reflect these struggles, providing both high stakes and visual manifestations.

The first movie did a good job in reuniting the characters, reintroducing their various quirks and relationships naturally with some sprinkles of fanservice (not nudity, but stuff for "fans"). The story moved along at a good pace, relaxed while bringing characters together and speeding up once the action started. It's also kept another facet that differentiated Digimon, which is how it embraces the impact of Digimon on the real world rather than just skirting around it with resets or isolated boundaries.

And I believe this is the reason why this sequel does well in embodying the Digimon spirit. As mentioned before, Digimon's never been too afraid of going into more mature themes and messages, so it's always been able to bring in some real stakes for tension while balancing it out with lighthearted moments. And that continues here, with good use of foreshadowing and music to transition cleanly from warm to suspenseful atmospheres.

This somewhat extends to the art and animation, which suffers quite a bit from still-frames and pans. I may have some rose-colored glasses on though as other Digimon series had many of these issues, with really well-animated segments usually being the influence of particular directors. That said, this is technically a movie series and the animation will seem stilted in comparison to some other Digimon movies. The new character designs didn't bother me too much as they are flexible enough to convey subtle emotions quite well, which is necessary for a character-driven show like this.

Overall, I can confidently say that this new addition to the franchise won't disappoint Digimon fans. It's definitely got the spirit of the show and looks to be tying up some loose ends too, for those fans that were left hanging with the end of Adventure 02. Here's to looking forward for the next one.