Kizumonogatari III: Reiketsu-hen

Kizumonogatari is 1 movie contrary to how it was marketed, distributed, and how mal has it entered into its database. So I will speak about the series as a whole. Kizumonogatari takes a cinematic approach on the well-established TV series the Monogatari series. This is truly a prequel that can only be appreciated when watching all of the series up towards Owarimonogatari. If you want Kizumonogatari in the chronological order you are watching anime wrong and the entire intention of the series is ruined. The foreshadowing is lost and you lose the bigger picture SHAFT tried to create for Nisio's work. But before going through Kizu1 and 2 we are here on this page for Kizu 3. Kizu 3 was truly a wounded story. A story that doesn't end happy nor does it end conclusive. It's a prequel to the giant franchise therefore whatever happens at the end is only just the beginning. The story begins right where we left off. Arararararagi has collected the arms for Kiss Shot and is now going to see her full form. After some talks with Meme, we finally see her beautiful, bodacious, succulent body in all of her motherly, milf, glory. Truly a work of art. Fastword and we get to see the conflict arise. Ararararararararagi begins to realize that Kiss Shot in her full form is a danger to the human race. Internal conflict starts to brew within our young naive main character. Most of the middle part of the movie is focused on Hanekawa and Ararararararararararagi getting prepared to fight Kiss Shot. Of course, this wouldn't be the Gatari series without fanservice. And with some big ole' titties, it's obvious that Hanekawa will motivate him with her body. So to summarize, the first half is Kiss Shot and Arararagi, Second half is Hanekawa. Now the final part is strictly a fight between the two. This fight goes on for a while but you never truly get bored. There are 10 different art styles and animation styles in this 1 fight that you never get bored. As I stated early, you will have so much fun with this. To be exact, this might be the best fight scene in all of the anime. Scratch that, might is underselling it. It is the best fight scene. Bless you, father Oishi, the series director of Bake and storyboard for Kizu. And we end with a great moment. But it's not a happy one. Everyone is equally miserable. But that's what true happiness is. Wait for that like communism. I digress. Ararararagi ends up not killing Kiss Shot and having her live her life feeding of him to live. Arararagi doesn't turn back into a human. And they will spend their lives worried about someone hunting them. So where do the first 2 movies play in this? The first movie serves as a way to introduce us back into the world. However, in a new world, Oishi constructed. The world where things are more avant grade. The world where internal monolog isn't needed. Exposition is replaced with visual storytelling. The second movie serves as the meat of the story. Showing us the best fights and the most interesting plot points. This movie serves as the concluding narrative to branch into the sequels. Sincerely, this is the best installment in the Gatari series. But to understand the lore more one must have watched everything that aired. I have to say, this is one of the best movies I have watched in my life. Thank you, Shaft, thank you, Oishi. God bless Japan. BUT WAIT THERES MORE. The ecchi scenes are amazing in this movie and so is the fight scenes. Hanekawa and Kiss Shot titties are a 10/10 alone.

(Minor spoilers/Rant in Enjoyment section) Kizumonogatari is back and at last we get the last piece of the puzzle, This time part three otherwise known as "Reiketsu-hen" or "Cold Blood". The final chapters animated, just how well did it do?. Story 10 / 10 We start the film at a brief conversation between the characters of Oshino Meme and Araragi Koyomi talking how it is unreal how Koyomi managed to overwhelm the hunters that were after his life and his master, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. The film progresses as we see a rampant return of the eloquence of visuals, symbolism and long chats that have left a mark onanime by the now known "The Monogatari Series". Reiketsu unites the presence of Monogatari by displaying thought and process of our main character Araragi Koyomi and the familiar Monologues as we se how Araragi opens up his conscious and spills it right before all of us all and notice how he has changed. Reiketsu shows us how is it that Araragi came to be as characters and show the transition to us all by splitting up the process. As on Tekketsu, Kizumonogatari is Visceral as it appealed to human instinct of its rawness but also included a conversation oriented presentation that carried the first act. Nekketsu focused more on youth, The youth of our characters reminding us just how over their heads the main protagonist are, being Hanekawa Tsubasa and Araragi Koyomi. It imposed the rampant sexuality and the ego of our characters and it brought forth action to the table that greatly differs from the first act, Tekketsu. Reiketsu in the other hand combined all of that, and brought us the current formula of Monogatari as the last piece of the puzzle is unlocked and we get those ever so necessary inner monologues showing us the how! of how can someone who lives on being spontaneous and show us the results that it carry. It also shows us the result of forbidden knowledge, as the more you know, the less safer the world becomes. Reiketsu at large, It can be called the very beginning of the franchise of The Monogatari formula, it can also be the start of series itself but buried in all that, Reiketsu was the conclusion and acceptance to the end of ordinary lives that will from now on live knowing of the supernatural. Art 10 / 10 Shaft really outdid themselves with this final arc, and brought us more fluidity we ever dreamt off to the screen surpassing the preceding films in the direction of visuals and their rawness, the combination of 3D CGI with 2D artistry of the highest caliber showcased on a eccentric but fully working presentation that the trilogy is. as well as honoring the culture of animation now that it has become a well define characteristic of the new culture of japan, that marvelously attracts new blood to japan enticed for the ever newer pile of contribution to society with impact on international scale. Sound 10 / 10 The sound direction was astounding, as it was the voice actors on their A game. followed by well composed OSTs and keeping the old school horror feel you'd normally feel from Alfred Hitchcock, as many reference and use of direction clearly referenced the style and with new twist to the presentation of the film. Character 10 / 10 Our characters, Oshino Meme, Araragi Koyomi, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade and Finally Tsubasa Hanekawa were connected on highly unusual ways that your standard presentation, As their interaction feels timelined of progress aided by well directed visuals and ever accurate sound directions. Our characters are weaved on the thread of ignorance, youth and experience. weaving them differently but ultimately presenting us in split acts the coming together of a series and the buiding blocks of a character we've enjoyed for years on the Monogatari franchise. Enjoyment 10/10 I've waited for this for a long time, due to work I sadly missed this film while on theaters because of work. Know this though, any anger I held and all regret that plagued me as I patiently waited for clearly was worth every second now that I've witnessed the final film. If you're a monogatari fan, I highly recommend it and if you're not give it a shot, For it is very possible you'd be one of us and enjoy of the international harmony and fandom that surrounds The Monogatari Series However as much as I loved the movies, If I was director I would have added and removed a couple of things. In comparison I liked the structure of Tekketsu. The Alfred Hitchcock direction references and the music with cold moments with well executed music. For example, instead of the dancing monks when Araragi returns from the convinience store to Kiss-Shot, I would reuse the animation just prior, where Kiss Shot in all her forms are running about in the garden of flowers, I would reuse that but change the background into a landscape of corpses and/or entrails. Adding some blood to the faces of the multiple kiss shots creating a better visual of Araragi Koyomi world view, the alternative would be to use the style of Onimonogatari painting like style but of old Europe showing vampires with human skulls since it's a European folklore, Given the use of French I'm guessing Kiss-Shot is probably of French relativity . If used the first scenario with the landscapes I would put a stare similar to hanekawa just like how she looked right after passing out in front of ararsgi after being ripped open by episode's cross and place it in the multiple kiss-shots. I would add the same effect to Guillotine Cutter severed head, and remove the CGI because that's the only section where it doesn't really play well the CGI environment and 2D people is awesome but making Guillotine Cutter that way really steals from the punch araragi is supposed to feel. I would have also added on the beginning a little flashback in black on white, same style as tekketsu, when Oshino Meme first came In contact with Kiss Shot the legendary vampire and her power as a little background when Meme tells araragi when he took Kiss-Shots heart. Maybe that's just me, Absolute masterpiece of a trilogy nevertheless. Overall Grade: 10

I had the opportunity to view this film in theaters. This film exceeded my expectations. The previous 2 films were, unfortunately, unable to stand alone. Out of the two, this was the most action-packed and climactic. I was continuously blown away by the excellent sound direction and animation. Like most Shaft anime, the last Kizumonogatari film has an avant garde method of storytelling. It might seem strange, but it works for the tone and comedy of the anime. Random clips pop out and sometimes seem disjointed, however they only add to the amazing animation. There was one scene in particular that had everyone in thetheater laughing due to its strangeness and eroticism. Overall, I highly recommend this film, although it may require getting used to the animation.

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. - This movie tried too hard. As a mild fan of the Monogatari series (mainlybake, 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. - 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. - 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.

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