Kizumonogatari


Kizumonogatari is a Japanese anime film trilogy directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and Tatsuya Oishi and produced by Shaft. Together, the films are an adaptation of the 2008 light novel of the same name, which is the second entry in the Monogatari series written by Nisio Isin and a prequel to the first, Bakemonogatari. The first film, Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu, was released in Japanese theaters on January 8, 2016. The second film, Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu, was released on August 19, 2016, and the third and the final film, Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu, was released on January 6, 2017.

Plot

''Tekketsu''

Koyomi Araragi, a second year high school student at Naoetsu High School, befriends Tsubasa Hanekawa, the top honors student at his school. Tsubasa mentions a rumor about a “blonde vampire” that has been sighted around their town recently. Koyomi, who is usually anti-social, takes a liking to Tsubasa’s down-to-earth personality. That evening, Koyomi encounters this rumored vampire: she is Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, also known as the “King of Apparitions.” The blonde, golden-eyed vampire cries out for Koyomi to save her as she lies in a pool of her own blood, all four of her limbs having been cut off by three vampire hunters. Kiss-shot asks Koyomi to give her his blood in order to save her life, and when he does, Koyomi finds himself reborn as her vampire subordinate.

''Nekketsu''

Now a vampire, Koyomi is charged with retrieving Kiss-shot's severed limbs from the vampire hunters who took them. Before he confronts the first hunter, the gigantic full-vampire Dramaturgy, he has a conversation with Tsubasa. He hides his vampire nature, but Tsubasa is still interested in the rumors about vampires being spread around. At the fight, Dramaturgy tears Koyomi's arms off in one blow, but Koyomi discovers his vampire power of rapid regeneration. Seeing the fight as lost, Dramaturgy surrenders Kiss-shot's leg to Koyomi. At the time, Kiss-shot has taken the form of a child. But she morphs into a young teenager after she consumes her adult leg.
Koyomi next fights the vampire-human half-breed Episode, who can transform into mist and wields a giant silver cross as a weapon. Tsubasa walks into the fight and is disemboweled by Episode. Before she dies, Tsubasa points out to Koyomi that he can defeat Episode by throwing sand into his mist form. Koyomi uses sand to overwhelm Episode and strangles him into unconsciousness. Meme Oshino, an ally of Kiss-shot, gets Koyomi to calm down and, for a price of ¥3 million, informs Koyomi that he can use his own blood to heal Tsubasa. Koyomi then uses his own blood to save Tsubasa's life. Consumption of the second leg enables Kiss-shot to morph into a young adult.
Koyomi now must face the fully human priest Guillotine Cutter for Kiss-shot's arms. Before the fight, he desperately pleads with Tsubasa to leave for her own safety. Tsubasa ultimately agrees, leaving her panties with Koyomi as a promise that they will reunite later. Nonetheless, Guillotine Cutter kidnaps Tsubasa, and Meme advises that Koyomi must "forget about being human again" in order to rescue her. Koyomi uses a power to transform his arms into tree roots to defeat Guillotine Cutter and save Tsubasa, but appears to have abandoned his wish to become human again.

''Reiketsu''

Koyomi and Meme finally succeed at fully restoring Kiss-shot. Koyomi expects Kiss-shot to then change him back to human. But before that, Kiss-shot and Koyomi spend an evening on a rooftop, where Kiss-shot reminisces about her previous subordinate, a Samurai who chose to commit suicide when Kiss-shot was not able to restore his humanity. Koyomi goes off to buy food, but when he returns he finds Kiss-shot eating the eviscerated corpse of Guillotine Cutter. He is horrified at the realization that Kiss-shot will now hunt humans again, and that he himself will want to hunt as well.
The realization leaves Koyomi despondent enough to want to die. But then Tsubasa appears and persuades Koyomi to stay alive. She also points out that Koyomi himself has the power to stop Kiss-shot. Tsubasa's comforting words, as well as a clumsy attempt to fondle her breasts, bring Koyomi's spirits up enough to face Kiss-shot in a fight.
Kiss-shot and Koyomi face off in the Tokyo Olympic stadium. They repeatedly tear each other's limbs and heads off, but then regenerate their appendages back. Finally, Koyomi weakens Kiss-shot by sucking out her blood. But Tsubasa suddenly realizes that Kiss-shot wants to die. Kiss-shot admits that she was going to throw the fight, and explains that she has to die to restore a subordinate's humanity, but couldn't do so for her previous subordinate because she was too scared of death. Kiss-shot demands that Koyomi kill her, but Koyomi instead yells for Meme's help. Meme proposes a solution that will "make everyone miserable": Koyomi will suck out Kiss-shot's blood only to the point that she is too weak to hunt humans, leaving them both quasi-versions of vampire and human. Over Kiss-shot's protestations, Koyomi chooses this path. The next day, Koyomi explains to Tsubasa that he is mostly human but does have some vampire traits. Kiss-shot now has the form of a child, and can only eat by regularly sucking Koyomi's blood.

Production

The anime adaptation of Kizumonogatari was announced in July 2010 and in March 2011 it was announced that the adaptation would be a film. In October 2015 it was announced that there would be three films: Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu-hen, Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu-hen and Kizumonogatari III: Reiketsu-hen; the cast and crew for Tekketsu were also announced.

Release

As of September 2011, the film was scheduled for release in 2012 but it was announced in April 2012 that the release date had been pushed back. In October 2015 the release date for the first film was announced for January 8, 2016. It was released in the United States by Aniplex of America on February 26, 2016.

Box office and sales

On its opening weekend in Japan, Tekketsu placed third, grossing from 243,702 admissions. On its second weekend, it was in the sixth place by admissions and in fifth place by gross, with. On the third weekend, it was in the ninth place by admissions and in the eighth place by gross, with. The film reached more than 450,000 admissions by January 26. As of February 7, Tekketsu had grossed. The Blu-ray Disc edition of the first film sold 36,018 in its first week, placing first in the chart.
The second film, Nekketsu grossed on its opening weekend in Japan and was eighth placed by number of admissions, with 148,200. The film grossed US$3,442,498 overall in Japan box office. The Blu-ray Disc edition sold 30,670 in its first week, placing again first in the chart, with DVD selling over 2,000.
The third film, Reiketsu was ninth placed on its opening weekend, grossing . It earned ¥170,000,000 in 4 days.

Critical reception

Nick Creamer of Anime News Network gave the first film an overall grade of A−, saying that the film "might be the first third of a masterpiece. It is already a breathtaking experience."
He also gave the second film an "A" grade, praising its story, animation, and sound design. He noted as a negative that the film's sexuality seemed to "trip into indulgent excess" at times, however ended the review by stating "It's ugly, incomplete, and ostentatiously beautiful. It is one of a kind."
The first film was the runner-up in the "Best Picture " category at the 2016 Newtype Anime Awards.