Directors: Tatsuya Oishi & Akiyuki Shinbo (chief director)
Release date: 2016
Contains spoilers
The second of the Kizumonogatari trilogy, this follows directly on from Tekketsu and has a tad more substance. In that first film the vampire Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade (Maaya Sakamot) had lost her limbs and was near death when she was saved through the self-sacrifice of Araragi (Hiroshi Kamiya), who was turned into a vampire and made her servant.
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| Hanekawa and Araragi |
In this Araragi must defeat the three vampire hunters who took her limbs and return them to her. To do this he fights them one at a time. In the meantime, we see a relationship develop (albeit doomed, given we know the monogatari story and the fact that Araragi will fall for another) between him and Hanekawa (Yui Horie).
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| Miyu Irino voices Episode |
So, the three hunters, in order, are a vampire called Dramaturgie (Masashi Ebara), a half-vampire called Episode (Miyu Irino) and a human priest called Guillotinecutter (Hôchû Ôtsuka) – it is interesting that the power we perceive they might hold (vampire being the strongest and working down the line) is suggested to be reversed given the order he fights them. The fights themselves can be quite bloody – in the first seconds against Dramaturgie he loses a limb, only to discover that he can regenerate limbs almost immediately (with the lost appendage dissolving into blood).
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| losing a limb |
This is because he is of Kiss-Shot’s lineage and a powerful vampire, although he has not turned full vampire yet, despite his newly turned status. Araragi asks the question, why Kiss-Shot did not regenerate her limbs and the answer seems to be that she is reaching the end of her immortality and that the hunters somehow preserved them to steal what was left of it for themselves. He must avoid losing self-control, or he might turn full vampire, and when he returns each limb Kiss-Shot eats them and matures from her little girl form.
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| Yui Horie voices Hanekawa |
The developing relationship starts with antagonism, as Araragi tries to upset Hanekawa (in an attempt to get her away and thus protect her), but develops past that. The Hanekawa character is used to provide some fan service, again, and the flirtation is perhaps a little creepy (and involves panties). There was always an element like this within the various monogatari series, however. When Hanekawa is accidentally injured we see that Arargai’s blood can be used to heal. There isn’t necessarily more solid story building here – but the various fights add an entertainment angle that the first part perhaps didn’t have. The artwork, again, works really well and this adds a satisfying chapter into the Kizumonogatari trilogy. These are quite difficult to score stand-alone but I found this (which was a tad longer than part 1) an entertaining watch. 7 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK
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