“SHAFT is perfect and creates nothing but masterpieces. Anyone who disagrees is wrong.”

Noir

I could watch this movie without any dialogue whatsoever and still be kept thoroughly engaged from beginning to end. That’s my untested hypothesis, of course. Needless to say, Kizumonogatari is visually stunning. Gorgeous. Magnificent. Ravishing. Sensational. Out of this world. I just want to keep listing off words to describe how fucking beautiful this movie looked. As is the SHAFT guarantee, there’s never a dull moment. Whether it be the playfully unique changing of camera angles to the cuts of text, or how it manages to take us from location to location to location in a matter of seconds, the monogatari series has always been something that encourages keeping your eyes glued, otherwise you just might miss it.

The character art is fantastic, and even more mesmerizing in motion. What’s even more fun is how the camera moves with the character it’s following. It’s an interesting view to, walking behind Araragi. Or in front. Or to the sides. Or to any angle imaginable, which is basically what Kizumonogatari is trying to accomplish. Look good, in every possible way. And from scenery to character art to motion, it succeeds.

As for the character’s interactions, they’re absolutely wonderful…but succinct. It seems like there’s much less dialogue in this movie than in any of the other monogataris. For the first five to ten minutes (roughly) not even a single word is spoken. Now, I’m not one of those asshol- erhm, “special people” who like to criticize a movie through comparison with the novel it was based on. They’re different mediums, and it’s an adaption, so there’s no need to get our knickers in a twist. However, the book does hold quite a lot over the movie in terms of dialogue and Araragi’s inner thoughts, and it might’ve been nice for SHAFT pull more from it. Still, the movie still manages to be witty and profound without it.

Without getting too far into the issue of runtime, I will say that Kizumonogatari ends in a…strange place. A weird way to end a movie, that doesn’t really offer up much of a conclusion nor cliffhanger. Even the final line wasn’t much to go off of. It’s…a little disappointing, considering the film as a whole was bloody brilliant. But I think I’ll write about the story being cut up into three parts another time, so for now I’ll just leave you with these words: Bloody brilliant. Excessively excellent. Splendid masterpiece. Impeccable piece of art. Epitome of film. Fucking amazing.

Thanks for reading!