KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- has a most peculiar story for an anime film. At first blush, it looks like a vampire romance story not too dissimilar from Twilight. However, all it takes is for you to watch the first five minutes to realize that this is an entirely different genre of movie, mainly because it’s a lot funnier, more bizarre, and bloodier. Like, really bloodier. Seriously, the blood flows by the gallon in this anime film.
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp-: Details
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KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- is a romantic horror comedy anime film. In fact, it’s a compilation anime film that combines three separate ones: Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu, Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu, and Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu into a single 144-minute long anime film. Said anime film(s) are an adaptation of the 2008 light novel of the same name, which itself is the second entry in the Monogatari light novel series by Nisio Isin (Zaregoto, Monogatari, Katanagatari). SHAFT (Monogatari, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Nisekoi) is the animation studio behind this anime film. Aniplex of America is the company licensing this anime film for its NA release. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment are distributing this anime film in NA region.
Production Cast
Akiyuki Shinbo and Tatsuya Oishi both co-directed (with Shibo as the chief director) KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp-, with Shinbo writing alongside Shaft, Yukito Kizawa, and Muneo Nakamoto. Atsuhiro Iwakami (Aniplex), Takuya Matsushita (Kodansha), and Mitsutoshi Kubota (Shaft) are all co-producing, with Satoru Kōsaki composing the music you hear in that anime film.
Voice Cast
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- features the voices of Hiroshi Kamiya as Koyomi Araragi, Yui Horie as Tsubasa Hanekawa, and Maaya Sakamoto as Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade (known more simply as Kiss-Shot for much of the anime film). The other notable voice role is Takahiro Sakurai as Meme Oshino.
On the antagonists’ side, we have Masashi Ebara as Dramaturgy, Miyu Irino as Episode, and Hōchū Ōtsuka as Guillotine Cutter.
When and Where to Watch
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- originally made its theatrical debut in Japan on January 12, 2024. It then made its first NA debut at the Fantasia International Film Festival as part of the Animation Plus Section on July 27, 2024. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment will release this anime film in NA theaters for a one-day release on August 28, 2024. In fact, you can purchase tickets for it right now from Fandango.
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp-: Synopsis
Alas, KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- hasn’t yet made its theatrical debut in NA region. As a result, you all will just have to be satisfied with the official synopsis from Crunchyroll. You can read that synopsis below:
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- is a three-film anime adaptation comprised of edited footage from the trilogy of films of the same name previously released in 2016 and 2017 featuring animation produced by SHAFT.
It was one fateful evening when Koyomi Araragi encountered her – Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade: Legendary Vampire, Killer of Apparitions, and King of Apparitions. Her legs and arms were cruelly torn apart, her extravagant dress soaked in red; she’s a monster who finds herself in a tragic state, lying in a pool of her own blood. However, Koyomi finds her to be beautiful this way.
Written by NISIOISIN and animated by SHAFT, KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- takes you back to the beginning, the origin of the MONOGATARI story. Originally released as three separate movies, the upcoming film installment summarizes the KIZUMONOGATARI trilogy and can be seen exclusively in theaters.
Film Credits: Directed by and screenplay by Tatsuya Oishi. Original story by NISIOISIN. Produced by SHAFT. Run time: 114 minutes.
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp-: The Good
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The best part of KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp- is definitely the story. It’s at times comedic, at times horrific, and at times dramatic. Mostly though, it’s just a bizarrely intriguing story involving a boy and a vampire woman. A slightly disjointed story, but still very much coherent and followable. Even the disjointed aspects of the story somehow manages to play into how mysterious it is, even if that might not be intentional. Clearly, Nisio Isin is demonstrating once more that he’s a fantastically odd writer.
The other reason why this anime film is great is the animation. SHAFT crafted an animation style that’s as oddball as the story, really. Honestly, the animation is just so zany that I would classify it as a work of art. You have live-action footage intermixed with hand-drawn animation and even animated characters overlaid on top of live-action footage. There’s even sudden animation changes into something more akin to Doraemon than to Monogatari. Certainly, it shows that this anime film is a visual treat.
KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp-: The Bad
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Alas, there are some problems with KIZUMONOGATARI -Koyomi Vamp-. Some of it is inherent to its nature as a compilation anime film. When you’re trying to cram three anime films into one, you’re bound to have a disjointed story. I do feel some of the more mysterious and odd portions of the story would be better explained in the individual anime films. As it is, they cut out enough scenes and content such that a few portions of the story don’t quite make sense.
One more thing I would like to criticize is the use of a tired, old trope: the damsel in distress trope. It’s not only an old trope, but it’s just used in the same old way without any way to spice it up. Granted, the character that’s being the damsel does make a comeback in the story and even alters it at a critical moment, so that helped sweeten the bitterness of that trope. The fact that Kiss-shot herself is one of the strongest female main characters also takes some of the sting away.