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How much is your life worth it? Would you sacrifice yourself in order to save a stranger? What if you knew that the stranger had a much greater place in the world than you? Would it make a difference if she was actually a beautiful blonde vampire?...

Kizumonogatari is the introduction to the supernatural world of the Monogatari Series. It tells the story of Araragi Koyomi, an ordinary high schooler who lacks social skills and has no friends, but is by no means unhappy. He meets Hanekawa Tsubasa in a very convenient situation explained with lots of details in one of the first chapters; she is an honors student from the same school as Araragi, she is friendly, easygoing and very kind, so very kind it makes you wonder if her kindness is real. Somehow they both become involved in a chain of events regarding the presence of vampires in town. Being aware of the existence of superior beings such as vampires, as expected, changes the reality for Araragi. But this novel is not just about Araragi's new perspective but mainly about the relationship between him and Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, between human and vampire, after all this is their story.

Kizumonogatari manages keep the story interesting. Action sequences are great, each one builds up for the next and they are very well described. Dialogues are very entertaining, even though the discussions of a few topics seem out of place and irrelevant, these are still amusing. There are seven characters in this novel. Main characters are more likeable the more you know of them and supporting ones are very relevant for the development of the story. Additionally, what I also liked about this novel is that it shows the difficulty of understanding between humans and vampires. While they both have justice, satisfaction and common sense, these differ according to point of view; in order for a person to understand a supernatural being, you need to put your humanity aside and think outside the box.

Overall, Kizumonogatari is engaging and fun to read. Action settings are amazing, characters are interesting and so are their developments throughout the story, and finally even random dialogues and sequences are funny but they don't decrease the tension of the story in any way. For those who know Bakemonogatari, you already know most of the characters of this novel but you haven't seen them the way they are presented here, and also, if you're missing out on Kiss-shot you're missing out a lot. read more

The whole story of Asura Cryin' is quite bizarre and maybe complicated but everything does make sense despite all its weirdness.

First of all, if you are reading this review (no spoiler) I assume that you've seen the first season; understood the relation between handlers, burial dolls and demons(akumas); and most of all that you’re interested in what happens next (the sooner you watch the sequel the better because of all the terminology you have to remember).

Following the first season Tomoharu now knows that the Asura Machina uses the soul energy of its burial doll; in his case the emotions and soul of his friend Misao. Because of this, he’s now looking for a way to separate her from Kurogane (name of his Asura Machina). On the other hand, his demon friend Kanade, as an unnatural being in the world, can’t use her powers to aid Natsume because of the “Hizaika” (the effect that makes demons disappear little by little when they use their abilities without a contractor).

So this is the initial setting given in this second season. All about the journey to find some device to save Misao doesn’t look promising at all but I must say that what makes this season very superior to the previous one is the crazy turn of events and the main plot regarding all those flashbacks you’ve seen before. Yes, all those confusing flashbacks from the first season that made you wonder “what was that again?” are now explained in this sequel. Now the story is no more about finding Naotaka, escaping from the student council or finding some stabilizer; this time the series has bigger plans for Natsume and company. Since there’s much more at risk the events occurring now involve more action and give a feeling of curiosity about what’s coming next.

The art of this anime is no better than average, it doesn’t overwhelm you but it could disappoint you especially considering all the mechas and powers you see in it. In contrast of the art, the sound is awesome I personally loved the OP/ED by Angela the most; also the voice roles are accurate to the personalities. As for the characters, the main difference to the first season is that Ania plays a bigger part in this season.

Overall, the enjoyment of this anime is guaranteed in almost all of it, if you liked the first season or you think it was interesting but not well developed you will find Asura Cryin’2 fascinating. This second season is the bigger half of the story so you won’t be lost in the end wondering what happened. read more