Nekomonogatari: Kuro

After surviving a vampire attack, Koyomi Araragi notices that his friend and savior, Tsubasa Hanekawa, has been acting strange. When he happens to cross paths with her on his way to a bookstore and sees she has a bandage on her face, he knows something must definitely be wrong. Araragi wants to help her, but Hanekawa assures him that her wound is just something she received at home and that he should not concern himself with it. But when a white cat with no tail is hit and killed by a car, the pair bury the creature and the real trouble begins.

When Araragi later pays a visit to his friend Meme Oshino and recounts the day's events, he is informed what they have buried is actually an apparition, one perfect for Hanekawa in her current state. Tasked with finding his friend to confirm her safety, he discovers that she has attacked her parents, possessed by the "Sawari Neko." Now, it is up to Araragi to help Hanekawa as she once helped him.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Araragi, Koyomi Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Hanekawa, Tsubasa Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Oshino, Shinobu Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Oshino, Meme Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Araragi, Karen Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Araragi, Tsukihi Supporting

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kubota, Mitsutoshi Producer

Matsushita, Takuya Producer

Ooshima, Miku Assistant Producer

Reviews

May 19, 2024

HotHamlet

Recommended

Nekomonogatari Kuro (Black) is a good addition to the Monogatari series, serving as a solid prequel to Bakemonogatari and the story of Tsubasa Hanekawa.

Despite being a prequel, the narrative will keep you engaged, even though you are already familiar with the outcome. The prequel provides a deeper understanding of Hanekawa's character, making her more of a integral character within the broader series. That being said as much as i do like this anime and am amused it exists, i find it wasn't at all necessary. I feel it's a very nice cherry on top of an already great cake of which being Hanakawa's story ... in Bakemonogatari.

The anime's pacing being only four episodes does not have the luxury of lingering on unnecessary filler content. This concise storytelling contrasts sharply with Nisemonogatari, which i found to be overly extended and padded at times. This is to the benefit of Nekomonogatari Kuro that it ensures every scene serves a purpose. This prequel was handled very well pace wise and gives me more belief in director Tomoyuki Itamura.

As with other entries in the Monogatari series (up until this point), the monologues are prevalent. The monologues here are well done and feel a lot more interesting than the vast majority in Nisemonogatari. That being said a lot of this feeling may be down to either: 1. Me being in a better frame of mind watching the anime 2. The specific arc being shorter than Nisemonogatari or possibly a mixture of both. Although Bakemonogatari was fifteen episodes and was better than both so i feel it's more the former point than the latter. But i did prefer the character's chat's more in this than in Nisemonogatari.

Another positive i believe director Tomoyuki Itamura made was the not as egregious Fan Service. Now it is still in this anime that is a given, however it seemed to be toned down to far more acceptable standards. Fan service isn't always a negative, but i find Nisemonogatari went overboard with this and here it is used far better. That being said it is far shorter than the eleven episodes of Nisemonogatari thus maybe that is a reason for this seeming change.

The action scenes (though limited) are executed with the same creativity seen in previous instalments. The fight sequences are visually nice to look at not only because of good animation but well done choreography. It is interesting in these instalments that one of the seemingly least important aspects of the Monogatari series is one of the most impressive as action is not what the anime is known for.

The unique visual style of the series is known for is showcased here rather well. There wasn't a single time i gazed upon a scene and was negatively impacted by what i saw. Just as good as anything found in Nisemonogatari if not better than.

While the opening sequences of Bakemonogatari set high expectations, the opening of Nekomonogatari Kuro i find didn't quite hit those heights. Although it may not reach the brilliance of earlier openings, it is still fitting for the tone of the arc and complements the story’s focus on Hanekawa well enough. I also find it more visually pleasing than any Nisemonogatari opening sequence.


Overall, Nekomonogatari Kuro is a well made prequel that not only complements the existing story of Hanekawa but also the overall narrative. For fans of the series it offers valuable insights into Hanekawa’s character, while it's well paced storytelling ensures that it remains engaging from start to finish. Although not necessary, i am happy knowing it exists.

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 11, 2022

UnionRaid

Recommended

Amongst the very confusing monagatari series timeline nekomonagatari sits just after the events of kizumonagatari and before the events of bakemonagatari. its a confusing series for sure and i would not recommend starting the series here as nothing will make any sense whatsoever to you. Now that the exposition is, its review time.

Story:

The story centres around Hanekawa's character and Araragis relationship with her. This is a darker story with the classic monagatari gore scenes still present and just as shocking. Its a great dive into Hanekawa's character and 100 % worth the watch for a new time watcher especially as its only 4 ... episodes of content. The main plot is that Hanawaka has been cursed by a cat spirit and every year on golden week her cat form or "Hanekawa black" comes out and steals energy from humans. It sounds silly but its a great story with lots of emotional impact and Araragis character is fantastic as a opposite of Hanekawa blacks ideals and as he's a vampire there fight is intense and bloody. Nekomonagatari strives in the uniqueness of the story and the character of Hanekawa and Araragis respectably. Though since this came after Kizumonagatari there are very limited characters to have in the series and for a series that strives on its characters that can get a bit stale every once in a while.

8/10

Characters:

As previously mentioned there's a distinct lack of characters in this show which can be a problem as we spend 90% of the run time with either Araragi or Hanekawa. Monagatari feels off without having Senjougahara as part of the story especially as in Kizumonagatari and nekomonagatari, Hanekawa is seen as the main love interest of Araragi and its weird to see them so close together in this show and not the rest of the series. Though of course its for plot reasons to set up Bakemonagatari so I don't have a big problem with it. Oshino, Shinoubu or (heart under blade) for long and Araragis sisters are all returning characters which first time watchers will appricitact after watching bakemonagatari, kizumonagatari and god forbid nisemonagatari after the toothbrush scene. However for the characters that we do get to see there interactions are fantastic and well written and attempts at comedy almost always lands. We get some awesome character growth and a really badass moment with Araragi.

8/10

Art:

The art in this show is the classic monagatari look with all the flashing images you could ask for albeit a tad dialled back for the sake of saving the viewer from having a epileptic fit. Its worth noting that if you watched Kizumonagatari first this show does not have the same level of quality the movies have, but this doesn't mean its bad by any means. The animation is perfectly fluid with no hiccups in the animation at all. It has the same level of craziness that the rest of the series has which can be a negative for some but personally I love monagatrie's style. There are no flaws in the animation but for first time watchers it can get overwhelming especially because there is no dub to make it easier to follow. For me the art in this show is a solid 9.

9/10

Audio/music:

Music isn't a big focal point around monagatari and it has essentially 1 memorable song being the 4th op of monagatari "renai circulation." I hate that song by the way. But going back to Nekomonagatari, it really doesn't have a memorable soundtrack if I'm honest. The opening is ok and the ost is the definition of ok as well. This doesn't mean the music is annoying or is trash its far from it, its simply very forgettable and mediocre compared to other monagataries such as bake. The audio as a whole is great with the voice actors being incredible and fitting there characters scarily well. its a 7 from me.

7/10

Overview:

Ill finish this of this a watch order so anyone trying to get into the series knows where to start and where to watch this.

Bakemonagatari, Kizumonagatari, Nekomonagatari, Nisemonagatari, Monagatari series: second season, Hanamonagatari, tsukimonogatari, owarimonogatari Season One, koyomimonogatari, Owarimonogatari Season 2, zoku Owarimonogatari.

and as far as I know that's the series so far all in order. If you want the chronological order of things go elsewhere because its a whole other tin of worms. Thank you for reading as I hope you enjoy !

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 27, 2022

yeqks

Mixed Feelings

Pretty mid arc in all honesty. Introduces Hanekawa's dynamic with her parents only to end up forgetting about it, the idea of a real family having to live with the "perfect class president" character archetype as their daughter is a pretty neat idea in concept but it just doesn't go anywhere. At least we got to a little bit of Senjougahara's relationship with her father in the Bake, but here it seems that Nisio just didn't feel like developing core parts of Hanekawa's character. This arc would've really benefitted from a perspective shift, cutting the downtime due to long & mostly unnecessary scenes, instead giving ... us Araragi's perspective of the main events in the arc first, then Hanekawa's later; I honestly think this would've been a much better approach that would've effectively fleshed out the entire arc as well as introduced the audience to the perspective switches SS is about to start doing.

As for the visuals, the whole thing feels like a bit of a step down from Nise's consistently great animation quality as a lot of the visuals feel a little too stiff and the style just isn't as creative nor inventive as it was in either Bake or Nise, and the color pallet isn't as diverse as the arcs that came before this. The music is... Monogatari music. It's good shit but it doesn't try anything too bold in terms of switching up the sounds we'd heard on the previous two seasons. The voice acting's great as usual and I love Yui Horie's versatility and ability to play two different characters that sound somewhat similar. The overall story progression and pacing is a bit off in my opinion, a few scenes in the last two episodes drag on for far too long and the overall point of this arc just seems to be setting up Second Season's first arc, which as previously mentioned could've been done much better. Another issue I have would the be my overall enjoyment of this arc, though it is a good arc and properly deserves an 7/10 from me the whole thing just isn't terribly enjoyable nor particularly memorable, and that's honestly just because of the lack of side characters. The reason why Kizu can get away with it's lack of side characters is because every technical aspect is leagues better than this, not to mention Shinobu is one of the best characters in the series whereas Hanekawa has always struck me as the most underdeveloped out of the main cast. Without Hachikuji, Senjougahara, Nadeko, Kanbaru or Karen, an arc that focuses mainly on the dynamic between Hanekawa and Araragi with no almost no characters to speak besides Oshino and Tsukihi can't stay entertaining without Kizu quality technical aspects.

Overall this arc's pretty decent but doesn't really do too much to stay entertaining the whole way through. Looking forward to my rewatch of Second Season with Callie when she feels better.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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