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I came into this curious about the animation process, and seeing the overall production depicted in a visual format helps with the impression even if parts can be dramatized. Yes, I have seen this OVA after watching my beloved Shirobako, and after finishing I can say that Animation Runner Kuromi does enough to stand on its own, even leaving me with a smile on my face.

The first thing I noticed was how over-the-top the show is, first in its rather dark humor depicting the harshness of the anime industry from the perspective of the production manager Kuromi. We see her coming in as ... a newbie, being dismayed by the comically impossible deadlines due to key animators not doing their jobs. Through learning the ins and outs of the process itself, her interactions with other strange, exaggerated personalities to get them to work is rather charming. The exaggeration serves in good effect both to convey that production managers have to cater to the artists as they are individuals, and also to just simply entertain as it is a comedy. The jokes hit where they needed to, and although I didn't laugh out loud or anything, I still enjoyed it. I'm glad the OVA didn't simply boil down to a sort of a wiki description that only happens to follow a story.

Moving on to art and animation, I do have some comments. Animation is very wild and energetic, which helped give off that impression I got of the OVA. Characters motions are overtly exaggerated to help characterize them and get us to care, as there are only 40 minutes in the episode to work with. If I had to compare it to a certain show, I'd say I got around the same vibe as FLCL in not the fight scenes. Now on the art, it's pretty standard for a 2001 show, although it is digitally colored. The styling is also a little dated, but characters are funky looking enough for them to stand out from the hundreds of other really generic spiky hair characters out there.

Sound, I haven't got much to say. In terms of OST, it felt like there were only three tracks played throughout the thing and on repeat. However, I didn't get sick of them, so that's fine. Voice acting, as far as the dub is concerned, is well done. The VAs effectively conveyed each character's wackiness, so no complaints there.

Overall, I didn't feel like I wasted my time on this and I even got some laughs all throughout. If you're at all curious about the animation process, I recommend that you take some time off your day and watch this thing. Even if you've already watched Shirobako.

Overall: 7/10 -> B

This review will be short since I don't have that much to say.

Story: 6/10
I fall into the faction of the Monogatari fanbase where I was essentially bored with a lot of Bakemonogatari, but still ended up liking it quite a bit due to the clever dialogues when characters were talking shit to each other. The problem for me was that I did not care about the universe itself, such as the significance of the different levels of oddities and how they were created. Koyomimonogatari had this problem throughout most of its run until the latter third of the show when either the show ... seeks to be fun or decides to move the plot along while details of the universe are sprinkled along the way rather than info-dumping everything. Characters were their usual selves, although Shinobu decided to be really cute compared to her normal condescending self in one episode. Hardly any development, if at all, happened to them.

Art: 7/10
Downgrade in overall style compared to previous series, ignoring the fact that the episodes I could find were only in 540p. Backgrounds didn't really have that sort of atmosphere that fit the mood of what was going on unlike in previous entries, but still competent enough to not make my eyes bleed or anything. Animation-wise, it was your typical Monogatari: stills, mouths flapping, etc. There were a couple well animated moments here and there, mostly in the latter episodes. I did notice a good amount of reused animation in the first episode from Bakemonogatari, though, which gave that ep a sloppy first impression.

Sound: 8/10
Nice to see all the openings from who knows how long ago, again. OST worked well, even if practically all of it was from Bakemonogatari.

Overall: 6/10
Not the best entry in the series, but overall the show wasn't really that great due to the aforementioned issues in the story section. However, the series is really short given that there are only nine minutes of content per episode (since I took into account the openings and endings) and only twelve episodes, so it'll be like watching one movie if you decided to marathon this particular entry. Monogatari has always been a hit-or-miss for me, but unfortunately, this one was a miss. Luckily, the essential episodes required for the anime adaptation of Owarimonogatari Vol. 3 are some of the good ones.

I remember right after watching the first episode of Owarimonogatari that the trailer for this movie had finally been released. It looked really good from what I could see, as expected of Shaft. However, it turned out that Kizumonogatari would be split into three movies which either meant that the studio was trying to do the story justice by giving the full adaptation. Or, that Shaft was simply only trying to milk the series for what it was worth giving the amount of hype built up over the last couple years. After watching the movie, I can gladly say it's more ... of the former than the latter.

Let me start out by talking about the visuals. Given the amount of pain-staking traditional animation, the production is more higher quality than I would expect in a typical anime film. But then again, it's Shaft we're talking about. There was a plethora of subtle motions and unique movement quirks that showcased the characters without relying on dialogue to characterize them, as seen with Kiss-shot's broad, puffy actions, Araragi's more reserved behavior, and Hanekawa's friendly approaches. CG was very well done even though I generally dislike it in other works usually due to how cheap it looks or how it stands out too much, but here it almost seamlessly integrated with the 2D characters creating an asthetic I've never seen from any other anime.

Sound-wise, I don't have much to say. When I left the theatre I was throughly convinced that I needed to get the OST when it comes out. Tracks were very smooth and whimsical and badass in the right places. Also, voice acting was spot-on. Got to give props to Maaya Sakamoto for conveying how desperate Kiss-shot was to preserve her life. Aragi's (sorry, bit my tongue) mortal turmoil was also solidly done.

Onto the direction. Holy hell, the direction. Shinbou and Oishi have done it. There were loads of the visual and audio metaphors many of us are used to from the television series, but now only more nuanced because of the film-budget allowing them to combine high quality animation with their top-tier shot framing. As a result, though, the text flashes that were often used to help characterize the characters were practically nonexistent. And I guess for the better because of the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words or something. I really didn't get the random French that appeared from time to time, but what the hell, it looked cool stylistically.

Plot was perhaps the weakest aspect of the movie given how some parts seemed like they lasted a tiny bit too long, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment because I was too immersed in the direction to notice how little of the novel the first part actually adapted. At the very least, it did a great job setting up for the next movie.

Overall, it was absolutely worth ditching hanging out with friends to go see an anime movie. Everything about it was pretty damn solid, aside from the thin plot. I'd go see it again in a heartbeat if I could, but that would mean traveling again. Anyway, I really can't wait for the second movie to come out!

8/10, B+, according to my scale.