Plot: 10
We are brought into Nekketsu-hen with Dramaturgy and Araragi right off the bat as they prepare to fight for one of the limbs of Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade as she finds her self currently in a child form. from there on we are once again rewind on a similar fashion to Tekketsu-hen leaving us with Araragi Koyomi reading books regarding fights and/or sports books as he gathers ideas to fight Dramaturgy.
Kizumonogatari Nekketsu-hen Adapts Chapter 007 - Chapter 013, Pages 101 - 220. there is some shaving here and there once again removing the inner dialogues and replaced with body language and some symbolism however not as rich as it was present as Tekketsu-hen. As this installment is a little more confrontative and addresses the issue of the characters not demonstrating their thoughts on a confrontational manner letting them rip across the screen for the audience to enjoy. since this is the backbone of the trilogy and as such it is less intuitive as the predecessor.
Art: 10
The art in comparison to Tekketsu-hen did what i didn't expect. It rose and once again proved that SHAFT has mastered the blend between CGI and standard highly detailed animation. Its is superb and other words can't describe how well done it is.
Sound: 10
The BGMs are back and well placed. Overall hard to complain about them as they're meticulously well placed.
Characters: 10
The characters are tweaked a little bit as they're more youthful and direct on this installment. they're not you're usual quick witted 360 degree characters that dissect the smallest of things as usual of the Monogatari Series.
To reiterate, on Nekketsu-hen they rely a little less on symbolism and have the characters be a little more direct to interact with once another. Araragi is more emotional and Hanekawa less smartsy than what we are used to. the dynamics between the characters works rather well and let's us see another face of the characters we are used to and spin them on a more correlated way to reality imprinted on the screen as high school students interact and some bonus shinanigans fly about.
Enjoyment: 8
The movie is well put together. I've enjoyed it a lot, It's most definitely more action packed and a lot more comedy is thrown in. some ecchi from Kiss-Shot md form and more panties from Hanekawa Tsubasa.
however sadly this comes with some drawbacks. Nekketsu-hen unnecessarily trimmed itself into a 1Hr and 9 Minutes. this unfortunately thins out and sometimes removes the cushion necessary to shift gear on a adaptation which contains different states of emotion and setting that vary from serious to comical. the removal of this cushion handicapped this film up most potential on the eyes of a person that hasn't read the book.
Fan can overlook this mishap as they know what is going on but on the other side of the coin. Kizumonogatari Nekketsu-hen shifts gears a little too quick, It doesn't let you settle in the setting it's built up and what you were comfortable settling on a serious, dramatic take suddenly turns a bit corny and outright comical that steal some of the set up the film was trying to achieve. Nekketsu-hen needed more time to widen the cushion between the rotations of each setting.
Overall: 10
I give Nekketsu-hen a 10 / 10 since it was well executed to a certain degree and many other areas are just too well done that overshadow the unfortunate lack of cushion.
If you're a fan just like myself you're probably already stalking Aniplex USA for any announcement regarding Reiketsu. If you've seen Tekketsu-hen and you've yet to read the book released by Vertical-Inc. I wholeheartedly suggest that you pick up a copy ASAP to create context for what you're watching as the movie will become more enjoyable. Kizumonogatari, from "The Monogatari" franchise it's more fan base friendly rather than newcomer friendly.
