Kizumonogatari – Koyomi Vamp – is a fascinating experiment in storytelling that, while not without its flaws, offers a unique entry point into the Kizumonogatari world. As a composite of all three prequels, Tatsuya Oishi’s film leaves you with a sense of missing scenes and crucial moments, which can be frustrating but also piques your curiosity.
Koyomi Araragi encounters a blood-curdling beauty. She called herself Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, an iron-blooded, hot-blooded, and cold-blooded vampire. Kiss-shot, who lost her limbs and was on the verge of death, asks Koyomi for help. After all her fear, confusion, and conflict, Koyomi gives her blood to save her – and the next time she wakes up, Koyomi is Kiss-shot’s minion. Koyomi wishes to change back from being a vampire to a human. But for that to happen, Kiss-shot needed to regain her powers fully and needs those missing limbs returned to her.
This reworking of the trilogy of films from 2016 to set itself up as a prequel struggles to contain itself in this 135-minute cut, but what we get works well enough, even if you can tell some scenes are missing, to make the entire film work as one complete piece. It makes the film feel like a rushed sprint to the finish that can slightly overwhelm it. It would be interesting to see this and the three separate films to see how much has been removed. The constant intertitles (almost an excessive amount) are probably where moments from the previous iteration existed and have been used to help composite the films together to be more cohesive. It’s an understandable choice, but that doesn’t stop it from being a frustrating viewing experience.
However, the biggest distraction in Kizumonogatari – Koyomi Vamp – is the continual shift in animation styles. There is just so much going on visually that it would have helped the film to keep to one tone. At times, we get typical animation that you would expect in an anime like this, and then for no real apparent reason, we will have these great 3D animation moments and backgrounds that make it look like it has been completely lifted from another film. Add to this the change in the 2D animations themselves, which makes for a somewhat perplexing visual feast to try and interact with.
The film’s unique approach, blending hand-drawn elements with 3D worlds, is certainly intriguing. However, it may not be as effective as director Tatsuya Oishi intended. At times, the viewer’s attention is drawn more to the backgrounds than the characters, and while visually interesting, the film’s use of various animation methods can be somewhat distracting.
That said, the story itself is the one that hooks you in here, even if some moments are a touch too misogynistic for some tastes (continual glimpses of Tsubasa’s underwear become grating at one point). But the general story is an easy winner, and with a kick-ass vampire called Kiss-shot Acerola-Orion Heart-under-blade, you know there will be people interested. Kizumonogatari – Koyomi Vamp – provides a sufficient twist on the vampire trope by combining multiple genres into one while keeping a strong sense of self throughout. The worst thing the film does after you learn there were more pieces to the movie in the form of that trilogy is watch said trilogy. As an ad for them, it’s excellent, but probably not what it intended to be…
With three separate films already released, this (for extents of purposes) “supercut” never clicks as smoothly as you want it to. There is enough here to be entertained and invested in, but not enough to explain the reason for its existence. Its awkward edit exacerbates matters; if you don’t have time to watch all three films, Kizumonogatari – Koyomi Vamp – will suffice.
★★★
For more of our coverage of Fantasia Festival 2024 please check out our reviews below:
Hell is a Teenage Girl (Short)
HEAVENS: The Boy and His Robot
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