Alternate Titles: Nekomonogatari: Black

Plot:

A second prologue to the overall Bakemonogatari series the story takes place between the original Bakemonogatari and Kizumonogatari.  Black is told from the perspective of Araragi-kun, our mostly-immortal, vampire-related, protagonist.  He owes his life to the seemingly perfect and perpetually put-together class president Hanekawa Tsubasa.  The world continues to be full of “oddities” or supernatural beings which tamper with humans at will.  Hanekawa has become charmed by a white cat during the golden week holiday and begins violently attacking people to relieve her built-up stress.

Production:

Staff ~

The staff is almost entirely different from the original series Bakemonogatari, but the new staff did an excellent job of blending the best elements from the two previous seasons.

The chief director for Neko is Akiyuki  Simbo who has a large number directorial credits to his name.  He was the director for Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Kizumonogatari – following this OVA, and Arakawa Under the Bridge, to name a few.

Naturally with a strong history behind it, the staff worked to be top-knotch.

Animation ~ 

Studio SHAFT continues to do an amazing job on the animation. Not only is it stylistic, smooth, and generally flawless, but it retains all the charms of the previous series such as striking landscapes, minimalist images, camera zooms, word splash screens, and stark color contrasts.

Visually Nekomonogatari is astounding just like any other installment in the franchise.

Music ~

The music is repetitive and that’s the largest flaw I find with it.  However, with the sharp pacing of the dialogue the repetition adds a necessary and creative monotony to the drill of the character’s voice that works with the feeling of the series.  What is there is quite well done.

Review:

The dialogue remains the star of the show.  The anime continues to channel it’s dark flares here and there with random acts of violence or a commentary that catches you off guard with the level of it’s morbidity.  But this show is not, and has never been, an action show.  The dialogue is sharp, quick, and delivered impeccably.  It is the entire driving force of the show and if a well-delivered monologue gets your gears going then this show will have you zero-to-sixty in the first few minutes.  However, if you’re a less-is-more person in the talking department than this show will likely prove more frustration than pleasure.

As a prologue, the barrier to entry to the franchise is low.  You don’t even need the series to the prologue.  A short (well done of course) narration at the beginning sums up important points introduced in the first series such as oddities and who these characters are.  They don’t bog you down with information either which for a first-time viewer should allow the show to be a pleasurable watch.  Of course, that being said if you were a fan of the original series but not a super fan I wouldn’t place this in the “must see” category to get an insight that you have to have for the overall story.  To be honest I never much cared for Hanekawa and while this arc helped me do so I would’ve been fine without it.

Nisemonogatari was a take it or leave it for fans and this series I feel Neko was a step back in the right direction for the overall franchise.  It does not live up to the original glory the series had, but that may be something that simply cannot be done as the original had been so ground-breaking.  One thing I have trouble deciding if it’s a fault, or somehow a glorious thing that works with the presentation of this series is the level of fan-service.  It’s relatively high and normally I would ream a show for walking around a cat girl in lingerie for the sake of it.  But, one of the things about this show is an element of sexuality and sexual repression.  That has been there since the very beginning.  They approach it a bit unlike general fan-service, or at least that’s how it feels.  So somehow you’re willing to forgive it a little more.  Yes, some is just not forgivable, but it doesn’t strike me as horrific as it would with other things where it exists solely as fan-service and little else.

I do praise the story for it’s directness.  Other characters are very much kept to a supporting role, and in a four episode OVA this would be necessary to maintain the integrity of a more simple story-line and get it done well.

Overall, this anime is a watch I think, it has it’s flaws but the Monogatari franchise delivers once again.  Four white cats out of five black ones.

[starrater]