Review for Nekomonogatari Black

Introduction

The Monogatari franchise has turned out to be a wholly unexpected worldwide anime hit. Aniplex didn’t help matters by giving it their usual premium, exclusive high-price treatment, but the Australian and UK releases have been more reasonably priced up till now. On the surface it looks to be perfect fan fodder, a show about the supernatural, about monsters and demons, and mysteries, a show with a fair bit of action and violence, and also a show with a whole lot of sexy fan service. It also gets the SHAFT treatment when it comes to the animation, a very appealing looking series. But, it’s a show where the joy comes from the characters talking to each other, it’s about wit, wordplay and verbiage to excess; and here’s the killer, it’s a subtitle only franchise, usually the kiss of death in the UK. Yet it’s turned out to be one of MVM’s biggest sellers, and for a company that is still wary about Blu-ray, they’ve already gone and scheduled a complete collection for Bakemonogatari, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nisemonogatari get the same treatment in the near future. The Monogatari franchise is a sure thing for MVM, we’re getting the Nekomonagatari Black OVA now, and they’ve already signed on for Monogatari Season 2, beginning this winter.


It turns out that the Nekomonogatari Black OVAs will serve as something of a dry run for Monogatari Season 2, as Aniplex have cottoned onto the popularity of the series, and have decided to maximise their profits by going back to the old way of doing things. Monogatari Season 2 will be sold by the story arc, four or five episode single disc releases, beginning with Nekomonogatari White. As they are the licensor, they get to dictate how the show is sold overseas, so MVM and Hanabee will follow the same release format here and in Australia. It certainly doesn’t sound as wallet, or shelf-space friendly, but by seeing how the Nekomonogatari Black OVAs do, it might give some indication as to whether single disc releases for a full series can still work in the UK after all this time.


Bakemonogatari was something of an odd series, in that it began the story in the middle, introducing the protagonist Koyomi Araragi, his family and his friends after some major events in his life (notably becoming a vampire and then being cured), so as the series progressed, there were always references and call-backs to events that we hadn’t seen, indeed hadn’t even been animated yet. The same happened in Nisemonogatari, and again in Monogatari Season 2. One of the more popular characters in Bakemonogatari was the class president, Tsubasa Hanekawa, who became afflicted with a rather appealing cat demon possession, changing her personality, and divesting herself of most of her garments in the process. But Tsubasa Cat was the second time that this transformation had occurred, and reference was made to the first time being a lot more dangerous and damaging. Nekomonogatari Black is a four episode OVA series that takes us right back to the earlier middle of the story, after Araragi’s vampire adventure, but in time for the first occasion that Tsubasa Hanekawa first became the monster cat.


Koyomi Araragi may have gotten over his bout of vampirism, but he may be coming down with another affliction, first love. He even goes as far as asking his sister’s advice about the object of his affections. But Tsubasa Hanekawa, the object of his affections has troubles of her own, most notably with her home life. A bruised face attests to her difficulties with her ‘parents’, but it’s her attitude that most shocks Araragi. But that’s nothing compared to the shock that ensues following the discovery, and burial of a dead white cat. Suddenly Tsubasa Hanekawa’s hair has turned white, she’s grown cat ears, fangs, and claws, and she’s taken to stalking the night in her lingerie, looking for vengeance against those that have wronged her ‘mistress’. And when Araragi gets in the way, she rips his arm off. It’s a good thing he hasn’t completely gotten over the whole vampire thing yet.


Four episodes of Nekomongatari Black, Tsubasa Family parts 1-4 are presented on this single disc from MVM. It’s also being released on Blu-ray, if you need your feline fan-service in high definition.

Picture

Nekomonogatari Black gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer in the native PAL format on this DVD. It’s a clear and sharp transfer, rich in detail, with smooth animation, and an absence of artefacts or obvious aliasing. It’s just the image quality you’d expect for a Studio SHAFT animation, one of the Monogatari series. It takes a leaf from the Bakemonogatari series, with its darker, atmospheric visuals, eschewing the primary colour boldness of Nisemonogatari, which is understandable given the tone of the story. Expect inventive and varied visuals, odd camera angles, lots of characters looking back over their shoulders, and of course the fan service, of which we have to give thanks to whoever researched lingerie for this show. Also, just like the Bakemonogatari releases Nekomonogatari Black reveals signs of edge enhancement when scaled up to a large HD screen, making the Blu-ray the obvious choice for those who are capable.

Sound

You have a simple DD 2.0 Stereo Japanese track, with and a player locked translated (white) subtitles and signs track. There is no English dub to this title, and dubbing that intense verbiage, all those witticisms and puns would be a colossal effort. The dialogue is clear throughout, and the stereo gives a little space for the music and action. The music too is pretty effective; I certainly appreciate the theme songs. The subtitling isn’t perfect, although once again all the on screen text is translated, and you’ll spend a fair bit of time manning your pause button to get everything read. It’s just that there are moments where two people speak to each other in short, clipped sentences, and the subtitle translation has both bits of dialogue on the same line, which can be confusing. There’s also a missing subtitle caption at 33:21, and another 11 minutes into episode 4.

Extras

Nekomonogatari Black presents its contents with a static menu. The only extras are the textless credits, one opening, and two closing sequences. Otherwise you get Hanabee (and a fair few MVM) trailers for Medaka Box, Girls und Panzer, Familiar of Zero, From the New World, and Campione!

Conclusion

I don’t feel the same enthusiasm for Nekomonogatari Black that I had for Bakemonogatari, and later Nisemonogatari. You might think that it’s down to second watch blues. Unlike the two series previously released on DVD and Blu-ray by MVM, I actually caught Nekomonogatari Black when it was streamed on Daisuki, so that first time glow had faded when it came to the DVD release. The problem is that I didn’t have the first time glow when I streamed it, found it just as awkward and unappealing the first time I watched it. I didn’t have that problem when I streamed the second Monogatari series by the way, but I kept thinking that Nekomonogatari Black was trying too hard to be like Bakemonogatari, by taking the same formula and turning it up to eleven. The violence is a tad more impactful, the dialogue even more driven by circumlocution, and the fan service even more blatant.


Arguably the best story in Bakemonogatari was Tsubasa Cat, Tsubasa Hanekawa one of the more interesting characters in the show, and it makes sense to revisit her character. It’s unsurprising that the second series kicks off with the Nekomonogatari White arc, and it’s also unsurprising that when it came to the OVA series, they’d opt to show just how the monster cat came to possess Hanekawa. The problem here is that there just isn’t enough material to fill four episodes. Given that the Monogatari series has a way of making even the simplest of supernatural tales take up space, that might come as a surprise.


The thing is that when it came to the main series, you had Araragi getting to know the new characters that he encountered, you had him interacting with other characters that he had met previously, and you had lots of opportunity for wordplay, interesting conversation, and of course the obligatory fan service. The problem with Nekomonogatari Black is that this comes from before the time he had encountered and had adventures with Mayoi, Senjyogahara, Suruga and the others, so other than a few moments with his sisters, it’s pretty much centred around him and Hanekawa. He also knows Hanekawa at this point, and there’s not much room for character discovery, especially as the OVA assumes that you have seen Bakemonogatari already. It’s pretty much trimmed down to the basics, Hanekawa develops her catty problem, Araragi goes around looking for a way to solve it, and I’ll try not to spoil the conclusion for you, but if you’ve seen Bakemonogatari, let’s just say that everyone makes it through intact.


It’s a simple story, stretched into four episodes, and to say that Nekomonogatari Black is thin, would be an understatement. While I don’t find the same complexity and depth in Nekomonogatari Black that I found in the first two series, it certainly does up the stakes when it comes to fan service, including some awkward moments for Araragi with his sisters, and of course Hanekawa’s cat form, white hair, cat ears, provocative lingerie, alluring poses, violent dismemberment... maybe not that last. Nekomonogatari Black is a prime example of a disappointing narrative rescued by an arresting visual aesthetic. This is a show to watch, simply because it looks good.