From the Monogatari series comes a movie trilogy, Kizumonogatari, which is a prequel of the series. The first part: Tekketsu, was released in Japan on 8 January, 2016, and a cast greeting was held at TOHO cinemas in Shinjuku. The four main cast members, Hiroshi Kamiya (as the protagonist, Koyomi Araragi), Maaya Sakamoto (Shinobu Oshino), Yui Horie (Tsubasa Hanekawa), and Takahiro Sakurai (Meme Oshino) greeted the audience.

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The monogatari series is a series of light novels written by Japanese novelist Nisio Isin, and illustrated by Taiwanese illustrator, Vofan. The anime adaption done by animation studio, Shaft, started in 2009 with Bakemonogatari, followed by Nisemonogatari and Nekomonogatari (Black) in 2012. The second season aired between 2013 and 2014, followed by Tsukimonogatari in the same year. The latest anime adaption of the novel, Owarimonogatari, finished airing in December last year, and the movie trilogy is next.

Kizumonogatari is the third book of the monogatari series, and this prequel novel features the life of Koyomi Araragi before the events in Hitagi Crab. It details Araragi’s encounter with the vampire Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade and his journey back into humanity from being a vampire.

Hiroshi Kamiya said that he was very happy that the staff allowed him to watch the movie before everyone else, and that he was really excited about it. After watching it, he felt that the production was so amazing to the point that he felt mentally tired after it ended. When Bakemonogatari was in production, after watching the first anime DVD, he also felt that the anime was really well done. Working on the new movie trilogy reminded him of those times.

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Yui Horie summarised the whole movie in one line, “It’s very scary”. She said that the protagonist, Koyomi Araragi, meets with lots of weirder things this time, which make the previous seasons seem pretty normal.

After watching the movie, Maaya Sakamoto said that the end product looked much more brushed up compared to the animation that they watched during the voice recording, and the background music was really unique as well.

Takahiro Sakurai felt happy to be able to take part in something amazing, and that this project invoked a lot of feelings in him.

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While preparing for the recording of the anime, Hiroshi Kamiya had the novel, the script, and a computer beside him if he needed to search anything online. He felt that It was difficult for him to reset his memory of this series to zero, as he had been voice acting with this series for a long time.

Maaya Sakamoto acted as Shinobu for a longer period of time than the role of Kiss-shot Acerola-orion, and acted in various episodes. She had auditioned first for the role of Kiss-shot, and five years had passed since then. She felt pressure from the director while acting out this character, who is “Seriously pleading for life”.

Yui Horie felt pressurized when the director told her to act out her role in a cute manner, so she had to keep in mind to act as young and cute as possible. With regards to her portrayal of her character, Hanekawa, Hanekawa is a smiley but flat character, so Yui Horie did not put too much thought into acting her.

As this movie was a prequel to the story, Takahiro Sakurai said that he made it a point not to read his lines (as Oshino) in a gentle voice, as much as possible. Watching the opening, he felt that his character looked really cool, and thought, “Wow, they did it!”

At the end of the cast greeting, the main cast members gave a shout out to all the fans.

Takahiro Sakurai: During the movie, I saw that many of you were really enjoying the movie. This movie is really thrilling from start to end and I feel that it is a really great work. Please support this movie and come and watch it as many times as you like!

Yui Horie: I feel that part one had been very fun to watch, and there will be a climax in part two, followed by part 3, which will be even more interesting. Everyone, please follow this series till the end! I think it’ll be even more fun if you watch the entire series from the very beginning of time till the end!

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Maaya Sakamoto: Ever since I auditioned for a part in this series, new projects have been dished out one after another. As long as the production team wants to make more and more seasons of this series, and you guys keep wanting more of this anime, I’m sure that more amazing work will be born. Please stay tuned until the third installment!

Hiroshi Kamiya:

During the preview, seeing the puzzle pieces fall into place made me really scared. It was a film that the producers had put a lot of thought into, and fine tuned it. When the movie was screened I really felt glad that I became a seiyuu. However, I must not be satisfied with this, and look forward to part two and three, and I do my best such that the two movies will make me feel the same way as well.

It is a pity that this movie will only be screened in Japan, and we will have to wait patiently to be able to watch it! Meanwhile, enjoy the trailers below!

 

Links:

Official Movie Website

Koepota