Nekomonogatari Black
猫物語（黒）After surviving a vampire attack, Koyomi Araragi notices that his friend and savior, Tsubasa Hanekawa, has been acting strange. When he happens to cross paths with her on his way to a bookstore and sees she has a bandage on her face, he knows something must definitely be wrong. Koyomi wants to help her, but Tsubasa assures him that her wound is just something she received at home and that he should not concern himself with it. But when a white cat with no tail is hit and killed by a car, the pair bury the creature and the real trouble begins. When Koyomi later pays a visit to his friend Meme Oshino and recounts the day's events, he is informed what they have buried is actually an apparition, one perfect for Tsubasa in her current state. Tasked with finding his friend to confirm her safety, he discovers that she has attacked her parents, possessed by the "Sawari Neko." Now, it is up to Koyomi to help Tsubasa as she once helped him. (Source: MAL Rewrite)
Reviews
pschoen - 2017-02-03 09:43:45
Wonderful story; just wish they would get back to Senjogahara already! Better to watch as a movie than a side-series.
dortha83 - 2013-06-28 08:18:31
This is a review out of 100. 35/100 for Story, 35/100 for Characters, 15/100 for Sound, 15/100 for Animation. Story - 27/35 - This series is less like Nisemono and more like Bakemono, which is a good thing. There is even less fanservice in this series, and the pace is pretty fast, feeling like a movie (which it pretty much is). Because of time constraints, they couldn't add in any useless fanservice, unlike Nisemono which had too much time. I want to give the story a higher score, but I can't because it's a prequel where too much of the story was told to us beforehand. Bakemono told us too much about what happened during Golden Week, leaving for few surprises. Characters - 29/35 - We learn more about pretty much every character in the show, aside from the Fire Sisters. What we learn most about is Araragi and Hanekawa's relationship, in particular Araragi's feeling about Hanekawa. I think many people were wondering why he never went after Hanekawa in Bakemono, especially after saying all those nice things about her. It was still a little confusing at the end, but at least it gave us a reason. We learn more about Hanekawa as a whole and about what her aberration is. We even get to see more of Oshino, which is always a good thing. Sound - 11/15 - I feel like they made less use of the music compared to the other series. Aside from that, the music is still above average. Animation - 12/15 - It seems as if Shaft went back to using more of those stupid flashes again. I didn't like them in Bakemono and was glad they were gone in Nisemono. I feel like they were used a lot less here compared to Bakemono, so there is that. Aside from that the animation is a beautiful as always. The show still likes to oversexualize scenes, but since half the show is Hanekawa in a bra an panies it doesn't really matter. Overall - 79/100 - The lack of fanservice is what increased this score over the other shows in the series. Even though Bakemono got a lower score from me (77), it is still the better show in terms of Story and Characters. This show was just fortunate enough to not have any fanservice, while also toning down on the flashes. Overall this series could have been better if Bakemono spoiled less of it. It's a shame a show like this is hindered because of another show in the series but that is the burden all prequels have to bare.
pbraun - 2013-06-26 00:04:04
And now for another review about an anime involving cat girls.Ah, the Monogatari Series. After seeing Bakemonogatari and what a masterpiece it was, Nisemonogatari was a big disapointment. It was still great, but it paled in comparison to Bakemonogatari. Because of this, I can understand why a great many would be unsure of this series, Nekomonogatari. Well, you can put your fears to rest. Nekomonogatari brought the series back to its brilliance. It's just as good as Bakemonogatari, in my opinion.First, the art:Being a SHAFT series, and even more being in the Monogatari series, as always one can expect brilliant artwork and extremely smooth animation, however lacking in the actual amount of animation there is. Nekomonogatari continues the trend having lots of sequences of very little movement and mostly talking, but with animation here and there that is absolutely amazing. One can also tell the animators had a lot of fun with the show, going crazy by adding a few over the top sequences of animation or adding a bunch of different art styles here and there.The storyline feels more like just a small part of an actual Monogatari series, which is normal since a lot of parts in Monogatari series often involve some particular supernatural event. When the event is solved, the part ends. Being only 4 episodes, this felt less like a series and more like a movie. The story was still entertaining to watch, but in reality it was pretty simple; Something causes a horrible event involving a supernatural entity and the main character, Araragi-Kun, has to go fix it.Character wise, the show has extremely well written characters, and considering the focus of the Monogatari series seems to be dialogue, the writing is naturally brilliant. Araragi-Kun feels like a fun immature kid, but with a genuine mind and interest in understanding others. He wants to help people for sure, as he is genuinely caring about Hanakawa. He is troubled over the fact that he is unsure as to whether or not he loves Hanakawa or is just lusting over her. Its interesting to see his troubles involving this. Hanakawa herself, in cat form, is a rather entertaining character who loves using a barage of cat puns, so much that it may annoy some people. Nearly every sentence she says involves them. I personally found them to be amusing and a little fun. She's also extremely dangerous, and very much a threat, which is good for those who are tired of shows with less than dangerous bad guys. It's also interesting in that cat Hanakawa, while dangerous, actually has a good cause. She wants to help normal Hanakawa. I won't explain why, or how a form of herself can help her, as that would probably be a spoiler, but just know that.Many probably had issues with Nisemonogatari's change in the music to something less interesting and lackluster. Fans of Bakemonogatari should be happy to know that Nekomonogatari reuses some of Bakemonogatari's music and consequently is a whole lot better, and the music is used really well to fit the scenes and set the mood.Overall, this show is brilliant and great to watch, especially for fans of Bakemonogatari, however, because its so similar to Bakemonogatari, it definitely is not for some people. The lack of animation and large amount of dialogue may bore people. Though it may be worth mentioning that there seems to be more animation in this than Bakemonogatari, probably because it was so short.