Maybe I would have liked this animated film if I hadn't watched countless episodes of Monogatari.

The first thing that stands out in the opening frames of the film is the animation. Yes, it seems more realistic than in the series, but the rotoscoping technique is too obvious; the face and movements are so exaggerated that it resembles grimacing and buffoonery. The studio seems to want to specifically show that the film's budget is much larger than that of the series, which is why the camera constantly moves in three-dimensional space, but due to the realistic CGI backgrounds, this technique does not blend at all with the 2D animation. In the series, it looked cool due to the stylization, well-chosen color palette, and art-house style direction.

I understand that this is a prequel and the main character has not yet experienced everything he went through by the time the events of Bakemonogatari begin. However, it is very strange to see how hysterical he is during the subway scene and cowardly during the encounter with the hunters.

In the end, we are left on an anticlimactic note, with the taste that we were just fed one episode of Monogatari stretched into an hour instead of 20 minutes.