The poster is a little deceiving; the art style of this piece is classic Shaft. Fantastic still shots, stagnant characters, sublimatable messages and eye shots.
I came into this knowing very little. I had barely gotten through Episode 1 of Bakemonogatari. So the only decisive things I knew were 1. the guy is the main character or a main character, 2. supernatural exists in this world and 3. there is apparently a dude who can help with that.
We raced our way out the special theater to see this on the big screen. Some swanky restaurant/theater that surely serves $12 martinis to the "premium" seats in the back. Those chairs probably reclined too. However by time I was informed this was a thing I had to take what I could get. I grabbed the two seats directly behind my co-worker/friend (who told me about it) and his friend. There were a few false starts (the audience was eager to react and everyone seemed to be on the same wavelength) and laughter was had. Finally someone came to the front of the theater and raffled off some mysterious posters (probably the same as the one above, neither winners unrolled theirs). I was a little miffed I didn't win but how mad could I be not even knowing there was a raffle to begin with? All I knew at this point was there was a distinctive scent filling the theater up and it was not pleasant. So I needed some visual distraction.
I was surprised of the fan service right off the bat, but I guess I really shouldn't have been. Although I'm a not an expert to this producer, I could tell this was going to be more geared to the male audience. Now that's not to say it's not fan service for me too, but some girls it wouldn't be.
I bear no connection to the first character introduced in this or the first episode of the animated series. The second character seems to be disconnected from all the preceding foreshadowing that came before her. So in Part 1 she is irreverent. Koyomi, the main character, is faced with a gory rumor when he curiously follows a blood trail down into a subway. His disbelief to coming with terms of vampires actually existing is overridden by the cries of the weaken and torn apart vampire female. He surrenders his life to the vampire to help save her from dying.
He wakes up alive and confused. The foreshadowing of the opener comes into play as the main character reveals himself to the sun. This scene was way too long. He bursts into fire and stumbles around for what seems like 30 minutes. Eventually he is saved by a little blonde girl who also bursts into fire in the sun light. You find out this is the same voluptuous vampire that Koyomi surrendered his life to. It comes to light that she only had enough power to restore herself to a little girl. Without her limbs, she is weakened and vulnerable and Koyomi is not a vampire (as she did not kill him which is unclear as to why, perhaps it is for the future of him trying to retrieve her limbs from a dangerous trio who overpowered her in the first place).
Story aside the experience was actually worth it. I look forward to seeing part II in theaters and see how much the story advances (as this is a III part-er prequel). After this is finished I plan to watch all the following seasons (provided I don't get bored with it in the first season).
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