A series of eerily similar suicides occupy newspaper headlines in late '90s Japan. Amidst all the bizarre resemblances, there is one detail that stands out above the rest: the victims have all taken their lives by leaping from the Fujou building, a run-down abandoned structure rising high above the city.
Shiki Ryougi, a cold-hearted girl living in an empty apartment, suspects that these sinister events have a supernatural cause. Possessing a mystical power herself, Shiki works to investigate the incidents alongside Touko Aozaki, a doll-making detective specializing in magic, and her friend Mikiya Kokotou who works as Touko's assistant.
Shiki unravels the mystery as she ventures through an enigmatic world to uncover the dark secrets surrounding the strange phenomenon.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Archaeon
Kara no Kyoukai review Part 1 Kara no Kyoukai (lit. The Boundary of Emptiness), is a series that has taken a long time to become well known. The story was originally created in 1998 by Nasu Kinoko and Takeuchi Takashi (who later went on to form TYPE-MOON), with the first five chapters being released on their doujin website, whilst the final two chapters were released in August 1999 at Comiket 56. The series was picked up by Kodansha for commercial publication in 2004, and this year (2009), will see the series released on the international market courtesy of Del Rey Manga. Now fans of Shingetsutan Tsukihimewill be find many things in Kara no Kyoukai familiar, not the least of which is the fact that they are both created by TYPE-MOON. The stories have several parallels within them, which has led to the latter series being considered an alternate version of the former, or at the very least, set in the same world.
The anime adaptation of the series is being released as seven movies that run for approxiamtely 50 minutes each. Each individual film features a different time period, with no two consecutive movies following in any kind of chronological order. Unlike Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu though, this seemingly out-of-sequence airing is not simply because of a whim on the part of the producers. The non-consecutive ordering is how the series is should be portrayed, and the anime has stayed faithful to that method.
The first movie, entitled Overlooking View, is surprisingly good in terms of its story. Although there is very little character development, the story moves along at a nice pace, and the tense nature of the movie is very much apparent to the viewer. The movie is somewhat predictable in places though, however this doesn't really detract from one's enjoyment of it as an individual episode.
One thing to note is that the series subtitle, "The Garden of Sinners", is actually very appropriate. The first movie does a good job of highlighting the fact that the world in which the story takes place is no heaven by any measure, and that not everything is as simple as people may at first believe.
The art and animation for the series is done by Ufotable, a company for which I have a distinct soft spot. Like many Ufotable productions the animation style is distinctive in certain ways, especially during the action sequences (fans of Futakoi Alternative will know what I'm talking about here), and fans will notice Ufotable's trademark claymation sequences at the beginning of each movie (in other series they are shown with the credits at the end of each episode). The animation is generally very well done, and what may seem like blips in the animating sequence are often purposeful, part of this distinctive style I mentioned.
The backgrounds and backdrops are generally excellent. The maze-like structure of the Fujo building is very well depicted, as are the various outdoor scenes and indoor scenes. The CG has been almost seamlessly incorporated into the show, and the smoothness of the CG adds to the effect of the action sequences.
Character designs are taken directly from the original designs for the novels by Takeuchi Takashi, however fans of Tsukihime will also notice similarities in the features of several of the characters.
One area where the movie manages to stamp it's mark is with the sound effects. These are often very clear and well used, fading to background noise when necessary.The effects used during the action sequences are sometimes sharp in comparison to the rest of the movie, whilst the effects used to promote an atmosphere of tension are a little lacking. The music sometimes lacks a little subtlety, but generally serves to heighten the effect of a particular scene, addinga sense of foreboding in some sequences.
The voice actors are well used, with the three main characters being decently portrayed. Sakamoto Maaya, who plays the role of Ryougi Shiki, brings a certain edge, a certain chill, to her voice at the times when it's necessary, something which adds to the overall effect of the character. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast don't really have much scope to display their skill. Hopefully the following movies will rectify this though.
I will freely admit that the rating I have given the characters is not fair, but this is because a valid assessment of each character is extremely difficult in this case. The fact that the movie is only 50 minutes long means that there is no real development to each character, but I am withholding a final opinion until the end of the series.
As I mentioned before there are certain parallels with Shingetsutan Tsukihime, and nowhere is this more apparent than with the characters. Ryougi Shiki doesn't just share her name with Tohno Shiki of Tsukihime, she also has the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" (and she looks a bit like Ciel). Likewise, Aozaki Touko shares her name with Aozaki Aoko, and both help the person named Shiki in their respective shows (they also seem to know more than they let on as well).
In general the characters are well done, but they lack a certain depth which will hopefully be rectified as the series continues.
Overall this is a very enjoyable movie. The pacing of the story, the tension of various scenes, and the semi-combative relationship of the characters, all serve to raise this above the often substandard fare around. The fact that the series is being done as individual movies is also a plus, as each story arc is completed within a nice timeframe. The movie may be a little predictable, but as a first offering it was very impressive nonetheless.
Some people may not enjoy the first movie for a number of reasons (it has no real romance, no character development, no sequential plot, etc), but personally, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Touka
Kara No Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei is the first of seven movies based on a series of light novels written by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. Despite the first in a septenary - for better or worse - the movie takes a rather disjointed, obscure approach. You may expect the first in a septenary to chronicle the inception of the cast, or to establish the universe and conflict in the series. Instead, audiences are thrown into the middle of a story which seems like it was written for people with previous knowledge of the Kara no Kyoukai franchise. There's little in the way ofintroductions, which musters very little connection to or understanding of the characters. The film is shrouded in mystery, but produces very little intrigue - the foundations seem absent; it sets up a plot but struggles (or rather, doesn't attempt) to develop any of the characters. It's an okay technique to pull in the audience during the first act - get them pondering and interested through obscurity - but it doesn't work well when that's all you're doing throughout the entire film. This causes the story to fall flat and come across as lackluster with very little substance; just another plot involving baddies and a team adept at dealing with them.
It's this extreme lack of depth to the characters that really spoils what could be an exciting film. With no connection to the cast comes a struggle to care about them and, by extension, the story. There are three members of the main cast, with a very weak supporting team, and hints of depth are just that - hints. The writers want it to be interesting by being cryptic, but they completely miss the mark.
The animation and art style are saving graces, if the film isn't already too far gone. The character designs, backgrounds and general views are all very crisp and detailed. The art department communicate well a very dark and isolated tone. The animation is fluid and the action sequences are stunning. The music, too, is very well implemented. The backing tracks blend fittingly with the dark tone and the more uptempo pieces used during the action sequences complement them significantly.
However, due to such uninspired characters which pave the way for a very bland story, the film comes across as fearfully mediocre. Some depth to the characters would have gone leaps and bounds, but the writers' refusal engage with them in the first installment doesn't make for a very compelling film.
aindah
The only thing I enjoyed in this movie was the art. And even in that department it has flaws (the characters are way too traditionally drawn). The story is, actually, non-existent, and we get to see only a glimpse of character development. There's a wide range of quasi-philosophical mumbo-jumbo which seems absolutely random and pointless. This movie did nothing for me. I've seen more happening in first five minutes of a series that has 110 episodes, than I've seen in 50 minutes of Kara no Kyoukai: Fukan Fuukei. The sound has it's good moments. But there's so much silence, trying to unsuccsessfully create an'atmosphere' that the movie, in my opinion, fails in this department too.
The good parts (art, sparse fight scenes) are slaughtered by Aozaki Touko's lamentations, as well with trying to force a dark, desperate atmosphere onto the beautifully drawn world. I guess it was supposed to be smart and intellectually enticing, posing questions about suicide, courage to withstand life, and whatnot.
However it may try, the movie fails. The characters seem as rough drafts, with too many typical traits, the stoyline of a 50 minute movie should have actually existed.
Now, I do not know the background of the story. I have not read the novels, I just wanted to watch a movie for a change. I think Kara no Kyoukai should have been categorized as a series. Because Fuukan Fuukei cannot call itself a movie, even if it goes on for 50 minutes.
I will watch the other 6 movies because I hate making decisive opinions about something I haven't gotten to familiarize myself with completely. However, I think it is reasonable to form an opinion after watching something that calls itself a movie.
LeikoHaran
Before i start the review, i would like to give a short disclaimer/warning to this anime, if you do not want to read it, that is fine, please skip to my actual review. Okay, so Kara no Kyoukai is a series of 7 films and 1 OVA epilogue to them, please do not assume that each movie has its own beginning and end like normal movies do, i would rather consider this as extended episodes rather than movies as much like Harry Potter, each one ends on a cliffhanger to tell the one same story and while yes each movie does have its own plot,it takes all 7 movies to explain things you may have seen in the first, thankyou for reading!
Fukan Fuukei is the first of 7 anime movies produced by studio Ufotable (well known for Fate/Zero) and is the introduction to possibly one of my favourite anime of all time.
Story 9/10:
While this film is rather slow in comparison to the later films, Fukan Fuukei (Overlooking View) has a lot to like in terms of pacing, we follow Ryogi Shiki, a woman who has the ability of Death Perception as she works for Touko Aozaki to investigate paranormal events and take them by force if necessary.
This film in particular is heavily story driven, with only two action scenes in the entire 48 minute movie, Overlooking View focuses squarely on Mikiya, Shiki and Touko's relationship with eachother and the story should be considered a prologue to the overarching story.
Art 10/10:
The budget Ufotable has for their shows can seemingly buy Japan itself as this film's art and animation is possibly one of if not the most beautiful thing ive ever had the pleasure of watching in the anime medium, the vibrant colours inside Shiki's eyes (when in battle) contrast to the overall dark and gloomy background gloriously and the divine backgrounds this show has to offer are equally a treat for the eye. Every penny they spent on the animation was superb and then some with only Fate/Zero and Gankutsuou being possible contenders for best looking anime i have ever seen, this is seriously not something that should be missed.
Sound 9/10:
I gave this a 9 as, even though all of the music in the movie is the same song composed in different ways, tempos and using many different instruments from a choir accompanied with an acoustic guitar to the completely badass 'Fighting Medley' which is the same song with a full blown orchestra in the more intense parts this film has to offer, and because of how perfectly it blends in with Shiki ripping off her jacket to fight, it has found its way onto my list of all time greatest anime OSTs, plus, you know, an anime with songs composed by Yuki Kajiura? C'mon of course the soundtrack is awesome!
Character 7/10:
As i previously stated this film is heavy on character development to give you the basic premise of who they are and nothing more, the film can only give you the amount of character development you get in a regular 2 1/2 anime episodes and aside from Code Geass and Persona 4, that isnt enough time to solidly develop any character, especially one's with so much back story that this film has prepped you for, but not explained.
Enjoyment 9/10:
I try to be fair with my reviews but when it comes to an anime i put on a pedastal as possibly the greatest anime i have ever watched, its difficult to say i dont thoroughly enjoy watching all of these movies, this film is quite slow, granted, but the Yuki Kajiura OST, beautifully executed fight scenes, perfectly paced character development to set you up for the next film and absolutely GORGEOUS visuals, how can anyone say they didn't find something to like from this?
Its also difficult to only review the first film which is the equivalent of only reviewing 2 episodes to your favourite anime, i cant explain whatll happen next nor can i explain what this film holds because in comparison to the entire set of movies, this doesnt contain as much as some of them, so i'll let you enjoy it when you go watch it, which i whole-heartedly recommend you do as this is not one to miss and its a real shame not as many people are aware of this truly stunning series.
Kenichi25
I had high hopes for this movie since there are so many glowing reviews that praise the intelligent story, psychology, deep characters and the beautiful artwork. However, all I found was a forced dialog with forced depth that ended up preaching through most of the movie with lame arm-chair psychology that lacked any depth. I don't mind endless dialog when the characters have intelligent, intriguing things to say but the ideas within the dialog in this movie were neither original or interesting. If you've read some psych books, you've read it before... and if you've watched other psychological shows, you've heard thesame concepts explained in better detail and in more depth. I think they did manage to fool the masses into thinking that this movie is a work of psychological genius though. At best it is a movie of cobbled together psychological/philosophical concepts that the writers themselves poorly understood to make it "sound" intelligent.
The character, Shiki, is interesting though, and may convince me to watch the other movies... maybe.
Orsonius
Kara no Kyoukai animated by studio Ufotable is something I was quite excited to get into but always was postponed month after month. When I finally got the time and ambition to watch the first movie, I turned off the light, cranked up the speakers and got comfortable to enjoy a supposed great anime movie series. After about 30 min into the movie I stopped. I couldn’t watch it anymore because it annoyed me too much. “What the heck is wrong with it?”, I asked myself. This show looks so good, this show sounds so good, but damn is it annoying to watch. Without wasting anymore time I get right intoreviewing:
Story
________________________________________
Mysterious suicides occur in the city our protagonist lives in. Apparently ghosts or demons have something to do with it. A horror, mystery detective show?
Sound great right?
Yeah no..
What sounds good on paper is in truth horribly presented.
Let me get out the worst part right from the start: The pacing.
The show is in a non-chronological order, which sometimes can be pretty cool as it creates suspension and you want to know how things ended up this way. But problem is that you will be most of the time confused watching this movie. And because it is a movie being 50min confused isn’t really entertaining or interesting. It’s actually just plain annoying.
Who are these characters? Where and when does this play out? How did it all end up this way?
We don’t get any of these information beyond some basics. Also the events feel tagged on. Things just happen without any transition. It tries to be super complex and smart but ends up being pretentious by not covering the basics or giving us enough information throughout the movie.
Which ends up making the movie make no sense.
I mean who are these ghosts anyways, why can Shiki fight them, and why is her boyfriend asleep at some point. Why are there no other characters besides the 3 main characters. WTF happened in the end? Nothing makes sense as it is so poorly explained or presented.
It ends as confusing and blank as it started with no real plot or connection.
Characters
________________________________________
What’s even worse than the story are the characters.
There are 3 of them, Shiki the emotionless doll protagonist who is boring to watch every second throughout the entire show and I can’t stand her face.
Then there is her boyfriend Mikiya who has only pretentious bullshit to say and then falls asleep at some point.
And then there is Touko who seems like the only human being in the entire show but ends up adding nothing much of value to the overall cast.
The problem with the character is:
We don’t know anything about them.
Who are they?
Why do they do the things they do?
Why should I care about them?
What the hell are they even doing the entire movie?
I never watched a show with characters that felt so distant. I had literally 0 connection to them. They were merely dolls doing random crap and talked random pretentious shit.
This brings me to the next part and maybe the worst of the entire movie.
The dialogues. Wow are they bad.
The entire time they try to sound super serious and smart but end up using fancy words saying absolute nothing.
It’s not like what they say matters, it’s just fancy words which has no relation to what the fuck is going on.
They literally pull out their conversations out of their asses, which is a big reason why they all feel so blank and dull and boring.
I watched a couple of confusing shows with almost emotionless characters but at least everything they did and say made sense in their environment, not so in Kara no Kyoukai.
Sound and Animation
________________________________________
I keep it brief here as there is nothing to complain about.
The soundtrack is amazing and the overall sound effects are good too.
The voice actors do an okay job being emotionless pretentious robots, which is not a compliment.
The animation is good but not as amazing as people want it to be, it’s more cool tricks than actual amazing animation and a lot of cgi and possible rotoscoping.
The character designs look hideous as all type moon character designs. And they are especially ugly when you keep in mind what kind of characters they represent.
Enjoyment
________________________________________
What can I say I had to watch this show 3 times (actually I picked it up 3 times) to finish it, and even then I rushed to the end because nothing of interest happened.
It’s the most pretentious bullshit movie I’ve ever seen and I really don’t wanna watch the other ones, but maybe... just maybe I’m gonna give them a try, just to see if they get any better (which I heard they don’t).
Scores
________________________________________
Art and Animation
Artstyle +1 (Gradience and textures look great)
Quality +1 (really good quality)
Background +1 (Nice colors and dark and gloomy)
Character Designs -1 (In general I don’t like type moon character designs)
Visual Effects +1 (The best part)
8/10
Sound
Voice Acting 0 (bland but not bad)
Soundtrack +3 (disregarding my usual opening, great soundtrack overall. what a waste on this show)
Sound Effects +1 (really good)
9/10
Story or Content
Premise and Setting +1 (Interesting)
Pacing -1 (Horrible pacing. goes all over the place no connection to events)
Complexity -1 (lol deep bullshit, only confusing)
Plausibility -1 (none)
Conclusion -1 (ending leaves you with nothing)
2/10
Characters
Personality -1 (emotionless dolls)
Behavior and Chemistry -1 (random talking no real chemistry)
Development and Progression -1 (no development, stale and boring)
Motivation and Backdrop -1 ( we no nothing about anything and everyone does just things because...)
Likability -1 (hated every single character)
0/10
Enjoyment
Art and Animation +1 (good art wasted on a shitty movie)
Sound +1 (fantastic music, wasted on a shitty movie)
Story and Content -1 (boring, confusing, nonsensical, pretentious)
Characters -1 ( horrible brick like characters)
Value 0 (I don’t wanna remember this shit but others will... oh well.)
5 /10...
but actually 0/10 as I couldn’t bring myself to watch it in one sitting and hate it a lot.
Final thoughts and Conclusion
________________________________________
Kara no Kyoukai is the epitome of pretentious dribble. It’s a waste of good music and art and was one of the biggest wastes of time in my life.
It’s a clear candidate for my list of worst anime I’ve ever seen.
4/10 Bad!
dublincore
I really didn't feel like reviewing each movie individually--therefore, this will actually be a review of the series as a whole. I expect this to get some down votes as a result, but I figured the best place for this review would be attached to the first film in the series. The plot mostly revolves around two young people, Mikiya and Shiki. Shiki is a gorgeous but weird girl. She frequently speaks in cryptic riddles, and is almost never seen wearing anything other than a kimono. She seems consistently bored and disinterested with what goes on around her. Mikiya is your average ultra-nice guy whoalways tries to see the best in everyone--and of course, he falls for Shiki hard, in his own restrained way. As he becomes closer to her and she beings to open up to him in spite of herself, he learns that she may have something to do with the mysterious (and very violent) murders that have been occurring in their city. And while it's true that she does, nothing about this series is as straightforward as it initially seems to be, and the mysteries that revolve around Shiki and the bloody violence that plague their city is what drives Garden of Sinners forwards. And sometimes backwards. And sideways.
I've got mixed feelings about this movie series--on one hand, they are some of the prettiest and most detailed animated works I've ever seen, complete with fantastically choreographed action sequences, a decent soundtrack, and chillingly dark, gory mysteries blooming like a poisoned blossom in each installment. On the other hand, they possess an unrelentingly (and occasionally laughable) high opinion of their own seriousness, are populated almost entirely with either thinly developed or just plain unlikable characters (with maybe one or two exceptions) and make the grave mistake of thinking that they are about more than they are actually about. Top it all off with some occasionally lazy writing and way more purposeful obfuscation than an action series like this requires (is there any real reason why these stories aren't told in chronological order?) and you're left with something that's sort of a pleasure to behold, but difficult to enjoy or care much about.
There is some meaty substance here worth digging into (the fifth film's central plot revolving around a magnificently bizarre apartment complex was particularly satisfying for a good chunk of its length), and when it pushes into emotional territory without overextending its reach it proves itself capable of some seriously great scenes, but otherwise, serious fans of pitch-black action/horror anime (to the exclusion of nearly all else) are going to probably be the only ones who are going to seriously nerd out about this series.
Still, it's worth noting that I'd probably watch it again, and I wouldn't be too terribly surprised if I wound up liking it more the second time around. Ultimately though, I'd say that Garden of Sinners is mostly a severe case of style over substance that pretends as if it possesses substance by slowing down the pace and keeping key plot elements in the shadows for far longer than is necessary. (Not to mention the terribly cryptic dialogue and clumsy philosophizing. Where do I even begin with this stuff?) On that note, however, I must say that I'm more than a little concerned about how often the pacing of this series is criticized: for all of its frustrations, I was never once even remotely bored--which leads me to worry somewhat about the attention span of your average anime fan. (I was similarly frustrated to see many anime fans complaining of Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei being too slow.) Garden of Sinners suffers from numerous problems, but pacing issues are not one of them.
The biggest problem is that most of the individual films themselves are pretty decent in and of themselves. (I'll get to the rest of the problem in a second here.) Yes, they tend to wallow in mindless darkness for longer than they should (seriously, if Garden of Sinners blows your mind, go check out something like Clockwork Orange, then report back to me), but as atmospheric action mysteries they succeed, occasionally magnificently. The problem is that even with none of the films being too weak when taken individually they just don't add up to anything too compelling when all are taken together. It's like the team (or teams) behind it all spent so much time carefully crafting each individual piece that they forgot to make sure that the pieces all added up to an appealing whole when taken together. Nor does the big picture, which is doled out to the audience in bits and pieces, really add up to anything particularly surprising--indeed, I had already filled in most of the blanks myself by the time the final film rolled around, and as the credits rolled on the final picture, the overwhelming thought I had was: 'That was it? What was the point?'
Ultimately, I appreciate the ambition and technical artistry that's on display here, and I'd be a liar if I said that I didn't really enjoy on some level the gore, action, and the occasional nice character moment. Otherwise though, Garden of Sinners feels pretty hollow once you get past its polished exterior, and looking back on it I mostly see wasted potential.
ktulu007
Last week I looked at an anime that was adapted from a Type-Moon work by Ufotable. That was Fatezero and it was glorious. Why do I bring this up? Because this week I'll be looking at an adaptation of a Type-Moon work handled by Ufotable. This is Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei which is far too long of a title so I'll just refer to it as KnK for the rest of this review. One of the odd things about KnK is that it's actually a series of eight films and an OVA looking at different parts of the light novel series and twoof the films tell a single story. Wouldn't it have made more sense to do an actual anime series or was there some reason they couldn't? Since I like to make up my own explanations for this type of thing I'm just going to say that the Predacons and Maximals were arguing over whether it should be a series or a long OVA and the film series was a compromise. Let's take a look at the franchise's first film (I love alliteration.)
There's an abandoned building where girls have been committing suicide. Our protagonist, Shiki, looks at the building and sees people floating above it. So, she responds by doing absolutely nothing... No examination out of curiosity? Okay, anyway Shiki goes to a place that may or may not be a business of some kind, it's not exactly explained, to talk to her friends Touko and Mikiya. Mikiya collapses because he went to the suicide building and... likes dolls. And that's the point of the film where I lost any hopes I had for it being good. It doesn't help that they leave the dude comatose on the couch instead of taking him to, you know, a hospital. Where they treat people who are suffering from medical issues like being comatose. That's when Shiki goes to the building to properly investigate. I won't go any further into details. Let's look at the problems with the movie. The first is that we learn virtually nothing about any of our characters or how they gathered together. It's not like there isn't time to examine it in part, but they prefer to spend the time showing off the artwork or having Shiki eat for several minutes. Seems like she could've investigated the condemned building earlier and nothing of value would've been lost. The biggest issue with the story is that roughly thirty minutes of the fifty minute run-time accomplish nothing. And one of the big problems that emerges from not having any back-story is that when Shiki uses her abilities during the climax a lot of what she does comes out of nowhere and you have to wonder where her abilities came from and why she's able to do what she's doing. Seriously, these are not elements you introduce for the first time in the climax without explanation. Another issue is that the only action sequence before the climax is unintentionally hilarious. What it's supposed to be doing is building tension and setting up the threat but the sequence is so over the top that it comes off as funny instead. They also try to establish atmosphere with over-used horror cliches like having laughter play in a secluded and rundown place. I hate to break it to you, Guys, but that stopped being scary when they started using it in the Halloween episodes of children's cartoons. Another issue that's quite prevalent in the final third of the film are the overly preachy, faux philosophical speeches. They get so ridiculous and they're so generally pointless that I'm tempted to call this a PSA film, except that the opening two-thirds are only tangentially related to the subject.
Then we have the characters. You can probably guess already, but they're not interesting. They don't get any development nor do they have much in the way of personality. Yes, I realise that it's difficult to develop characters in a fifty minute film, but KnK never even gives us any reasons to care about these people. When Mikiya collapses you don't want to see him get better, apparently neither do Shiki or Touko since they just leave him where he fell. You barely know anything about him. You know that he likes dolls and he buys people things they don't like and that's pretty much it. How would a good movie have handled something like this? Let's look at Mononoke Hime for the answer. In Mononoke Hime Ashitaka is cursed almost immediately. Why do we want to see him get better? Because we already know that he's a courageous and kind individual. Yeah, we know bugger all else at that point, but it's enough to get us invested in his plight since he's already a sympathetic character. And back to KnK. To discuss our other major characters, Shiki and Touko. Shiki is kind of a blank slate and Touko is a doll maker/scientist. The scientist thing isn't actually mentioned but the plot doesn't make sense if she's just a doll maker. Neither one has a whole lot of personality. Which is another issue with this first film. It should be our introduction to the characters and instead you have three characters with virtually no personality interacting in order to get the plot moving while revealing almost nothing about their motivations or personalities. It's boring. If the characters had interesting personalities then the film could be dialogue heavy and interesting, but the characters don't so it's just dialogue heavy.
The artwork is the best part of the movie. The character designs are a bit typical, but they still look good. The backgrounds, textures and various objects are all excellent. The only real problem I have with the art is that they do the "blood splattering everywhere in a way that blood doesn't actually do" thing.
The voice acting... It isn't exactly bad but it's not good either. A big part of it is that the performances are really unemotional and detached. Which I'm certain is the result of the direction since I know that Sakamoto Maaya, Suzumura Kenichi, Tanaka Rie and pretty much everyone else in this can act. The music can be good when they're trying to set an atmosphere, but they usually ruin it by adding faint laughter or by using overly dramatic music when the scene is just Shiki walking home.
The yuri factor is a 1/10. This has no yuri. Granted that could be because the character interactions are so emotionless and Shiki might be supposed to have a thing for Touko. I only bring that up because the film is given romance as a sub-genre and I can't really tell whether it's going for Shiki and Touko or Shiki and Mikiya. Either way the interactions don't really support the idea of romance. I guess Touko and Shiki would make more sense since she doesn't even care about Mikiya enough to take him to hospital when he's comatose. Yes, I did have to bring that up a third time. It's just too stupid not to.
The final rating for Kara no Kyoukai 1 is a 2/10. Granted, the visuals are very impressive but the story is a lot of nothing and the characters couldn't have less personality without being inanimate, or in a Kingdom Hearts game. Seeing it doesn't interest me in the rest of the series. It just makes me want a nap.
4MAD3US
Do yourself a favor, and don't start watching this franchise from the first movie. This first move is completely skippable, and a painful 50 minute experience if you don't know the backstory already. First time watchers are recommended to watch in release order, if that really is the best way, watching onwards from the second movie and leaving this movie for the last seems a lot better. Honestly though, just not watching it at all is even better. Let's break it down then. Art: Good, as one would expect from ufotable. Characters: Extremely bland, could have been swapped with cardboard cutouts in this movie. Plot: The movie intentionally has theviewer not knowing what is going on. That would be fine if executed well, however in this movie that falls flat on it's face. The lack of backstory and development, with a plot so shallow it feels there isn't one, makes watching this straight up boring.
Sound: Fine, sound effects and the OST wasn't impressive in any way.
FakerEmiya
Well before I start my review on this anime movie it is actually the first movie of seven with the first one(this one) subbed released on May 21 and the fourth movie released in Japan on May 24th. And the anime is based on the Japanese novel series, authored by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. Well enough about ranting onto the review. Story - 8 Well first of all, any plot progression or story development in this first movie is pretty much stand-alone from the series itself, and since this is the first movie of seven, it can be quite(or very) confusing, even ifyou read the first chapter of the novel. So don't expect to understand it well the first time watching it.
Art - 10
This category is where this anime truly shines. Everything from lighting effects, backgrounds and character animations are top-notch for this modern-day anime. You won't be disappointed with the visuals.
Sound - 9
The bgm for this anime was actually well-done for its mystery/supernatural theme and fitted well with the majority of the scenes in the movie. Not to mention the theme songs were performed by Yuki Kajiura.
Character - 8
Now this movie suffers in this category because you get a complete lack of introduction and/or exposition about the characters in the anime. There’s no explanation about Shiki Ryōgi and her mysterious ability; Likewise Tohko Aozaki and her dolls, although the characters themselves are interesting and cool.
Enjoyment - 9
Now although this movie is suppose to serve as the introduction/pilot movie, it actually is very interesting and intriguing. With its mix of mystery, supernatural, and action it is definitely something interesting to watch. Although there is quite abit of talking in the movie; the action scenes, despite short, were actually depicted very well and cool. Although the suicide scenes are quite explicit.
Overall - 9
Overall the movie, in my opinion, is great. It has its very noticeable flaws, but its still a great supernatural/mystery movie with excellent animations. While the story can be very confusing for the average anime viewer as well as a lack of character introductions; the way its depicted gives you a sense of curiousity, making you want to wait for the next release.
I recommend checking it out despite its flaws for the average anime viewer, especially watch it if your a TYPE-moon fan.
kurasaina
Note: This a review on the overall series, not on the first movie. Due to the fact that I think you should know what you're getting yourself into before you decide to watch this movie, I am attempting to write one review for 7 movies. Also, I feel many people will not watch these movies due to the bad ratings given to the first movie. If there is one thing that I want to emphasize more than anything, it is this-- do not let the first movie discourage you. If you do, you will be throwing away a chance to watch an amazing anime. I amguilty of putting off watching the rest of the series because I didn't like the first movie. I saw several reviews saying that there was no link whatsoever between the separate movies, and after watching the first movie I was disappointed. "Where was the much needed character development?" and, "Where was the beginning, or even the end of this story?" I felt like I was thrown into a story that could have been something great, and then kicked out before it reached fruition. I'm sure thoughts similar to mine will be racing through your head after the first movie. Due to these thoughts, I stopped watching this movie series because I thought each movie would be like this one- an underdeveloped short story attempting to be something original.
However, due to some heavenly information received from a trustworthy friend, I decided to pick up where I'd left off. This was one of the better choices I've made in my life. All that the first movie could and should have been, developed right in front of my eyes. All the character development that such an original story needs, was given to us in creative ways. You get see the story in a different way then most stories are projected. Almost exactly like the star wars movies, the first episode is actually near the end of the story. The second episode is at the beginning, and the last one is the end. Instead of seeing cause and then effect, we see effect, and then cause. For a lot of people this will spice up the story and give a much needed push in the plot. Even if you aren't one of these people, I believe everyone should watch series in the traditional sequence. If you don't, you won't get the full experience that you should get. Also, you'll miss some clever scenes that seem random in the beginning, but mean everything in the end.
Some people will put off this "series" because it's a sequence of movies. Don't. If you do, you will be making a grave mistake. Honestly, I didn't even view this anime as a series of movies. I viewed it as an anime series spanning 21 episodes and 7 arcs- each about 3 episodes long but some up to 6 episodes long. If you view it this way, you will realize that you get everything you get while watching a series- and more. Due to the fact that movies can take up bigger budgets, everything is better. The art, of course, is superb. Kara no Kyoukai has some of best art I've ever seen present in an anime. Only short to '5 centimeters per second', any artist will be instantly drawn to this show. On par to the art, is the sound department. Brilliantly dramatic, the sound is just what these movies need to give them that extra beefing up that was required to attain a 10. Due to the fact that you will be on the edge of your seat for most of the eight and a half hours, music will not be given much recognition. However, even if you don't notice it, the music is playing a big part. Due to a broken link, I had to watch a whole movie with no sound. To say the least- this was my least favorite movie of them all.
Even though a lot of what this series has to deal with is suicide and murder, many of us will be able to relate and feel for the characters in this story. Most of these principles are down scaled, and play an important role in part of our everyday lives. Kara no Kyoukai is an anime that many people will be able to relate with, which is what you want in any story. Few will regret watching six movies to be able to experience what the last movie gives you. If nothing else, please watch the seventh movie, because it really is something else.
Bishounen_Hunter
I've been feeling so disappointed in anime lately: lame plots, predictability, standard art styles, the loss of that uniquely Japanese flair to the art of storytelling and visual art. Lately it feels like no one is pushing the envelope any more and the truly great stories are coming fewer and farther in between. Luckily, I came across this series and I was so, so very happy! Kara no Kyokai is a collection of seemingly unrelated stories of varying lengths told in a not so sequential order, and even though they are told in this fashion, I would still consider this a series since thecore characters remain the same and the stories are ultimately related. Thus once again my review is for all 7 films + the epilogue.
VISUALS: This is top of the line stuff. I watched this in 720p HD and the art was absolutely beautiful. I think what I liked about this series was that it was visually very dark, which matched the overall tone of the story. When a story, whether it be a TV show or film or anime series is dark, it tends to be much more serious...unless it's something by Tim Burton, and then it's comedic. But from the first few moments of watching this, I knew it would be good because it was dark. The buildings looked grimy, the sky was grey or midnight blue sometimes even black as pitch, the street lights and the hallways were dimly illuminated, as a matter of fact, this series was very good at illuminations and the appropriate amount of soft glows, that on scene with the police car driving on the dark road with the lights flashing looked very believable, not cartoonish. It all still remained a work of anime but yet the serious realism of a film, very similar to how Ghost in the Shell pulled it off. If you like anime that has a more serious, mature look and feel then you will enjoy this one.
No corners were taken with the animation either, the fight scenes were all out spectacular and definitely the highlight of the series. Every detail was drawn carefully, movements were very fluid, I especially loved the uses of angles, 360-rotations, perspective, slo-mo and blur effects. Whenever they flipped and rolled during the fights it was breathtaking, it was like....wow!
AUDIO: The music of this series was amazing as well, I think only the 7th series had an OP, the rest did not but the ED themes were really good. However, it was the music of the fight scenes that really stole the show for me. It made the battles even more epic; it was glamorous, it was dramatic, it totally fit the moment and made the fights seem more like a dance of death. There was only the Japanese dub available, I kinda wished there was an English dub for this and they should use the same cast as Ghost in the Shell. If there were an English dub I could enjoy the visuals even more without having to glance at the bottom to read subtitles, but that being said the Japanese dub cast were really good. No one had an annoying voice.
STORY: Kara no Kyokai, basically centres this one woman Shiki Ryougi, and her ability to see death...or rather, she can see the lines of death connected to all living things. We see her struggle with her inner demons: conflicting desires, isolation, loneliness, the burden of carrying such a frightening power and it's insatiable desire to kill all things. The story is told non-sequentially, which I thought was absolutely brilliant because we see the action first but then we are also given the reasons why those actions were taken and why the more difficult paths were chosen. The story is also a supernatural mystery, with seemingly random and mysterious murders committed by these truly psychopathic villains, it's not a traditional mystery where you have to figure out who is the killer, this is more of a mystery where you have some serious doubts about the protagonist, Shiki, and her mental state; Is she a killer or not? I really enjoy this aspect because it adds another layer [a psychological one]to the already greatness of this series, so now you can enjoy this series visually, emotionally and intellectually.
CHARACTERS: The central cast of characters for this series is a small one but the dynamics between each of them is brilliant. We have Shiki, the main character, strong, quiet, conflicted and very deadly. We have Mikiya Kokutou, the male lead character, he's very smart, kind and compassionate, not overbearingly masculine but yet provides a very strong and supportive role for Shiki. He's willing to have her take the lead on many things because he is all to aware of how much of a regular human he is, he doesn't try to get in the way to prove how special and heroic he can be and that makes him all the more special. He knows his strengths, his intelligence, and he applies that through his investigative research which is invaluable to the team. He also has another secondary and extremely redeemable quality, which is the fact that he is the team's moral compass, the only one not willing to just kill someone and skip off into the sunset happy or with indifference.
And then we have Aozaki Touko, the boss-lady, the leader of the trio and also somewhat surrogate mother for both Shiki and Mikiya. Aozaki is the very relaxed, chilled out brains behind the operation. Very shrewd and very well connected, she has her fingers in everything and every project. She can figure things out very quickly and anticipate their outcomes [very similar to myself—not to brag or anything]. But for all that smartness, she can be pretty lax and irresponsible at times [such as impulse buys and then forgetting to pay her employees], she also has some maternal qualities always looking out for [and patching up] both Shiki and Mikiya.
There are some nice supporting cast as well who fulfilled their roles nicely and all the crazy villains who each had their own stories and individual suffering which made it all very credible even if they were flying 20 feet in the air. The only character, I didn't care too much for was Azaka, Mikiya's younger sister, who didn't fit the overall dark and serious tone of the series. She was a bit too high-strung and comedic for my taste...and the semi-incest thing doesn't fit. It felt contrived and thrown in for some kind of “moe” factor. If she were more serious I would have liked her, but as it stands her role wasn't very vital and I'm glad her appearance was very limited.
VERDICT: Watch it! For all the bitching and moaning I do about the downgrading of anime lately, this is a beacon of hope to remind us not all anime is goofy, chibi-humour, slapstick, predictable, magic mecha, testosterone-rage shounen or high-school fluff. There is life and action outside of a high-school setting, it can be exciting, it can be serious and most importantly it can still be “adult-themed” and not be hentai.
Seppiroth32
GARDEN OF SINNERS: 01 OVERLOOKING VIEW 1) Section 1: Prologue The Garden of Sinners is my favorite type moon and Ufotable production, why? Because it isn’t Fate/Zero that’s why! Jokes aside, Garden of Sinners offers high production quality in all aspects. The story is interesting as it loosely follows ideas and re-written philosophy based on something basic. As much as I despise some works that follow this structure, Garden of Sinners was the one that I could easily go back into for something that it isn’t, and that is what makes it an interesting production. As the series is divided into seven novels, I’m going to write ascript for each and every one of them.
2) Section 2: Story & Presentation
2.1) Visual Presentation:
The novel stories are divided into seven arcs, and each arc consists of a movie, now. They’re structured differently as they tell the story out of order, thus on your first viewing you maybe very confused about what’s going on. The writing follows a very basic and standardized formula. Exposition, visual presentation and narration, outcome, credits roll and epilogue.
And by doing so the movie makes the viewer think about what’s the real meaning behind the actions given in the movie. But the main problem is that just like some other Light Novel Adaptations, it’ll tell you everything you need to know by the end of the film in a very abstract and nonsensical to the common viewer way. This way of story telling ruins the experience for someone looking for a relatively dark and a semi-thought-provoking series, knowing that’s a given to the presentation, you may ask: “Well then, how will that affect my over all opinion if I’m looking for something to make me think a lot?” And I’ll answer: “The story is a mere basic concept of something little trying to be something big.” But that’s enough about the Visual Presentation.
2.2) Story Presentation:
Story-wise the first Garden of Sinners movie is alright, the movie is paced fairly well. It holds up relatively well compared to other works that need a whole 3-6 episodes to get their point across. The mysterious murders going on during this movie are just a shell of something bigger, something unexpected. As it slowly turns from a dull mystery to human philosophy, this is something that made caught my interest the when I had first watched it, keeping the tension and its intrigue. While at the same time not it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The concept of “floating” and “flying” depicting a persons ability to be free and be chained down, restricted by the boundaries which the movie establishes, foreshadowing major events throughout not only this, and the sequel series as well. This simple complexity makes the show entertaining to watch and think about, while at the same time it makes you think about how pointless it can boil down to. As I stated above, while it is intriguing, it doesn’t manage to make you care for what’s going on because the characters themselves are like empty shells, all the complexity they have is restricted to interpreting events through their own way and even, make fun of it. Mikiya, our protagonist also finds the events in the movie silly, as he states: “That sounds like something out of a cheap novel.” When he is informed about the events, making him as down to earth and humane as possible so we can understand at least one part of the movie.
3) Characters & Script/Direction
3.1) Characters:
Like I mentioned above, the main character is by far the only relatable character in the series, why? Because he’s as close to being a human being and alive than any of the characters shown throughout the movie, he questions the events that happen, tries to act normal and gives the idea for being plain and boring. But exactly that was the thing the show needed, a character who doesn’t know what the heck is going on during his absence or during an event that occurs. His acknowledgement makes him us the viewer, relatable and understandable. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the rest. Touko and Shiki, our main heroines of the movie always act abstract derived from any sort of emotion or expression. (Well, for the most part.) And because of this they seem like aliens that are speaking in another language. This minor fact makes the story hard to follow as you’ll mostly be guessing what they mean through the end events when the movie is revealing everything to us.
3.2) Script & Direction
Now, if you’ve seen the other stuff Nasu has written (Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, co-wrote Fate/Zero and some others) you’ll know that his style of writing is not ordinary he gives out the ideas for the viewer to add the rest of the core elements to them. So, as he’s writing something basic, we find it much more symbolic and unnecessarily philosophic exposition and it only gets worse and worse, as you continue to fill in the gaps for his mistakes, more pop up and thanks to this it’s very hard to follow what he meant and what we think. Simply because, it’s convoluted and requires you to find empty “ideas” as interesting, if you’ve seen any of his other works you’ll also notice a lot of the ideas presented here (philosophy character ideals and morals etc.) are copy and pasted. You could say then that’ll be easier for others to find it interesting as they probably liked the author’s other works so this one will also be on their list. However, I find it lacking and tame, as it really dries out without having any creativity left for this series, it leaves me wanting more which I’ll never get.
Directing is superb, the tension is there and there aren’t any unnecessary info dumps that make you feel dissatisfied. Because of this, I could get over some of the dull moments.
4) Art Design, Character Design, Animation
4.1) Art Design & Animation
The backgrounds are extremely detailed, they’re very well polished and contrast well with the emptiness that the world is, and it’s worth some wallpapers if you can catch the right moment, I personally think that “The Garden of Sinners” is by far Ufotable’s most gorgeous work, the transition between scenes is also excellent.
Animation-wise it’s probably their best budgeted work, aside from a few frame skipping moments, the animation is stunning, and there aren’t that much special effects covering the screen, and when they are, they don’t get in the way of the action so you can see the choreography pitch perfect. However, this cannot entirely save the overall production from being what it is, the action scenes are short while most of the animation is basic and isn’t something spectacular or eye catching. Thus being nothing more than solid.
If Ufotable animated an action show with the same quality animation (No Fate/Zero, nor Night) things would get really fun.
4.2) Character Design
The character designs are okay, they look like every other anime character and offer almost no variety, again, their designs are also taken from Nasu’s other work “Shingetsutan Tsukihime” and if you compare them, they really look identical…
5) Enjoyment. Music & Overall Score
Enjoyment-wise it was fun, but I wouldn’t recommend it to basic anime fans, the script, presentation aren’t meant to be viewed casually, so I highly suggest you try to focus and write your own story with the help of this.
Music is either good or average I personally like 2 tracks out of the ones that played the opening and the insert one during the fight, well… at least half of it.
Overall, I think that The Garden of Sinners is a must see to at least get a gist of what great ideas can actually make a great philosophy, but I wouldn’t want you to think too hard, as it may rot your brain.
azuslu7jpg
Studio ufotable brings us a beautiful and relatively unique anime that is hampered by an odd storytelling style. As always, my reviews are spoiler free. This is a review of the entire series of episodes/movies, but as this is the first it seems the most appropriate location to put the review. Reviewing them individually would result in quite a bit of repetition, so I believe one overarching review should suffice. I will keep this review spoiler free, but it assumes you understand the premise for the story. Story - 6/10 Kara no Kyoukai follows the lives and actions of those surrounding the mysterious Ryougi Shiki, a girl witheyes that can see the "seams" of the of world, and her friends Mikiya and Toukou. The episodes/movies are generally done in a "one arch per episode" format, but recurring characters' plots tie them together. What makes this different from most anime of this type is that it is told almost completely out of chronological order. This can make things a bit confusing during the first watch, especially if you are used to anime that slowly reveal the characters and plot points to you. You are thrown headfirst into the world, and it is a bit hard to wrap your head around at the beginning. Once you know what is going on, there will still be enough twists to keep you on your toes.
Peel back the strange style, however, and you will find a relatively average story. There are a bunch of bad guys who the good guys have to get rid of. It is, at its core, a monster of the week show. Due to the confusing style covering a not-particularly-special story, I have to give this a "passable" 6/10.
Animation - 9/10
One would be hard pressed to find a better looking series. The character models are beautifully detailed and colored, and care is used in the backgrounds. The action scenes are very fluid. Nothing to complain about here.
Sound - 6/10
The soundtrack was nothing special, but it fit the scenes well. I never have much to say about sound unless it was outstanding or abysmal.
Character - 8/10
It is difficult to get into this without spoiling the show, but I can assure you that the majority of the characters and the entirety of the main cast is well developed. Even the side/episodic characters are generally well developed, and a motivation for their actions is explored. The relationship between Shiki and Mikiya is developed throughout the series, and comes to a somewhat meaningful end. While most of the characters are simply adequate, Shiki has an incredibly deep level of characterization which spans the length of the series.
Enjoyment - 7/10
Each person will have their ups and downs in the series, with some episodes' stories varying widely in depth and darkness. I would recommend watching at least two other episodes/movies if the first doesn't agree with you.
I was never bored in this series (with the exception of the epilogue episode). There is plenty of plot to keep the action scenes tied together intelligently (for the most part), and enough action to keep that type satisfied. My enjoyment was somewhat brought down by the release style mentioned in the story section, but I was hooked and could not stop watching to see things tied together.
Other Thoughts
This story contains intense violence very often, occasional sexual themes, and many scenes and themes some may find disturbing. I would strongly recommend avoiding this show if you can't handle this sort of thing. I use Elfen Lied as a standard for violence as many have seen it (leaving all else on that show aside), and this is on a totally different level. It is somewhat amplified by the great animation, making it all the more graphic.
skarabox
Can you make a 50 minutes episode which won't give you even 1 thing that makes you want to watch the 2nd episode? Well, Kara no Kyoukai certainly can. This is one of those anime that put you in a middle of an unknown story and makes you sit through 50 minutes of dialogues without knowing what is going on. Some people like this, some people hate, but it can be okay as long as you get ANYTHING else from the anime to make you want to watch. It can be anything, but when: - You don't get anything about the characters, their past, personality. Literally nothing,it feels like watching some random people talk for 50 minutes about stuff you don't know nothing about, but even worse, about what you don't care.
- Dialogues are vague, are not smart, are not deep (they try to sound deep but they are not for me at the least).
- There is pretty much no action at all, and when you do get some of it it is badly animated, not exciting
- Blood and gore is not properly matched to the reality, for example a girl committed a suicide by jumping out of the building, but she is massacred and covered in blood as if someone blew her up with a shotgun
- Music is decent, but it feels not properly matched to what is going on (on top of that remember, that you don't know what is going on)
- The episode does not finish with any cliffhanger nor shows any possibility of story development. Sure, I don't expect corny cliffhangers but when I just sat through 50 minutes of "I don't know whats going on" and then they finish me with "Ok, it is done" then please, I want to know who made this anime and I will never watch your stuff again in my life.
TO SUM UP: If you want to watch this anime, at the least prepare to invest 50 minutes of your time after which you won't know nothing, you won't feel nothing and you won't enjoy nor action nor dialogues. I dropped this after 1 episode and it is not because I only like easy and corny shonen anime, but because I really got nothing out of my 50 minutes so how can anyone expect me to go and invest more?
isacchi
Kara no Kyoukai: Fuukan Fuukei is the first movie of the 7 movie series of Kara no Kyoukai: Garden of Sinners.. At first, the people who hadn't been read the novel will be confused with the story. But, I'm sure they will enjoyed the story that supported with awesome story, art, voices, also the character plot that made them couldn't be waiting the next sequel...!! I saw Shiki as the main character that played by Sakamoto Maaya very outstanding. That's cool! Also Kokuto Mikiya that played by Suzumura Kenichi, very handsome and do the job great!! I'm very recommended this anime and I'm sure that this anime willbe the most anticipated anime in 2008!!!
jc9622
This is part 1 of the KnK series After watching one of Type-Moon/ ufotable's best anime of 2012(F/Z)and 2015(UBW), I decided to go back in time to check their (potentially) best work of 2007. I haven't read the novels of KnK so I'm watching the movie series with no knowledge of the KnK series whatsoever. So far, I'm not disappointed but it's too early to judge the series. (There will be some SPOILERS in my review) [Story]: (7/10) (SPOILERS) Please take my story rating with a grain of salt. It does not reflect with I how feel about this movie. It's just my first impression of the storyintroduced to me.
In the city where Shiki lives, something triggers a spate of mysterious schoolgirl suicides. The connection between the girls who've leapt to their deaths is unclear, although all of them have jumped from the Fujou Building, a skyscraper scheduled to be demolished.
The first movie showed us that there's a bunch of schoolgirls jumping off the soon-to-be demolished building and killing themselves for no reason. Then there's a bunch of creepy ghost girls floating around at the top of the building where the girls committed suicide. At this point, you're probably asking yourself "what the hell is going on" like I did. Since this is the first movie and there's 6 more to go, I'm not really going to complain about the story that much and the amount of plot holes this movie has created. I'm pretty sure I'll understand once I watched the rest.
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[Art/Animation]: (10/10)
For a 2007 movie, the animation is very well done. The character design looks beautiful, the lighting is great, the fighting scenes are so fluid, and the atmosphere fits perfectly as this movie has a dark story. Nice job for ufotable.
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[Sound]: (9/10)
As expected of Type-moon and ufotable, they make one of the best soundtracks for their anime. Their F/Z soundtrack is great, their UBW soundtrack is great and the KnK's soundtrack; so far is great. The soundtrack used in the fighting scenes fits so perfectly well. Especially those goddamn choir in the background. There are no OP theme songs and there's 1 ED theme song. It's sung by Kalafina so it's immediately a perfect song for me. The voice actors have done a great job so far with their characters.
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[Character]: (8/10)
I don't know these characters that much yet so don't hate me for getting some of these characters wrong. The movie introduces us to Shiki, a female knife-wielding person who lives alone on her small apartment. She has a prosthetic arm that looks like a real human arm and a magic eye that I have no idea what it's used for yet. Then there's Mikiya, a man that we know nothing about that much. He occasionally visits Shiki's apartment, probably because they're friends or a couple. I don't exactly know yet. Finally, there's Touko, a red-haired girl who I don't know that much yet.
Basically, the movie introduces the characters like you already know them. There's no character development and no real reason why I should care for them. No problem, I'm sure I'll get to know more about the characters in the sequels.
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[Enjoyment]: (8/10)
I personally enjoyed the first movie because of that one action scene, the perfect animation, the great soundtrack and how the series introduces itself. I'm sure I'll enjoy KnK series even more after I see the rest of the movie.
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[OVERALL]: (8.4/10)
So far, I think this movie is great. There's a lot of talking which I'm used to when watching Typemoon/ufotable's anime. I'm also very confused but I'm sure I'll get a grasp of what's going on as I watch the rest of the movies. If you're a fan of supernatural or mystery animes then this is a must watch for you. Just like any other ufotable's anime, you need to be actively thinking about the plot or else you're going to miss some important information. If you're not a fan of slow story pacing or if you're not a fan of anime where you have to actively think then this is not for you.
Officer_Anime
Kara no Pacing, more like. The major plot points are thrown at the viewer one after the other without proper lead ins or follow-up. Each scene change is accompanied by a new development in the plot which was jarring to me. The main character has personalities and traits introduced and then thrown away a scene later, or used in ridiculous ways. My impression on the soundtrack was that the artists were trying to get an eerie piece to trick you into feeling some kind of emotion during this pounded together 10 piece jigsaw puzzle. A cheap imitation of better works like in the Ghost in theShell soundtrack with traditional vocals and a synth.
This was a real reminder as to why hard work pays off, as it's very obvious this studio didn't put any effort into Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei.
Cootrap
Being the first installment in the critically acclaimed Kara no Kyoukai, means any regular person watches it expecting surreal and vivid plot and suspense, where things aren't always what they seem. Instead we are greeted with a borefest which thankfully lasts only 50 minutes, otherwise I would have quit halfway. Character Character development is non-existent and the archetypes mostly bland. If I had to sum it up: You can't solve a puzzle without its pieces. We know next to nothing about the characters' life, beliefs, motivations and most importantly how they ended up in the present situation, which lends itself to their mysterious personas. However, youfeel no real belief or strong emotions from our bland protagonist which leaves you wondering what is her purpose in life. We don't feel any empathy or connection to any of our protagonists which removes any sort of tension the movie could have and leaves you apathetic and uncaring towards their struggles (if you can call them that). How can you solve a puzzle without its pieces? How can you learn about the character if the movie doesn't develop them?
Story
I saw a review which stated the movies are in random order and that this is a good thing because it is how the series is meant to be watched. Well, I can say that they could have made one less movie, because you gain nothing by watching this. I could literally skip this movie and watch the second and lose absolutely nothing by it. Nothing is revealed throughout the movie so you stop watching it with a bitter feeling in your mouth. It's incomplete, there's no satisfaction because there's no development to the overarching plot. There's no difference in the beginning and the end. No character development, no change in circumstances (they return to life as it used to be) no enemies or friends made just...nothing. NOTHING HAPPENS!!!! EVERYTHING'S THE SAME!!!!
Art
Stunning at times but the faces are really bland. and fight choreography is woefully mediocre.
Sound
I found it very good with beautiful ost, the best part of the movie certainly.
Which leads me to one major gripe that I have is with one scene in particular. The fight scene. It has beautiful animation (like stunning) and amazing soundtrack, but when I watched all I could think was" what a waste".
There were two glaring issues: one was the lack of any tension whatsoever (even with the art and sound which says a lot about the movie), as I said you don't care about the characters at all which helps, but adding to that you never once doubt the outcome, its pretty obvious the protagonist will win. But other than that its the way in which she wins, its a massacre. None of the opponents put up any sort of fight besides the "last boss" which yells once (it has no effect) and then dies. Truly a waste of very good art and brilliant sound.
Enjoyment/Overall - 3
Skip this movie, you gain nothing from it. Inflated ratings mainly due to future installments (I hope).
Sidenote - pretty complex abstract ideas and philosophies that certainly require thought to interpret it, but I bet most won't even pay attention because the subtitles go so fast you need to either be engaged (which you won't be) and instantly understand or pause to read. A nice touch but they mostly aren't realistic (as in I personally don't think more than a handful of people would have those trains of thought). Lol don't know why I even bothered to review such a shit movie, no one's gonna read this anyway.
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