In the winter of 1995, Mikiya Kokutou passes a young woman during a late night stroll in the snow. Clad in a striking white kimono and bearing an enigmatic gaze, Shiki Ryougi smiles at Mikiya who stares back with curiosity. Later that spring, Mikiya notices Shiki at his high school entrance ceremony, and they become acquaintances through lunchtime conversations. As Shiki begins opening up to him, Mikiya learns about her unique upbringing.
Meanwhile, a series of unprecedented murders takes place across Mifune City. Seemingly related, these murders are particularly brutal and warrant a large scale police investigation. Because of his cousin's work as a police investigator, Mikiya is given insight into the investigation. Concerned for Shiki's safety, Mikiya decides to monitor her actions, but in doing so, he stumbles upon a truly frightening discovery that changes his life forever.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Archaeon
Kara no Kyoukai review Part 2 The problem with movies is that all too often they're lacking in one or two fundamental areas, and unfortunately these are normally the plot or the characters. The first installment of this series suffered from the latter, and while it was still enjoyable even with that flaw, there was always the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. Thankfully this episode begins to address that issue. The second installment in the Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~ franchise, Satsujin Kosatsu (Murder Speculation), is actually part one of a two part story arc (viewers will have to wait for the seventh movieto see the conclusion of this episode), yet while this small irony is amusing, the are some flaws with this episode which one can only hope will be rectified with the final movie.
This time around the story takes place over two years prior to the events in the first movie, and thankfully the main theme is the developing relationship between Ryougi Shiki and Kokuto Mikiya during their time together as high school students. Kokuto finds himself strangely attracted to the seemingly aloof Shiki, and proceeds to befriend her until a bizarre series of murders takes place.
Now the nice thing about Satsujin Kousatsu Part 1 is that the plot takes a far more measured approach than Fukan Fuukei does, and while the pace picks up towards the end, there's something here that was somewhat missing from the previous installment - a sense of purpose.
While the first episode was entertaining, there was a certain aimless quality about it due to the underdeveloped characters that permeated the quieter moments. This movie begins to shed some light on the actions of both Shiki and Kokuto during that time, especially on certain aspects of her behaviour and personality.
The story is generally much quieter in tone than before, which may not sit too well with those who liked the frenetic action of Fukan Fuukei. This is a necessity as the anime of Satsujin Kousatsu Part 1 is to offer the viewer some perspective on every other movie in the franchise, and the clarity it provides may force viewers to reassess their opinion of the first installment.
Once again Ufotable produce the goods with regards to artwork and animation. The character movements are excellent, and the incorporation of CG is almost seamless in respect of the backgrounds and backdrops. There are fewer action sequences this time around, but they are just as good here as they are in the first movie, especially when it comes to choreography and use of environment. As for the the character designs, they're a little different in that both Kokuto and Shiki have a certain youthful quality about them, which is reflective of the fact that this story takes place two years before the first movie.
Sound is, again, extremely good overall, and the movie uses the various effects well, however there are some issues as there are occasions where the various noises clash to create a veritable cacophony. This doesn't really detract from the movie though and, surprisingly, actually improves certain sequences.
The music throughout the movie is generally utilised to good effect, often enhancing the atmosphere in a particular scene. The voice actors are also very good, and are able to show some real talent with regards to their respective characters, however given that this is the second movie in a series of seven, this should come as no surprise. What is surprising though, is that the lead seiyuu are able to instill their respective characters with a degree of naivety and innocence, something which improves the overall effect of the movie no end.
Unfortunately that's not enough to raise the characters from their stupor.
While there is very clearly some development occurring over the course of the movie, one of the issues that seems destined to repeat throughout the franchise is that the plot doesn't give them enough time for this growth to set as part of their persona, and that leads once more to an imbalance in the storyline. The revelation about Shiki's personality goes some way to explaining why she is the way she is, but Kokuto is the real problem. As a character he is simply bland, and at no point does the movie go into any detail about his goals, thoughts, ideals, etc. Everything in the movie actually revolves around Shiki, including Kokuto, and all of his actions stem from that one driving principle. Unfortunately this feels like a missed opportunity to add some real meat to both the leads, but it may be that all of these concerns will be addressed by the time the series ends.
The other problem was the lack of Aozaki Touko. It would have been a nice addition to have more information on her from that time period as she is one of the mysteries of Kara no Kyoukai, and in all honesty this could have been done simply and easily. Sadly, the fact that she has not been included in this movie means that it has a slightly disjointed feel compared to the first, but again this may be rectified with the second half of this story arc.
We shall see...
Even with those flaws this is still an enjoyable movie, and it's nice to finally see how the two leads met and got to know each other. It would have been nice if the plot wasn't focused so much on Shiki as this would have allowed for some introspection of the part of Kokuto. On the plus side, the slower pacing of this speisode actually adds to the tension this time around, but like the first movie the plot continues to retain a degree of predictability.
Fans of Fukan Fuukei will be pleased at this second offering as it is very much in keeping with the spirit of the series, however I would advise against making snap judgements about the whole franchise simply on the basis of this or the first movie.
As before, I look forward to the next episode.
Touka
Kara no Kyoukai 2 exceeds the first movie in almost every aspect. There is depth to Shiki that was absent before, new settings are introduced to a much more comprehensible degree, the supporting cast are more prominent and the writers - instead of being cryptic - present a largely compelling and well developed story, solidifying the series' true roots. The first installment threw audiences into a mystery unfortunately dulled by the lack of depth to the characters, but the second installment lays down the groundwork, exploring the origins of Shiki and Mikiya. The story is well executed and - unlike in the first film - hasa real sense of purpose, progression and development. It's a compelling origins story, where Shiki and Mikiya's relationship is genuinely captivating to watch unravel (especially given the eerie undertones); much more befitting as an introduction to the septenary.
The film chiefly explores Shiki and Mikiya alone, with little room for anyone else in the run-time, but the film still feels a lot more 'alive' than the first installment. The supporting cast are more pronounced, with the locations well explored; there's a better sense of the setting than before. Of the two main characters, Shiki is particularly well developed, we see her many sides and for the first time get a real understanding of who she is. Mikiya, on the other hand, comes across as rather dull and more a vessel to further explore Shiki than an important presence himself.
As in the first installment, the animation and art style remain consistently strong, though with more dialogue-heavy sequences this time around, it is perhaps not as dynamic. Nevertheless, the art is crisp and detailed - Shiki's eyes are ever-beautiful, as are the locations - with the staff exquisitely animating a number of terrific dramatic scenes. The visuals are impressive, though the cinematography could have been more absorbing, with certain shots becoming a little banal.
There's no stunning insert song this time around (though Mikiya hums Singin' in the Rain which is a nice little nod to a classic), but the background music is ever prominent. There are a number of immersive tracks that blend well with the visuals - ultimately creating some very coherent, well put together and atmospheric sequences - with the more uptempo tracks complementing the action sequences well.
Kara no Kyoukai 2 isn't a masterpiece, but it's a huge improvement over the first installment. It's a well constructed origins story with a lot of depth and promise, offering the series its groundwork. Here's hoping the septenary continues to climb.
jc9622
This is part 2 of the KnK series This is a sequel to the 1st KnK......kind of....Well, not exactly. You see, KnK is not being shown in chronological order and as such should not be watched in chronological order. I almost made a grave mistake of doing so. [Story]: (8/10) The story of KnK 2 takes place 3 years before the events of KnK 1. Mikiya, while walking home from school, meets a mysterious girl who he thinks is cute and starts falling in love with her. A month later, he met her again during the high school entrance ceremony. The mysterious girl that he met isnamed Shiki Ryougi. Meanwhile, the city is experiencing a series of bizarre murders but no suspect has been caught yet.
The events may have taken place before the events of the first KnK but the movie shows us how the 2 characters met and why there's a connection between them. It's starting to connect some of the dots but there's still obviously a lot of unanswered questions that will be answered later on in the movies. So far, I'm liking the story. The gruesome murders, the mystery around it, etc.
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[Art/Animation]: (10/10)
Do I need to review the animation? I mean, it's still the KnK series and nothing really changed from the first one which is already perfect and visually stunning.
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[Sound]: (9.5/10)
The soundtrack was perfect in the first movie but somehow, the soundtrack here is.......inferior to the first one. Granted, there are some themes that are great but it didn't quite stand out like the first one did. The voice actors are all the same so my opinions on the VA still stands.
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[Character]: (8/10)
The first movie didn't really give us any great details about the 2 main characters and why I should really care for them. The 2nd movie showed us the main character's past, how they met, what connections do they have, what they were like back in high school, etc. The movie is now developing the characters (not too developed yet) and they're giving me a few reasons on why I should give a crap about them. I'm also starting to understand more about Shiki and her "dual personality" and why Mikiya cares for Shiki. In short, the movie just showed us a hour of character development for the 2 main characters.
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[Enjoyment]: (8/10)
I personally enjoyed the movie because of the character development and story development. There's not a lot of action for this movie since all they did was build up and develop the characters
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[OVERALL]: (8.4/10)
The second movie of the KnK series is not better than the first movie but it's not worse either. It gave us more in-sight about the characters. The movie just created more plot holes for me but there's 5 movies to go so I'm not going to complain that much.
For the love of god, if you're watching KnK 2 first because you're watching it in chronological order then don't. The KnK series is meant to be shown out of chronological order and should be watched out of chronological order.
TheScarletCutter
Kara no Kyoukai is perhaps one of the most acquired tastes in anime, whether you're a TYPE-MOON fan or not. It has gotten a reputation for being a complicated mix bag, whether it's boring and/or pretentious, too hard to understand, or possibly a masterpiece. I've watched the entire movie series and while I barely understood what any of that means, at the same time, I've been amazed at how masterful its craft truly is. A series that yes, it's super complex, but doesn't take itself seriously while still being a serious work of art. All of this is thanks to the golden tickets that areParadox Paradigm and Murder Speculation Part B. But... Those aren't what I'm talking about. What I want to talk about is Murder Speculation Part A, in my opinion, the most underrated installment of Kara no Kyoukai. My goal here isn't to talk about how the series works, it's more of me expressing my feelings with it and it resonates with me. With that being said, let's get started!
STORY: 9/10
Even though this is the second installation of the series, funnily enough, this is actually the beginning, especially if you watch the series in chronological order. It starts off with a boy named Mikiya walking through the snow and suddenly sees a mysterious girl named Shiki. Even since they briefly met, Mikiya begins to fall in love with her. That April, she started to attend the same school as he does. The Mifune City, on the other hand, is filled with unclear victims and the investigators have yet to find out who the culprit is. If I'm being honest, it's quite hard to understand. It has a lot of interesting ideas on the table but the story is heavily full of puzzles. I barely understood what it literally was supposed to be and at that point, I don't think I will.
That is... When it shouldn't be understood. Kara no Kyoukai doesn't have any literal meaning but is arguably more of emotional surrealism. This installation did a fantastic job of how Shiki is trapped in a virtual, non-linear prison. Shiki has a male personality gained from her family that is meant to show certain differences between her female one but is suddenly cursed to the extent that she's forced to commit a silent massacre. It's honestly scary personally. I still don't understand the whole situation but what I understand is that some of your human emotions may turn into a living nightmare. This series did an excellent job of how Mikiya encounters the complicated scenario. It gives more time for him to find hints on what went wrong with Shiki. Knowing TYPE-MOON, I would gladly watch the whole thing even if it means not knowing much.
CHARACTERS: 9/10
We have two main leads, one being Shiki, the maiden who has been invaded by her corrupted human emotions, and Mikiya, the clueless inspector. I really adore these 2 characters because of how much impact they brought to both their characterizations and the story. Shiki may be a mysterious figure herself but she really helped me explore the mystery surrounding the series. She may be quiet but she really shows a lot of expression in her writing. I find it very tragic how she's both the culprit and victim in one setting. Not to mention how she's nominated to gain her male personality in the first place.
As for Mikiya, yes, he may not fight back but what definitely makes up for that is how, again, explores certain hints regarding Shiki's murders. I really find it compelling how he investigates stuff on his own and encounters great danger, be it a mistake or on purpose. Even though he's inhuman for how he encounters said danger, at the same time, he's human for how he tries to act. Admittedly, I find it weird how even though he counters something threatening, he still forgives the culprit, even if they would be killed later on. But I really understand that. After all, he plays a major role in contrasting Shiki's grimdark emotions.
Both Shiki and Mikiya have amazing chemistry with one another. Even though Shiki has her own yin and yang, both portray separate elements incredibly well. Sure, it can be toxic at points but at the same time, they play well with each of their elements. The side characters are quite nothing to talk about but this is heavily protagonist-focused so it doesn't matter much.
ART: 9/10
Even though there isn't much action, the production is very fluid and doesn't have any of the slideshow nonsense. Shiki's fashion is very adequate. Cool jacket or not, her Kimonos are downright stylish and beautiful.
SOUND: 10/10
The music is haunting yet beautiful at the same time. The OST truly reflects both the atmosphere and the events very well. The voice acting is also superb, with my personal favorite being Maaya Sakamoto as Shiki for how portrays her stoic behavior very nicely.
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT: 9/10
Even though it's complicated when it comes to understanding what it literally is, I believe it to be one of the series' best chapters. It figuratively shows how corrupt your life can be and why you need to be aware of what's causing the world. I truly resonate with each of the 2 main leads for how they are constructed. Of course, not everyone is into complicated storytelling like Kara no Kyoukai and you know what? That's extremely fair. But if you're looking for a psychological series packed with beautiful action, this is the way to go. If you're watching the series in broadcast order, treat this as the second order. If you're watching (or preferably re-watching) chronologically, treat this as the first.
OVERALL: 9/10
FakerEmiya
Well here we have it, this is the second movie of seven in this series in which I also mentioned in my review for Kara no Kyoukai: Fukan Fuukei. And as I have mentioned in my other review as well this movie is based on the Japanese novel series, authored by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. I should also state, if you havent noticed in the title, that this movie is actually the first half of 2 parts. Well anyway onto the review. Warning: Their are spoilers within this review, so please watch the movie first if you don't wish to bespoiled.
Story - 8
Well first off the story in the second movie, is abit more smooth than the first one. It introduces how Shiki Ryōgi and Mikiya Kokutō first met back in high school, so this answers some questions from the first movie, but not all. The story itself in this one is still abit shaky but not as rough in the first one.
Art - 10
Just like the first movie, this one too shines in this category. The visuals is just excellent movie which is something only a handful of other animes can surpass or match. The lighting was just done great in the night scenes and the murders scenes done so explicit that it seems real itself. Once again, excellent.
Sound - 8
Well I didn't see quite an improvement nor a downgrade in sound here. The bgm still mixed perfectly well with some scenes. Although I did like the theme song for this one, which was also performed by Yuki Kajiura.
Character - 8
Well just like the first one, the second well still suffers in this category, but not as much as the first. Unlike the first one which was kinda thrown at our face, this one introduces alittle abit of character behind Shiki Ryōgi and Mikiya Kokutō. Its notable that Mikiya had interest in Shiki since he first laid eyes on her, and that Shiki is from a prestigous background. So were treated to not development but more background for these two.
Enjoyment - 8
Well if you enjoyed the first one, then you might be alittle disappointed on this one, or not. All I can say is that their is less(or no, whatever you criteria of action is) action in this one compared to the first one. Pretty much the only way to enjoy this movie is that you get at least abit of background story behind two characters. But you do get a sense of suspense when you do learn more background of these characters, which may shock you or not. And like the first, murder scenes are still quite explicit.
Overall - 8
Overall the movie, from a Type-Moon fans opinion or if you generally like the series, is great. Because you get more background story for characters. The visuals is still excellent as always, with the sound being good. Still has its noticeable flaws but still a great movie of the supernatural. Although the average anime viewer might be turned away by this movie, more so than the first movie if they havent even watched the first movie. So its recommended to watch the first movie Kara no Kyoukai: Fukan Fuukei first before this one.
Now if you look at this movie and the first one, then you might wonder: How come this movie wasn't first and the first movie later? Well the movies themselves, as ive mentioned before, are based on the light novels from where it originated. And how the light novels where set-up was that the
chapter listings timeselves are not in chronological order. So the movies being released are staying true to the original light novels listing hence is the reason why the movies are set-up like that. Like I mentioned earlier, this movie is part 1 of 2, in which if the movies stay true to the light novels, then the part 2 of this one won't be shown until the seventh movie which is also the last one.
As I have said recommended if you have seen the first movie first for the average anime viewer, and you should watch if your a TYPE-moon fan.
1stDecame4Danime
This movie (like most all of them) is pretty much a reskin of the others, so there's not much unique to be said about it since it's just more of the same. This movie comes 1st chronologically in the series. But of course, you've been gaslit into watching it 2nd for pointless overcomplication so you've already been spoiled on what happens after and this movie adds very little beyond overexplaining the generic backstory to what you already know these characters end up as. The 1st 4 movies were pointlessly rearranged out of chronological order in the same way as the source material (thereafter is chronological). You'll findonline (much like with any series) fanboys blindly recommend watching it in the order it was released. They will give no actual valid justification for this achronology however. So allow me: The author published each individual chapter online coming up with it as they went and ended up writing prequel chapters and sequel chapters and such off the cuff merely because that's the order they came up with it. Achronology adds absolutely nothing to these movies beyond the pointless achronology itself: pointless convolution of simple linear storytelling, not even adding timeline mystery as it literally tells you the dates for each movie and it's readily apparent which comes before which. What it does do is detract from the story: It shows the chronological last of the 4 1st, thus spoiling your experience of the 3 movies thereafter because all of them are murder-oriented, removing all suspense of whether or not the main cast will die when we now already know that they won't, they have plot armor to live because they need to be there for the later chronology. They made a lame story worse by recommending the release order. If you want to watch this in the release order, go ahead and watch the HP movies in a random order for the exact same result because achronology is just inherently better and aren't you special? (god I'm getting Vietnam flashbacks of Peach Boy Riverside)
The plot of this movie is a filler joke padding out a 1-note murder mystery antag and culminating in a big dumb action sequence ending with zero consequences. It isn't worth mentioning really. In fact none of the plots of any of the movies in this series are as they pretty much all follow this same formula.
Since this is a pointless movie, it stretches very little story of moving the main character duo setpieces into place as a great big nothingburger of 1hr crammed full of overindulgent directorial vomit and masturbatory filler and a joke of tropey character writing that is not only dumb and filler, but also incoherent.
Ultimately, they stick the landing with another dumb action climax for all those shonentypes to clap at. Genius. Get ready to wait several movies before you actually find out the laughably dumb and pointless excuse for plot that is deliberately skipped over at the end of this movie. Now that's just good wrighting.
Each movie in this series follows the main cast involved in another supernatural murder mystery scenario of the week for them to investigate/resolve via exposition dump nonmystery rather than piecing together evidence alongside the audience and often just completely removing all suspense by showing us the murderer and their circumstances from the start.
Both each movie internally and all the movies taken as a whole can be described as a dumb series of random asspulls strung together. Every aspect of it is making itself up as it goes:
For example, intrigue: Why is the killer making swastikas, ying-yangs, and sewing hands and feet swapped on victims? No reason really, plot point dropped forever from the series hereafter.
You can pretty much watch the author coming up with the characters in real-time from blank edgy cardboard nothings to suddenly dumping exposition backstories and that's about as far as they ever get.
Despite being ostensibly 'dark fantasy', while it deals with dark/mature themes this isn't horror, just 20% violence/gore between 80% filler. Rather than horror it's mature action, and whatever attempts it makes to be dark come across as laughably edgy, usually conveyed through idiotic shonen villain monologuing (think Angels of Death taking itself completely seriously).
The handling of themes of trauma/psychological issues is juvenile, tactless, and almost exclusively used for edgy schlock.
The dialogue is nearly 100% filler/exposition to string the audience along while pretending it has anything to say (cryptic nothings = mysterious = good wrighting) in addition to frequent poor translation/nonsense dialogue.
Barely any actual cinematography or even interesting shots. The best it manages is a bunch of superficial nothings like dead body with blood, oOoOo blood, spoOoOoky. But I guess this shallow filler counts as deep to some people.
The MC is a noncharacter simp with almost no backstory and hardly any relevance to the series. most everyone else actually goes out and does stuff while he kinda just shows up to talk and occasionally participate by simping for girls almost certainly because he's been written as a generic MC self-insert for a VN nonromance harem builder with all the hentai scenes left out. He's a pencil-pushing desk warmer the girls immediately fall for who has been written out of the story with dumb excuses like being comatose. Let alone making a different character MC, you know your story is bad when your MC of all people would've been better off cut from the entire series.
They frequently skip entire scenes that are actually part of the plot and just sort of act like they haven't, as if they were supposed to be there but were simply cut for pointless ambiguity because it apparently just isn't interested in telling the story, as if it is rushing through the plot in order to cram in as much cost-saving filler as it can. This series is a low effort unrevised draft.
1/10 (where 5/10 is average)
Raptor73
Once again Kara no Kyoukai has managed to score a 10/10 in all departments from me. Why? Because once again it has pulled off the story in absolute brilliance, leaving very little out from the original story and using a superb soundtrack combined with the brilliant animation to create another masterpiece. In terms of chronological order, this movie is first in the timeline, therefore it is much more accessible than the first movie. The movie focuses much more on character development and allows the viewer to understand more about Shiki. Once again Nasu's work has been done justice in this outstanding movie adaptation. For those whohaven't seen the first film, I would suggest watching it. Although it is possible to watch the second movie without seeing the first, it is much easier to understand Shiki's character if you have seen the first film. Overall I believe that this film is excellent, and would appeal to any Type-moon fan or fans of series with complex undertones.
Schwert
This is my first review on MAL ! Kara no kyoukai is a series that I've been willing to try for a long time now and I finally started it yesterday with high expectations. I am watching this in the release order + for the first time : *Art : 9/10 : It is stunning , specially the background and its beautifully drawn details. The light is perfect and matches the atmosphere. The reason I'm not rating this a 10 is the eyes... I find them at times way too blank or big (the male lead's case) and this might sound picky yet it reallybothers me at times.
*Animation is decent I am not even going to rate it since there were nearly no action scenes or focus on movements.
*Sound : 8/10 Like the previous Film , the soundtrack fits perfectly.
*Story : 5/10 : a prequel to first movie.The focus was rather on the nature of the two main characters as it also kind of clarifies the bond shared btw both of them (How they met ... ) To say the least , unique is the adjective that could describe this story , but it being different and new to some extent doesn't mean it'll be good when not handled well. It isn't interesting enough since it only touches the surface even if the dialogue seems to dig in the depth.
The fact that there's yet much to know makes the point of the whole movie either to make you curious or just slightly uncover some of the facts and since there's an ending or rather a result to all what happened in the movie (How Shiki's behaviour was dealt with) with the cause or the reason like I said earlier insufficient and unconvincing (due to lack of revelation : just saying it is because of psychological instability is not enough ) I can't seem as a viewer to buy that explanation.
*Characters : 4/10
Let me start with
- Mikiya : Is he just believing in what he wants to ? Creating an illusion and just going along with it while using 'love' to justify it ... I don't understand the reason there's so much 'depth' in his feelings towards Shiki and I don't buy 'love' as an excuse either... He doesn't know enough and accepts everything the way it is or at least seems to and I dislike this type of characters.
- Shiki : I feel neutral towards her character she's interesting enough and I believe we'll get to know her better (hopefully) in the next movies. She has a heavy past as it seems and just acts under its effect .
- The rest are well , there aren't many are there ? they are decent.
Overall : 5/10
I recommend this movie to those who are interested in finishing the whole series and not this movie in particular because what it lacks may be fixed with the next ones.
ktulu007
Hello everyone and welcome to my first film review week. Why am I doing this? Because I've got five different anime films I've agreed to review so I figured it would be more efficient to find two more and take care of them all in a week than it would be to just stretch them out over the course of five. Many of you probably remember that a couple weeks ago I reviewed the first Kara no Kyoukai movie and it was not a well written movie at all. It had some good production values, but nothing of substance. So, why am I watching anotherone after that? Well, when I posted the review on MAL I got several responses from fans of the franchise. Surprisingly, they were polite, grammatically correct and respectful. No one said that my opinion was wrong (because opinions totally work on a right or wrong basis), accused me of not getting it or referred to me as any type of slur for daring to disagree with them. The basic gist of the messages was something like this "I understand why you didn't like the first movie, but I think you should give the series more of a chance. I think you'll find that it gets a lot better." After getting those messages I thought that if they were indicative of the quality of the fan base as a whole I wanted to give the franchise more of a chance. So I ended up agreeing to watch two more movies. If I don't like them I'll respectfully disagree with the fans and politely pass on the rest. If I do like them, I'll watch the other four. Although I haven't decided whether I'll give them full reviews or not yet. Fair enough? Good. Now that that's out of the way let's take a look at Kara no Kyoukai 2 Satsujin Kosatsu (zen) which I will simply refer to as KnK 2 from this point on.
KnK 2 has a pretty simple plot. In this one Mikiya and Shiki are students just starting to develop a friendly relationship. Meanwhile, there's a serial killer on the loose and Shiki is hiding a secret. The story starts by slowly introducing all of these elements, giving subtle clues and eventually brings them all together. Unlike the first KnK, which was just painfully slow, the atmosphere in this one is built very effectively. It's still a bit slow, but it isn't nearly the issue it was in the first film. The ending is left a little open, but it works pretty well. The only real story issue is that they have a clearly flawed understanding of psychology which comes up when Mikiya learns Shiki's secret. I'm not sure whether to just let it go and call it a supernatural element or point out that the disorder they're using doesn't work the way they think it does.
The main reason that KnK 2 manages to be effective in spite of the slow pace is the characters. In this one they actually develop Mikiya and Shiki as characters. The film spends a lot of time with both of them individually and with scenes where they play off of each other. The focus on character really works to its advantage. In the first film I didn't have much reason to care about them because they came off as kind of dull and listless with most of the dialogue being used to establish parts of the plot and not actually developing them. In this one, they give you ample reasons to care. You get a real sense of personality from both Mikiya and Shiki. My only real issue with the characters in this is that the supporting characters are largely pointless and really only exist to give Shiki and Mikiya people to talk to besides each other. This is their story, so it kind of makes sense but it still comes off as stilted and unnatural.
The art is still really strong for textures, backgrounds and atmosphere. The character models are still decent enough, but kind of standard. The blood physics are much more natural in this one. Although there is one scene where they're obviously off and it kind of screws up the tension a bit.
The voice acting is much better in this one. Both Sakamoto Maaya and Suzumura Kenichi get to demonstrate their talents. The music also works much better at building atmosphere than it did in the previous film. Probably because it doesn't succumb to really obvious horror cliches.
The yuri factor is a 1/10. There's no yuri here. It doesn't even pass the Bechdel test since Touko only shows up in one scene and she doesn't interact with Shiki but Mikiya.
So, how does this compare to the first movie? Well, it's much stronger in virtually every respect, which you may have been able to surmise by my having positive things to say where I didn't previously. The major characters get proper introductions, the atmosphere is excellent and the story is pretty well paced. This should've been the first film. A quick note on chronology: this actually is the first film. The first four KnK movies were released out of order, for some reason. Normally I would just say that it was to give a non-linear story, but each film so far has had a self-contained story and been only loosely connected. So that can't be it. I'm just going to make up my own explanation. The Ufotable team got drunk to celebrate the project and they mixed up the first four scripts. Is the first film better in retrospect? No. No it isn't. It's still a painfully slow mess with some really dumb plot points. The characters still come off as dull and listless, especially when you compare them to the versions in this one, and the last fifteen minutes still have a bunch of stilted "suicide is bad, mmmkay" speeches which culminate in one of the worst dialogues I've ever seen. This one, however, I did quite like. It still has issues, but nothing too bad. I'm going to give KnK 2 a 7/10. You'll probably like it if you can get into character studies. If you're expecting a really in-depth crime story, however, it might not be to your liking. Thank you Duck_S3R, Eastunder and GoldenBRS, for encouraging me to give the franchise another chance and for being nice and intelligent enough that I was inclined to listen. I'll get back to KnK at the end of the week. In the meantime, I have some other films to examine. Starting with Ghost in the Shell.
-FlameHaze-
[B]Intro Ok having have the hell confused out of my brain, In my opinion this series totally redeemed itself and brought a fantastic come back with number 2 in the series. Here it goes... Story The story was great and has a nice but unexpected link with the first movie which was the murder mysteries. This episode also explained more about the characters and even answered questions that confused me in the first installment. Looking at it from a periodical point of view this episode SHOULD have been before the first movie to avoid confusiion but having watch the next few episodes maybe there will be a reasonwhy. 9 out of 10 for story I just couldn't bring myself to put this at the same mark as my favourite anime. But it's still great, 8 would be way too low =]
Art
The art was just as good as the first and just as bloody. I enjoyed looking at the art in this one alot more too because i was rattling my brain with questions that was never answered.
Sound
The music as with the first installment went really well and made this so much mor enjoyable.
Character
AH! The redemption of confusing that the first installment gave...characters we're pretty much explained and it doesnt only talk about the characters pasts, it takes us back to witness it in a full hour episode by jumping back in the episode timeline! Which i think it a great addition, but hey it worked with star wars, why not here?
Enjoyment
This is a really good anime so far. At first episode confusing then a HUGE redemption. I hope this to get even better and I think i will probabaly watch this series again sometime if it stays as good as this episode was. And if it gets better hey! Might even find some of the episodes up with my favourite anime! Although I only rated this an 8 it's still growing on me from the prequels failure to satisfy my anime requirements, lol!
ENJOY! worth the watch!
LiedElfen
Kara no kyoukai 2: Satsujin Koukatsu is an improvement over the first installment of the series and could be enjoyed as a movie to dedicate one hour to experience it's story and development. It presents interesting but not correctly developed characters and a more than decent animation quality that makes it deserving of being watched. The story seems deep superficially and it isn't really deep, it isn't deep because the way they developed it's central point wasn't the way they hoped to develop it and they could have developed it way better than it finally was, the story centers around a lady named shiki Ryougiwho meets a guy named Mikiya Kokutou in the winter of 1995 while he passed her during a late night stroll in the snow. The flaws that the story has doesn't prevent it from being enjoyable at some degree and eventhough they are notable they aren't capable of denying any of the well made aspects that it has.
The art is great and even better than in the first entry of the series, the way they handled the colours and shadows and the way they handled the day/night dynamic couldn't have been done better. This was one of the aspects i enjoyed the most of this movie because i really do like good animation and this one was one of them.
The sound aspect was a part that i also really enjoyed because the way they used it to give the atmosphere a higher degree of intensity was deserving of praise, it was really well handled and attained it's purpose really well.
The show has glaring flaws as can be seen in how they used seconds that were too long and too many for certaim scenes amd that was one aspect that really stole some of the show's potential of captivating the audience and be capable of being deserving of much more praise but all in all the show was still enjoyable and good enough to deserve a watch.
TitanGotRekt
Pt2. Review Kara no Kyoukai 2: Satsujin Kousatsu is the 2nd movie to be released in the Kara no Kyoukai series and focuses mainly on the events between Shiki & Kokutou in their high school days. Now, let me start by saying that the after watching the 1st movie, I was instantly hooked into the series and was eagerly waiting to know more about the characters which this movie did focus but the overall character interactions & developments were disappointing to watch. Although at first interesting, the weird pacing of the movie makes the said interactions or developments between our two mc boring. Besides, the male mc‘s decision to not report crime while supporting the female mc just cause he was in “love” was so out of place & frustrating to watch.
The story for the most part was ok but the pacing was all over the place. Also the movie ending abruptly and time jumping to the events before the 1st movie also didn’t help the overall pacing.
Furthermore, The mixture of cg and 2d animation were as always blended nicely and the soundtrack succeeded in creating the overall environment for the movie.
Overall, a huge let down for me from the first movie. Hope the future sequels will be more interesting and evenly placed.
Story- 4/10
Characters- 3/10
Art- 8/10
Sound- 9/10
Enjoyment- 5/10
Overall- 6/10
xsis
Kara no kyoukai 2:satsujin kousatsu(part1) in the chronology of kara no kyoukai this should be the 1st episode of the animation this's when the viewer will see how the main character meet each other and so the supporting character along with the series,its all started here,in this episode it only focus mainly the 2 main character and some sub-char,the viewer will see the relationship between the 2 mains char while still high school and how the progress their relationship along with,the character are well explained their past. The art and char design is just as fluent and fit for the animation except just lack of actionanimation not like the first series but the background and the environment was really improved in this anime,the character design is just the same as the first series it just the character have alot movement and character expression was improved and its was excellent
The sound or BMG not really improved alot but some scene with the BMG was really enjoyed to listen..
Even with some flaws is still enjoyable movies to watch..
Ronnlaxo
Kara no Kyoukai The Garden of Sinners Chronological Order Kara no Kyoukai 2 Kara no Kyoukai 4 Kara no Kyoukai 3 Kara no Kyoukai 1 Kara no Kyoukai 5 Kara no Kyoukai 6Kara no Kyoukai Remix
Kara no Kyoukai 7
Kara no Kyoukai 8
Kara no Kyoukai Recalled Out Summer
Kara no Kyoukai Recalled Out Summer ExtraChorus
As for the Story......
Is the Story Unique?
The Story is Amazing or is it? The anime is Foxused on this one Character called "Shiki" not SHIKI, Shiki is a Character which can see the Lines of Death and is a Character who wore a Ultra Acient Pro Max Suit pair with Her Elegant Red Velvet? Jacket Honestly Shiki is the Whole reason i watch this series or most importantly her Short Hair as for the Story......... is it Unique? My question for that is.... you depends.
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Do you think the art style is fitting for the story?
Because Unidentified Flying Object Table animated this series i may say Yes the Art Style is fitting for the story and honestly the Animation is smooth as a Bald man walking on the street.
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Were the Story well Rounded?
No Just No
I mean their Heads are Oblong not round.
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Did the Character React Realisticly?
Yes SOMETIMES as for Soft scenes of Shiki then Yes she may act like a Chunibyo but yeah..... Yeah
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Do i think others will enjoy this series?
Yes but it depends to you
Motherf*cking Reader but if you are a fan of Nasu work the Yes you can or may enjor this series.
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Overall i will rate this Movie a 8.2/10
seekster
I watched the first Kara no Kyoukai last night and wrote a review for it in which I complained about the lack of back story. This second movie really should have been the first movie since it does give you some character introduction (it takes place before the events in the first movie I believe) although it is still not much. Anyway on to the review: Story (9): Like the first movie the story was engaging and made you eager to find out what was going to happen next. Unlike the first movie, Satsujin Kousatsu had a story that did not feel like you should alreadyknow whats going on. That being said the story itself did leave a lot of unanswered questions which I suspect will be explained in later movies (partially explains pseudo-cliffhanger ending I guess) but as a stand alone movie I cannot give it a perfect story score.
Art (10): The art style of the second movie was just as good as the first if not better. The attention to detail is staggering with especially in terms of light and reflections. During the katana sparring scene the detail on each beam of light poking through the window slits was enough to take my eye away from the fight if only for a moment. The lighting of the bamboo forest scene was also memorable. Character design is well above average too.
Sound (9): Once again the voice actors do their jobs well and the music matches the tone almost perfectly. There were a few sound effects that seemed a bit off but you have to listen very closely. Also the variation in Shiki's voice between her personalities is done well.
Character (8): As interesting as the characters seem to be we only know a little bit about the main characters and virtually nothing about everyone else. Even though we did finally get some back story on Shiki and Kotoku, there are still mountains of unanswered questions and Kotoku's background is still virtually unknown. Also there are some character aspects that in my opinion just didn't seem realistic but I cant give examples here because they would be spoilers but lets just say no sane person would trust a person THAT much. Other than that though the characters were very deep, almost too deep but its better than being too shallow.
Enjoyment (9): An engaging story, an art style that is pure eye candy, a haunting soundtrack, and deep characters make this a very enjoyable movie, Its nice to finally have some clues about what is going on but now it has me begging for more.
Eagleshadow
Didn't expect this to be a prequel. Actually I think it would work better in chronological order rather than like this. I'm a bit bothered that in the end the most important thing was not made entirely clear. Though we are left to infer it, but it just might be asking for a bit too much, in how much it expects us to assume and figure out what went on off-screen. And if that wasn't bad enough, pacing is slow. I'll admit slow pacing is crucial to the atmosphere and feel they're achieving, but at times it's just too slow. At least 40% could easilybe shaved off of static scenes while still retaining the overall feel. It's tricky writing this, as this ''movie'' has a ''part 1'' in it's name, so I'm guessing there's more to come. But taken on it's own, it's thematic points are exploration of the mind of a psycho and telling a romance story.
Second one was nicely articulated, it really shows both the power and craziness of love in a dramatic character-driven way. Exploring the psycho mind on the other hand wasn't bad, but it feels like something's still missing. In other words, I didn't really get to figure out why psycho thinks the way it thinks, though I might be halfway there, in understanding it, the viewpoint of this story's particular character that is. I wonder if part 2 will expand upon it, or go in another direction.
BurningLeaves
This is the second part of a 7 part series. With the first movie there was serious lacking in the character development department, with this movie however there was not only a story line but you actually got to understand a bit about the characters and where they're coming from. Story moves quite slowly, and there are many instances where you will be staring at the same pointless scene for far too long. Such as her lying down for bed and a random shot of her room is on screen for about 45 seconds. This may have been done to add suspense, but it didn'twork for me and just made me want to hit the FF button. Unlike the first movie this one actually made me interested to see where the characters go from here. The story line in this one seems more like a stand alone side quest of the back story to the characters appearing in the rest of the movies. But that's a good thing, because if you can't care about the characters in a series, then I can't care about whatever happens to them in the series. Has many flaws, but is still leaps and bounds better than the first. If you watched the first one and decided not to continue I urge you to give this one a shot.
Moonywanderer
The second movie in the Garden of Sinners series focuses much more on explaining character relationships, yet it has a completely different feeling to the first movie. Where the first movie had an eerie and mysterious feel throughout, this movie had some sweet moments included in there and the creepy moments felt WAY more creepy. So in the first movie, we were introduced to Shiki’s character. Though in the first movie, she acts as a saviour of sorts, in this one, we are introduced to a darker side of Shiki. It is revealed that she has two personalities of sorts, a sombre and supposedly tranquil oneand an outgoing, yet perhaps more sinister personality. In the city, there have been some murders occurring and Shiki is shown around the bodies. The question is, is she the one causing the murders, or is she just an innocent bystander that has the ability to sense these things? It’s definitely hard to decide.
Kokutou on the other hand is quite unwavering in his faith to Shiki. He develops an interest in her and decides to follow her around like a lost puppy, even though she tries very hard to keep him away. Sometimes the viewer may feel that he has absolutely no sense of self preservation, but he must have the ability to sense that there was something magical about her. There is quite a notable cute scene in which Kokutou and Shiki are standing under the rain and she gets lost in the comfort of his presence whilst he hums a playful tune. It was a nice moment of relief amidst the foreboding feeling of the film.
The animation and soundtrack are once again, flawless. The bamboo forest is absolutely my favourite aspect, with the vivid nature of the gruesome murder sites coming in close second.
In this movie, though there isn’t a plethora of events occurring, the major question on why Kokutou was so close to Shiki is revealed. As Shiki grapples with her two personalities, it’s quite interesting adding another layer to her character.
SpoopyMyon
Compared to the first film's story line, this film mainly focuses on a fixed story line with character development on Shiki and Mikiya. It mainly shows more in-depth detail about Shiki and Mikiya and how those two interact with each other. Otherwise, mystery side of story is also decently fun is watch. As expected after watching the first film, the art and animation is still visually awesome and consistent. The art simply matches each scene's scenario and has a lot of detail to it as well. The music given was excellent and suited every scene's setting well. The film fulfilled it's role in telling us how thetwo characters met, interact and like back in the past, while showcasing it in a variety of ways that makes it more interesting. Although, it does not go too deep into detail about a single character, and it also leaves out the other characters too.
Personally, I enjoyed this film a lot.
