Kara no Kyoukai is a bit like the suit I use for job interviews. It’s not especially well worn, nor does it sit either end of the comfort scale, but by wearing it there are certain expectations. It seems that for ufotable, now the de-facto steward of all Type Moon’s animated properties, the same can be said. It has been almost four years since the last Kara no Kyoukai (Boundary of Emptiness) film was released, three if you count the punctuation mark that the OVA in the limited edition box-set represented. Since then of course the studio has put out the well-received Fate/Zero and is on track to release a new chapter in the Fate/stay night mythos.
like an appendix to a book, stuffed with obvious fan pleasing points of note
That contextualises where the studio sits with the release of Kara no Kyoukai: Mirai Fukin (Future Gospel), but doesn’t really adequately convey just how assured and confident this new movie’s execution is. There is a knowledge and appreciation of the characters that populate Kinoko Nasu’s work but also of the roles played by the location and themes underpinning them. It is still arrestingly beautiful and quietly unsettling that perhaps only an intrinsic understanding and time could produce.
Kara no Kyoukai is, without hyperbole, one of the most ambitious and intelligent series, movie or otherwise, to come out in the past ten years. As the progenitor of the Type-Moon dynasty it is afforded the means to avoid the overbearing franchise overload that can scare away fresh viewers. It presents a world precariously balanced between a chaotic realm of magic and spirits, and the more mundane world of humanity. Instead of falling prey to the common fantasy trap of treating the setting as the story, a stunning selection of characters is carved out who are not attempting to simply survive but trying to thrive in the ordinary world of emotions and ego. Bolstering this cast are some elegantly malevolent antagonists: from the physically tortured to the mentally deranged, rarely has there been as solid a set of evildoers in one series.
they are painted in shades of grey: whether twisted by magicks or a natural predisposition
Following the story of Mikiya Kokuto as he leaves high school, he is immersed in the unseen world through his affection for the stoic Shiki Ryougi who suffers a near fatal accident which causes a dormant power within her to awaken. Araya Souren, a mage of immense skill, meanwhile wishes to reach the Spiral of Origin, Akasha, the source of all knowledge and a kind of holy grail for those seeking knowledge; to do this however and to avoid the universe's natural defences against this sort of intrusion, he constructs an elaborate plan to use Shiki's now awakened power: the mystic eyes of death perception. Summoning aggressors to temper and hone Shiki, his quest has severe ramifications and the aftermath spills out long after he is assumed defeated.
This is the movie that Kara no Kyoukai has been building up to. This is the movie that propels the series from brilliant to astounding. This is one of the best anime movies ever created. It starts with a stark black and white divided screen, the name of the film emblazoned across it, and is followed by a chaotic medley of scenes before settling in with, what seems at first blush, a more traditional narrative. However nothing about Paradox Spiral (Paradox Paradigm the officially translated title) is traditional as it twists different threads together in a story that covers time, death, family, gender and the perception of self in a way that is enchantingly cohesive and utterly enthralling.
it permeates the fibre of the film defining its structure, guiding its antagonists and adorning incidental but important props throughout
Set chronologically after the first film, Overlooking View, it is roughly divided into three interwoven stories. The first has Shiki meet up with Tomoe, a teenager who believes he has murdered his parents despite mounting evidence to the contrary. The second focuses on Mikiya and Touko as they investigate an apartment building that Touko apparently had a hand in constructing. The third and final arc binds the previous two together with a face-off against two powerful sorcerers that play fast and loose with the sanctity of human life and the governing laws of the universe. Surpassing even the previous film's fantasy quotient, Paradox Spiral is the most involved and unfettered indulgence in the fundamentals of the Kara no Kyoukai universe yet and manages to weave them flawlessly into a greater exploration of some less travelled topics.
Four films into the Kara no Kyoukai series and the expectation is for a quality dip, something thrown together to appease fans and cover some of the source material that wasn't as glamorous or directorially challenging; The Hollow is none of these things, but it is the closest the collection has become so far to being formulaic. Following a similar tempo to the first film and of comparable lengths, whereas the first was meant as a soft-landing to the dense and chaotic universe of the series, this is more preparatory by taking away the focus from Mikiya and letting both Shiki and Toko expand and develop. Toko is no longer just a quirky red-head and the juxtaposition in Shiki's circumstances from film to film is elaborated upon.
Brutality and intrigue draw and engage but without exposition and understanding, the long term entertainment of the audience suffers
Opening moments after the calamitous ending of film two, Murder Speculation Part One, Shiki is taken to hospital and stabilised but remains in a coma for two years, watched over by Mikiya whom the nurses refer lovingly to as a puppy. Upon awakening her vision is besieged by scratchy, ephemeral fissures and hallucinations of death; after attempting to physically exorcise the visions, she is wrongly diagnosed with aphasia and a speech therapist is called in. Touko masquerades as the therapist and tells Shiki of her affliction while reporting back her progress to her new employee, the expectant Mikiya. At night however, spirits roam the hospital and take a deadly interest in Shiki's predicament.
There is a sense that Kara no Kyoukai (lit. Boundary of Emptiness): Overlooking View has something to prove; eager in both presentation and story it demands to be watched. It has every right to be keen with the success of six further instalments resting on it, the first movie can't simply warm up the engine or it risks losing an audience that is unfamiliar with its Type-Moon heritage or those with only a passing interest. The result is a movie that baffles as much as it entertains by taking a matter-of-fact approach to elements which, one can only hope, will be explored elsewhere and providing a measured introduction to the kaleidoscopic beauty of the characters and universe.
a stellar opening gambit to the series and [...] is perhaps the only satisfying way Kara no Kyoukai could have started
A spate of seemingly unrelated suicides catches the attention of Touko, a red-headed pseudo-detective nestled in a chaotically organised office, who asks the acerbic Shiki to look into them. From the pre-credits scene it is clear that Shiki shares a relationship with Mikiya who now sits torpid in Touko's office, his condition linked to the derelict apartment block where the suicides occurred. Visiting the building, Shiki finds another girl who has leapt to her death and spots nine spirits floating above the building. After relaying the information to Touko, she returns only to be resolutely beaten by a powerful resident spirit. Their final confrontation takes place atop the rotting building while Touko locates the source of both the spirits and the suicides.
