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Kyōkai no Kanata or, Beyond the Boundary is an anime I have been meaning to review for some time.
Let me begin by saying that I thought I was done with the anime scene for good. I started work, steered clear of attaching myself to any series and spent my free time playing video games. Old favourites like Bleach had lost their spark – years ago in fact, but for nostalgia’s sake I continued to trudge through the manga whenever the sentimental urge griped me. To boot, I had no ideawhat to watch. Since the genesis of my anime days I’ve filed away at the extensive repertoire of recommended classics and favourites, occasionally stumbling onto something new and interesting. Inevitably it came to an end, and I was sure my long and fruitful anime days were finally over.
Until I found this.
Based on the light novel, Beyond the Boundary by Nagomu Torii and adapted by Kyoto Animation (responsible for producingK’on, Tamako Market, Hyoka and Free!), maps the exploits of second year Akihito Kanbara and the new first year transfer student, Mirai Kuriyama. A Slice of Life spiced with a supernatural overtones, it’s a short but sweet show with 12 episodes that leaves you aching for more.
To order my thoughts I’ll divide my review into parts.
Story:
9/10
It’s a romantic, supernatural adventure that tries to differentiate itself from the mass of other anime that fall into those categories. Considering how saturated the market is with yokai (demons), fire-foxes and other tropes of Japanese mythology, it’s nice to see a plot that steps outside the box with things called youmu; said to be the physical materialization of human animosity such as negative emotions including hatred, jealousy and malice. These little devils can exist in a myriad of shapes and sizes and can even take human shape. As the embodiment of human negativity, as long as humans exist so do the youmu. Thankfully, there will always be a group to fight them – the Spirit World Warriors. The name’s cheesy, but they are quite an interesting bunch. The anime is sensible enough not to get too in-depth with their exegesis of these guardians, and leaves much of this mysterious group to imagination and interpretation of the viewers. What you are told is that there are certain families who are top dog in the business, and that killing youmu generates income. Yep, they drop youmu stones which can be traded for dosh, making this a very profitable business if you’re good enough!
As you can imagine, being the good guys we follow characters based around the Spirit Warriors: Akihito, a rare youmu-Spirit Warrior half-blood with the gift of immortality and a penchant for girls in glasses; the Nase siblings who are part of the governing Spirit W. Warrior family in these parts; and Mirai, a newcomer with the unique ability to turn her own blood into offensive or defensive weapons. The last of her clan, her existence is frowned upon by other Spirit Warrior families who consider her existence an infringement on normality (doesn’t help much with the whole, confidence thing). Struggling to overcome these insecurities and to make her own way in their magical world, she is befriended by Akihito and co, and learns what it means to be a Spirit Warrior in these parts – the good and the bad.
Now I don’t want to give away too much. Because there are only 12 episodes the anime snowballs after establishing the premises. What I can say is that a heartwarming friendship and romance develops – one that I would rate on the FFX scale (for me it is the pinnacle of cute). The characters are individually well designed and executed; inviting you to engage in their believable and empathetic storylines regardless of whether they are protagonist or antagonist. Furthermore, it tackles the slice of life genre with archetypal, jovial tones, but when it gets down to the serious stuff it brings to the table something mature and relatable. Just go watch it. You’ll be able to get it done in a day!
Animation:
10/10
Look at it! Need I say more? I got hooked at making GIFs for these which is harder than it looks. Most anime run on a limited frame-rate: if you break it down into frames, you’d see that there wasn’t much movement between one action to the next. In KnK there’s tons. Each gesture takes four times the amount of frames to render, and while it might be a pain to edit into a short GIF, it’s a marvel to watch. Kyoto Animation has always pushed for higher quality anime, with Free! being a prime example of their ingenuity, vision and standard. With KnK it is the same if not better. Not only is it beautifully drawn, animated and coloured, the angles and shots themselves are well executed and add so much meaning and depth to certain scenes.
Another accolade I don’t give often is that the fight scenes are amazing. Many an anime suffers from what I would describe as the Michael Bay syndrome; hard to follow and disguised by shitty frames that serve only to take you from point a to b. Even classics like Cowboy Bebop fall into that trap from time to time. Since Samurai Champloo, I have been waiting for an anime that takes its time illustrating fights, and KnK does this so very well. So if you are interested in seeing insane, anime brawls with magical creatures, this is your show.
Music:
I think it is good. If I am honest, I can’t even remember the OP and ED. I would take that as a good sign, considering it was not bad enough for me to need to comment on it, but not memorable enough for it to detract from the amazing storyline and animation. Daisy, the arrangement for the last episode was sweet, but like I said it wasn’t particularly extraordinary for me.
Dislikes:
Anime is like this shouldn’t just be 12 episodes long. That’s just cruel. Too cruel.
Highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a fun, romantic tale.
Next anime review will be Shinsekai Yori.
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