I'll have to admit, I'm not really an anime aficionado, only check out the ones that personally interest me and I've only followed probably less than twenty series from start to finish.
I've been familiar with Beyond the Boundary for about a year before I actually decided to watch it, since it would show on the local anime channel every now and then. At the time, whenever it was on TV, I'd flip the channel, dismissing it as "just another sappy teenage love story" (the channel's commercials for it didn't help, either). I finally decided to watch it out of curiosity after coming across a few screenshots and noticing the similarities between the two protagonists to characters from my fanfiction series, Hotspring Souls!. The first episode really drew me in and before long I found myself marathoning the entire series on a Saturday afternoon.
Beyond the Boundary, from an objective standpoint, doesn't really stand out from other urban fantasy stories. I noticed similarities with Kekkaishi, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan and even Persona 3 and Persona 4 in terms of narrative structure and characters. Not all the characters get proper development (Shizuku Ninomiya and Yayoi Kanbara, especially) and some of the plot points felt weird and rushed. Many twists and reveals were simply handwaved or left unexplained. The universe isn't built all that well, and it's still unclear to me just how spirit warrior society works. Heck, some of the youmu even look pretty generic.
Still, I found myself unable to stop watching. As another reviewer mentioned, the series has a certain charm to it despite its flaws. For me, I was drawn in by the character interactions. I was especially surprised to find myself heavily invested in the love story between Akihito and Mirai, and I actually think it's one of the better-written teenage romances since Renton/Eureka. Some may call Akihito and Mirai's relationship "maudlin" or "overdramatic", but I beg to differ. Their relationship is the strongest aspect of the series and it feels very genuine. You really do end up rooting for them and hope they both find acceptance and happiness. Not a lot of series, anime or otherwise, have made me feel that.
And then, we get to the movie, Beyond the Boundary: I'll Be Here (Mirai-hen). I loved this movie. It certainly fixed the controversial ending of the original series and gave Mirai's resurrection consequences. And while there were still some hiccups in storytelling here and there, I felt the movie was the proper ending the series deserved. The climax of the film also serves as the culmination of the development of both Mirai and Akihito's characters and relationship. These two finally earned the happiness they deserved after all the crap they've gone through.
Overall I'd say Beyond the Boundary is one anime I'll remember fondly. It's not perfect, but not "unpleasant" (pun intended) either. A flawed gem, but one nonetheless.
A Pleasant Surprise, A Flawed Gem
I'll have to admit, I'm not really an anime aficionado, only check out the ones that personally interest me and I've only followed probably less than twenty series from start to finish.
I've been familiar with Beyond the Boundary for about a year before I actually decided to watch it, since it would show on the local anime channel every now and then. At the time, whenever it was on TV, I'd flip the channel, dismissing it as "just another sappy teenage love story" (the channel's commercials for it didn't help, either). I finally decided to watch it out of curiosity after coming across a few screenshots and noticing the similarities between the two protagonists to characters from my fanfiction series, Hotspring Souls!. The first episode really drew me in and before long I found myself marathoning the entire series on a Saturday afternoon.
Beyond the Boundary, from an objective standpoint, doesn't really stand out from other urban fantasy stories. I noticed similarities with Kekkaishi, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan and even Persona 3 and Persona 4 in terms of narrative structure and characters. Not all the characters get proper development (Shizuku Ninomiya and Yayoi Kanbara, especially) and some of the plot points felt weird and rushed. Many twists and reveals were simply handwaved or left unexplained. The universe isn't built all that well, and it's still unclear to me just how spirit warrior society works. Heck, some of the youmu even look pretty generic.
Still, I found myself unable to stop watching. As another reviewer mentioned, the series has a certain charm to it despite its flaws. For me, I was drawn in by the character interactions. I was especially surprised to find myself heavily invested in the love story between Akihito and Mirai, and I actually think it's one of the better-written teenage romances since Renton/Eureka. Some may call Akihito and Mirai's relationship "maudlin" or "overdramatic", but I beg to differ. Their relationship is the strongest aspect of the series and it feels very genuine. You really do end up rooting for them and hope they both find acceptance and happiness. Not a lot of series, anime or otherwise, have made me feel that.
And then, we get to the movie, Beyond the Boundary: I'll Be Here (Mirai-hen). I loved this movie. It certainly fixed the controversial ending of the original series and gave Mirai's resurrection consequences. And while there were still some hiccups in storytelling here and there, I felt the movie was the proper ending the series deserved. The climax of the film also serves as the culmination of the development of both Mirai and Akihito's characters and relationship. These two finally earned the happiness they deserved after all the crap they've gone through.
Overall I'd say Beyond the Boundary is one anime I'll remember fondly. It's not perfect, but not "unpleasant" (pun intended) either. A flawed gem, but one nonetheless.