Literature Indecisive opinion, indecisive series
Kyokai no Kanata was one of the few anime series I followed at real time, and I remember myself wondering which direction the series would take the next week. To be sincere, this series was not the anime of the season, nor a groundbreaking thing - in fact, it was pretty formulaic, pretty unoriginal for the saturated light novel market. I was told that it was an attempt by Kyoto Animation to turn Darker and Edgier, and I said, well, if this is the darkest and edgiest they can do... But it did have some strange quality which made me follow it. It was not very good, but it had some grace. The qualities of Kyokai no Kanata were as uncommitted as the series's color style, with all those soft pink, orange and blue. They seem to fear to compromise to being overtly romantic, or overtly dark, or overtly intense. They were... indecisive.
Then it came the last episodes and the ending. They were confusing, bizarre and openly effectist, especially the infamous final twist at the last moment. I did not care very much, because at that point I was watching it out of curiosity, but I was a bit disillusioned. I expected the movies would do something to paliate it. And they did it, only that not exactly what expected. The first one summarized everything and added another twist more, and the second one followed the twist, but none of them explained the first. Heck. So I resumed with the new line per se I was... well, indecisive.
Considering that the last novel published of the saga was in 2013, it is difficult to say if we will ever see more of Kyokai no Kanata, but as the smart reader can imagine, I don't know whether I will tearily miss the continuation of the series or I will simply leave a rose on its tombstone and move along. For casual anime viewers, this series could be an interesting option - not a bad one, but neither an option to follow if they have a stronger alternative. If you want to see it, go forward, but remember it is a Kyoani work after all - expect blue skies, not-so-tranquil lives and maudlin fights. I will pray to the god of anime so you will not be as indecisive as me.
Literature Promising and pretty, but utterly dull.
I started KNK not knowing to expect, but since I had finished Kyo Ani's latest series, Free!, I was pretty excited. I can say that after watching this for 12 weeks, the only positive things I can say about the show are the animation, and the humor was actually pretty funny (episode 6 is probably my favorite of the series). That's what the series gets right.
What it doesn't get, however, is everything else. The characters were flat as boards and totally unremarkable. I finished the show not knowing who anyone's names were besides the Akihito and Mirai, and a handful of others. Sakura's relevance to the plot disappeared as soon as her character arc was over. Scarf-boy and his sister complex made me feel extremely skeeved out more than getting so much as a chuckle out of me, and the fact that he and Akihito could be boiled down to 'sister fetish' and 'glasses fetish' says something. There was no emotional depth to Akihito and Mirai's conversations in the last episode, it was like their relationship was pulled out of thin air. We got no backstory for things like Mirai's family, we just know they're dead. Akkey had a tragic backstory? Big deal, we only hear about it, for the most part, why should we care?
One of the big rules of storytelling that this show absolutely mangles: Show, do not tell.
Too many things are unresolved at the end. How does this world function? What was up with bolo-tie's talk to Izumi about them being one and the same (I won't spoil)? What was bolo-tie's role in the story at all? There was also the very end, which was an ass-pull. How did it happen? We get absolutely no explanation. The show just overall felt extremely un-engaing to me and even as the big finale loomed it was at the bottom of my list of series to watch each week and felt like a chore.
I don't know if Kyo Ani is banking on a second season being made and if that's the reason for all the dangling plot threads, but I feel like it would have been better to have this be a 24 episode series instead of trying to cram it into 12 episodes. 4/10.
Literature 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.