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Kyoukai no Kanata Review Anime studio Kyoto Animation is known for
their well-received high school, light-hearted slice-of-life anime shows from the anime otaku
community. KyoAni has produced popular shows such as the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise, Clannad,
K-On, and one of their recent summer shows Free!. However, KyoAni’s 2013 Fall show,
Beyond the Boundary or Kyoukai no Kanata, decided to shift into a newer direction from
their formulaic shows. Presenting to you, a review of Kyoukai no Kanata, KyoAni’s
attempt at producing a new show. It’s full of adventures. Full of the supernatural. Full
of action. It’s dark. It’s mysterious. And best of all, it’s still set in high
school. Awwwwwwwwww Beyond the Boundary is a 12 episode anime
adaption of the Japanese light novel. The story sets off in a world where some kind
of demon monsters that are physical materialization of human negative emotions, referred to as
youmus, roam the Earth. And people referred to as Spirit World Warriors are sent to kill
these youmus as a way to keep the world in balance and it also happens to be a Spirit
World Warrior’s source of income. In other words, it’s basically Death Gods from Bleach
killing Hollows to make money. Although Beyond the Boundary seems to be a
heavily plot-driven show, the 2 lovers, Akihito and Mirai (no surprise there), allow for the
progression of the plot. And this is where the show falls very short on. Bad characters
that drag the story. The story follows a group of 4 high school students -- Akihito, Mirai,
Mitsuki, and Hiromi. One day, Mirai is about to suicide only then to be saved by Akihito
because of his fetish love for glasses. The characters take much derivation from KyoAni’s
older works, which resulted in a mass of uninteresting cast of characters. There’s the main male
character Akihito who happens to be half human and half youmu and also has a glasses fetish.
Then there’s Mirai, a BAMF from a cursed family of the Spirit World that can create
weapons made from their own blood. She may have the blood of her family in her, but KyoAni
decided to also resort to their classical formula, create a small, moe, clumsy girl
who is useless without her boyfriend. Then there’s the main supporting characters.
Mitsuki, a cold girl who has a thing for lollipops. She’s the youngest in her family. And she
also happens to be useless without her boyfriend. And then there’s Mituski’s older brother,
Hiromi, who would do anything for the world if Mitsuki calls him.That is, if he isn’t
too busy armpit harassing Akihito. You’ll also be getting side characters from the Spirit
World and whatnot. Unfortunately, the character dynamics are
lacking, and the chemistry between the interactions of the characters are rather modest. The characters
lack depth. It’s one of the most lackluster and trite cast of characters to have ever
appeared in KyoAni’s work. Comedy is prevalent throughout the show, but with such a boring
cast, the comedy feels dull. Furthermore, comedy is badly used, feeling out of place.
The conversations are incoherent and just feel pointless. Most of the time, the conversations
consists of an all-out heated war between Akihito and Hiromi on their respective fetishes
for glasses and little sisters only then to have Mitsuki say and Mirai say which only
further cements the senseless direction of the conversations. Whether you find this comedy
or not is clearly subjective, but it clearly is not my cup of tea.
Furthermore, the story feels out of place itself. When you’re trying to tell a dark,
enthralling story, but you’re getting a cast of boring high school students that mix
like water and oil, trying to pull out a plethora of ridiculous jokes, how are you supposed
to watch the show? Am I supposed to get immense into the world of the Spirit Warriors? Or
am I supposed to laugh? Or, heck, am I supposed to watching a high school romance show? Beyond
the Boundary tries to mix a variety of genres that interest the anime fandom, but the subpar
execution of the medley of genres make many parts in the show feel muddled and disconnected.
That’s not to say, everything with the story was wrong. The world that Beyond the Boundary
built gave me the awesome vibes of Bleach during its early days. There were a few good
parts in each of the arcs. But the stories of each arc usually end rather abruptly with
a shoddy resolution that makes you go If there is anything that shines in Beyond
the Boundary, it’s undoubtedly KyoAni’s astounding production values. This especially
shines during the fights with youmus where the action scenes show off their fluid and
remarkable animation. It makes you wonder why KyoAni has been producing simple, light-hearted
slice-of-life high school shows all these years.
The soundtrack also does a magnificent job in depicting the eeriness and the mysteriousness
of the mood, further enhancing the feeling of every scene that it is played in.
And unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the character and story.
Overall, Beyond the Boundary is filled with high production values but was tipped over
by its agonizingly bland characters and story. It was KyoAni’s attempts at diverging from
their typical commercial model, which really, I’m praising them for making such an undertaking
risk. With a promising potential, it was lost to a mediocre execution and also in fact,
the length of the series. Kyoukai no Kanata certainly was not free enough to go beyond
the boundary. I give Beyond the Boundary a 6.5/10.