KARA NO KYOUKAI: SATSUJIN KOUSATSU (KOU)

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE ActionKara no Kyoukai: Boukyaku Rokuon
OVA MysteryKara no Kyoukai: Shuushou
MOVIE DramaKara no Kyoukai: Mirai Fukuin
MOVIE ActionKara no Kyoukai Remix: Gate of seventh heaven

REVIEWS

• 

  Samin787

  100/100
  Beautiful Conclusion.

  

  "the Garden of sinners Chapter 7: ……not nothing heart. (Murder Speculation Part B)", what a beautiful title. 7th movie of the Kara No Kyoukai series and my favorite out of the 8, is an amazing conclusion to the brilliant series and Ryougi Shiki, my favorite female character in anime.

  This movie focuses on Shiki a lot more than anyone else, the build up from the first 6 movies gets a solid conclusion in this movie. The main element of her character, trying to find herself is the main part of this movie. Shiki and her counterpart SHIKI's characters are explained and the loose end left in the first 6 movies are mostly tied by the end of this movie and the view you have of Shiki will also change from the beginning to end of this movie. Her motives, actions everything is explained and her dealing with the loss of her other Shiki is shown here and those parts of the story had great delivery. Other than that, the relationship between Shiki and Kokuto also reaches a beautiful conclusion at the end of their story which I liked the most about the movie. There is a lot going on and rather than writing it here it's best to watch the movie because everything, starting from the characters to small details were very well presented.

  

  Kara No Kyoukai I feel like is a story driven very much by it's characters. Shiki is the pivot of the story and as a result the quality and type of the story depends on her characterization. The way Shiki starts out as someone with someone else that let Kokutou Mikiya into her life and by the end of the story when she loses that part of herself she fears losing Kokutou

  and her place in this world. Lio Shirazumi, the antagonist here stalks Shiki and tries to bring her counterpart back but through this it shows that part of her is gone for better and Kokutou being Kokutou would lend his hands to her and love her despite who she is/was. Surrounding Lio, I remember one strongly sexually charged scene. It is nothing like eroticism; rather, it is like watching a butterfly caught as prey as it is being overwhelmed and at the same time, strangely fascinated by its helplessness in facing a certain death which was the most captivating part of the scene. This series although shines when Shiki shines, it sort lacks in the antagonist department but not the aura of a good antagonistic presence somehow, I don't know how. I wanted more of Araya Souren, he seemed like a very interesting character after that movie 5 and having a big role over Shiki's character but sadly wasn't on the screen enough. At the end of the day, Shiki stole the show here and Kokuto was a great support.

  The fight sequences were amazing, expected nothing less from Ufotable. The characters were designed very well, liked the art style and especially the dark and 'night' vibe the whole movie has to it that perfectly fits the atmosphere and premise of this movie. Since everything was so captivating, I really failed to notice a super noticeable OST but I usually liked some soundtracks when I listened to them on Youtube.

  Now, after a long essay, something I wanna say is the score was really a hard choice for me, although it had the antagonist problem, other problems were not major or worthy of mentioning and as a result, the good parts of this movie heavily outshines the flaws. And despite being a fairly dark series, it has a happy ending. So I chose to give it a 10/10. Superb movie and amazing conclusion to one of my favourite franchises ever.

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• 

  Venucurius

  100/100
  Kara no Kyoukai ruined TYPE-MOON for me...

  __[DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]__ Kara no Kyoukai has been my favorite TYPE-MOON series and will always be. Creating a well-sculptured storyline that presents its meaning of life and death and a small cast of characters brings such an incredible impact. The 7th chapter has done nothing but present such a brutal and gloomy journey and ends with a bittersweet ending. --- The story continues to present the relationships between Shiki and Mikiya and how they interact with each other during a chaotic event in 1999 after Shiki knocks out 5 major threats. Shiki’s greatest challenge is to not kill a single human being and there’s one who’s completely out of control and thus, killing a lot of citizens while drugging a handful to become his henchmen. This disaster was all thanks to the mysterious Souren Araya, who died at the hands of Shiki a year ago. Mikiya trusted Shiki to not kill that one person as long as there are ways to cure him. The story in this movie felt really natural and nicely toned. The relationships and conversations are very organic, especially when it comes to how the cast struggle to find ways to achieve happiness. Yeah, the fights are great and all but regardless of Kara no Kyoukai being action-based, it was never meant to have a lot of fight scenes. The series focuses on exploring its themes and ideals and it truly excels at it. This chapter truly did an excellent job of further emphasizing Shiki’s characteristics and its elements. --- Speaking of which, this leads me to the characters which are my personal favorite parts of the series. Shiki Ryougi is a young adult lady who used to have a male personality in her teen's age and now without him, she’s still herself but she doesn’t feel any of that and she still sees herself as a monster which results in her hunting down any inhuman enemy she sees. Mikiya Kokutou is a friend of Shiki who believes that killing is wrong and comforts those who are trapped in a horrific prison. The main cast is overall fantastic. They have incredible relationships and chemistry with one another. Shiki may be badass, cold, and independent but she’s profoundly believable and outstandingly structured both in her growth and her interactions. Not only does she have amazing dynamics in Mikiya but she struggles with her problems which are quite complicated but show the results of how Shiki deals with life and death. Mikiya may not be a badass fighter or something but like Shiki, he has incredible growth and relationships. He’s a pacifist but a human and well-created one. Of course, that “one person” I mentioned earlier is nonother than the last living obstacle Shiki has ever faced, Lio Shirazumi. He was a classmate of Mikiya in the early years and now, he’s an infamous murderer who is hegemonic and has an obsession with Shiki. He also reveals the number of murders he committed in the past and does it again after Araya’s death in addition to drugging certain people. Is he a disgusting bastard? Yes. Look at it this way, he’s like Shinji Matou from the Fate series, both being selfish monsters who have done a lot of messed up things. But the major difference is that unlike Shinji, who was a punching bag for the sake of being a punching bag, Lio plays such a great role to overwhelm Shiki’s journey. What’s really interesting is as the ‘Bloodthirsty Killer’ granted by Araya, Lio attempts to resemble some ghost of Shiki’s male personality. It’s really scary if you think about it. This results in Shiki struggling with her own problems even more. Shiki tries her best to not fail her greatest challenge, even if it means being harassed by Lio but after Lio harms Mikiya despite not killing him, Shiki felt nothing but rage within her. Shiki then proceeds to end Lio’s life, only to feel gloomy after. Shiki may win a physical battle but also loses that said challenge. The world may return back to normal but she can’t even find anything to celebrate. When Mikiya is still alive and went up, Shiki confesses to him that she has lost everything after killing Lio. Mikiya replied that it doesn’t matter as long as they still find happiness. Kara no Kyoukai brings some of the best endings in anime. Chapter 7’s conclusion shows that Shiki may fail one thing but still moves forward alongside Mikiya. The amazing dynamics between the two main leads during a chaotic event result in a bittersweet ending. What makes the ending even better is that instead of kissing, they just hug each other. Kissing scenes aren’t necessarily bad but they can be quite oversaturated. Those last 10 minutes truly left a delightful taste. --- As for the superficial aspects, the art style that the first six movies age is unique and unforgettable. The newer art style for Mirai Fukuin isn’t bad. After all, it stays consistent with what Fate/Zero established. But the older one just feels more fluid. It reflects the atmosphere and visuals very well. The animation, like a lot of shows adapted by ufotable, is great. The fights may not have a lot of magic shown but they’re still well-focused on the action happening. Character designs are very solid but the aesthetics of Shiki and Lio are fantastic. The OST is legendary and the 7th movie never misses on it. Like the art style, it reflects the designs and environment very nicely. Great character voice acting in Japanese as well. Although I wish there was an English dub for the whole series. --- Overall, Kara no Kyoukai always never disappoints me. The storytelling remains to be fantastic and so is the character writing. I know some of you may not like it (or the series as a whole) but I just enjoy the presentation of what the light and darkness mean in there. It’s confusing but the amount of depth in there really means a lot to my eyes. Kara no Kyoukai is one of my personal favorite animanga series and perhaps one of my overall favorite fictional series. Let me know what you think. Compliments and criticisms are always welcomed! Thank you for reading.
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• 

  ScarletCutter

  100/100
  Death is my best friend and I have zero regrets...

  __[!] THIS REVIEW CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS [!]__ It’s about time… Shiki has reached her final destination in the form of the continuation of Murder Speculation. We have been traveling around through lots of mysteries and absurd scenarios from 6 chapters at this point. We’ve been speculating both the murder cases and the reasonings, the manifestation of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, tracking down the 2 culprits who happened to be victims, hunting down the true culprit himself who has a tragic vision, and even regaining memories. But one of these things still has yet to be continued. The speculation of murder hasn’t been completed yet and we’re still finding the answers, so where on earth do we find those? That, my friend, is where Chapter 7 arrives for. While Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the Magus conflict (at least specific to this series), Chapter 7 is the conclusion of Shiki going through hell while risking a major value in order to reach her light. In my opinion, this is easily Kara no Kyoukai’s best chapter. …but why is that? Is it because of hype? Is it because of the music? Is it because it’s simply the last destination? Well, it’s time we dig a hole… --- As mentioned, this is the continuation of where we left off in chapter 2. Shiki has faced dozens of gauntlets at this point and even Araya isn’t as much of a difficulty spike to her. What will be, however, is a virtual hint to the murder case questions and this is where she finally reaches her limit. The story of this chapter starts off with Shiki chilling in her apartment while Mikiya gives her soda. However, a new string of murders has lured in and that string is a very long one at that. Funnily enough, those murders aren’t really caused by Shiki. She may have caused a handful due to her unstable personality, but that is nothing compared to the mass streak run by the final culprit we aren’t aware of until now. Who could that be? But while we’re at it, Shiki has gained a final objective and that is to not kill a single person. That final objective will calculate the results of how far Shiki has come with learning what life and death mean in multiple ways. To me, saving the answers for the last gauntlet stage was a great idea because the previous gauntlets put Shiki to the test, especially because of how strategic she was in fighting against her opponents. Anyway, as for how the movie itself started, it’s surprisingly very strong. Shiki has defeated Araya and his arsenal, so how come she still feels like she’s in prison? She and Mikiya still have to take the murder cases from Chapter 2 into account and here, they’ve been extrapolated. The newest addition to the crimes is the enhanced cannabis created by Araya which is believed to be hella more potent than marijuana. Because these cannabis are now given to certain victims, it’s even more difficult for both Shiki and Mikiya to deal with these cases. The reason why this start is really good is due to how much depth and care they put into the interactions between Shiki and Mikiya. Even though they’re couples that love each other, they also point out their surroundings as well as being aware. Shiki has studied the philosophies of life and death and she still shows mad violence regardless of what kind of enemy she sees. Mikiya, on the other hand, wants people who enter their hell phases to go back to normal so that things won’t be hectic. This truly adds to Shiki’s final test very well. Let’s also not forget that her other objective is to keep Mikiya alive. It’s not the best thing out there but there’s a lot of heart found here. But this series’ best chapter? Where did that come from? --- Well, it’s time we enter this next part. After Shiki has dealt with multiple drugged servants sent by the culprit which damages her goal progression all while Mikiya is on the investigation of a strange mess, she has finally confronted the culprit himself. That murderer is none other than Shirazumi Lio, the guy who Shiki rejected a few years ago due to his incompetence and he was Araya’s first victim. Every other victim alongside Araya is a small scratch, but Lio is a whole different beast. Lio wouldn’t hesitate to kill literally anyone he sees but wasn’t so sure if he could kill Shiki (and/or even Mikiya in that case) due to his relationship. However, Lio also manipulated Shiki into thinking she would be the real killer after he took a look at Shiki’s unstableness in the past. Lio is a strange character because of how weird he acts with his obsession towards Shiki which explains why he looks like her but I think he’s a genuinely compelling final antagonist in the sense that he’s a perfect puzzle for Shiki. He will still force Shiki to enter his own delusions. Shiki is still pissed at him for his disgusting actions but will nonetheless try to remain relatively tame on him for the sake of her final goal. If you pay attention to the post-credits sequence in Chapter 6, there was this one scene where Lio broke down crying after being rejected to the point where he performed cannibalism on a bully for him to show more violence and Araya sees him as an apex predator which made Lio his depraved puppet. Another thing that makes him a great villain is how he pretends to be a spirit of male SHIKI. Because male SHIKI died in exchange for giving Shiki her powers, Lio trolled her into thinking the male personality is caged inside him (although at least from what I see). This puzzled Shiki so hard that she didn’t know if she should take him seriously or not. By that, what I’m referring to is if she even thinks he deserves death or not. Lio is not only a brutal killer but he’s also a liar and even though he’s not amazing at lying, he still finds ways to get away with shit. Hell, he even used most of his advantages against Mikiya. He didn’t try to kill Mikiya, though (...for now). He calmly spreads rumors before losing his sanity after being pointed out multiple times. While watching the scenes of Lio talking to Mikiya, one detail I truly appreciate is how good he is at mimicking male SHIKI as a whole. Despite the male personality being unstable, there’s still a lot of good involved. Unfortunately for Lio, it won’t last for long because Mikiya needed to find a solution. Lio has been regarded as either a flat or unnecessary character but I disagree with that, he’s great because of those things. This transition is amazing because, after all that investigation, Shiki and Mikiya face massive challenges that would corner them for eternity. Even if they’re smart enough to find their solutions, it seems impossible and that’s all because of Lio. Despite being Araya’s victim, all he wants is to have people view him as extraordinarily competent. Touko stated that there’s no cure for Lio due to Araya’s complex and potent black magic. And this only gets even better from here. In Shiki’s second confrontation against Lio, this is where she reaches her dead end. Lio is a massive obstacle that will take ages to move aside without hesitation, but oddly enough, her other obstacle is Mikiya himself. But that’s because he warned her about that one rule. This is even harder for her when considering the fact that Lio has gone too far with all the nasty stuff he caused to Shiki. Sure, there are scenes that are difficult to watch but even then, this sequence greatly conveys the flaws of Shiki when she tries to overcome challenges. She has a hard time valuing herself when she takes this test. Nothing’s more difficult than keeping an insane victim alive. --- Of course, Mikiya isn’t free from Lio either. As mentioned, Mikiya wanted victims to turn normal, and to turn Lio normal is like taming a cat by feeding it with dog food. But as always, Mikiya had the balls to do so. His entire philosophy is that victims aren’t really fully on their faults and still can be forgiven. This may sound silly but I always adore Mikiya with how he spreads it. His progression may look like he makes dumb decisions but in truth, they add life to the story as he’s one of the few things that perfectly contrasts with Araya's tragic yet twisted influence throughout. And this is one of the reasons why Shiki has always been a compelling character throughout the entire series. Of course, he still points out flaws like a true human being and this is where he hits the road for the worse. When Mikiya continues to point out how monstrous Lio is, Lio got insanely pissed that it injured Mikiya’s left eye. Oh, and Lio’s uncontrollable rage perfectly shows how massively unstable he is. ‘ahem’ After that, he shows Shiki that Mikiya is “dead” and this is where Shiki has had enough. After struggling with her final objective, Mikiya has always been protecting her with everything he has, and with him supposedly “gone”, Shiki had to sacrifice her progress of completing her final objective, that being to value how many people she kills, in exchange for cleansing the growing evil, and that leads us to such a formidable conclusion. Shiki definitely forgives Fujino and Kirie because of how much suffering they’ve gone through but for Lio? Despite being trapped in the same hell, he’s going to be sent to a worse one because of what he did to Mikiya. The only real cure for him… is EXTERMINATION… After giving Lio a brutal beatdown, Shiki finally wins… but also loses… She wins because evil in the place she lives in is no more but she also loses because she broke the one rule that would evaluate her perplexing journey. By process, she indirectly failed her late male personality. Shiki has never been this sad in her entire life. Mikiya wakes up after being heavily injured and slowly slithers his way if Shiki and Lio are okay. Luckily for Shiki, she’s alive. But unluckily, he had to look down on her because she failed to complete the last objective. Despite this, both still have their happy ending because they’re back to seeing a beautiful light. This ending, even though we still have yet to see the real ending in the next chapter, is just really heartwarming and compelling simply because it shows how flawed Shiki and Mikiya are with their strategies and ideologies while still overcoming their challenges until the end of their destination. All of their progression has led up to this moment and what a fantastic result it is… --- Shiki has always been one of my favorite protagonists ever, even right from the start. She’s an anti-hero who builds and spreads her philosophies the more she ventures into her adventure while also overcoming the biggest of obstacles with both her characterization and the amount of tension involved. Even if her philosophies appear to be the bare minimum, she always finds clever ways to conflict with both the ignorance of the world and Araya’s influence. And that’s ignoring her amazing chemistry with not just Mikiya, but with most characters throughout, although her relationship with Mikiya is definitely the biggest seller here. Her entire characterization, development, and catharsis in every chapter (except 6 but she’s still really good in there) have always spoken the word ‘brilliant’ from left to right but Chapter 7 is truly her magnum opus. This takes all of her development and writing and adds a phenomenal conflict to fully reflect her advantages and disadvantages. Not only is she a divine character but she also perfectly reflects TYPE-MOON/Nasu as a writer in general. We can’t forget about Mikiya either. He’s also one of my favorite characters in the entire TYPE-MOON franchise. Even if he couldn’t fight back, he’s such a complex and endearing character because his detective skills truly make him look like he solves a lot of puzzles while also spreading his wisdom of how fighting isn’t the only way to face evil. Like Shiki, his ideals aren’t really the brightest but he’s still smart enough to lay a finger on a villain’s influence/ideal without causing a bit of physical harm, even if it would cost him his life which is what we see with him getting injured by Lio. Oh, and speaking of Lio, I know he is an arrogant dick but despite that, he’s still who I fully admire as a character and one I empathize with how much suffering he goes through. Yes, he is a weirdo with how much murdering, stalking, and other shit he caused but even then, it’s not like that he grows to be a doomsday device. All he wants is to be complimented. In my opinion, he is the best of Araya’s victims as a character with how much contrast he puts on Shiki and Mikiya. --- Before we close this review, let’s talk about other things. The animation and spectacle are only always getting better the more we progress through each chapter. The fight between Shiki and Lio in two rounds, while not as impactful as Shiki vs Araya, is still massively impactful. As far as character designing is taken into account, Lio looking like discount Shiki is a genius move as it perfectly reflects his lust for her. The voice acting… Don’t get me started on that part… SakaMaaya and Hoshi Soichiro really went all out voicing their respectable characters with the sheer amount of personality and reflection put together. --- > "...And so, the part of me that still holds the old Lio Shirazumi quiets and fades. I'm sorry, Kokuto. It looks like the part of me you believed in has now finally disappeared." *Yet another character tier list recap!* I can’t praise this chapter enough. This easily cements Kara no Kyoukai as my favorite TYPE-MOON series ever. Not only did we come full circle with how Shiki and Mikiya met together alongside started their journey but the amount of writing, directing, and character writing are just pieced together amazing. I think this was the moment I really fell in love with figurative storytelling in any industry and honestly, maybe even TYPE-MOON as a whole. While admittedly, it is confusing, there’s just no denying that the psychology, themes, and so on are thought out really well. To this day, I can’t think of anything made by the franchise I personally like better than this one (and Kara no Kyoukai as a whole). Hell, throwing in the entire anime film industry, it’s still among the best. For me, it’s only just beaten out by Liz and the Blue Bird and Revue Starlight’s movie sequel. But even then, it’s extremely close. I’m sure there are more points I have missed while talking about this chapter but all I can say is that I want to Nasu for writing Kara no Kyoukai…
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