Kyoukai no Kanata

When two people are brought together by the hatred received from others, are they cursed or somehow blessed? From the very beginning, I knew that I would enjoy this series. The story seemed interesting enough and the art looked amazing. But in the end, that's not why I ended up loving it so much...I fell in love with it because of the characters and their interactions with one another. Story: 8 One day, the main character Akihito comes upon a girl standing on the edge of a building rooftop. Determined to save her life, he rushes to the roof and loudly declares: "A girl who looks as good in glasses as you...simply should not die!" From the start, these two were already unknowingly connected, with the half human-half youmu Akihito and Mirai, having been born into a cursed bloodline, both being shunned by everyone around them. Through this mutual empathy, a friendship is born. In my opinion, the story isn't "cliché" or a "train wreck" at all. Yes, there could have been a little less filler and a little more story, but I believe that this amount of filler was necessary to establish the relationships between the characters as well as to help us get to know them a bit better. I personally feel this story is unique enough, especially considering the thousands of other anime series out there for which I couldn't quite say the same... Art: 9 The art was one of the best aspects of the series. I was extremely impressed with Kyoto Animation's high animation quality. Moreover, the art style is great! It's bright, it's colorful, and there's plenty of attention to detail, making the action scenes flow quite nicely. Each scene looked absolutely amazing...I couldn't get enough of them! I especially liked the characters' eyes: they were so colorful and detailed and pretty and... ...Ahem, were was I again? Oh yeah, the art style is great! Sound: 8 I really liked the opening theme song (Kyoukai no Kanata by Minori Chihara). I think it matches the anime's mood and the characters' situation. Not to mention it was kinda catchy. The ending (Daisy by Stereo Dive Foundation) was a bit more upbeat and still pretty good, though I still preferred the opening. Character: 9 I love the characters. They were all so diverse, making their interactions with one another quite unpredictable. It was refreshing to have some personalities that were a little less "typical". As someone who has seen a reasonably large amount of anime, it's very difficult to find something different, especially character wise. Though what I really liked was how no matter how dark the show got, the humor shown when the characters interacted always kept me laughing my ass off. However, I do think certain characters (Mitsuki, for example) could have gotten a little more development. I mean, I know this is a short series, but some things could easily have been replaced with back stories or something with little to no substance lost. Enjoyment: 9 I loved this anime series from beginning to end and just couldn't stop watching it. It's funny, has romance, action, and magic, and it's fantasy. What more could I ask for?

Here I was, thinking that I couldn't fall in love with an anime. *sigh* Boy, was I wrong. Suddenly I must purchase every Kyoukai No Kanata merchandise in the world. It's definitely not kyoukai-desu! Story: 8/10 Why did I deduct points? Simply because it was all over the place, yet understandable. I like anime where it's totally straight forward. But, the ending is phenomenal. Art: 10/10 Minna! KAWWAII! There totally in sync, and their movements are fluent, unlike other animes. I love how the main character is the cutest thing on the planet, yet the 2nd best fighter! Sound: 10/10 Yes. Just yes. They're voices match their personalities wonderfully. Character: 10/10 Now, is it just me, or the hentai is the coolest one in the show? He's strong, cool, but sadly a perv, but anyone will overlook that! (Is this a spoiler?) Everyone else cannot compare, but still, they're awesome. Enjoyment: 9/10 Again, it's all over the place, and it doesn't make me scream in anticipation. (Like Mirai Nikki doe) But others did, so, I must rate it 9! Overall: 9/10 Catchphrase: It's all over the place, but I must say; Well done! Well done indeed!

All right this will be the first review I have ever written so please be lenient with me. Anyways here goes. After being asked by a good friend of mine to "check out this new Kyoto-Ani anime" and "whether it's good or not" I came to the conclusion that I had to watch this show and oh surprisingly it ended rather recently too so I quickly went on the case and started watching this show from episode 1 to 12 and let me tell you that it was one of the worst decisions of my life. (This is my opinion - no offense.) So first of all, let me tell you my story: I've been a great fan of Kyoto Animation after watching a few of its most well-known shows such as K-ON, Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, etc and they all left me good memories. They all had decent soundtracks, CGs, character designs and art and the comedy factor always kicked in at right moments. What about Kanata? NOPE. This show started with a very confusing episode where you just start off with a supposedly "ordinary human being" in a supposedly ordinary world where our protagonist gets stabbed in the heart by a "cute little girl in glasses". Okay, that's fine I've seen that many times before... Getting stabbed in a fantasy world is something ordinary - nothing new here. But then, we return to his ordinary life as if nothing ever happened without an ounce of an explanation so far. The first episode is basically nothing but a small introduction of a few characters without any depth. They introduced many terms but didn't bother explaining them anyhow, so you're like "Okay, they might explain it later but wait, what's with this "youmu" thing, what IS a "Youmu"? Oh, so they're supposedly "monsters" that take various shapes depending on human emotions... All right that's fine, but wait why do you act as if there's nothing wrong with living with supernatural creatures that attack human beings from time to time I mean why are you standing around as if there's nothing dangerous about them? If there're zombies roaming around in town, shouldn't people be worried? Aren't you an ordinary human being? Ooh so later on, we discover that he's half youmu... 'Kay. And wait a second, where do they come from? WHY ARE THEY HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE? Answer? "..." NEXT - a new term gets introduced: "spirit world warriors", wtf are those? We didn't get any proper explanation in the whole show (from the beginning to the end) but we can deduce that they're human beings with some kind of spiritual energy that fights youmus for the sake of making a living with it or simply to protect people from getting harmed and that their "spiritual energy" allows them to see youmus with the naked eye - wait isn't this a complete rip-off of Bleach?! Next we have our characters: Kabara Akihito - A half-youmu half-human protagonist that is immortal and has a pretty hardcore fetish for bespectacled females that wouldn't mind spending a few hours talking about nothing but glasses... Kurimaya Mirai - A cute little glasses-wearing klutz that has the ability to bend her own blood to her will. Nase Mitsuki - The club leader, a spirit warrior from a rich and well-known family that has an odd-behavior of teasing people in strange manners yet doesn't really do much in the whole show while still having a LOT of screen time and, Nase Hiromi - Her brother, also a spirit warrior that also has a strange fetish, namely a little sister complex (he's also some kind of weirdo like our protagonist that could fantasize about his little sister eternally). This makes up our main characters. The side characters aren't even worth mentioning, because both main and side characters have near-zero development and depth that spent EPISODES chatting about meaningless things with random things showing up here and there and forced comedy everywhere. This show consists of 12 episodes of "I have no idea what the hell is going on". No character has a clear background, nothing is really explained - we know nearly nothing about any of the characters - their conversations are meaningless (99% of the time) - we have no idea what's the story about (the show wasn't meant to be some kind of slice of life but IT IS- it's supposed to be SERIOUS but it's NOT [a huge mess overall]) - random things pop up here and there without any logical explanation like how our protagonist randomly teleports to Mirai at some point (our little bespectacled cute girl)... Oh there's more to the randomness factor, from all the shows I've seen, people with some kind of super power or weapon tend to have RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTS, our supposedly "last of her kind" girl at the beginning doesn't even have the resolve to kill a "ghost" haunting her apartment (nor does she have the courage to face it) yet she had the resolve to kill a human being in her past and stab a random guy? The show even tried adding the romance factor in it but it had no depth whatsoever so you're just standing there and be like "wut". Other than the horribly confusing story and wood-carved characters their art and sound were rather enjoyable - I expected nothing less from Kyoto-Ani. I gave it 3 for the story, 3 for the characters, 8 for the art and 8 for the sound. I didn't really enjoy the show because of how BAD this show is. It's a 5 overall (it's as lenient as I can get). In conclusion, this show had a lot of potential - supernatural shows tend to be really "special" in their own ways but this show is just a rip-off of many things without any proper "uniqueness" that isolates it from its counterparts. The lack of depth, the useless conversations, the lack of explanations, the lack of THOUGHTS (basically everything happened because it happened) had left me a really bitter aftertaste - I really hope Kyoto-Ani was on crack during the whole creation process because this was a total waste of effort, a COMPLETE HUMILIATION - it's a shame really. I would never recommend this show to anyone - it may of had a lot of beautiful CGs, art and ending theme but I would honestly take a banana or potato over this show any day.

8/10 | The ending felt rushed, was confusing and felt like it had a lot of plotholes. Why am I giving it an 8/10 then? Because despite these flaws the emotional impact is amazing. The themes and message of the story still were very strong, despite the plotholes and other flaws. The characters are also partially what saved this show. They're written full emotion and the voice acting can be amazing in some scenes. The humor and comedic timing was fine as well, you might not be laughing at every joke, but you'll definitely pop an occasional smile. The animation was flawless, as expected form kyoani. I love the artstyle and character design. I definitely recommend you watch this anime. Also the ending song is a bop.

Kyoukai no kanata is the latest anime that I've watched, thanks to my friend's recommendation. To be honest, the animation is truly really beautiful, probably one of the best that kyoto animation has come out with. The sceneries in the anime are truly breathtaking. One of the reasons as to why i truly enjoy this anime so much is probably due to the characters. The characters are all beautifully made, with backstories for most of the characters. Akihito is truly a boyfriend/ husband material, with him being so caring and sweet and everything that a girl would want in a guy. Not to mention, he got a sense of humor. With a clumsy girl, sweet guy, a sis-con brother and a sarcastic sister, this anime is truly packed with many comedic moments. I truly enjoy the time when they teased each other. however, the bad points of this anime is probably not going in depth with the characters. it was probably because this anime was too short, with only 12 episodes and 1 recap movie and one continuous movie ( which focus mainly on akihito saving mirai ). As for the other characters, they were never truly explored. Like for example, Mitsuki and Hiroomi Nase, where are their parents? why is their older sister the one taking care of everything? why did the older sister told Mitsuki that being alone is the best? Not only that, they mentioned that Akihito is half-yomu in which they told us that the mum is the human while his dad is the demon. But hey, not a single detail about his dad was told in the anime nor in the movies. So, what actually happened to the dad and where is he now? & not to mention that akihito's mum is actually friends with Mirai's mother. How did it even happen? Did akihito and Mirai actually met before when they are young? honestly, this anime left me with more questions but yeah, it is an anime worth watching & i never regret watching it.

I still remember that Idol dance scene that the main characters did and it won't burn off my retina. That's the whole reason how I found this anime in the first place. It just popped up on my Recommendations and I decided to watch it. The scene was weird and funny at the same time and then I decided to watch the whole show. [Story]: (6/10) The dark fantasy follows a high school sophomore named Akihito Kanbara. Although the boy appears human, he is a half youmu and invulnerable to wounds because he can heal quickly. One day, Akihito meets freshman Mirai Kuriyama when it seems she is about to jump from the school rooftop. Mirai is isolated because of her ability to manipulate blood, which is unique even among the members of the spirit world. Disturbing events begin to unfold after Akihito saves Mirai. Ok...so KyotoAnimation created this anime. Seriously, why couldn't they just made this into a slice of life anime? Or something similar to the fillers like Episode 6 because it seems to me that that's what they do best. When it comes to dark story, it just comes off as laughably stupid. The first arc is pretty much an introduction to the word that they're in, the characters, the exterminators, the youmus and all that crap you need to know. Then there's the second arc which is the most stupidest and the most inconclusive arc I have ever seen. They tried to explain all this crap about who Beyond the Boundary is and why he's so dangerous than the last youmu who is the second strongest..Honestly, I don't even care anymore. Why is it inconclusive? Watch the last 2 episodes then you'll find out. There are a lot of unanswered questions in the show, especially the ending. The ending also felt rushed. Since this is a spoiler-free review, I won't mention the plot holes that the show left open. The battle with the main antagonist also didn't last that long. How long is it? It only lasted for about 90 seconds. All they did is stamp in the OP song and make the fighting scene fit that OP theme song. How anti-climactic.. The story turned out to be a piece of dog sh*t but the filler and slice of life moments turned out to be one of the best parts of the show. You have the characters fooling around, the perverted little sister moments, the glasses moments, the club activities and of course, Episode 6. Where they did an Idol dance to defeat an eye monster. Honestly, Ep. 6 is the funniest episode in Kara no Kyokai. Because of the funny moments that I mentioned in this little paragraph, KyoAni should really stick to creating Slice-of-Life moments because that's where they do best. On the other hand, if they take out the fillers and actually develop the plot then we could have gotten ourselves a show with a great story. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Art/Animation]: (9/10) This anime is, like I said, created by KyotoAnimation and if you know the company then you should know that their animation is one of the best in the anime industry. The animation looks great, the environment looks great and the character design also looks great. Especially Mirai. The actions scenes are, surprisingly, smooth. This is the first time I've seen a KyoAni anime with an action scene so it did surprise me. The Idol Dance scene also looks great. Their dances are smooth and it didn't really felt too choppy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Sound]: (10/10) Most of my soundtrack rating comes from the OP and ED theme song. It's very rare this days to see an anime with both OP and ED theme song that are great. Welp, KnK has it. An OP theme song that has made it into my Favorites list and an ED theme song that has also made it into my Favorites list. The OP theme song is "Beyond the Boundary" by Minori Chihara and "Daisy" by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION. All I can say about the OP theme song is..It's f*cking awesome! I just love the singer's voice and song's buildup. I also love the ED theme song. Now, that's what I call an Ending Song. The male singer has a soothing voice and the song is so...calm. The show has an excellent Voice Actors. I can't explain why they're excellent because we all have our own interpretations of "excellent" but you have to watch the show by yourself. The VA that I love the most is Mirai's voice. She sounds so innocent and cute and her catchphrase is awesome. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Characters]: (8/10) I want to introduce the characters first before giving my own opinions about them. Akihito Kanbara is the main protagonist of the show. He is a second-year high school student. He is half human and half youmu and he has a fetish for girls with glasses. Mirai Kuriyama is a first-year high school student and she is an Exterminator. She has the ability to manipulate blood and can also create a sword using her own blood. Hiroome Nase is a third-year high school student. He is the eldest son of the Nase family and Mitsuki's older brother. He has a huge sister complex. Mitsuki Nase is a second-year high school student and she's the president of the Literary club. What do I think about the characters? I love them. Akihito and Mirai's paring is great and makes the show funnier. I also love Mirai's catchphrase. "Fuyokai des" or "How unpleasant" in English. Whenever Akihito and Nase is paired, it also makes the show even funnier because of their perverted instincts. Mitsuki's personality seems like she is a person who doesn't really care about anyone and it also adds to the comedy of the shows. Comedy aside, you can see the relationship develop for both Akihito and Mirai and you can actually see Mitsuki care for someone. You can also see the characters working together when it's needed. The side/supporting characters do have some major issues. They get introduced at one point to the show and then you don't get to see them again. Some make an appearance for an episode, disappear, and later appear again at the 2nd last episode or the last episode. Some of them are not in-depth and some of them are just downright useless. For example, Sakura got some focus on the earlier episodes but was later thrown aside when her conflict was solved. Her conflict was also solved way too fast. I guess, that's understandable considering that this is a 13 episode series. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Enjoyment]: (8/10) The story may suck ass but that doesn't mean I enjoyed the show. In fact, I did enjoy the show because of its Slice-of-Life approach and the fillers. Pretty weird that I enjoyed the fillers a lot more than the actual plot itself. It should be the opposite. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [OVERALL]: (8.2/10) Just like Mirai said. "How unpleasant". How unpleasant, indeed. How unpleasant the f*cking story is. However, if you can look past the crappy story then you might enjoy this show because of the Slice-of-life moments and the filler moments are great and hilarious to watch. Especially the Idol Dance Episode. Pros: +Great Animation +Outstanding OP and ED theme songs +Outstanding Soundtrack +Great Main Characters +Slice of Life and Filler moments Cons: -Mediocre story -Useless side characters -A lot of plot holes -Filler are a lot better than the actual plot. It should be the opposite -Mediocre and Unexplained Ending

Hey! Have you ever had that one anime that made you go all "nyeeeeeeeeeeh!" because of it's sudden ending? If yes, then this anime will be one of them. Kyoukai no kanata (also known as "Beyond the Boundary" in English) is a anime which was created by KyotoAnimation ("KyoAni") and was something along the lines of Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! but way more complex and these fighting scenes that you have seen in Chuuni had meaning and mythology to them. Now, usually when I review an anime, I try to look at flaws etc. such as: Animation mistakes, sounds/music, character. character development, character interaction etc. and while watching Kyoukai I haven't found as much as I was afraid to find. Honestly I shouldn't be surprised as before I have watched KyoAni's works such as "Hyouka", "Free!" etc. and I know they create great, if not amazing, work and sometimes even beyond that (get the pun?). However, not all anime is perfect and this might be reason why I was pleasantly surprised. You should know the overall story line etc. if you watched the anime, if you don't I would highly recommend for you to watch it first before continuing. So let's star with the basic; Story. Kyoukais story was something I have seen before but I haven't seen it handled well or at least not as well as Ao no Exorcist etc. The story is simple, young boy named Kanbara Akihto meats girl, Kuriyama Mirai who tries to kill him but he turns out to be immortal. The story is shown that both of our main characters are what we call "monsters", inhuman creatures that are trying to push through life after tragic accidents (explained later in story) with one handling it well and other being scared by it. The two of them compliment each other and try to help each other in their little adventure with help of two siblings; Nase Mistuki and Hiroomi. The story doesn't have simple point A to point B kind of thing and this is what I enjoy a lot in anime, especially when it's done well like in many animes you may see. If you want to find out more about story, watch the anime or read up on it. Visuals/Sound track: Although not everyone will agree with me on this part, but KyouAni animation is great but it is not the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I have seen animations from movies like "5 cm per second" , "garden of words" and way more to know that they are the most beautiful movies I have ever seen and I know that comparing these movies to KyoAni's work is unfair. But I have to say this; The animation in Kyoukai is detailed. Not only based on explosions and huge monsters (also known as "Yomu") but also on facial animation and body moments, and it is very beautiful. Sadly, Kyoukai didn't hit my "amazing" rank when it comes to the animation because, despite the details, it still had some animation flaws that went into fore-mentioned explosions and huge monsters and special effects etc. The music on the other hand, the music was fantastic. It was gorgeous and I love every single soundtrack it had to offer. The opening and ending were composed by both amazing artists and it sure was great to listen to it especially on a boring day of school at break. Characters: Although the characters were very simple and not that much creative (not in my opinion at least), the style of KyoAni's added a lot of cuteness to them and a bit of badass which made them even better. If you want to find out more about the characters then search up or watch the anime. Now, here's the most important key in the whole thing; character interaction. I am one of those people who simply doesn't care if the animation is the most beautiful things the world or your music is breath taking (I will still compliment them), if you have characters, good or bad, with wonky character interaction I will be forced to point it out. Thankfully, this is the part where I don't have to do so. Kyoukai has great character interaction, especially with our main; Kuriyama and Mitsuki, who get along in one episode created just for that. The character development is also good, but I think it could've been done with more details. Final Verdict: For me, Kyoukai no kanata was a great anime where almost nothing was standing still and nothing was out of focus (and if there was, it wasn't that noticeable), like for example the magic behind the stone checking (or whatever it's called in English) or something along these lines. The story it self was good and it was just like the opening; it gave you an amazing ride with beautiful views for your eyes every time you were bored. So in general, I would recommend this anime the most if you don't mind the huge amounts of blood and massive amounts of "moe"/adorable factors. this is IKira-n Signing out.

Mirai Kuriyama and Akihito Kanbara, they both has a sad path where they gets targeted. When they meet each other for the first time it was pretty awkward I was literally screaming WTF. The progress of the story goes pretty well as the characters starts getting developed too, it leaves a bit of a mystery at the end of the whole anime. Like how did she *******? The story was pretty much of a fantasy, half harem and comedy in my point of view since there is this one episode which doesn't even relate to the real story. The art of the anime in the combat scenes are pretty good where Mirai's blood gets drawn out and how the weapons move like especially Izumi and Hiroomi, their barriers was pretty amazing like how long did it take them to draw something like that, it has those rather complex barriers with squares everywhere. The character development was pretty well developed for MIrai and Akihito where the other two main characters are a bit left out. I just know the two boys are pretty much hentai in their minds but are protective and perverted to the ones close to them. It's pretty much good but I guess i want more screen time for the other two mains, I'm not saying they don't appear much but I want more of those siblings

Kyokai no Kanata could have been more than a 7/10. Don't get me wrong it's still fine, but it could have had been something more than an OK anime. Sadly it falls short. In my opinion there are two major flaws that hold it down and I am gonna explain them briefly. But let me start with the good stuff. The story starts off pretty nicely and catches your interest as it is surrounded by mystery. The characters are definately the strongest point of Kyokai no Kanata toghether with its visuals. All the protagonists are enjoyable to watch and have nice traits that make them distinct and not soulless and mainstream. Scenes of humour and seriousness coexist in harmony. The action is stunning with epic battles that take advantage of the beautiful visuals. Now the two weaknesses of the anime are the following: Firstly it's pretty short. 12 episodes isn't enough for what KnK is trying to achieve. The world with the spirits and the spirit warriors which it is trying to present is lacking and many things remain unexplained or can be expanded on. Secondly, in my opinion KnK's greatest flaw is its ending. Seriously, it's really bad. I am not gonna spoil anything but let me say that in the last 4 episodes nothing gets explained, random stuff happens for no apparent reason, we are not given any information about the antagonist, like what happens to him or what were his motives and in the final couple of minutes there is also a cheap surprise which is also not explained but they just put it in there for a happier ending I guess... All in all KnK is a pretty good action anime with comedic elements that manages not to fall victim of any of the current trends (harem, fanservice...) and create something unique and enjoyable. Had its ending been decent it would definately get a 9/10 from me.

Koukai no Kanata, what can I say? Intense, supernatural, cute girl with glasses! I definitely had a fun time watching this anime and it was different to what I actually expected. At times throughout this anime, I felt very lost and didn't quite understand what was going on... not sure if it was on purpose... but by the end of the anime, I managed to connect everything together... annnnnnnd...... it still didn't make sense... THE POWER OF GOOGLE~ But I really liked it all the same, because it wasn't your everyday high school story with supernatural power characters. The characters were hilarious! I have never seen an anime where ANY CHARACTER would admit s/he is a hentai and still be hilarious... *looks around...* IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS!!!! I found it very cute and it definitely shows, it takes a long time to understand someone, and even people who may seem happy-go-lucky have a terrible past. Interesting anime, recommend anyone who hasn't watched this to watch it!

I originally started Kyoukai no Kanata because I liked the style of the characters. I didn't know much about the story or anything else. Would I recommend this to someone? Yes. But KnK does have some major flaws. For me, it was possible to overlook them, but for others, it might not be. Story: 7 KnK's story isn't earth-shattering, nor is it extremely original. But it isn't completely cliche and the characters keep it fresh. I wish I could give the story a 9, but the ending of this show is stopping me from doing that. The final episode was sloppy and confusing. The reason for this is that the anime is based on an on-going light novel series. So after the anime caught up to the novels, they ran out of storyline. For some reason, it was already decided that KnK would not have a second season, so they had to come up with an ending on their own. Bad. I don't want to say anything spoiler-y... but this ending was EXTREMELY disappointing. They could've done so much more with this anime... I thought it was relatively popular, so I'm not sure why they wrapped it up so quickly. So I just like to pretend that the last episode doesn't exist. You can probably come up with a better ending on your own. However, the ending is not a reflection of the overall storyline. The ideas taken from the light novels were very interesting and involved lots of character development. So I don't think that the ending makes this series unwatchable. Art: 10 I. love. this. art. It's pretty much what made me want to start watching in the first place! All of the characters are very cute and I like the art style. The action sequences are also amazingly done, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Watching all of the spirit world warrior's talents in action was very cool. Sound: 8 I really liked the KnK opening and ending songs. The more you listen to them, the catchier they get. And the singer for the opening really is amazing. The soundtrack was very nice and matched the mood of the anime well. Character: 8 One of the best parts of this anime is its characters. There's not that many of them, but that just gives more depth to the 10 characters they have. Mirai, the main character, is, well, adorable. And it's not in a creepy or moe way. I loved her catchphrase of "fuyukai!" and the way she dealt with things. Mirai is a good person who's had lots of unlucky shit happen to her, but she finds a way to go on, and is also one of the strongest characters in the show. Akihito, her love interest and another main character, is also pretty likable. His obsession with glasses is kind of weird at first, but you get used to it after a while. He's a caring and persevering guy, and he truly loves Mirai, no matter how many times she tries to kill him (bahaha) I liked Mitsuki and Hiroumi too, but their relationship was a bit strange. Is it supposed to be slightly incestual? Is it comic relief? Is it serious? I'm not sure. Let's hope it's comic relief. Enjoyment: 9 I'm extremely picky with my anime. I'll start five different series, and then end up sticking with one and tossing the others aside. So when I can focus on one anime, it deserves a special place in my heart. I finished KnK in about a week, so it automatically gets at least an eight. And the characters, art style, and music were also very good. So yes, the enjoyment factor of this anime is one of its biggest selling points. Overall: 8 Kyoukai no Kanata made me laugh, smile, and (almost) cry. Its ending was shitty, but I'm willing to overlook it because everything else was so good. I'm very disappointed that it won't be getting a second season, to say the least.

KNK is a beautiful story about a (wouldn’t you believe it) High School boy named Akihito Kanbara with a glasses fetish, and his underclassman, Mirai Kuriyama, a “bespectacled beauty”, according to Akihito. We soon learn that Akihito is half youmu, a species of demon that most of our main cast hunts. Because of his half-youmu nature, he is an immortal (or, very near immortal) meaning that he can suffer virtually any physical wound. Mirai is a Spirit World Warrior who has recently come to the human world to hunt youmu. She comes from a “cursed” clan of Spirt World Warriors, known for having the ability to control their acidic blood at will, Deadman Wonderland style. The rest of the major cast is just as lovable as well. Hiroomi Nase is a siscon Spirit World Warrior with the power of barriers, from the elite Nase family, a major player in the Spirit World Society. Mitsuki Nase is the younger sister of Hiroomi, as the siscon makes very clear. While Mitsuki also has the power of Barriers, like her brother, she mainly relies on her pet youmu, Yakiimo to do her fighting for her. While this anime starts off as an action and comedy oriented show, it slowly evolves into story about protecting what you hold dear, and deciding what can and cannot be sacrificed. KNK also becomes a love story between Mirai and Akihito. While avoiding spoilers, all I can say about the latter half of this series, is “wow.” KNK had a fast, yet relatively uninteresting startup, but come episode 5 or so, it really started heating up and left me on the edge of my seat every week. The final few episodes were their own form of awesome. The relationship of sarcastic distaste between Mirai and Akihito was so well built up that I ended up truly feeling for them in the final episodes, just praying for a happy ending. Speaking of the end, it was honestly one of the most well done endings I’ve ever seen, leaving just enough cliffhangers for a S2, while wrapping everything that you really care about all at the same time; and I gotta say, it is the second anime to ever make me cry at the end, the first being Sakurasou no Pet Kanojo. As for music, I don’t really pay attention to it as well as I should, I wasn’t even planning on starting this blog until today! However, the Opening (Kyoukai no Kanata) and Closing (Daisy) themes are both incredible, and I have them both on my iPod, and listen to them on a daily basis. I’ve never been great at giving things numbered scores, but I guess I’ll have to try to do this one justice, eh? I think that I’ll settle for an 8.5/10 because I’m not sure how bias I am. The first few episodes almost lost me, but the ending (what I remember most) was one of the best ones I’ve watched. If you enjoyed this review, please check out my anime review blog at trips-anime-review.tumblr.com/

Kyoukai no Kanata, an interesting anime to review. Kyoto Animation has created another beautiful spectacle to watch, with stunning fight scenes, and great visuals all round. Sadly, the sound and art was the only outstanding thing about it. Although it seemed promising, and the story of Kyoukai no Kanata attracted me, I didn't really like it at the conclusion of the series. There was no real depth to most of the characters, and the story was quite bland at the beginning, but towards the end, I started to grow to like it. However, I didn't quite like the ending, as it was confusing. Before I started watching Kyoukai no Kanata, I read up about the synopsis of the series, and the concept of a dark fantasy anime seemed quite promising. However, as time went by, it didn't feel like a slice of life dark fantasy anime, more like a comedy, especially at the beginning. Classic Senpai moments occurred between Akihito and Mirai, and although I found it humorous, it seemed that the director was trying too hard to make it funny, and not focusing on the more important part of the anime, like developing the story line. It seemed quite generic, in the sense that all they did was crack some jokes, fought some monsters every episode. Nothing interesting really happened until about midway through the series, when it seemed something more sinister was at work. I almost felt like dropping the anime around the third episode, because the plot didn't feel like it was going anywhere. Thankfully I watched on, hoping that something more serious and interesting would develop, and it did. If you are starting to watch this anime, and you're getting bored by the first few episodes, I encourage you to watch it, and see how it goes. The comedy aspect started to slow down towards the middle of the series, reaching its pinnacle at the 6th episode, and the story started to become more interesting and serious after that, with the director focusing on the dark fantasy and drama aspect of the anime. There was still a good amount of humour throughout the series, and I had a few laughs with the interactions between characters. However, there wasn't enough time or things done to fully develop the characters, especially the supporting cast. Not much is known about them, or the enemy in the series. The enemy's motives aren't really talked about or explained in the series, which was what I found disappointing. Kyoto Animation has produced another stunning anime for the eyes. I found the action scenes to be especially beautiful, but overall, the art was quite nice to look at, one of the best I've seen. The vibrant colours used throughout the whole series were what I enjoyed, and it brought the standard of the anime up. This was one of the things that kept me from leaving the anime at the beginning. Especially towards the end of the anime, the scenes were amazing, as there was more action to look at. It was definitely better than most animes that I have watched. The soundtrack is quite good, and my personal favourite was the ED, Daisy, by Stereo Dive Foundation, followed by the song in episode 6, Future Star. The dance was quite good and I enjoyed it, and it was followed by some good humour. Daisy was used very well in the anime, and I felt that in most of the episodes, the ending was a nice transition from where the series left off, and I felt that it was a great ending song for the anime, and it was placed well to leave the viewer in a state of anticipation for the next episode. Personally, as the episodes got more interesting, I grew more attached to the anime, and was waiting for next week's episode. I quite enjoyed Kyoukai no Kanata in the end, although like I mentioned before, I was quite confused at the end(people who have watched this might agree with me). The art and soundtrack was quite good, and the story was decent. I found the humour funny at some times, and the second half was definitely better and more enjoyable than the first. The beginning starts of a bit shaky, but I assure you, stick in there, and you will enjoy it. I feel that maybe Kyoukai no Kanata could have been extended to 24 episodes instead of 12, so that the characters could be more developed, and we could have more of an attachment to them. Overall, I think that Kyoukai no Kanata is a good anime to pass the time with. But, if you are looking for an anime with in depth characters and a deep plot line, this isn't the anime for you. Rather, it is just a short and sweet anime, with some humour inserted inside for laughs, captivating main characters who have questionable interests, and classic senpai moments. I found it to be a decent anime, and not 'unpleasant' to watch.

Brought together by ostensible circumstance, the lives of two high school students are intertwined when they learn that they have more in common than they have different. Both lead a lonely existence as a consequence of wielding inherent abilities that are considered taboo, even among a largely supernatural society, and are united by the pains of shared misfortune as if their meeting was fated to be. . . The premise of the plot was indeed promising; had it lived up to its full potential, Kyoukai no Kanata probably would have been generally well-received among the majority of audiences. It has a good start, but dashes hopes by forcing an ending that nobody was ready for. Fact of the matter is, as enjoyable as it was; it lacked the delivery necessary to truly enchant viewers the way it could have, and that perhaps is what’s most disappointing. Starting things off on a high note, the first half of the show reels you in with attractive character design and visual aesthetics. The temperament of the characters was such that each of them possessed their own idiosyncratic quirk and those eccentricities’ worked together to make for humorously entertaining character interaction. Their light-hearted fun gives off an amusing, almost relaxing ambience that’s generally desirable in the slice of life genre. The picturesque visual graphics don’t hurt either, especially when it comes to the strikingly eye-catching action scenes. The fact that unique character design was prominent and neglected the use of avant-garde hairstyles was my guilty pleasure. I was also keen on the repeating color motif, which changed in each episode and the soundtrack was in good taste too; I was particularly fond of the performance of “Yakusoku no Kizuna” in episode six and the ending theme “Daisy,” but I digress. The area where this anime falls short – its Achilles’ heel – is undoubtedly the execution of the plot. The idea behind the plot itself is nothing short of profound; however it lacks the proper execution necessary for viewers to fully enjoy the anime for all it had to offer. As the finale draws near, the progression of events is fickle and almost uncomfortably rushed, which I found was largely in part due to the restraint on episodes. It felt as if better development of the story would have meant poorer character development and vice versa, greater character development would hamper the progression of the story. Perhaps if there were twice as many episodes, the plot and characters could have been developed in a more ideal fashion. Regardless, the transition towards the end feels forced, spurring inconsistencies that one generally wouldn't expect when first starting to watch. Events become unnecessarily confounding, making it undesirably harder to grasp the scenario and empathize with characters’ emotions, as dramatic as the ending is supposed to be. The anime wasn't bad, it just wasn't very well executed, and that in turn is likely to muddle viewer reception. It was a good ride but it could have easily been a lot better, so while Kyoukai no Kanata is still an anime worth watching, viewers may be disappointed in its inability to live up to its own potential.

This anime will be fine if it would be more obvious to watcher, I watched all episodes and can tell that i had to wonder why that happened since first episode to last. This anime is too much condensed, maybe if creators could stretch that history twice and create 24 episodes where everything is explained normally that will be good anime. I must greet graphics and battles, that was really good. It's sad that i dont know why some of them even happened but i mentioned about it before. One thing is also good, sense of humor but it's my personal preference. This two things lifted my rating to 4, without them it should be 1 or even 0. Very good idea for anime but miserable implementation

Let me preface this by saying that I have not read the light novel. So basically I was disappointed. I watched the first two episodes and was excited. I had only watched K-on & A Silent Voice, so I was looking forward to seeing this because I liked KyoAni's style and wanted to see their approach to something different. The universe/setting had lots of potential, and I enjoyed the little bits of slice-of-life + moe combined with fantasy elements. However, by the end of the third episode, I started to have more qualms. I completely dreaded watching it after the sixth episode, but since I was already halfway through, I pushed myself to finish it and felt like a desiccated corpse dragging myself to the finish line. The sixth episode was probably the best & funniest of the series, but knowing that the show would not live up to its premise was awful. I personally found that 12 episodes was nowhere near enough to do two arcs with believable character development, story development, etc. None of the character development was realistic, and it would always happen at the drop of a hat. Greatly disliked Mirai, though Akihito, Mitsuki, and Hiro'omi were pretty well-done, except for the last two episodes, but no further spoilers. Mirai is absolutely gormless. Hiro'omi and Akihito are both gormless perverts, but they were funny characters and much more well written. Ai-chan and Ayaka were good side characters. Unfortunately, Mirai was such an awful character that she ruined everyone else & brought down all their good qualities. Sakura, who had the most unbelievable character development, was still more likable than Mirai. The writing really spiraled in the second half of the anime, and they constantly tried to say "kyoukai no kanata" as many times as possible. They kept adding random things, characters, etc., even in the second-to-last episode. Gormless. They did a whole flashback episode to explain everything that happened "off-camera," hastily adding backstory (a result of not having enough time to devote to world-building & story-building). The animation was very well done; the fight animations were very good. However, a lot of the dreamshade design was very boring & uninspired, and to be honest, I also found the character designs to be kind of plain. I didn't really mind them––just typical KyoAni stuff. To me, this anime had many factors going for it, but it fell short of what it presented itself as. Maybe if it were a 24+ episode series, it could've been really something. Ended up being garbage.

“Kyoukai No Kanata” or “Beyond The Boundary” is the successor of haruhi Suzumiya the huge hit that kyoto animation brought to the anime industry, though it never lived to that example as kyoani has less experience when dealing with supernatural anime. Typically, they tend to make Moe slice of life but they adapted a supernatural light novel. the anime is based on the novel by the same name written by Torii nagomu and illustrated by Kamoi Tomoyo. Youmu are spirits that roam the city, They are the manifestation of human negative emotions as stated in the synopsis though we never get to see them through the whole series it never feels that Hunting Down those creatures is the main highlight of the show. Walking through the first episode we meet Akihito Kanbara our main protagonist who stumble upon a girl who is about to throw herself from the school rooftop, Never to realise that this character will change his life . The settings is our modern world as our main character Mirai struggles with her dark past, blaming herself for the death of her childhood friend, uses the power to manipulate her blood at will. I found this character so bland and basic,you got your typical highschool girl with uninteresting yet childish personality, she has the ultimate rival sakura yui’s sister who swore vengeance for her long lost sister, Then we have akahito the half-human half-youmu who has a fetish for beautiful girls with glasses (That level of creativity though). because that’s the only thing that stands out from his personality, and we have our supporting cast. Hiromi who has imouto syndrome, and his sister the one with strong personality. They together join the literature club (yeah they had to join a club). to complete your typical school anime That Destroyed the Interesting premise and replaced it with a school anime with perverts, cliches, uninteresting characters and a comedy that in most cases seems misplaced and simply out of place. Not to mention that Filler episode with the dance ughhhh… Animation and art wise the show is masterfully animated with a lot of sakuga moments, This was the turning point for me it was so pleasant to watch such animation. I am a big fan of kyoani and their moelike character designs so that’s another thing i enjoyed. Overall the show was aesthetics over substance. It was filled with boring moments uninteresting dialogue and catchphrases that kept me Waiting for that character to disappear. Also the sound was great, awesome OST with great emotional value. Never skipped the opening and ending credits they were so good. Overall i feel this anime is just a show about cool animation and aesthetics i never cared about the characters or the plot it’s just Sakuga the anime. So yeah the score is just for the animation and sound and My devotion to Kyoani.

Ahh Kyoukai no Kanata, This is the one show that I would use to define 'meh'. It wasnt bad by any means, but it wasn't good either. My main problem with the show was the lack of character; you can tell the amount of effort a studio has put in by the supporting characters. Kuriyama-san was an interesting character, definitively out of the norm but the supporting cast was boring and stereotypical. I felt the show trying desperately to make me care about events and characters, but I simply couldn't. I kept on feeling the show could get better, but it just fizzles out and loses intensity. However, I cannot fault the art, the show was beautiful. It could have possibly been one of my favorites art-wise. Nonetheless, In the anime world, art is important to make a great show, but it cant save a bad one. Despite my harsh words, Beyond the Boundary is definitely worth a watch on a rainy day. Just wouldn't push yourself to watch it. Overall 6/10 Pretty 'meh'

Simply put, it's worth watching a few episodes (which may evolve into all episodes). I was skeptical at first, but the beginning was a pretty good attention grabber especially when one doesn't bother to read the description/summary of the anime (like me). The story is consistent but can have a few holes here and there. There are some parts that seemed like filler and didn't contribute a lot; however, there are tiny details that make a difference. The art is very appealing to look at. The animation is smooth and there's no unnecessary movements. Each movement is significant from character movement to environment movement. Music and SFX are appropriate for each scene, but the voice acting is phenomenal especially for Akihito. Emotion flowed out of that character. And speaking of character, development of them is piece by piece, but the difference seems so minimal that it's almost nothing. I can see how this wouldn't be for everyone, but there's no reason to NOT give it a try. You never know, you might like it.

Watch Kyoukai no Kanata. This show is probably one of the best show's I've ever seen. The art is beautiful. The music is beautiful. The story is beautiful. The show is almost perfect. Almost. The first few episodes are slowly paced and can feel like a drag to watch. The ending left me with very mixed feelings. Some of the characters felt like they served no purpose. It's those things that keep this show from being perfect. That in mind, they don't stop the show from being a masterpiece.