Kara no Kyoukai Chapter 4: The Hollow Shrine

[空の境界／第四章 伽藍の洞]

Four ‘episodes’ in, and we finally see Shiki as she figures out how to use her Mystic Eyes for the first time.  Screenshots won’t do this movie any justice, as some of the CG work was simply amazing.  Anyway, here is a movie that almost begins in Evangelion territory (by that, I mean that it was almost beyond cryptic in its imagery and discussion), but ends with quite the bang.  I’m still of the crowd that, with its gripping and though-provoking story and combined with some ridiculous graphics, Kara no Kyoukai movies will live on as one of the best animated movies of the decade.

Kara no Kyoukai Chapter 3: Remaining Sense of Pain

[空の境界／第三章 痛覚残留]

I figured out what was wrong with my screencapping and now I can take them at the right resolution.  I’ll try to go back and fix 2 soon.  I may not fix Chapter 1 just because it’s so old, and I need to find my DVD again (bad habit of piling things into boxes), but who knows, it could happen.  It depends on how much free time I have.

Anyway, chapter 3 seems like the answer to most of the complaints about the series so far (how it may be too vague, too slow, etc).  Chapter 3 is certainly much more fast-paced than either of the previous movies, and for those who have stuck with it to this point, we were certainly rewarded with the best installment of the series so far.  Here we have an example of something that could stand by itself, and yet still fit into the larger puzzle.

And as I mention at the end, because I can’t seem to write good summaries, this is probably the last one.  The rest of them will still have plenty of images to look at, but will be simply impressions.  If you like the current format (I try to make the reading interesting at least), let me know and I’ll consider it.

Kara no Kyoukai Chapter 2: Murderer Study

[空の境界／第二章 殺人考察(前)]

Well, after the somewhat fast paced first chapter, this may seem slow.  Actually, it is pretty slow.  However, it does give us the background to the central character of the entire series: Ryogi Shiki.  Since her background is so unique, it became almost necessary to have this come so quickly, or else things would just get hopelessly convoluted (they’re already confusing enough).  Anyway, don’t expect much of the Mystic Eyes here.  What we have is an explanation of Shiki’s character, and it’ll carry over to Chapter 3 and beyond, which I expect will be much, much faster paced.  Still, this is an important chapter to watch.  Pay attention; those little details here and there may just turn out to be important.  Oh, and as always, there’s a wallpaper at the bottom of this post.  🙂

(I know, the image quality is pretty bad.  MPC doesn’t like saving to the correct resolution, and I have no idea how to fix it.  If you have any ideas, please send them to me so I can replace these squishy screenshots with good ones.)

Kara no Kyoukai Chapter 1: Overlooking View

(空の境界／第一章　俯瞰風景)

To be perfectly honest, I had a lot of anticipation riding on this movie. I’ve been a fan of Type-Moon since Tsukihime came out, and the favorable progression from the anime version of Tsukihime to Fate/Stay Night (good to better, but still not great) gave me plenty to hope for in this. I’m also surprised by the format they chose for Kara no Kyoukai; each chapter will have its own little movie. The end result?

One of the most enjoyable (if not one of the shortest) movies I’ve seen in a long time. Even if you aren’t a Type-Moon fan, this movie has a lot of polish, and a lot to offer. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of this animated.