Kyoukai no Kanata review

Kyoto Animation seemed to have been ailing after a series of type B-friendly titles that received lukewarm receptions from their long time fans. Of course through these new titles they lined up for this year they have earned new followers in return.
Last season's Free! gained an enormous amount of popularity to be both liked and despised. After all, they've been catering to the type B male demographic for a long period of time, why should they not try the female demographic?

Luckily their style of animation, like wine, just kept improving in time but we can all agree otherwise in terms of story. Their entry for fall 2013 was probably their most action-packed title to date since Full Metal Panic II, Nichijou and Chuunibyou starring a bespectacled beauty wielding a sword made of blood.

Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) was the title that seemed to have revived the waning glory of the animation studio. It was adapted from the light novel series of the same name written by Nagomu Torii. Kyoukai no Kanata is a 12 episode anime that tells the story of Spirit World Warrior, Mirai Kuriyama and Half-Shade, Akihito Kanbara.

The adaptation is a total spectacle sporting great action but has no clear direction. It starts off with typical KyoAni lightheartedness slowly going into drama and their new found technique in fight scenes that pars with P.A. Works' eye-candy scenery. However, KyoAni's mastery in this title's animation and other technical components could perhaps be the only thing to note.

The anime's characters have a weak and repetitive task which makes the already directionless story confusing and boring. Filling it with slightly effective humor even failed to salvage a good part of the story. I can't even begin to imagine what the purpose of episode 6 was if not to drive the story into submission. Each arc have weak connections to each other, yet they can't stand alone as independent stories. It didn't bother itself with boring explanations, instead they went charging in to a badly executed tearjerker. This went on to the very convenient end that gave the series a terrible exit.

episode 6

To those wanting a taste of Kyoto Animation style action then look no further than Beyond the Boundary. I cannot, however, promise anything of a decent story. It's as if the studio traded a good story in exchange for high quality animation.

Story: 6/10

Characters: 7/10
Music: 9/10
Animation: 9/10