Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary)
 

I'm here to tell you guys about a 12-episode drama series that concluded this week, and it's been one of the most fun animes I've experienced so far. It's called Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary). Here's a quick synopsis of the plot:

Plot Commentary
(No spoilers here!)
The series is primarily a fantasy drama, but it leans towards minor elements of slice of life and a little bit of romance, though not enough to detract from the plot, but enough to draw attention and serve as an excellent motivation for the characters. The series also has some comedy (pretty funny comedy, actually) sprinkled throughout the episodes with just the right amount. There are a lot of running gags that actually turn out to be some of the biggest contributors to 'feels' by the end of the story. It's an excellent balance between comedy and romance to support the drama of the series, and none of the comedy feels forced. It's all tied together. Now, the source material begins with your typical high school student meeting a girl, one of the most cliche openers in anime ever - rest assured, the vast majority of the setting does not take place in the high school, it's merely used as a foundation for the characters to meet. And, let's just say their meeting wasn't your typical high school meetup. Anyway, the plot is centric around the concept of youmus, spectral figures that are materialized from human hatred and sorrow, and Spirit World Warriors who are the only ones who can see the phenomenon, and accordingly kill the youmus, most of which do it to make a living. Mirai Kuriyama is the latter, and is the final remaining member of a clan that possessed the ability to manipulate cursed blood and weaponize it against youmus. Her suicide attempt in the beginning of the first episode is interrupted by a half-youmu half-human named Akihito Kanbara, who, after surviving a sword in the heart from Mirai, explains to her that he's immortal because of his unique lineage. The story then introduces various supporting characters, some of which are Spirit World Warriors, and some of which are youmus that have taken the form of a human. The plot, while not completely original, is very well-executed and a pleasure to watch with plenty of twists (and suspense without relying on cliffhangers!) that made the story that much better. In addition, there really isn't too much fanservice, aside from a scene or two of Akihito's mom, so that's great too. It really does a great job of captivating the viewer, whether through the story, the character development, or even just the beautiful art.

Spoilers here!
The plot has some pacing issues, as to be expected in trying to fit such an intricate story into 12 episodes. Early on, however, character development feels fairly forced and some characters feel abruptly inserted. Despite this, each character is defined very quickly, yet intricately and most of them turned out to be awesome characters by the end, such as Hiromi, who seems like nothing but a recluse at first glance, becomes one of the most influential and badass characters by the end. One huge quirk I have with the series is the ending:


Art, Animation, Audio
(No spoilers here!)
It's great. All of it. The artwork is spectacular, especially in the intro and closing themes, and the music that accompanies them was composed solely for the anime which makes it that much greater. The animation in the fight scenes and the 'supernatural phenomena' was amazing - it's not at the intensity of, say SAO's level, but the action scenes are very briskly and powerfully crafted. The voice acting is a highlight of the series for me. Akihito's voice is excellently done and the voice - especially in his desperate situations - is chilling and masterfully captures the magnitude of the series. One of the characters, Mitsuki, is voiced by Minori Chihara, a recurring voice actor in so many animes, and she's as good as ever here. Mirai seems to have second-rate voice acting in the beginning, but its deliberately opened up at the end and it's just beautiful in the final few episodes.

Overall
This is a super fun series, with an irresistable fantasy drama core and the perfect amount of comedy and romance as to not get in the way of the drama, but rather help pave the way to make the drama that much better. The plot is very fun despite its pacing issues and rushed development, with numerous yet minor subplots for some characters that entwine well with the main plot. The story is well done, from creating intricate, three-dimensional characters as well as vilified enemies, and the animation and music is top-notch for me. All in all, it's an excellent series with a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy, and as such, I recommend it to all of you.

The studio who did kyoto animation have had some of the biggest shows down the years. Shows like: full metal panic fumoffu, air, the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya, kanon, lucky star, clannad, the big daddy itself K-ON and most recently free.

However this show is very much different to all the most populars ones they have done and to be honest it does not really intrest me to much. You can see that the animation is unbeliveable and it is for most of their shows. However they never do action shows that often and the only popular one they did was the second season of full metal panic which was meh and i cant really me enjoying it

I've been watching it at a slow pace. By that, I mean waiting for Hulu+ to slowly upload each episode which they're at 9 now so 3 more to go. I wasn't too fond of the first couple episodes, but I grew to like it a lot. Both the opening and ending are great. It's weird seeing Tamako Market and then a completely different storyline with the same drawing style since I view theirs as rather unique.

Yeah, the art style is pretty nice. I'm still waiting on a Haruhi S3 from KyoAni, but that's probably never going to happen ):

Anyway, I used this series to introduce a friend to anime who previously detested it, and since then (which was about 5 days ago) he's seen this, SAO and My Mental Choices. I'm proud.

5/5 will watch

Excellent. The more who learn about how anime is not all about wierd boobs and crap (you know that sterotype that everyone presumes it is) the better because ive seen animes that are better than most high rated tv shows

but like every stereotype, there's those that fit it. I prefer anime over TV Shows, you're able to tell better stories.