__Name: Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary)

Aired: 2013.10.02 ~ 2013.12.18
Watched: 2020.08.16 ~ 2020.08.22
Origin: Novel
Studio: Kyoani__

Cute girl in glasses and the catch phrase Fuyukai Desu! (How unpleasant!) What more do you need?

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Animation: 8/10
Animation of Kyoukai no Kanata definately felt "alive" and did not bore the viewer. Definately had some wow-factors here and there but it did not transcend it's time and was a decently good animation for it's time. However, loved the consistency in the art-style, and the quality of the animation was upheld throughout the series.

Music: 7/10
The music/OST I have to say was a weak-link for the series. It wasn't memorable or anything with eargasm factor. UNTIL, the last episodes of Mirai and Akihito. Kyoani definitely saved their best songs for later. The placement and appropriateness of the OST for the last episodes were a solid 9/10; however, rest of the series brings the overall score down to a 7/10.

Plot: 8.5/10
For a 12 episode series, the plot seemed reasonable. There were many solid ideas that this series could have taken and expanded on; however, being limited to a 12 episode series, I have to say the studio did a good enough job at world building and delivering necessary information to viewers. The main plot penetrating the entire series was explained just enough, for viewers to keep up with what's going on, but could have done a slightly better job with it since near the end of the series with all the "different" time period and "zones" and what not going on with explain as you go type of business, I am almost certain that some of the viewers would be completely lost to what's going on. The ending wasn't explained clearly and was put to a

Spoiler, click to view

"forced happy ending, without proper explanation and it's for the viewers to interpret how that happy ending came to be.

One thing that I must mention and heavily compliment is episode 6 "Shocking Pink", is probably one of the best "filler"-ish episode that I have seen (Filler-ish because it doesn't have any direct impact on the main plot and it's just a side story, character building at most). The amount of effort that the studio put into this filler-ish episode definitely deserved a standing ovation. A good comparison would be the "Chika Dance" from Love is War ep3, ending credit song, but a whole episode dedicated in to creating that final piece of the dance.

Reviewer's interpretation of the ending:

Spoiler, click to view

In the scene where Izumi and Akihito are talking about "Beyond the Boundary" and "Mirai" near the end of the series at a park. Izumi mentions how beyond the boundary comes every "certain period" of time and it's a manifestation of human emotions and Blood-clan (Mirai) is the only one that can defeat beyond the boundary. Izumi also goes on to explain how the world tries to balance itself. Given these two facts, although, Mirai is believed to be "dead", no one really saw her vanishing, she was assumed to have perished along with beyond the boundary given suttle hints left at the scene. However, we later learn that she was transported to another dimension and was fighting the boundary for a lengthy period of time. Much later, Akihito consumes the boundary once again and Mirai disappears because she was only able to take physical form in this "other dimension" and with boundary consumed by Akihito, the dimension disappeared, hence Mirai disappears too. NOW, going back to what Izumi said, beyond the boundary can only be defeated by blood clan, and the world tries to balance itself. Beyond the boundary is still much alive inside Akihito's body and to balance that, the world needs a blood clan (since Mirai was the last survivor of the Blood clan) and Akihito having somewhat of control over the boundary (this is debatable), his unconscious will to bring Mirai back + the world trying to balance itself gave form to Mirai again. This is my take on the ending, however, the ending given by the studio seems very open ended so this is not a 100% solid answer to the ending, just an interpretation.

Character: 9/10
Kyoukai no Kanata has characters with very interesting personalities in a positive way, and also memorable. After completing this anime, the first female character that comes to my mind when I think about "glasses" is definitely Mirai Kuriyama. The emphasis on "glasses" this anime has is "beyond the boundary" Loved the chemistry between characters such as Hiroomi and Mitsuki, and their siscom/tsundere moments, the pervert alliance of Hiroomi and Akihito was also a scene that I looked forward to. However, the chemistry between Mirai and Akihito was the driving force of this anime and where the whole plot revolves around. Overall, very interesting and memorable characters.

Personal Enjoyment: 9/10
Took less than a week to finish (I know it's not impressive to finish a 12 episode series in a span of a week); however, I am currently VERY busy with IRL stuff while I was watching this and that was as much as I could fit in during my time available. The characters, were for sure memorable and charming. Mirai's catch phrase Fuyukai Desu! certainly was as impactful as Eru's "Ki ni Narimasu! (I am curious!) from Hyouka. There is not much I can write about personal enjoyment since it's my own perception of the anime and my own interest I suppose.

Overall: 83/100