A few months ago I watched the titular series of anime films. What can we think about them? It might feel to some like watching 8 movies to get the main plot is a bit heavy. On the contrary, I don't think it's that burdensome to watch all the movies, and the truth is, I liked the series well overall. Henceforth I'll put my thoughts in a Q/A format.
Q: So what are the movies about?
The main plot tells the story of how Ryougi Shiki and Kokutou Mikiya meet eachother and become involved in a series of supernatural events spanning the duration of about four years' time. Ryougi Shiki is one of the more interesting anime characters I've seen. Kokutou Mikiya is basically another Nasu male protag though I find him far more bearable than the others and overall pretty decent as the male lead. Most of the stories they get wrapped up in can be described as action/thriller but there is also a constant mystery element, though it sometimes takes the front seat and sometimes does not. The movies skip around to different things and encourage the viewer to come to a deeper appreciation of things that have happened in the past/future as the characterization is increased and the story progresses.
Q: So the movies are out of order. Is it bad? A trick? A gimmick?
I mean maybe it's a gimmick although frankly it isn't that hard to figure out the general progression of events as every movie is pretty explicit about its chronology you just have to pay attention. By the way, I don't recommend watching them in chronological order because as I already said, the characterization is linear through the order they were released.
Q: What are the themes of the story?
Because of the mystery themes and the fact several of the stories have to do with murder mysteries the story sometimes becomes more of a metaphysical mystery and brings in many psychological elements. They generally revolve around the main character Shiki, or the Nasuverse lore or both. There are also some light philosophical themes for example one of the films features BIVs. Much of these come from armchair pipe-smoking scenes or character monologues more generally (though not all of them) however I didn't find any of those to be harmful because they are put in appropriate places and things are conveyed in plenty of other ways too. In reality it is a bit endearing to have the scenes of someone like Aozaki Touko (a name that should ring a bell from other places) giving some chuu2 sounding explanation of x y or z.
Q: How is the animation?
I don't even need to say much here because it slaps it's quite good, and in retrospect just as good as something from now, as far as digital goes pretty much all I can ask for. They did add artificial film grain FX which bump up the size of the films after it's put in substantially. The other FX can be pretty heavy too so when the releases were made most seem to prefer fidelity over size. It's very worth it though.
Q: How is the soundtrack?
Well it's Kajiura Yuki composed, I think some people could get tired of some of her compositions, but countervailing that is there are a few memorable themes that make me think "ah, this is Kara no Kyoukai" and ultimately they end up being pretty memorable. They are by no means bad, if you've seen .hack, Noir, Madoka Magica, Kimetsu no Yaiba, etc. you can get a general idea. In fact it made me like her compositions even more.
Q: Can you please offer a synopsis of each movie?
In short no, because the plot of one or the other depends on the previous ones (or later ones) too much and I don't know how I could do it without falling into spoiler territory. If you want to get an idea of whether each one is good or bad, I'll tell you directly it's a mixed bag. Thankfully the bad ones tend to be shorter and the good ones tend to be longer which generally makes it worth it and watching 8 movies feels a lot easier when several are 30 minutes, 45, 1 hour, etc. I liked the second, fifth, seventh and eighth movies the most.
Q: How does it compare to the books?
I don't know.
Q: What is your overall recommendation?
If you like the stuff like Fate, Tsuki Hime etc. either you have already seen these or something is wrong with you, I was a bit of a hater of the whole setting but these films made me give it a second chance and it got me into some of the other stuff. If you like stories with mystery, especially murder mystery/crime, or ones that generally make the plot ruminate then this is also for you. If you're just watching it for the action scenes then some parts will probably be boring. Ryougi Shiki became one of my favourite anime characters ever after watching these, so if you think you'll like her, it's also a definite watch. If you like fantasy stories that depend on worldbuilding, a magic system, etc. then this is also something for you.
Q: Can you give a score?
If I had to score the whole series, 7/10.
Q: So what are the movies about?
The main plot tells the story of how Ryougi Shiki and Kokutou Mikiya meet eachother and become involved in a series of supernatural events spanning the duration of about four years' time. Ryougi Shiki is one of the more interesting anime characters I've seen. Kokutou Mikiya is basically another Nasu male protag though I find him far more bearable than the others and overall pretty decent as the male lead. Most of the stories they get wrapped up in can be described as action/thriller but there is also a constant mystery element, though it sometimes takes the front seat and sometimes does not. The movies skip around to different things and encourage the viewer to come to a deeper appreciation of things that have happened in the past/future as the characterization is increased and the story progresses.
Q: So the movies are out of order. Is it bad? A trick? A gimmick?
I mean maybe it's a gimmick although frankly it isn't that hard to figure out the general progression of events as every movie is pretty explicit about its chronology you just have to pay attention. By the way, I don't recommend watching them in chronological order because as I already said, the characterization is linear through the order they were released.
Q: What are the themes of the story?
Because of the mystery themes and the fact several of the stories have to do with murder mysteries the story sometimes becomes more of a metaphysical mystery and brings in many psychological elements. They generally revolve around the main character Shiki, or the Nasuverse lore or both. There are also some light philosophical themes for example one of the films features BIVs. Much of these come from armchair pipe-smoking scenes or character monologues more generally (though not all of them) however I didn't find any of those to be harmful because they are put in appropriate places and things are conveyed in plenty of other ways too. In reality it is a bit endearing to have the scenes of someone like Aozaki Touko (a name that should ring a bell from other places) giving some chuu2 sounding explanation of x y or z.
Q: How is the animation?
I don't even need to say much here because it slaps it's quite good, and in retrospect just as good as something from now, as far as digital goes pretty much all I can ask for. They did add artificial film grain FX which bump up the size of the films after it's put in substantially. The other FX can be pretty heavy too so when the releases were made most seem to prefer fidelity over size. It's very worth it though.
Q: How is the soundtrack?
Well it's Kajiura Yuki composed, I think some people could get tired of some of her compositions, but countervailing that is there are a few memorable themes that make me think "ah, this is Kara no Kyoukai" and ultimately they end up being pretty memorable. They are by no means bad, if you've seen .hack, Noir, Madoka Magica, Kimetsu no Yaiba, etc. you can get a general idea. In fact it made me like her compositions even more.
Q: Can you please offer a synopsis of each movie?
In short no, because the plot of one or the other depends on the previous ones (or later ones) too much and I don't know how I could do it without falling into spoiler territory. If you want to get an idea of whether each one is good or bad, I'll tell you directly it's a mixed bag. Thankfully the bad ones tend to be shorter and the good ones tend to be longer which generally makes it worth it and watching 8 movies feels a lot easier when several are 30 minutes, 45, 1 hour, etc. I liked the second, fifth, seventh and eighth movies the most.
Q: How does it compare to the books?
I don't know.
Q: What is your overall recommendation?
If you like the stuff like Fate, Tsuki Hime etc. either you have already seen these or something is wrong with you, I was a bit of a hater of the whole setting but these films made me give it a second chance and it got me into some of the other stuff. If you like stories with mystery, especially murder mystery/crime, or ones that generally make the plot ruminate then this is also for you. If you're just watching it for the action scenes then some parts will probably be boring. Ryougi Shiki became one of my favourite anime characters ever after watching these, so if you think you'll like her, it's also a definite watch. If you like fantasy stories that depend on worldbuilding, a magic system, etc. then this is also something for you.
Q: Can you give a score?
If I had to score the whole series, 7/10.
From what I remember, the characters were the most interesting part of the entire movie series. Each one had their own interesting plot development centered around characters that would provide some introspection for Shiki and foster her relationship with others better. I think it was Paradox Spiral that had me lost for a bit but most of the plot development made sense to the end if you continued to go with the flow. Although the goals of some individuals were quite out of nowhere, I attribute that to a lack of knowledge of the general type moon series at the time. The last movie really tied in everything I wanted to know throughout all the movies. I'm pretty sure I looked up the watch order and watched it in release order which people said I MUST do, so I'm not sure if that affected my experience. Id need to rewatch to give a good score but a 7/10 seems pretty fair.
