Arcane Reviews: Kara no Kyoukai: Oblivion Recording

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here a new anime review. Yes I've been gone for 2 weeks. I'm a college student, give me a break. but anyway.....I have not been looking forward to this review. To be honest I really didn't want to revisit this movie. But because I have reviewer integrity I will watch the movie! Oh boy is this movie weak. So without further or due let's proceed with the review shall we?

Story:

The story this time around actually has very little to do with the main plot of the whole series. It's has very little to do with anything that has happened in all of the other movies. the story follows Azaka, Mikiya's sister who appeared in "A Remaining Sense of Pain" and "Paradox Spiral". The movie follows Azaka as she is given an assignment from Toko. The mission she has been given is that "fairies" have been reported to be stealing students memories and the cause of suspicious suicides at an academy that Azaka actually attends. So she is to get to the bottom of it and see just who is behind these fairy related incidents. Oh and Shiki is here too. Just because, Yeah that's is the biggest issue with the movie, it feels like filler. Nothing in this movie really tells us anything about what has happened in the previous movie, it's very self contain compared to the other five movies before it. The movie doesn't add much when it comes to the story of Kara no Kyoukai and it really feels like it.

Animation:

As you would expect the animation here is very good. The location this time around is a private school so we get a lot of nice colors going around. Also with the inclusion of fairies we get to see the cool little trails of light they leave behind and of course, the fight scenes in this movie look really good. Just about every bit of animation is great here but hey, what did you expect? It's Ufotable.

Music:

Music here is good, but not as good as it could have been. Due to the pretty much lack luster story going on here music doesn't have a lot of time shine. The music is soothing and nice, it kind of feels like the soundtrack to slice-of-life anime. The music does stand out however when ever the fight scenes are going on. That's when the music gets into gear and becomes very impressive. Once again not a lot I can say here. It's like I'm beating a dead horse at this point.

Characters:

This is another point in which the movie feels like it doesn't add a lot to the series, the movie only has Shiki in it. She doesn't really do in the story and her character doesn't really get further developed. Toko and Mikiya are just about absent from the movie. The only character who gets screen time is Azaka, who isn't really that great of a character. She's a bitch to Shiki, way in over her head, and really wants to bang her own brother. Okay that last bit is just my personal distant for insect but in all seriousness she's just not an interesting character. She's not nearly as complex as Shiki and that just makes the movie feel pretty useless seeing as how Shiki is the main character.

Overall:

This movie is pretty much filler. It's not a bad film by any means but it doesn't really add anything to the overall Kara no Kyoukai movies and it can easily be skipped. As I said it's not a bad film but it's not really needed to enjoy all of the much better films.

Arcane Reviews gives Kara no Kyoukai: Oblivion Recording a 5.5 out of 10.

You can watch "Kara no Kyoukai" on:

No legal streaming sites. Sorry.

Arcane Reviews: Kara no Kyoukai: Paradox Spiral

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to continue my very long retrospective of the Kara no Kyoukai series. We have finally made to the 5th film everybody. So that means that I only have two more films to review and then this little marathon is over, yay! For today's review I'm going to take a look at what many fans of the series consider the best film out of the seven. I am of course talking about Kara no Kyoukai: Paradox Spiral. Is this film really as good as most die-hard fans say or is it just a sub-par film at best? Let's find out shall we?

Story:

In this film we follow a young man named, Tomoe Enjou, as he kills his parents and runs away after committing the dirty deed. He then runs into Shiki in where the two of them get well acquainted with one another and quickly become friends. But not everything is what it seems as certain things that Tomoe say don't really add up. Like the fact that no real news outlet ah reported on his flocks murder despite the fact that he left the bodies there to rot. So something does seem very odd indeed. The story for Paradox Spiral is certainly a crazy one. Just when you think that you're done with the films being placed out of order, in comes this film. The structure of the film is very out of order and purposely confusing. But fear not, you don't have to watch four other films to try and understand it. The film eventually syncs of and everything comes into order giving you that beautiful of "oh so that's what happened." Which is always fun to sit through. But along with the out of order story comes that dark themes that these films are very well known for. Which I can't really get into thoroughly in fear of spoiling the film. I will say that family plays a huge part in this film as well as the idea what a true home. Hell, the film also goes into the idea of whether or not the end justifies the means to find the truth. As well as discussing who you are as a person and what makes you, you. You got that? Good, because this film will through that shit at you like a damn baseball. The heavy themes are well presented and the film tackles them like no ones business. The film can be crazy confusing at times, which can through some off, but the story has a very well written plot that really hits the viewer hard.

Animation:

Now this film has the most odd animation out of the seven. Including the two films that come after this. The animation feels, slightly erratic. All the movement here kind feel messy and not very smooth as the other films. This is both good and a little bad. The bad part here is that it can be a bit hard to clearly understand just is happening during some of the fight scenes. The animation is so wild that everything is moving and the camera goes a little baserk with it as well. The good though is that it gives the film a very uncanny feel to it. Something feels off about this films which makes sense because the whole film is kinda off with the whole out of order stuff going on. So the animation does help the story feel off as well. But unlike the other films, the backgrounds have no real meat to them. The other films always out a lot of background detail into the shot to bring more life to it. Now while this movie does have some fairly nice scenery, it's not a lot and even then it doesn't last long. Most of the film takes place in one building and while the lighting and the building it self are very impressive, it is the same background you've seen already. Now I'm not shitting on the animation at all, it's still really good. But compared to the other films it does lack a bit.

Music:

The music here is just as good as the other films but like the others it does find ways to be different. The film actually has a lot of uplifting tracks in it. Songs that feel as though they should go into a much lighter toned film but that where the music shines. It plays in scenes that call back to a character's past or when someone is having a personal moment. This works really well as it intensifies the emotions in the given scene. The music that plays during fights are what you'd expect at this point into the series. Fast-paced action and triumphant sounding, a mix that has made the battle music for Kara no Kyoukai so damn enjoyable and in the mood for some kick-ass action.

Characters:

The film's strongest point here is the characters. The characters from the main cast that get to shine are Mikiya and Touko. We see why Touko chooses Mikiya as her assistant and he comes off as a very smart and caring person. He knows he's not the strongest guy around but that won't stop him from from trying to help his friends when ever they are in need. Touko get's her shine in the spotlight as a badass. She doesn't do a lot but when she's in action you really get to see why she's such a great character. The other character that has a lot of development is Tomoe. We don't really like at first but once you really start to understand his character he comes off as a very sad person who just lost sight of really mattered in his life. He's a great character and this is most defiantly his film and his story.

Overall:

Now is this the best film in the series? In my opinion, no. But this is still a really good film. It's animation is very good but lacks in comparison to the others and the out of order nature of the film can be a bit frustrating to some. But the music is still top notch, the story is dark but oddly uplifting, and the characters are at their best in this film. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves anime and dark stories in general.

Arcane Reviews gives Kara no Kyoukai: Paradox Spiral a 9 out of 10.

You can watch "Kara no Kyoukai" on:

No legal streaming sites. Sorry.

Arcane Reviews: Kara no Kyoukai: The Hollow Shrine

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to bring you new anime review. Oh hey look at that, a new review that wasn't uploaded last week. Look I'm a busy guy and at least I posted something for last week and didn't leave you guys hanging. I know no excuses. But hey look at that another Kara no Kyoukai movie. Yay. Now unlike the last review I did this movie is nowhere near as dark as the last review. But not that all of that is out of the way lets jump into my review for, The Hollow Shrine. Just how much does the 4th installment hold up against the other 3, lets find out shall we?

Story:

In this film it takes place right after the events of the 2nd movie, within the timeline order. Shiki has fallen into a coma and she ends up waking up about 2 years later. But she is not without some scars from what ever happened to her. Her eyes seem to be acting weird and she keeps seeing horrible things like people falling apart and these crazy red lines all over the place. Yeah, Shiki's fucked up isn't she? The story here is very slow and not a lot actually happens. This may seem like a bad thing seeing as how most of these movies, the exception being the 2nd film, the slow pace here actually helps the feel of the movie. The movie doesn't have a lot happening and mostly fulled with people just talking but this is pretty good because seeing as how the last film was a very heavy and foreboding monster that makes you feel sick this film changes things up a bit which is a good. The movie also really dives deep into Shiki's mind and shows us a lot of layers to her character that we didn't really know. So this film does a pretty good job at keeping your attention even though there may not be a lot happening on screen and it's a great chance to develop Shiki into very more of a complex character then before.

Animation:

Now at first glance this film may not seem like it has the best animation out of all these films. Which is understandable, most of this film takes place in a hospital. Most notably one freaking room. This may seem like a downside to the animation seeing as how beautifully animated the last 3 films were. However the film does amp up the visual beauty in the middle and later half of the film. The movies has scenes in which it show a cavalcade of colors and gorgeous animation. It is just amazing to watch all of these glimpse of how badass Ufotable can make scenes look. There is also a great fight scene at the end, well sort of. The scene is nowhere a good as the final fight scene in A Remaining Sense of Pain but the sequence is made very memorable by the sound design the accompanies the scene. Speaking of which...

Music:

The music and sound design in this movie is really good in this film. Now like a lot of the other films music here is very good and is used wisely. But, at least to me, music is used the least in this film then in others. So you end up having a lot of all of these background noises like footsteps on the floor, wind flowing through the room, and the ruffles of clothing while characters move. When music does play it feels very strong and makes scenes feel like they hold a lot of importance because of the sudden change in sound. Great usage of music like this really makes the anime stand out among other anime that just use music for the hell of it.

Characters:

Now just like the last film this movies really has only one character that has any real character development. Shiki is the main focus of this film and she gets a lot of great development and character building. In other films we usually see Shiki as a emotionless badass but this film ends up showing a very different side of her that we don't get to see a lot in film. The movie really wants us to feel Shiki's pain and struggle which as she has to push through the horrible events that are happening to her in this film. This film felt like it was the movie to give us some real reasons and answers as to why Shiki act the way that she does and I feel like it does a very good job at that.

Overall:

This film kinda end what I like to call the "Out of Order" sequence of the Kara no Kyoukai films. The first 4 films where purposely put out of order and now that I've seen all of these films in that format I really do like. You ask question in one film and only get a few answers in another, it really makes these movies like a puzzle to watch. I do feel like this is the 3rd best out the first 4 but it's still a great watch that you should not miss.

Arcane Reviews gives Kara no Kyoukai: The Hollow Shrine a 7.5 out of 10.

You can watch "Kara no Kyoukai" on:

No legal streaming sites. Sorry.