Between Linux and Anime

In my original, very first watch-through, this was the first episode that really stood out to me. It is not, in retrospect, notably more brilliant than the other episodes (though it is a great episode nonetheless). I think it is more the resonance of some of the feelings and emotions it explored with some of the things that were happening to people close to me. While episode 1 was the episode which more apparently explored the theme of suicide, this was the episode that, I thought, wove and lingered around the subtler sentiments around the act. It is a comparatively simple episode, but nonetheless one that is quintessentially Kara no Kyoukai.

You would want to have watched this episode before moving on. Folks who have yet to watch this amazing film series: watch it now! You’ll find few better uses for your time.

Read More

Violence and sex are two things I intensely dislike when used as prominent themes in the stuff I watch, especially the former. The third film opens with a dash of disturbing scenes strongly featuring both, and I have every reason to be ired by that. Judging the book by it’s cover Kara no Kyoukai should never have been something that captures my fancy, and yet, as folks who read my previous two posts on the show would know, I am quite madly in love with the series. It simply means the storytelling and the exploration and the questions and the musings are that incredible. The third film of the Kara no Kyoukai series is a bloody mess of twisted violence and drugs and rape, but make no mistake. This is a beautiful episode.

Spoilers after the jump.

Read More

Listen to this and reflect on the scene in which it plays in the film.

More than many other comparable media, I’ve always felt that anime tended to excel in producing original, varied, and high quality BGMs. And even with that laid out, Kara no Kyoukai really elevates itself onto a magnificent plane with the reverberating, soul-searching music it flaunts. This show does many things right – and in fact does many things brilliantly – but if an MVP has to be named, then it must be this – the incredible music.

You will want to at least have finished this episode before moving past the jump.

Read More