Ranked #149

Kara no Kyoukai 2: Satsujin Kousatsu (Part 1)

Kara no Kyoukai review Part 2

As mentioned in my first review on this series, one of major the problems with the first movie was the lack of depth in its characters. Thankfully the second movie begins to address that flaw.

The second installment in the Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~ series is entitled Satsujin Kosatsu, or Murder Speculation. The irony is that the movie is actually part one of a two part story arc, and viewers will have to wait for the seventh movie to see the conclusion of this episode. Given that fact though, the are some flaws with this episode which one can only hope will be rectified with the final movie.

The story this time around takes place over two years prior to the events in the first movie, and the main thrust is the developing relationship between Ryougi Shiki and Kokuto Mikiya. The pair are high school students at this time, and Kokuto finds himself strangelyt attracted to the seemingly aloof Shiki. During this time in their lives, a bizarre series of murders takes place, something which affects both Kokuto and Shiki.

Once again Ufotable produce the goods with regards to artwork and animation. The character movements are excellent, and the incorporation of CG is almost seamless in respect of the backgrounds and backdrops. There are fewer action sequences in this movie, however they are just as well done as in the first movie, and whilst the character designs are pretty much the same as the first movie, the characters themselves have a certain youthful quality about them which is reflective of the fact that the story takes place in the past.

Sound is, again, extremely good overall. The movie uses the various effects well, although some of the effects can sometimes overwhelm the rest of the scene. This doesn't really detract from the movie though, and in certain situations actually works better with the scene.

The music throughout the movie is generally utilised to good effect, often enhancing the atmosphere in a particular scene. The voice actors also do a great job, and are able to show some real talent with regards to their respective characters.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some problems with this movie, and the core of those problems, once again, is the characters.

Now many people may disagree with me here, but I found the characters were still somewhat lacking in this movie. The revelation about Shiki's personality goes some way to explaining why she is the way she is, but Kokuto is the real problem here. As a character he is simply bland, and at no point does the movie go into any detail about him. Everything in the movie actually revolves around Shiki, including Kokuto, and all the things he does are based around that fact.

My other problem was the lack of Aozaki Touko. Personally I would have liked more information on her from that time period, as she is one of the mysteries of the series. The fact that her presence is missing in this movie means that it has a slightly disjointed feel compared to the first, however this may be rectified with the second half of this story arc. We shall see...

Even with those flaws though, this is still an enjoyable movie. and the characters of Shiki and Kokuto do receive a degree of development. In the case of Kokuto I would have preferred a little more, but hopefully we'll see that in later installments. The slower pacing of the story actually adds to the tension this time around, however, like the first movie, the plot is a little on the predictable side.

Fans of the first movie will be pleased at this second offering as it is very much in keeping with the spirit of the series, however I would advise against making snap judgements about the series as a whole, simply on the basis of this or the first movie.

As before, I look forward to the next episode.
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In my honest opinion, I believe that Kara no Kyoukai 2 exceeds the first movie in almost every aspect. There is depth to the characters that wasn't there before, the city and surroundings are introduced to us once again only on a much larger scale, we actually get to see and meet a few background characters and the story was much more interesting, mainly because we actually understand what's happening this time around.

While the first movie threw us into the middle of a story and introduced us to very little, Kara no Kyoukai 2 introduces us to two of the main characters, that being Shiki and Kokutou, by presenting us with part of their backstory. We get to see these two characters as they attend high school during their teenage years. We're shown how they met and why, and how their relationship together progressed after that. The story allows us to make more sense of the characters and actually understand who they are, which we had no clue of during the first movie. The story comes together extremely well to ultimately produce something worthy of praise. The mysterious feel that was present in the story of the first movie is present here as well, which works a treat. Kara no Kyoukai 2 also picks up on some of the small details we have on our mind, such as how Shiki obtained her infamous red jacket, which will satisfy some curiosity.

There were three main characters in the first movie, in this one it only focuses on two of them. So initially there are less characters than before, but the character direction and depth in this movie is much, much better than before, so it's only right that the characters recieve higher marks in this film. Much more background characters are shown and even introduced throughout Kara no Kyoukai 2 as well, which makes it seem a lot more active and alive than the first film does. As already mentioned, the character depth that was missing from the first movie is present in Kara no Kyoukai 2. Infact, then entire film focuses solely on the characters with no distractions at all which is exactly how it should have been handled. In this film, we're introduced to many different personalities of Shiki, from scary to fun, to evil to strange, to frightning to mysterious. Kokutou's involvement in this movie is also a huge amount more than in the first movie, but his performance did seem quite dull. As a character, so far it doesn't look like he has much to offer, but only time will tell.

The animation is just as fluent and fitting as before, but perhaps not as dynamic as it was in the first movie. There are huge amounts of dialogue compared to anthing else in the film, so you shouldn't really expect anything of dynamic nature from the animation anyway, but the it still does it's job and manages to keep you interested. The 'camera angles' used were perhaps not as imaginative as they could have been, but were still very good nevertheless - as were the general view shots. Very detailed and very crisp. I must also mention that Shiki's eyes are as beautiful as ever.

Unfortunately we aren't treated to an amazing insert song this time 'round, but instead we're treated to Kokutou humming 'Singing in the Rain'. This adds a nice hum-along element to the film if you're familiar with the song. Seriously, I'm not joking! The background music in this film was more aparrent than in the first. After watching the first movie I couldn't remember I single scene with background music, but not only do I remember what scenes had background music in the second film, but I also remember what background music was played. Kokutou's humming and the background music definitely make up for the lack of an insert song.

I can also safetly say that Kara no Kyoukai 2 definitely makes up for my dissapointment in the first movie. While I still believe it's no masterpeice, and that overall it still has a long way to go before it seems even half complete, I was pleasently surprised by pretty much the whole film. I suppose that's because the depth I wanted in the first movie was present right there in the second one, and not only did it have depth, but also a story that kept me interested. Suddenly I actually want to know what happens next. This movie is also far from as lonely as the first movie, which adds to a more pleasent viewing experience. Fans of the first film will like this one, people who didn't like the first film won't like this one. Simple. However, If you didn't like the first film and if you're like me and you thought it lacked, maybe try out Kara no Kyoukai 2 and you never know, it might also spark your interest. read more