Ranked #232

Kara no Kyoukai 6: Boukyaku Rokuon

Kara no Kyoukai review Part 6

The sixth movie in the Kara no Kyoukai series is, once again, a departure from what one has come to expect. Unfortunately Boukyaku Rokuon (or Oblivion Recording), is a somewhat lacklustre effort which is carried through by some great visuals and excellent sound.

This time around the story takes place in January 1999, and focuses on Kokuto Azaka, Mikiya's younger sister who was "adopted" by their uncle. She is enrolled at Reien, a school for girls, and is also apprenticed to Aozaki Touko in order to become a Magus.

The movie begins in a fairly ambivalent manner, with Azaka remembering a scene from her childhood. Her current task is to investigate investigate a string of events at Reien which seem to involve "fairies", and to aid her investigation Touko sends Ryougi Shiki to work undercover at the school - posing as a student, something which Azaka is not too pleased about.

Now the plot itself is pretty straightforward, however this is also the biggest problem with this movie. Story-wise, this is by far the weakest episode in the series in terms of plot and, even though simplicity may not be a bad thing in a show, in this case it comes at a price. The plot is extremely weak when it comes to the characters and their development and, whilst the concept may be a good one, the movie is never given a chance to realise it's potential.

The art and animation is of a very high standard however there is once again a drop in the overall quality of some scenes (the young version of Azaka being cross-eyed at times is one example of this). The action sequences are extremely well choreographed and executed, whilst the character animation is often smooth. Unfortunately though, there are again times when the movements do not match the actions.

Sound is, once again, excellent. The music is extremely well suited to the movie, with the more cheerful scenes feeling cheerful, and so on and so forth. The characters are protrayed very well overall, however Sakamoto Maaya (Shiki), sometimes sounds like she has blocked sinuses (my only real gripe with the sound).

From the start of the movie it's clear that this outing will be all about Azaka and, whilst this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it could have been done far better if the story was tighter, more interesting, and a little darker (which is what one would have expected from the series). There is an effort to give Azaka a degree of depth which, unfortunately, comes off as laughable at times, mainly because her "love" for her older brother is given as the reason for her adoption, her choice of school, etc. Her apprenticeship as a Magus is purely based on the fact that she considers Shiki a rival for her brother's affections. Having an unhealthy interest in one's siblings may cause some aberrent behaviour, however the viewer is expected to simply accept Azaka's actions and reasons without questioning them - not a good move on the part of the writers I feel.

The other characters don't really get much screentime so there isn't any real development there. There are some hints about Shiki, however these feel more like preludes of things to come than any real attempt at developing her character.

Given the flaws in the story and it's characters, I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed the movie as a whole. It represents a big departure for the series, and has a far more lighthearted feel to it at times than the previous outings. The action is well done, and there is enough to keep you watching till the end, however I still can't get over the fact that the whole episode felt like a prelude to the final movie.

This isn't the best movie in the series by far, but it's not a bad effort on the whole. There are a number of things that could have been improved on and the plot seems a bit haphazard at times, however it's enjoyable enough to watch at least once, and has a different feel to it that the other movies.

One can only hope that the final movie will represent a return to form for the series. read more

Another addition to the Kara no Kyoukai series of films.

To me this film does not seem to be anything more than a 'filler' if you will. This is due to the fact that there is little no development of any of the characters and the only thing that this particular addition brings any light to is the confirmation that Azaka Kokuto does have an elder brother complex.
Speaking of which, it is done in a very cliche manner, however, it does attempt to explore the past of Azaka and Mikiya the reason being 'Azaka does not remember the exact moment that she fell in love with him.'
The rest is entirely, almost sickenly cliche there are no real reasons given as to her love for him, from the film's point of view it is basically just 'it was bound to happen, let it be.'

Onto the actual story:
It has a reasonable premise, a suspicious string of deaths, a prime suspect, the supernatural aspect of fairies is also added. However, there is no building upon this, the actual perpetrator is revealed very quickly without any intelligent reasoning, simply 'revenge'.
Within the story there is also a factor of jealousy that Azaka feels towards Shiki in being too close to her brother. Azaka is initially very cold to her, yet towards the end of the movie this attitude just seems to fade for no apparent reason.
This is where I feel the movie failed the most on.
6/10

Art:
There is something about Kara no Kyoukai art that I simply cannot dislike, in other words, it is AMAZING.
There is no other word to describe it, I adore the character designs for one, but my main praise is for the fight scenes, not only are they beautifully choreographed and animated; they also seem to bring your whole screen alive with the fluidity of the motion.
This movie does not fail on this aspect either, in Azaka's fight scene with Ouji, her senpai, in the church; I found that my mouth was agape for the entire sequence, with the entire light spectrum flashing before my eyes and the fairies all over the place. Simply marvelous.
9.5/10

Sound:
The ED was nothing memorable... there were the standard sad tracks played in the BGM when Azaka is reminiscing about her days with her beloved brother, pretty standard.
There was also the usual 'epic' sort of music played during the fight scenes that I found fit quite well, however, the fact stands, there was nothing MEMORABLE.
It was decent, but at the end of the day, for the most part, remains forgotten.
Voice acting was also just... fine, nothing outstanding, I also found that Shiki's voice sounded a bit flat and nasally for the few lines that she did speak in this film.
7/10

Characters:
I find myself actually disliking Azaka for being such a possessive brat over her brother with Shiki, who actually doesn't view Mikiya as a love interest.
In addition her depth is equivalent to that of a puddle upon a road after a light drizzle of rain.
Read - VERY SHALLOW.
Her love for her brother is simplistic at best, her personality is one of the ultimate stereotypes of anime, quite disappointing overall.
As the story was mainly focused on Azaka I found that the other characters were basically omitted on the development area. Shiki, Touko and Mikiya all get basically no development relative to Azaka.
6/10

Enjoyment:
I usually tend to enjoy all Kara no Kyoukai films to at least a certain degree due to the fantastic artwork and choreography; and I'm afraid Boukyaku Rokuon is no exception, despite my previously bashing of pretty much every aspect except the art.
I did find myself having fun during the fight scenes, especially Azaka Vs. Senpai.
So all in all, 7/10.
I expect the final movie to be AT LEAST the standard of Mujun Rasen, ufotable do not fail us now!

Conclusion: If you have seen the previous 5 movies, watch this one, if only for the sake of continuity, however, if you have not then do not bother.
You would not understand what was really happening anyway, and I do recommend watching the rest of the movies, 1-4. As 3 and 5 are simply brilliant and are amongst the top anime films ever created, next to
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.

TL:DR

Story : 6
Art: 10
Sound: 7
Character: 6
Enjoyment : 7
Overall: 7

Good fight scenes, crappy main character with very limited depth, typical brother complex to boot.
Sound is nothing special, but nothing very out of place either.
Good starting premise for the story, but fails to build upon and ends up being borderline mediocre.
Worth watching, if only for the fight scenes.
Above all - still DECENT enjoyment.

Splendiferous!

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