Kara no Kyoukai Movie 8: Shuushou

"4 years later, they meet again".
The final chapter that quite a lot seem to ignore just because it's all words and doesn't have all those cool fights or "GREAT ANIMATION". This is untrue, by the way. Because the movie is definitely well-animated, especially considering the fact that it's just about a conversation between two characters.
Just like the beginning of the story (i.e., the beginning of part 2), Mikiya walks with his umbrella under snowy weather only to get a glimpse of the same person he met 4 years ago, 「Shiki」.
Shiki's true identity has been explained in three different archetypes in this film: Shiki as a ... body, Shiki as a psyche, and Shiki as a soul. As she argues, this 「Shiki」 we see here is the soul, an empty soul.

The entire film reminisces on many events from previous films, such as the similarities between Shiki and Fujino which Shiki stated in part 3, the concept of the Soul and its origin which is the central concept in part 5, and finally answering my personal question about the consequences of not forgiving Shiki. What also pleasantly surprised me was the subtle similarities between Mikiya and Shiki, that Mikiya fell in love with Shiki, because of how similar his normalcy is to her abnormality.

Expects nothing and receives nothing, neither looks into the future nor regrets the past, never hurting anyone nor yourself. That is the normal person he is. There's a tiny line between Mikiya's nature of life (as in to live in the present) and 「Shiki's」 origins (from the nothingness), and it's a bit lovely that these two characters, each on the other side of this boundary, were able to fall in love with each other.
This film feels more like an epilogue than a typical film because it is highly filled with dialogue, with animation and music only providing enough support to make the most of the least so as to not make it a drag to watch, although this will undoubtedly be the case for many. The peaceful and languid tempo contrasts sharply with the preceding parts' blood and gore; one could even call this an artsy entry to the franchise rather than a commercial movie. Though I do agree reading this entry in the novel works better as it is full of words, by no means this film is an abomination. Only people who think that good fights = good animation will get to that conclusion.

"Conclusion"
This is definitely a great addition (and the true conclusion I would argue) to the franchise. However,
If you're enjoyability factors are just cool animation and fights, then you will not like this film, or even hate this film for that matter.
If you are more interested in the characters, however, then this will be a beautiful movie to watch on a winter night.
Fun Fact: The voice actors for Shiki (Maaya Sakamoto) and Mikiya (Kenichi Suzumura) were married, 6 months after this film debuted. I don't know, I just found it cute.

So here’s the thing, if you watched all 7 movies of Kara no Kyoukai , you’re going to watch this epilogue regardless of what I say, so I’m not going to talk anyone out of seeing it. But I would if I could. The thing is, it doesn’t add as much to the story as it could have, and actually ended up leaving me confused and irritated.

So what exactly is wrong with this epilogue?

Where to begin...
The epilogue is meant to expand on some of the ‘behind the scenes’ goings ons in Shiki’s head. It’s basically supposed to clarify the how’s and why’s of her multiple ... personalities and explain the SHIKI versus Shiki dichotomy. The real issue with the epilogue is how they chose to do it.

It’s one giant speech…
Kokutou meets Shiki on the same bridge where they first met all those years ago, and they talk and talk and talk …. and talk. The thing is, by the time Shiki’s done explaining everything, you will have way more questions than answers. Which is kind of funny...

The 7th movie for Kara no Kyoukai, provides a pitch perfect ending. This epilogue does everything it can to disturb that. Now this might not have been done intentionally, but the more I thought about the epilogue, the more I found my focus less drawn to what Shiki was saying as much as the situation we find herself and Kokutou in during the epilogue. Why are they on the bridge? What was she doing there by herself? Why does Kokutou arrive to talk to her there? … in other words, what the hell is going on with those two??? And if you’re waiting for answer, you’re not going to get one, which feels positively awful.

Also, there’s the issue of how confusing the epilogue is. Truth is, unless you’re a metaphysics ninja, you will probably need to watch this twice to understand half of what’s going on. But I found that after sitting through this the first time, I just did not want to. There was too much that was ‘different’ about the epilogue, and not nearly enough continuity between the series and this add on. Even Shiki looks different, and by different I mean more generic. I’m not sure if it’s the result of different artists or what, but that trademark character design, especially her eyes, is noticeably different, and I did not care for it.

Personally, I found the entire thing a tad forced, too heavy and melodramatic. And you could almost have swapped out Shiki for Touko, and achieved a more realistic feel, or at least one that didn’t leave you with so many damn questions.

I can telly you that this epilogue will ask some serious questions about what we assumed happened after the end of the 7th movie. This is not a good thing. You do not need this to be your last episode of Kara no Kyoukai. It takes a perfectly good ending from the series and changes it just slightly enough to put you off. You’re much better off stopping this series after the 7th. But since you’ve probably already watched it as you read this, I’m sure you already knew that.

I really liked Kara no Kyoukai. Some of the chapters are more fascinating to me than others, some more ecchi male gaze candy. It has intricate lore and mysterious, conflicted characters who reveal their natures over time, and who are multi-dimensional. I will note, in case the following is ultimately a consequence of the translation, that I listen/watch in English.

Shuushou is... I don't know if it's because I am spoiled by paying attention to literature and philosophy, but this felt like the pseudo-mystical musings of an adolescent who thinks theology, ethics, sociology, and science in general are all too boring to be true. It's like ... the bullshit of some sheltered, narcissistic, college frosh who doesn't do the reading and skips lectures because they think they nailed spirituality over a week-long vacation on shrooms. The discussion (it's a Dinner With Andre-style chapter) didn't draw coherently on real traditions of thought—typically I would consider this merely a missed opportunity, because I appreciate totally novel takes, however Shuushou... it didn't just miss the boat, it jumped into the water and thought it could keep up by doggy paddling. The alternative spirituality it illustrates just felt... invalid? Unsettlingly gendered?

Skip it.