With a length of 12 episodes, Kyoto Animation's "Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary)" brings us a tale of two young teenagers, whose hearts are filled with regrets and burdens placed on their shoulders. Their actions will determine the fate of humanity itself, and while at that, they will draw near each other as they learn more about themselves and come to terms with their hardships. It is an excellent story about two ill-fated youngsters with a fresh sci-fi twist.
Next, I will give you certain characteristics of the series that I find necessary to tell to those who are considering watching this series, as well as the premise. (TL;DR/Conclusions at the end.)
Story and characters:
The world is protected by Spirit Warriors, which have multiple powers to keep demon-esque creatures, called the "yomu" in line from attacking humanity. Then there's this certain Spirit Warrior girl with the name of Mirai Kuriyama. She is a Spirit Warrior, whose bloodline is considered cursed, that allows her to manipulate her blood as a weapon, such as a shield or a blade. This feature is considered cursed, and as a consequence, she is constantly isolated by the rest of the Spirit Warrior community. Akihito Kanbara is a hybrid of half-yomu and half-human. This uncommon mixture grants him the power to be immortal, although he is not a Spirit Warrior. He, just like Mirai, is another outcast of society because of the strange anomaly that he is.
The story is all about the burdens that these two characters, Akihito Kanbara and Mirai Kuriyama, have to carry; and the relationship between these two, that begins to grow and flourish as the series progresses. We are thrown into this compelling and exciting world with close to no information about what's going on, and much of it comes through dialog between the characters. This is all about showing, not telling. The bad side of this is that you can get easily lost if you don't pay enough attention, but the good one is that time is not wasted by explaining.
The narrative starts slow paced, with a focus on introducing the characters and their qualities, fetishes and catchphrases: It is more like a slice of life anime, with each episode having a yomu and being fought by the main characters, and in-between, we see how the characters interact as if they are living a completely normal life; but as the series progresses, the plot starts to gain momentum and delivers a well balanced dose of comedy, action, drama and a shot of romance, as these two outcasts begin to draw together. Near the end, the loose ends are being tied up and the hidden motivations explained, as well as the tension begins to rise exponentially. I have to say that by the end of the series, my hands were clinched as the narration becomes way faster and entertaining than in the beginning (I actually considered dropping it by the third episode). Some episodes focus more on side stories, rather than the actual storyline. Although they are enjoyable and entertaining, they do kill some momentum from the previous episodes.
While the series is itself more a drama series than a comedy series, there are a lot of laughs that can be found between the difficult events that lead to the climax. All the characters are excellently designed, all having a certain aspect of their personality that makes their interactions with one another really funny and enjoyable overall, being the episode 6 the pinnacle of the comedy in this series.
A big flaw I find in the series is that one of the enemy's goal or motive is never stated. It gave you a vague explanation of what he was doing, but didn't give a clear motive. Although at last he is not the main enemy, I would have liked some closure on him. (I won't say the name of the character, to avoid spoilers.) In a similar fashion, some of the supporting cast is largely ignored for big part of the series. Even though these slips, I consider the story and characters well designed.
Art and sound:
The art was astounding and is really one of the strongest areas of the series, if not the strongest. It is one of the greatest series that I've seen when it comes to animation. This series makes you want to take a screenshot of every scene and make it your newest wallpaper for your cellphone: The shots are so beautifully colored and detailed and the sequences are so fluid and eye catching that it stuns you every time an action scene comes up and the special effects come to effect. Nothing less than expected from a work by Kyoto Animation. I really think that this was the factor that made me continue the series, despite my consideration of dropping it. The music is also remarkable. Although it is not the greatest soundtrack I've heard, the OST blends well into the environment and the scenes. The opening and ending find I really fitting to the story and premise; as well as the insert song in episode 6.
Enjoyment and final thoughts (TL;DR):
At first, I wasn't really enjoying the series. It was really hard for me to give full attention and avoid being distracted while watching the very first episodes. But as the series progressed, the more momentum it gained and by episode 6, I couldn't get my eyes off it. (It specially is episode 6 a really hysterical one. It had been long since I had genuinely laughed with an anime series.) Despite many critics panning this series, I really liked it. I can say that this is not the best anime I’ve seen, but I don’t regret the time I spent watching it. But well, this is just, like, my opinion, man.
All in all, Kyoukai no Kanata is an amazing series. It’s got well designed characters, a captivating and credible love story, attention-catching premise, beautiful scenery worth a wallpaper, and fluid sequences. Although I believe the series starts slow and sloppy, if you like sci-fi, beautiful art and/or romance and drama, I highly recommend you this series, and please, don't reach any conclusion based on reviews, since everybody can have different opinions.
