Kyoukai no Kanata Movie 1: I'll Be Here - Kako-hen

Well this is my first review so lets see how it goes.

Kyoukai no Kanata Movie: I'll Be Here - Kako-hen is part one in a two part movie.

I am going to get straight to the point here... This movie is a recap of the 12 episodes of Kyoukai no Kanata, and if you have watched Kyoukai no Katana series recently, then you had may as well completely skip this movie and watch the second half which is the continuation after the episode 12 equivalent.

Back to the review.

I went into this anime just thinking it would be another addition to the Kyoukai I knew ... and loved. For the most part I was disapointed, however I that is not to say I did not enjoy it.

Story - 3
Lets be honest. Compared to the series, this movie tried to cram 12 episodes worth into an hour and 20 minuets, completely omitting half of the series all together. The only reason I could hold the movie story together was my previous knowledge of the series (which I am again going to say is a must to watch).

Art - 9
It was great. Vibrant colours and well used cinematic scenes that made you think "My that looks beautiful". The characters are drawn in a style I like and the battle scenes do not hold back.

Sound - 7
Not a great deal to go off here to be honest. I did not notice much sound being used throughout, but when it was used, was clear, crisp and fit the scene perfectly.

Character - 4
I would have loved to put this higher because I know the characters have so much more going for them if you watch the series. But purely based off the movie, you hardly have time to learn about anyone other than your two main protagonists. And even then, you only learn very limited details about them. The movie does not give them enough time to blossom, as it seems to skip weeks or possibly months at a time. (Again due to the fact they crammed 12 episodes into one small movie)

Enjoyment - 5
Only reason I can say I enjoyed this is that it was a refresher as to what the series contained. For someone who has never seen the series before, or has no information about the movie, then I would estimate this score to be much lower than even a 5.

Overall - 6
Only thing I am going to put here is the movie does not do the series justice, and the only reason to watch it is to refresh yourself as to what happened in the series.

The second part of this two part movie however is hopefully going to improve dramatically.

I'll start off by saying that Kyoukai no kanata was and is my absolute favorite anime. And, going into this movie, I knew it was a recap. I decided to watch it anyway because I loved the series so much.

As a movie, it was okay, answered a couple questions and added one or two extra scenes (the second one was at the end after the credits). I recommend watching the series first though because much of what made the anime so great was lost in trying to cram 12 episodes into movie length piece. Also there wasn't enough time for Hiroomi, Mitsuki, Ayaka, Ai, & ... Nino-san to be introduced. All of which were kind of important...

So, to get the full experience, watch the whole series first otherwise it appears simply bland. Kyoukai no kanata is my absolute favorite anime too. Watch the series, it's a perfect 10. This recap was just...a 5.