Kara no Kyoukai Movie 5: Mujun Rasen

Spent the whole week finishing the Kara no Kyoukai series 1-7+Mirai Fukuin+Extra chorus

And honestly this movie stood out the most just in every way! It really just test your ability to follow along with a story and the amount intelligence thrown at you that you can handle. The twist and turns and pay off in the end is well worth the watch whether you're a fan of the series or not this is one not to miss!

Long story short... I would compare this movie to something like "Death Note" not to much hack and slash action but the smartness of the movie and ... plot twist they have for you are what'll keep you buckled in for the 2 hour ride.

Out of the 7 movies of the "Garden of Sinners" series, this is my personal favorite. It combines all the best aspects of the series in one complete package in terms of a well-scripted plot, art direction and atmosphere. The editing and visual imagery consist of some of the most imaginative and compelling of this series, or of any other.

The plot revolves around the mystery of an apartment complex that represents more than just a place for people to live...and die. What happens there to its residents is the motif of the movie, specifically from the point of view of one young man who is ... essentially the "protagonist" in this story. Since this is the 5th movie of this franchise, I will assume the reader will already be aware of the background behind the major characters and overall story.

The strengths of this movie, as well as the series overall, reside in the atmosphere and art design--the artwork beautifully sets the tone and mood of the storytelling. When action breaks out, the animation is suitably fluid as well, but the real highlights are the use of color, light and dark. There are shots that echo the masterful lighting used by Kubrick in Eyes Wide Shut to symbolize psychological spaces. The non-linear editing is also a hallmark of the "Garden of Sinners" franchise and it is used to the best effect here, complementing the sense of unease and mental confusion that the characters must be feeling. Time, slices of time, the passage of time, and the cycle of time are an essential theme of this movie and the editing is used to great effect to show this.

In anime and other stories of the floating world, the Japanese have a fascination with appreciating the moments in life that make life mean something--not in transcendental fireworks but in the periods of time where human activity occurs: waking and sleeping, eating, the clink of utensils on dishes, getting dressed, greeting and goodbye--in other words, the rituals of daily living on this tragic mortal coil. The paradox that the magical thinkers such as Araya try to plumb, studying this mechanical cycle, dissecting it and trying to tease out what makes the whole thing tick...this is the essential mystery that the movie itself is trying to depict. Perhaps the best answer any of us can give is to simply plead, "I was here."

Similar to other famous TYPE-MOON franchise, the Fate series, the central themes revolve around existential questions about the human condition in a corrupted universe populated with a unique fusion of Eastern and Western mysticism (Buddhism, Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism plus various magical conventions of mystic circles, runes, spirits, fairies, etc.) that seems to be the hallmark of the creator, Nasu Kinoko. As such, Majun Rasen represents the tightest, well-crafted entry into this universe I've seen so far.

When I started watching Kara no Kyoukai I just thought "oh wel...these movies are entertaining" and nothing more but it was until I watched the movie 5 that I understand the concepts and elements that this movie series really has to offer. It's in this point that I actually thought that Kara no Kyoukai, with all its flaws, it's a really good franchise of movies.

This review will contain spoilers

This movie is centred In a case that occurred in an apartment where Tomoe Enjou claims to have murdered his mother, in his escape and dealing with his old friends he manages to meet the protagonist, ... Ryougi Shiki, it will then be under that presumption by which the plot of this will move movie, focusing on Enjou and the mystery behind the apartment where he lived and murdered his parents.

First off it's necessary to make an aclaration and is that this movie can easily be the first of the movies that actually make a progresion and that is noticeable because in the first film an emphasis was placed on events from all the other films (allusion is made to the fight against Fujino, Shiki killing and his recovery from the hospital) so from the first moment we could take this film as the turning point between the anachronies and the time jumps of the films, this is very important because it is in fact in this film where many unknowns that the previous films left and even this fifth film being analyzed as a separate product conclude of the other films also shines for its own reasons that we will explain below.

After the 4 previous films this is presented in a different way, the presentation does not focus on Mikiya and Shiki as such, but on Enjou and they present you from the first moment a strange scene that uses a little recurrent and extravagant narrative for which the viewer should be absolutely clear from the first moment that the follow-up of the films could become more strange and complex than the rest, this is reinforced by the simple fact that when Shiki welcomes Enjou into his house (when he opens the door ) use animation and transition to move from scenes in a really unfair way, that presentation is key because from the first moment the film makes it totally clear who will be the key, how animation will be used, the use of narration and how and where will the anachronies be located.
Something good about the positioning of this film in the chronological line is that the world, atmosphere and tone are marked from long before (it is true that the fourth film may seem simpler, but the atmosphere and tension remain the same) and this film does not presents no hint of changing that and even this film wants to deal with more complex elements throughout the work, dark colors and the use of shadows precisely is something key, Ufotable is well known for knowing how to set situations in dark elements and from this film is noticeable because the most key and conclusive elements occur at night to convey the feeling of gloom felt by the protagonists in front of the antagonists (this is too noticeable when Shiki faces Araya for the first time and she is devoured by the department) which in that sense this film is responsible for dragging all the above from the films (for better or for worse) and develop and exploit it to its favor with the context that this movie is really the only moment so far where you can feel tension when you find yourself after the first movie chronologically, that is precisely the reason why this is the first movie where the enemy actually manages to corner Shiki and even represents a mortal threat to all the characters, although the scene of Cornelius murdering Touko seems to me the greatest example of this, the truth is that that feeling of tension is totally destroyed because Touko was not dead in the end and the explanation is that she had a doll just like her which seemed totally far-fetched and to top it off Cornelius dies in that scene ... without having done anything important in the plot despite the fact that her presentation and foreshadowing in the film was key for the very development of this and that seemed to me a total waste of the character (it is not possible to match what Cornelius presented and incited in the plot so that later he does absolutely nothing and even his wacky scenes are reduced to nothing in the movie). Basically of the 2 antagonists presented, only one is really well achieved (Araya) while the other is totally wasted (Cornelius) and even so Araya's flashbacks are insufficient to fully explain his reasons and justification for the acts, it is not that Araya is A bad antagonist is simply that Kara no Kyoukai has a bad habit of always cutting off her antagonists in the end (see Fujino), Araya has a brutal presentation that practically encompasses the character in its entirety and even afterwards his actions in the movie have a meaning very relevant and stars in the best scenes in addition to presenting the symbolism of existentialism and how that philosophy led him to devise a plan to try to "save" the world by finding the root (which I also loved because he made the first direct relationship with Fate / Zero and in a simple and effective way) Araya's execution is actually quite good but the character's foundations and his Ideologies fail quite a bit even at the end of the film and that disappointed me as he could easily have become the great antagonist of Kara no Kyoukai (although it is not the same that Kara no Kyoukai stands out in large part for its antagonists).

And since we are saying that the monitoring and the use of the camera there are quite good scenes like the scene where Shiki and Enjou enter the apartment where the murder of the entire Enjou family is repeated over and over again, specifically him as the murderous mother. the father has a very natural follow-up and it could even be said that it was monotonous for what was shown to be a murder and that is that the same scene poses it to you as a mockery of reality and something stupid but it is real, if we actually remember when Shiki tells him that the scene in front of him is real at that moment the screen changes to show us a man on TV making fun of a program making allusion to this, it is a simple murder that has been repeated thousands of times and does not have No sign of being serious or anything new and it is due to the ingenuity of Ufotable that a simple scene of less than 5 minutes can convey the feeling of stupidity and incredibleness of a character in such a complex and creative way.

I also find the scene of the final fight between Araya and Shiki phenomenal, they are very well animated since the use of Shiki's sword in front of Araya's fists has a brutal follow-up that, without confusing the viewer, moves the camera sharply from one side to the other following the sword in a convenient way so as not to lose any movement, thus turning a fairly normal combat into one that manages to meet the expectations of the character, in addition to the scene of both falling is the perfect conclusion to the entire combat Aesthetically speaking, since the combat ends with a simple direct scene of how Shiki falls from the building next to Araya in order to directly end the combat and even the OST accompanies wonderfully well and that is because Dat OST is a matter of looking for the OST on YouTube M19 + M20 "(movie 3) and buy it with the OST" M24 ​​"of this fifth movie and it is that Mujun Rasen's OST is more rushed with a contrast in quieter moments and the more tense or moving and that is why this OST specifically fits this movie very well in particular because the OST perfectly matches the rhythm with the final scene between Shiki and Araya, that is something that I very rarely see well in this In case, the difference between the previous OSTs denotes a comparison between the reserved fights that Kara no Kyoukai had before with those that she has now that are widely different, with an emphasis now really on action and movements.

And it is precisely the narration that gave me the most enjoyment in the first bars of the film, I would dare to say that no scene is in the film just because yes, everything has a reason why it is (either symbolic or as a weight in the plot) and time jumps are not an exception, each one of them is made with cohesion between the events that occurred in the past and those that will occur in the future (when Enjou sees the fight between Shiki and Araya he returns to Shiki's house and there we go back to the past to narrate from Mikiya's perspective), these anachronies are well presented throughout the entire film precisely to the game that he does with animation because Ufotable, beyond animating well, knew how to animate these movies.
These temporal jumps also help to complement scenes with each other, when Enjou is in the street watching Cornelius follow Shiki it is one of the best examples because in that same scene it is naturally allowed to see that Touko and Mikiya were by his side without Enjou would realize, it is precisely scenes like this that give cohesion and coherence to the actions that the characters do because this same scene indirectly asks you "what is Mikiya and Touko doing here?" And it is obvious that you will ask yourself that question because in that same scene introduces us to the character of Cornelius who, by the simple fact of seeing the design and the angles they give him, gives us to understand that he will be an antagonistic and new character. The funny thing is that precisely when the film focuses on Mikiya's perspective, that scene that I just mentioned obtains a clear emphasis on the follow-up of the department's case, which is why the mistery that was presented to us in that scene before is now taken from Another perspective and gets a different meaning than it had before (there are many examples like those in the movie) and that also serves as a continuation for when the viewer feels confused due to the anachronies, when Shiki receives the sword from Mikiya we are presents in a short scene in which Shiki returns home and meets Enjou and then tells him about the sword that Mikiya gave her so when we go to Mikiya's perspective there is precisely a scene in which it is shown in it how Mikiya gives the sword to Shiki and why he gives her the sword and that's brilliant because it help the spectator to ubique the event because there are really much scenes like that and that's help you to understand the movie at the same time that the movie introduce those scenes naturally and with a good approach.

And to describe in a simple way it seems to me that the passing/rhythm is precise and very uniform related to the exposition because despite the fact that the content of the film is complex at no time does it fill you or kill you with information, instead it bothers to explain the characters and events in a more cryptic way, so it does not feel monotonous or turn it into a stupid textual and repeated explanation, it is true that near the middle of the film there are some elements and relationships between characters explained in a vague and sudden way (the relationship between Ryouko and Araya together with Cornelius seems to me totally out of pocket), passing has the The benefit is precisely that it comes according to the movie, the necessary emphasis in the scenes makes the moments feel natural and with a goal, for example the scene where Shiki talks on the phone with Mikiya and Enjou asks if she is okay and Shiki She responds that she is angry with Mikiya because he left without saying anything, that scene not only emphasizes the growing relationship that they have developed and that very thing. It will also impact the evolution that Enjou will have in the same movie.

Well we talked about the amazing storytelling and the very good cohesion along with a pretty good rhythm that fits the events and the moment, now the characters and the other elements that make this movie so good.

The characters themselves remain very similar to what we saw in the previous movies, Shiki and Mikiya have deepened their relationship and it shows by some short scenes and by various dialogues that Shiki has as the movie progresses and Touko shows a new one facet that he had never shown in all the movies which was ruthless and accurate in killing Cornelius in a simple and fast way, which, although it is interesting, is really not a big thing and you can even forget it for the next movie, but the character that really stands out here is Enjou Tomoe.

Enjou Tomoe symbolizes almost everything the film wants to convey, free will and acting on your own, being really free in a world and a life where you were predestined to do predetermined things or you are predetermined to meet predetermined people, it's not just that The evolution of Enjou and its parallelism with Shiki (a real murderer) is in vain because how the personality of Enjou Tomoe softens and even how he sympathizes with his family are scenes that clearly show how he progresses slowly throughout the entire film and even so it brutally reinforces the contrast between Mikiya, the one who helped him accept his family, with Shiki who simply knows how to kill because this makes it clear that Mikiya despite everything that has happened in previous films continues to maintain his word and humble personality just like he said he was going to do it in the second movie.
Returning to Enjou then the existentialist and philosophical aspect of the film is largely due to him since it is in the final scene where he discovers that the character's final conclusion is an "impostor", even if Enjou was not real and was not destined to exist. In this world he achieved something, he felt the affection for a moment of his parents, he felt a friendship with Mikiya and, above all, he felt in love and inspired by Ryougi Shiki ... The only person who at one point tried to save him and Help him, his final dialogue against Araya is very good, how Araya tells him that he is an impostor and that he was programmed from the same idea that Araya had to let go of him to fall in love with Shiki until he told him that he did not care about anything ... Basically THAT Enjou did not existed and yet Enjou replied "I existed here" resulting in the outcome of the character, his catharsis with his family was present from the beginning and his emotions were explored throughout the work and it is because of that that the dialogue The end is so significant because Enjou reaffirms his existence, he helped Shiki because he really felt it and even so he managed to belong to something and had a home, the emphasis and metaphor of the keys is precisely important because of this moment because Enjou knew it existed because he found a home and someone to protect, the perfect conclusion for a character who, being introduced in this movie and nothing else, forms as the outcome not only of the film's philosophy but as the entire character as such.

Even so, if we analyze the other characters beyond everything, it is not that they are neither bad nor simple, far from it, it is that this movie tries to show parts of the personalities of other characters in order to reaffirm what has been seen previously and thus finish the characterization of these, Mikiya forgives Enjou and his relationship with him shows us the closest we had so far (not counting at school) to seeing him with a friend and chatting with someone, previously we were shown that Mikiya was such a good person that even He could play a rapist and in this film we are shown that he even managed to empathize with a murderer because his relationship with Shiki was the same as that of Mikiya himself ... Outside of that there is really very little to say, Mikiya was always taken by the work as an opposite to Shiki and as someone who does not forgive the murder (despite the fact that in a certain way Shiki is) and even so, under that remarked idea, he managed to develop together with Enjou because he knew of first moment that Enjou was not a bad person.

With Ryougi Shiki it is curious because it is in this movie where we are shown with combat with Ryougi Shiki instead of Shiki, many could consider this a Deus Ex Machina and my answer would be well ... No, Shiki's personality change was present Throughout all of Kara no Kyoukai and even the very construction of the world of the movies make it totally clear the change between both Shiki's personalities, even so the fact that Shiki changes his personality through the use of the sword is something that will charge relevance later and in fact the Deus Ex Machina as a rule in themselves are not something negative and this in particular is not because it is the collusion and conclusion of ideas that one can unite oneself from the previous films (the use of the sword Shiki talks about in film 2) and, as I say, this scene and final combat does not ruin the world that Kara no Kyoukai built in the other films, for which it does not ruin neither the scene nor the thing raised in advance and, in fact , reinforces it in an effective and simple way that is also not far-fetched, therefore no, the participation of this personality of Shiki is neither far-fetched nor something negative, it is a matter of paying attention in the previous films and uniting the ideas that exposed the movies from their very beginning.

But speaking of Shiki in general as a character ... The truth is very similar to that with Mikiya, there is not much to get out but in this case it is justified because Shiki's personality is raised in the first film, in the second the bases are shown, In the third it is reinforced and in the fourth one sees the conclusion that Shiki reached after the hospital incident, therefore the Shiki of this movie is an amalgamation of what we have seen in all of Kara no Kyoukai and that makes it special because Shiki maintains elements of all the movies and does it correctly, his desire for murder but also how he withholds himself, his relationship and attraction to Mikiya and how he opened his heart to other people. Shiki in this film is easily the most human and the one that most demonstrates the conclusions reached before and that is why I considered Shiki as a good character here for the mere fact of representing everything she achieved and presented in a natural, credible and with a context and dialogue that are just good.

I would stop at the OST but I really talked about the OST before ... It is simply incredible and easily one of the best I have heard, what distinguishes it from the other OST I have heard is that precisely in Kara no Kyoukai the sounds used, instruments and the moment they make the scene what it is, it is a set of all the elements in which a work should think when placing an OST and make it unique precisely for a scene that, even pretending it, can be unique, the haunting setting and mysterious also serves to accompany the scenes and is that in this Mujun Rasen is precisely where the mystery most lurks in the environment, the mystery of the apartments is simply rare at first and may even seem uninteresting, but it is due to the explanations that are given later when one can understand that Araya merged with the departments in order to carry out his plan, it is true that some explanations sound quite incoherent as e The fact that the elevator changes the stairways but there is the funny thing, it is a "spiral paradox" that is extravagant as such, in a way even so I was never convinced by this argument so I remain neutral to it as explained by the departments ( being the central axis of Mujun Rasen) because they could have given more clues about how the department works as such without resorting to vague explanations or an exposition that simply does not solve anything or is totally sudden ... Even so, the mystery unfolds well one Once we reach the end.

Little more to tell the truth, I talked about the excellent use of animation and dark colors, the presentation and transition of scenes together with the tracking of the camera in specific scenes that I loved, the characters as such, without being a big deal, they excel and manage to fulfill their role in the film in one way or another, the OST and the passing along with the incredible narration, exposition and the philosophy that the character of Enjou carries on himself. My problem with this movie is simply the convenience in the script that it has on several occasions, Touko's relationship with Cornelius and Araya seems to me out of nowhere along with the same doll that she had that was identical (in itself Touko seemed easily to me the most bland and bad thing about the movie), Cornelius is wasted and they could have delved a little deeper into characters like Mikiya ... But all of that is minimized when you see and appreciate the brutality that Ufotable has done here, almost all things bad things can be easily overshadowed by the excellent things that this movie brings, specifically the narration that I think is one of the best in all anime (not only because of its structure but also because of its operation) and finally to clarify some things, the fact that Enjou be an impostor YES it makes sense and an easy explanation (for something Enjou always dreamed of his mother killing him because it was his other clones who died on that occasion and since Shiki and Enjou They enter the departments, this idea is clearly stated), the film simply does not treat you as stupid and even so it serves a lot to capture the philosophy of the film and most importantly, if you find the film pretentious then I invite you to read the I finish, learn it, watch the movie again and intelligently and there you will tell me if this movie is pretentious. Personally, I loved it, it almost does not fail in anything it proposes and it is an experience that for me is unique in this world of anime ... You should definitely give it a try.

What a movie. Mujun Rasen (or Paradox Spiral) is definitely one of the best out there... somewhere.

I saw this movie on the Top Anime List section of this site, and I read the preview and it looked somewhat interesting. However, I was apprehensive in watching it immediately simply because it is the fifth movie in the series. Once I watched it, though, I found that it really wasn't completely necessary to watch the previous four. Mujun Rasen, although part of the Kara no Kyoukai series, can definitely stand alone as an amazing movie. However, you might want to watch the others in order to learn ... more about the characters and form different opinions of the story than you otherwise would.

The plot of Mujun Rasen takes place slightly earlier than some of the previous installments. It centers around the main character, Ryougi Shiki, and some of her... acquaintances. The plot is nowhere near simple. Watching only to see cool fight scenes will make you bored. However, if you are willing to look at it from a more thoughtful perspective (as you should, assuming you're old enough), you'll see many aspects of the anime that makes it distinct from others. The pacing of the story is also great, and the way they tell it makes up for what some may call trite. Unfortunately, it seemed that some scenes were added just to fill in the two hours of the movie, but these hardly make a difference. All in all, the story was fantastically well done and thought-provoking.

Art and sound are very nice. Animations are beautiful and smooth. The settings look incredibly detailed and match well with the "mood" of each scene. The sound further contributes to this effect. Definitely don't watch this without sound.

The one thing that bothered me about this movie, ironically, were the characters. Some of them were rather unexciting and others just cliche. Of course, they added to the overall temperament of the anime (serious and frightening, that is) so it's not so bad. This flaw is also covered up by the strange structure of the complex story. If you watch the whole series though, you'll see that the characters are much more developed than they are in Mujun Rasen.

Overall, the movie had a great plot, great aesthetic effects, and mediocre character development. Definitely worth watching, although difficult to understand. I would actually recommend that you watch this twice.

=Dino

ive been watching these series of movies when i get the chance and my first thought was that it was kinda sketchy at first with the whole intention of episodes seeming out of place, but that's how it was meant to be and could not ask for any other way for it to be presented.

this episode-movie whatever you want to call it seemed to set a spark of enjoyment that was rather entertainable from the beginning to the end. the story was interesting with the idea of the building and the way it was layed out to make people go crazy is something ... that i have not seen very much as a key element to where the plot and settings were played up to was done in a rather nice fashion with the antagonist(s) not displaying it on a high pedestal pleased me. :) there were some things that tickled my funny bone though and yet slightly let me down. the antagonist was so arrogant that even he should have been smart to make a double of himself just like his predecessor Aozaki. cause lets face it. its a fail-safe when the shit really hits the fan. i was hoping to see him in further episodes too. :(

i have two more left and may or may not write about them. the previous movies were okay, but did not entertain me like this one. :)

Why do I watch anime? While I can’t necessarily speak for others, I watch it because of two big reasons: One, because there is such diversity in the medium that there are so many different unique ways of illustrating a story, and two, because I have been subject to a much greater range of emotions when watching anime than I have watching other mediums. And if someone were to ask me what is the best example illustrating these characteristics, a good contender would be the fifth Kara no Kyoukai movie, Mujun Rasen, a.k.a. Spiral Paradox.

Story (9/10):
The way the story was presented was, for me, both ... a plus and a minus. While I love having to think about what is happening on screen, and can make for an intense ride, at certain points I feel like it can detract from the experience. For me though, the non-chronological, weird way of presenting the story was an overall plus, since it just felt unique - It felt disorienting, and intense, and I loved it (mostly).

Animation (8/10):
I was actually mildly surprised about the noticeably lower quality of animation compared to some of the other Kara no Kyoukai movies. Note, this is by ufotable standards, which just means that the animation was really really good rather than amazing or shockingly beautiful or anything like that. A good example of what I mean is the fight in the apartment complex. The designs and backgrounds were good.

Music (10/10): Ahh… Yuki Kajiura never fails to disappoint. While Yuki Kajiura seems to be sticking to a style (for instance the music from this movie and Madoka Magica: Rebellion feel extremely similar), the music was so appropriate for every moment, creating such a twisted and dark feeling at the right time, while similarly creating shockingly emotional moments using excerpts from the ending song, “Sprinter.” Meanwhile, the background music stands ridiculously well on its own (listening to M23 right now!). Finally, it’s worth mentioning the sense of epicness I felt during the movie, which I attribute to the combination of awesome plot but especially the amazing music, vastly surpassed such feelings I felt from other shows (yes even Gurren Lagann). This movie is a great example of how background music should not be underestimated as an aid to tell a story.

Character (9/10): In this movie, while we don’t really see Kokuto very much (and in most of the other movies), other characters receive a good amount of character development, particularly Touko, Shiki, and Enjou. I especially thought that Enjou was a great character considering the amount of time in the movie. Meanwhile, we learn more about Touko’s history, and she proves to be a competent mage, and we see some fairly interesting dialogue between Enjou and Shiki. I felt like the villians were a bit more flat and not that interesting, but they weren’t the biggest focus of the movie so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Enjoyment (10/10): Nearly the whole movie had me on the edge of my seat with the exception of a moderately slow early-middle part. Everything afterwards had me experiencing a whole range of emotions: awe, sadness, confusion, etc. It’s a crazy, wild ride, made more so by the interesting and mildly confusing style of presenting of the story.

I’d highly recommend this movie to anyone who watched the first four movies as it is, in my opinion, the best in the series. I’m somewhat saddened that more people haven’t seen such a solid film, possibly due to the difficult to access nature of the first movie.

If you somehow haven’t been exposed to the Kara no Kyoukai series, and are reading this review, I highly recommend you get started, at least for the purpose of watching this movie.

Kara no Kyoukai 5: Mujun Rasen (Paradox Paradigm) review

"Araya what do you seek?"
"True Wisdom"
"Araya where do you seek it?"
"Only within myself"
"Araya where are you trying to reach?"
"That's obvious. To the end of this paradox spiral of a world."

The fifth installment of the Kara no Kyoukai series takes an different approach compared to it's earlier chapters. This time not only the movie is longer (almost 2h), it has changes in it's direction and storytelling. Using gimmicks that show us just how talented the staff at ufotable truly is.
...
Before delving deeper into the review i wanted to point out that i have read all Kara no Kyoukai novels. I already knew what i was getting myself into and that this movie would adapt in my opinion the best chapter in the whole franchise.

This movie takes place roughly around two months after the event of Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan fuukei (Overlooking View). It is split into two arcs (Shiki's and Mikiya's) that take place around the same time.

Shiki's arc begins with a boy named Tomoe Enjou, who is saved from a group thugs by Ryougi Shiki. He claims to have committed parricide, she then allows him to use her residence as a hideout. Few days later Tomoe is shaken to discover that his mother is alive, even though he is convinced that he killed her. Then they go the newly constructed Ogawa apartment complex where he committed the murder to uncover the truth.

Mikiya's arc begins with him investigating a tip that his associate Touko Aozaki receives regarding the murder at the Ogawa apartment complex. Mikiya takes interest in Tomoe Enjou and decides to investigate him further. Which makes him discover the disturbing and cruel truth about that unique apartament complex.

Each entry in Kara no Kyoukai always had a small cast, but this time the amount of important characters is noticeably bigger. The main characters are given their own spotlight which makes them not one-dimensional. The returning trio: Ryougi Shiki, Kokutou Mikiya and Aozaki Touko. As well the newly introduced Tomoe Enjou. This chapter's antagonist is Araya Souren who was apparently an colleague/associate of Touko. Sadly i can't go into full dept as to why he's an amazing villain since it I would have to go into the spoiler territory, but his characterization and motives make him a great character. I mean he's voiced by Kirei (Fate/Stay Night) so you already know what to expect.

The music in Kara no Kyoukai is phenomenal. It is arranged by none other than Yuki Kajiura so you already know that you're in a feast. I instantly bought the full soundtrack. I consider it not only to be one the best works by her, but i could even argue it's one of the best in any anime i've seen. As well the ending song "sprinter" by Kalafina is so epic that it enhances the experience even more.

From the technical standpoint Kara no Kyoukai 5 doesn't disappoint. From the amazing studio ufotable it is no shock that the movie looks amazing and that the animation is consistent and for it's time still looks better than most of the stuff coming out nowadays.

At the beginning of the review i said that the movie uses gimmicks that shows just how amazing at film making is the director. Kara no Kyoukai 5 felt different compared to it's earlier instalment due to it's visual presentation/techniques.The director wanted to convey the feeling of paranoia and spiral-like effect. To give a drier and more mundane feel, film grain was added alongside giving the film a more orange hue, the camera was pulled back to create greater distance with the viewer, as well repetition of the scenes and changing the order of the events.

Kara no Kyoukai 5: Mujen Rasen is a movie which i deeply love and for any nasuverse fan it was an amazing gift. From it's direction to storytelling and characterization. I consider it to be the best adaptation of any nasuverse work to date.

Tomoe is just killing someone.
He's either too paranoid to keep a straight mind or too caught in the act, but for some reason, he couldn't stop stabbing the red lights out of the woman in front of him. And she is, his mother. He kept stabbing on and on, and at one point, he took out the intestines that fed him when he was in her womb and finally confirmed, that he committed matricide. But something's not making sense. What pushed him so far? Why can't he find the color red anywhere?... What just happened?

The fact that this movie is an actual fucking 2-hour movie ... is one of its many enjoyable aspects. All four of the previous films didn't feel like "Films"; rather, they were more like haphazard OVAs, 40-minute shorts, or prologues with high production qualities at the time of release. Speaking of "randomly jumbled," this movie completely embraced this storytelling technique by changing several scenes in between rather than juggling between films as this series typically does. The outcome? The experience is definitely Mind-Fricking.

One of the key characters is seen committing matricide as the film begins. What unsettles us in this scene more than the act itself (and the fact that he can genuinely feel the warmth of his mother's intestines) is this sense that something is strange because it defies logic.
The movie's best aspect lies in its capacity to ensnare the audience in a tangle of paranoia and paradoxes while incorporating aspects of horror, mystery, and even action. Most of the film has this "doesn't add up" feeling until the final half n' hour when everything starts making sense, well most of it.

This otherwise fantastic movie just has two issues for me: Alba, and Touko's reveal. I despise erratic dicks like Alba. The majority of the time, these characters are annoying, especially when the rest of the cast doesn't share that trait, and these characters are merely there to provide convenient drama. Although Touko's revelation isn't horrible in and of itself (it's quite a nice twist), it wasn't effectively foreshadowed.
The dialogue in the entire series is one contentious aspect. It can either come across as try-hard crap or as corpus linguistics that touches many things from psychology to philosophy. Your capacity to persist and to keep an eye out for new terminology will be key factors for appreciating this film.

The animation and other technical elements of this movie are excellently done. Despite dealing with a non-linear plot, the direction and editing provide a compelling thriller. Some vistas merit their own analytical posts or videos, and the soundtrack performs an excellent job.
The entire film centers on Tomoe Enjou's guilt about the murder he thinks he committed. Two viewpoints on his persona are presented in the film, those of Shiki and Mikiya. While Mikiya's perspective offers an understanding of Tomoe, Shiki's perspective provides new information that clarifies a few issues from the previous movies and advances the main plot. Everyone else received enough screen time to establish their own motivations and there are some amusing interactions, such as Mikiya's willingness to accept his girl's gender transformation and Touko's reflections on these (seriously, what happened to these?). Even the villain was a fascinating character, and that's how you know a story is good when you can even understand the villain's motive.

Who should watch this?
If you love urban fantasy and kickass female leads, then I recommend this film and the entire series, so far. The order is for you to decide.
You can watch it chronologically as I planned, 2-4-3-1-5-6-7. Or just linearly 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
Either way, this film will reward you with a great experience, as it did with me.

i liked this episode but it was the bigest mindfuck ever, but to me, it may have been a midfuck, but it was pretty fuckin epicits like the crossover of fate/zero ands elfen leid with a bit of magic stuff, and directed by Micheal Bay so my opinion is try out the "kara No Kyoukai" series because its prety fuckin amazin, and an anime like this one is a rarity so dont pass it up

This review is focused solely on "Kara no Kyoukai 5: Mujun Rasen", not on "KnK" anime adaptation in general.

As with every other "KnK" movie, Part 5 follows the storyline as it is in the light novel. Thus, this film takes place after the events of the "Kara no Kyoukai 1". However, the events of the following movies(Part 6-7 with the exception of Part 8) start to go in a proper chronological order.

Now, a brief characteristic of the storyline so far. When watching the film for the first time, it may seem very confusing, as in the very beginning they give us a quick slideshow ... of events, that take place later in the story. Overall, the order of things happening is somewhat distorted and messed up. Thus, only at the very end everything should become clear for the viewer. Is it a bad thing? I think it's not, as it's used to create the feeling and atmosphere of madness and mystery.

As for the characters, the cast is mostly the same: we still have Shiki, Kokutou and Touka as the main characters, with the addition of Tomoe Enjou - a main character of this ark. The main antagonist is Souren Araya - a mysterious man with mysterious desires and no less twisted way to fulfill them. All main characters receive relatively the same screentime, which is good. Nevertheless, the plot is mostly focused on the Tomoe Enjou and his story, which is in no means a bad thing. Trust me, his background and fate are not as clear as they seem...

Finally, we reached the "technical" side of the movie: sound and art. I'm pretty sure some of you are already familiar with the "Ufotable" way of doing things, and this movie is no exception: the artstyle is just gorgeous, the animation remains smooth even during action scenes, the colours add up to the atmosphere of madness and etc. The use of CGI is kept to a minimum, and even in times when it's used, it does not spoil the picture but only make scenes even more relalistic.

Soundtrack: it's just beautiful, can't say anything else about it. The most notable track in my opinion is Shiki's personal theme, which plays during action scenes featuring her. Ending theme by "Kalafina" is also just fabulous. You just need to listen to it yourself, even as a single.

The final verdict: "Kara no Kyoukai 5: Mujun Rasen" is a great movie. The only thing that may disappoint you is the complexity of the plot and the messed up order of events. So if you're unfamiliar with the basic rules of Nasuverse, you'll likely remain confused after the first watching. Rewatching is necessary.

After 4 movies of flat characters and incomprehensible plotlines, I am happy to say that knk 5 is actually good. This is the first knk with: 1. An actual not trash antagonist 2. Engaging characters 3.Interesting fights 4. dark themes that are actually conveyed well rather than unrelatable boring characters just suffering (fujino). However, I honestly don't think the first 4 movies added anything to this. The best character here, discount shirou, only appears in this movie and carries it pretty hard. If I had knew beforehand about this series' nonsensical organization and pacing, I would have just read plot summaries of the first four ... movies and watched this one. This is also the first time I've liked Touko because she gets some development here. Shiki and Mikiya are honestly still pretty boring.

Summary: Cool movie with dark themes, awesome ufotable action with Yuki Kajiura soundtrack that gains almost nothing from the previous 4 uncomprehensible movies

Tomoe is just killing someone.
He's either too paranoid to keep a straight mind or too caught in the act, but for some reason, he couldn't stop stabbing the woman in her belly. And she is, his mother. He kept stabbing on and on, and at one point, he took out her intestines and finally confirmed, that he really did committed matricide, and runs away. When a postman arrives to the dead apartment with not a single soul around, he calls the cops. But when a cop arrived, the woman of the apartment, aka Tomoe's mother, simply asks them,
"What's wrong?"

One of the key characters is seen ... committing matricide as the film begins. What unsettles us in this scene more than the act itself is this strange feeling of terror lurking around which makes it potentially worse for our confused Tomoe. Throughout the film, we stick with this completely new character who had no mention or relevance to the story up until now, and the film does a great job at bringing his confusion and madness in a 2-hour experience, with its non-linear storytelling. The entire film centers on Tomoe Enjou's guilt which is the only proof about murder he commits. As the film goes on, we start to find out about the complexity of the apartment and its owner, Araya Souren. VA'd by "Jouji Nakata", Araya is an intimidating yet tragic villain.
He believed, after encountering countless 'pointless' deaths, that the ideal world humanity dreams of, of life and peace in a cruel world, is ugly. He wanted to save humanity from this ugly world, from its own fantasy, and wanted to preserve it. Which he finds out that is possible, if he can destroy the 'Origin of Life', for which he wanted to use Shiki, and her attachment with the 'Boundry of Nothingness', as a way to ultimately save humanity. In which he fails.
The movie is heavily plot-oriented and ensnare its viewers in a tangle of paranoia and paradoxes while incorporating aspects of horror, mystery, and even action. And as usual, Yuki Kajiura's OSTs are fire, no question there.

The biggest demerit in this movie, or for the entire franchise, is it's hallowed emotional core. As the story and plot are so mechanic and complex, it is hard to understand character motivations and get behind their often-confusing dialogue. The dialogue in the entire series is another debatable aspect. I remember on my first watch, when I watched the sub, I was focusing more on the subtitles and rewinding just to *'get'* what they are saying, despite wanting to experience the visuals more. It's a common problem for a sub-watcher, so maybe that's just me.

There's often a question about whether this series is meant to be watched in chronological order or creator's order. After rewatching up to this film, I safely say that it is meant to be watched in the creator's order. The fast-paced non-linear cuts and transitions in this film can feel overwhelming and confusing, if viewers are not used to that technique. So, I recommend watching in creator's order first, and the chronological order for later rewatches.

Creator's Order: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.
Chronological Order: 2-4-3-1-5-6-7-8.

I gave this series a try, just because this film has a pretty high rating, while not much for the rest. And after rewatching, I can safely say, it's definitely worth getting into, even if it's just to watch this great film.

I will never understand why this show isn’t popular. How can a masterpiece like this get swept under the rug? I can’t describe how much this bothers me. Anyways lets me share my thoughts on this gem

~Animation – 10/10
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Honestly, the animation on this is divine! Like explain to me – HOW? How is an anime from 2007/2008 sooooo much better looking than most anime today? How does something almost a decade and a half old have better fight scenes and more dynamic movement than 90% of shows today? I swear, out of all the shows I have watched, the only ones that have even comparable ... animation are other Ufotable anime and a select handful of other shows
~Soundtrack – 10/10
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I wish my writing was better so I could do justice to the soundtrack Yuki Kaijura did for this one. Absolute master class. The music in this aren’t just good. They create a whole new atmosphere. They suck you right in and make you pay attention to every piece of dialogue and story and when the time comes boy oh boy are they hype.
Characters - 9/10

The characters here are well rounded and very interesting. The main character, Shiki Ryougi, is a top tier kuudere waifu, and while she has a very strong and emotional character arc throughout the series, for this movie at least, Tomoe Enjou takes the cake for me. His valiant struggle against fate was simply too captivating and powerful. Trust me, by the time the credits roll and the ending theme begins, one cannot but admire and respect that heck outta that guy
The villains here pull off some real gory stuff (definitely not for the faint hearted. The main bad guy is a mage called Souren Araya who has good motivations (as long as you're smart enough to understand them) while the other dude Cornelius Alba is a crazy ass lunatic who definitely belongs to be locked up at some place like Alcatraz....... some of his scenes genuinely freaked me out tbh
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Story – 10/10
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The movie is very philosophical in nature and draws heavily from Buddhist ideas and mythology for its symbolism. The lore and magic system is also one of the most complex I have seen in fiction.
To be honest his might be the most unique storytelling I have seen in any movie. The story is not told conventionally (ya know, one scene follows the next chronologically) instead someone decided that this movie should be a jigsaw puzzle – literally so. As the name suggests, the whole movie feels like an oppressive spiral that and keeps you intrigued and on the edge of your seat till the very end. This movie literally leaves no stone unturned when it comes to shocking you to the very bone and forces you to keep watching on with bated breath. Plus there is no shortage of WTF moments that knock the air right out of your lungs
Aside from that, the movie also has strong emotions that will definitely pull hard at your heartstrings. So watch out, mate It’s a roller-coaster ride either way.