You may expect the first in a septenary to chronicle the inception of the cast, or to establish the universe and conflict in the series. Instead, audiences are thrown into the middle of a story which seems like it was written for people with previous knowledge of the Kara no Kyoukai franchise. There's little in the way of introductions, which musters very little connection to or understanding of the characters. The film is shrouded in mystery, but produces very little intrigue - the foundations seem absent; it sets up a plot but struggles (or rather, doesn't attempt) to develop any of the characters. It's an okay technique to pull in the audience during the first act - get them pondering and interested through obscurity - but it doesn't work well when that's all you're doing throughout the entire film. This causes the story to fall flat and come across as lackluster with very little substance; just another plot involving baddies and a team adept at dealing with them.
It's this extreme lack of depth to the characters that really spoils what could be an exciting film. With no connection to the cast comes a struggle to care about them and, by extension, the story. There are three members of the main cast, with a very weak supporting team, and hints of depth are just that - hints. The writers want it to be interesting by being cryptic, but they completely miss the mark.
The animation and art style are saving graces, if the film isn't already too far gone. The character designs, backgrounds and general views are all very crisp and detailed. The art department communicate well a very dark and isolated tone. The animation is fluid and the action sequences are stunning. The music, too, is very well implemented. The backing tracks blend fittingly with the dark tone and the more uptempo pieces used during the action sequences complement them significantly.
However, due to such uninspired characters which pave the way for a very bland story, the film comes across as fearfully mediocre. Some depth to the characters would have gone leaps and bounds, but the writers' refusal engage with them in the first installment doesn't make for a very compelling film.
