After watching one of Type-Moon/ ufotable's best anime of 2012(F/Z)and 2015(UBW), I decided to go back in time to check their (potentially) best work of 2007. I haven't read the novels of KnK so I'm watching the movie series with no knowledge of the KnK series whatsoever. So far, I'm not disappointed but it's too early to judge the series.
(There will be some SPOILERS in my review)
[Story]: (7/10) (SPOILERS)
Please take my story rating with a grain of salt. It does not reflect with I how feel about this movie. It's just my first impression of the story introduced to me.
In the city where Shiki lives, something triggers a spate of mysterious schoolgirl suicides. The connection between the girls who've leapt to their deaths is unclear, although all of them have jumped from the Fujou Building, a skyscraper scheduled to be demolished.
The first movie showed us that there's a bunch of schoolgirls jumping off the soon-to-be demolished building and killing themselves for no reason. Then there's a bunch of creepy ghost girls floating around at the top of the building where the girls committed suicide. At this point, you're probably asking yourself "what the hell is going on" like I did. Since this is the first movie and there's 6 more to go, I'm not really going to complain about the story that much and the amount of plot holes this movie has created. I'm pretty sure I'll understand once I watched the rest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Art/Animation]: (10/10)
For a 2007 movie, the animation is very well done. The character design looks beautiful, the lighting is great, the fighting scenes are so fluid, and the atmosphere fits perfectly as this movie has a dark story. Nice job for ufotable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Sound]: (9/10)
As expected of Type-moon and ufotable, they make one of the best soundtracks for their anime. Their F/Z soundtrack is great, their UBW soundtrack is great and the KnK's soundtrack; so far is great. The soundtrack used in the fighting scenes fits so perfectly well. Especially those goddamn choir in the background. There are no OP theme songs and there's 1 ED theme song. It's sung by Kalafina so it's immediately a perfect song for me. The voice actors have done a great job so far with their characters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Character]: (8/10)
I don't know these characters that much yet so don't hate me for getting some of these characters wrong. The movie introduces us to Shiki, a female knife-wielding person who lives alone on her small apartment. She has a prosthetic arm that looks like a real human arm and a magic eye that I have no idea what it's used for yet. Then there's Mikiya, a man that we know nothing about that much. He occasionally visits Shiki's apartment, probably because they're friends or a couple. I don't exactly know yet. Finally, there's Touko, a red-haired girl who I don't know that much yet.
Basically, the movie introduces the characters like you already know them. There's no character development and no real reason why I should care for them. No problem, I'm sure I'll get to know more about the characters in the sequels.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Enjoyment]: (8/10)
I personally enjoyed the first movie because of that one action scene, the perfect animation, the great soundtrack and how the series introduces itself. I'm sure I'll enjoy KnK series even more after I see the rest of the movie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[OVERALL]: (8.4/10)
So far, I think this movie is great. There's a lot of talking which I'm used to when watching Typemoon/ufotable's anime. I'm also very confused but I'm sure I'll get a grasp of what's going on as I watch the rest of the movies. If you're a fan of supernatural or mystery animes then this is a must watch for you. Just like any other ufotable's anime, you need to be actively thinking about the plot or else you're going to miss some important information. If you're not a fan of slow story pacing or if you're not a fan of anime where you have to actively think then this is not for you.
