Reviews

Dec 10, 2019
My 3rd Review on this site.


Story: 6
This is so far the weakest part of Kyoukai no Kanata. The whole premise starts off with me having this thinking that this is a love story of some sort but my god, I was only half-right. It's a supernatural anime with characters having spiritual powers hunting supernatural beings with a romance subplot (or maybe the supernatural element is the subplot and the romance is the main plot - I don't know anymore).

It's like bleach except they're not shinigamis (death god), instead, they're called Spirit Hunters/Warriors who hunt down "Dreamshades" instead of hallows. It more like a monster hunter type of job to earn cash depending on the level of the "Dreamshade".

I don't find this quite interesting, but it's serviceable. And that's just me. Some people might like this concept, some might not.

The real problem of this anime starts when it's about to reach the ending when the plot went down on weird spiral and most of the concept just went pass my head and I have no idea what the hell is going on. Even the ending doesn't make any sense to me and it makes wonder if I'm dumb or not (SPOILER: it's still sweet though, I do like it, it just that the way it was handle makes it feel like a deux ex machina).

I get the idea (sort of). I like the first half better and how everything ties in together the motivation of the main heroine that led up to the main event. When the climax did hit, that's where everything starts to get messy and felt rushed, plot wise.

It's probably because the anime was only planned for a 12 episode run and had to crunch and squeeze in the plot from a three volume light novel. There's not enough screen time to make a more cohesive narrative.

I haven't read the LN, and I don't plan to since I'm not a light novel reader myself. So it's hard to tell if this was one of those instances that the adaption failed to capture the essence of the source material. Or that the novel itself is at fault for having a messy plot to begin with.

What I do love is the romance part of this anime. More on that in the character section of this review.


ART: 9
For something that lacks in the story department, this one pumped the gas on the animation department. It's the main reason why I've watched this anime in the first place.

Also. this is my first Kyoto Animation anime I've seen so far and I never knew they're capable of this given their line up of slice of life anime (which I'm not really into so I don't really know what they're capable of).

Speaking of Kyo-Ani, I hope they're doing OK.


Sound: 8
I love the OST for this anime especially "Daisy" by Stereo Dive Foundation (weird way to name your band btw). The sound design and sound effects are really good. No complains for the voice acting as well.


Character: 8
I do like the cast of Kyokai no Kanata. I also share the same love as Akihito when it comes to "meganekko" (glasses girl) and I could easily give this one a 10/10 if it's only for the fetish itself.

As I said before, I love the romance, but I have to admit it was lacking something. Yes, it's a straight forward vanilla romance with some cute moments but I wish there were more of those since I could only remember a few. Even the main couple in this anime have barely enough room to develop their feelings for one another except maybe when the world is about to end because why not? World is ending, so let's admit our feelings, right? If only this series was a bit longer (maybe 2-3 episodes more), then maybe the buildup for the romance would be a bit better.

Either way, those heartfelt moments still touched my "kokoro" and I could understand where the these two lovebirds are coming from.

I also like the other cast as well, primarily the two Nase siblings (despite the brother's uhm.. "sister complex"). There was one episode that felt like a slice of life vibe going for it and I love it for how adorable and cute they are in that particular episode. God, I wish there was more comedy slice of life episodes to flesh out the characters more. That would be awesome seeing the comical antics these characters would do on a daily basis to hunt down dreamshades that have weird biology and quirks. That would have been better than the actual underlying plot (described above).

But alas, this is a 12 episode anime and most characters are not fully fleshed out except maybe for the two main characters. Maybe a little bit with the Nase siblings but they're still a mystery to me, especially the eldest.

Even the villain and their motive is unclear and I've stopped caring on the last episode because of how cartoonishly evil the villain is, even more so than this anime's "macguffin" (spoiler and hint, the macguffin is in the title) which was supposed to be the main threat of the series.


Enjoyment: 7
Even if this was a 12 episode anime, I wasn't compelled or had the urge to watch it in one sitting or at the very least watch more than two episodes a day.

I usually watch anime two episodes during weekdays (during lunch breaks at work). If the anime's plot is intriguing enough, it can gave me an itch to watch more episodes than my daily quota even if I have to sacrifice the allotted time for playing my PS4 when I arrive at home after work. Kyoukai no Kanata didn't give me that itch.

It probably has to do with the plot. I love the characters and animation, but that's not enough to keep me going. It's like reading a book. If the plot is interesting, it's automatically a "page-turner". If not, you're going to have a hard time finishing the book. Kyoukai no Kanata is somewhere in between. One aspect of it makes it worthy of a "page-turner" but another makes it not.

But despite that, I did enjoy this anime and will watch the sequel movie just so I can have more meganekko and also, maybe, just maybe it'll give me a proper closure than this anime did.


Overall: 8
If you like eye-candy animation with some decent fanservice but suffers from poor plot execution and you have a fetish for meganekko (or other "questionable" fetishes involving an imouto), then this one is for you. Go watch it. It's just twelve episodes.

Watch 2-3 episodes and see if you'll like it. But don't expect too much from the plot. I gave up half-way through it and didn't border with concept anymore. You'll probably enjoy it more with that mindset.

PS: I'm still conflicted to give this a 7 or 8. I'll check again in a few days to see if I still feel the same way about the final score.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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