Aion
Time-Traveller
Whilst looking for more Higurashi-esque, murder-filled stories, I saw the first movie on MAL and remembered seeing the fifth near the number one spot. I don't hold the MAL rankings in high regard - too many 10/10 happy people exist - but I decided to give the series a go because I quickly discovered a torrent for movies 1-5, and it went at my full 10MB download speed, finishing soon after.
I think all but one lasts for an hour including credits, the first lasting for only 50 minutes. I think of them more as glorified OVAs than movies, but whatever - they're classified as films and that's what I'll refer to them as.
Kara no Kyoukai 1 - 6.5/10
It looks great (not too fond of the character designs, mind), has Yuki Kaijura's music (I recognized it as soon as I heard the vocals) and didn't last long enough to bore me. Those are the only real plus points, though.
For a start, the first movie isn't the first chronologically. It's more like a filler story - not adding anything of meaning - which you'd expect to find in the middle. I'm not sure how whoever in charge of the story order thought it'd work well for people to see a story with zero character development and little idea what's going on. At the time of watching, all I knew was that a group of three supernatural hunters worked in a messy place and were after the person behind the string of suicides taking place. I can only assume the idea was to start with a part with a flashy action sequence and then bother with characterization later. After ending feeling confused, I could only say it looked and sounded nice.
Another issue is with the pretentious philosophical babbling over a simple subject. Mamoru Oshii's brother from another mother MUST have had a hand in this. The villain of the piece flies/floats and gets teenage girls to throw themselves off buildings. In order to make the story come across as being deep, whoever was in charge of the dialogue thought it best to complicate explaining the reasoning behind suicide by replacing 'continuing to live' with 'flying', 'standing still' with 'floating' and 'falling' with 'suicide'. It added nothing but length and more confusion to an already confusing, no background details story.
It lasted only 45 minutes (excluding credits) and it was a decent watch as a result, but it's most certainly over-rated by fans of the novel. it was full of scenes designed to extend the length and some parts, such as Kokuto 'zoning out' and Shiki realizing something was up later didn't make sense.
Kara no Kyoukai 2 - 7.5/10
Mamoru Oshii's brother from another mother had no part to play in the sequel, thankfully.
The good? This time around, the story started at the beginning; three years before the rather pointless first film. It focused on the meeting at school of Shiki, the female lead with eyes that can see the lies of death and Kokuto, a very plain guy who sees the good in all, hates killing and refuses to accept the obvious, even when attacked.
The bad? It was, once again, full of scenes designed to extend the length and very little happened. Shiki and Kokuto meet, you're told a little about Shiki's problem, you see some graphic murder scenes and a lot of blood, there's a chase... and then it ended, without revealing the truth behind the murders.
Also, I found it hard to tell which Shiki was which at times. Even the 'normal' Shiki smiled in the first movie, so I couldn't tell based on expressions alone. One was rather emotionless, one was the opposite - that much I got.
To sum it up, better than the first but not a great move overall. Too slow, too empty and no action. At least this time there was an additional plus point - visuals, sound and actual characterization; not just a redhead going on about suicide and flying forever.
Kara no Kyoukai 3 - 8-8.5/10
Definitely the best thus far. It was also the darkest; featuring fairly graphic rape scenes (short, but certainly graphic enough) and a fair amount of arms/legs/heads being twisted off via physic powers.
It flowed well, from scene to scene. It opened with a disturbing scene, the investigation team then had to put the pieces together and, finally, there was a great supernatural showdown between Shiki and the 'villain'. Unlike in the case of the previous films, I never felt like the film was dragging its feet.
Since it added little in the way of main character development, it could be classed as no more than filler - like the first - but this time the content was excellent and very involving, not including any philosophical ramblings. It following onto a prequel which focused on characterization also helped matters - I actually had a clue what was going on and who people characters were in this film!
Overall, a top film. Maybe a bit too dark and disturbing for some but a must watch for those searching for anime not about school girls getting involved in 'comical' situations.
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The fifth film, going on ratings at least, is meant to be the best. It has a proper, two hour film length and I'm expecting great things. But, first of all, I have to deal with another prequel-sequel.
I think all but one lasts for an hour including credits, the first lasting for only 50 minutes. I think of them more as glorified OVAs than movies, but whatever - they're classified as films and that's what I'll refer to them as.
Kara no Kyoukai 1 - 6.5/10
It looks great (not too fond of the character designs, mind), has Yuki Kaijura's music (I recognized it as soon as I heard the vocals) and didn't last long enough to bore me. Those are the only real plus points, though.
For a start, the first movie isn't the first chronologically. It's more like a filler story - not adding anything of meaning - which you'd expect to find in the middle. I'm not sure how whoever in charge of the story order thought it'd work well for people to see a story with zero character development and little idea what's going on. At the time of watching, all I knew was that a group of three supernatural hunters worked in a messy place and were after the person behind the string of suicides taking place. I can only assume the idea was to start with a part with a flashy action sequence and then bother with characterization later. After ending feeling confused, I could only say it looked and sounded nice.
Another issue is with the pretentious philosophical babbling over a simple subject. Mamoru Oshii's brother from another mother MUST have had a hand in this. The villain of the piece flies/floats and gets teenage girls to throw themselves off buildings. In order to make the story come across as being deep, whoever was in charge of the dialogue thought it best to complicate explaining the reasoning behind suicide by replacing 'continuing to live' with 'flying', 'standing still' with 'floating' and 'falling' with 'suicide'. It added nothing but length and more confusion to an already confusing, no background details story.
It lasted only 45 minutes (excluding credits) and it was a decent watch as a result, but it's most certainly over-rated by fans of the novel. it was full of scenes designed to extend the length and some parts, such as Kokuto 'zoning out' and Shiki realizing something was up later didn't make sense.
Kara no Kyoukai 2 - 7.5/10
Mamoru Oshii's brother from another mother had no part to play in the sequel, thankfully.
The good? This time around, the story started at the beginning; three years before the rather pointless first film. It focused on the meeting at school of Shiki, the female lead with eyes that can see the lies of death and Kokuto, a very plain guy who sees the good in all, hates killing and refuses to accept the obvious, even when attacked.
The bad? It was, once again, full of scenes designed to extend the length and very little happened. Shiki and Kokuto meet, you're told a little about Shiki's problem, you see some graphic murder scenes and a lot of blood, there's a chase... and then it ended, without revealing the truth behind the murders.
Also, I found it hard to tell which Shiki was which at times. Even the 'normal' Shiki smiled in the first movie, so I couldn't tell based on expressions alone. One was rather emotionless, one was the opposite - that much I got.
To sum it up, better than the first but not a great move overall. Too slow, too empty and no action. At least this time there was an additional plus point - visuals, sound and actual characterization; not just a redhead going on about suicide and flying forever.
Kara no Kyoukai 3 - 8-8.5/10
Definitely the best thus far. It was also the darkest; featuring fairly graphic rape scenes (short, but certainly graphic enough) and a fair amount of arms/legs/heads being twisted off via physic powers.
It flowed well, from scene to scene. It opened with a disturbing scene, the investigation team then had to put the pieces together and, finally, there was a great supernatural showdown between Shiki and the 'villain'. Unlike in the case of the previous films, I never felt like the film was dragging its feet.
Since it added little in the way of main character development, it could be classed as no more than filler - like the first - but this time the content was excellent and very involving, not including any philosophical ramblings. It following onto a prequel which focused on characterization also helped matters - I actually had a clue what was going on and who people characters were in this film!
Overall, a top film. Maybe a bit too dark and disturbing for some but a must watch for those searching for anime not about school girls getting involved in 'comical' situations.
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The fifth film, going on ratings at least, is meant to be the best. It has a proper, two hour film length and I'm expecting great things. But, first of all, I have to deal with another prequel-sequel.
