Kyoukai no Kanata: a bittersweet magical adventure
Noirit Mustapha
Akihito Kanbara happens upon a girl on the roof of his school building, seemingly about to jump off the side. After pleading with her not to go through with it, she suddenly jumps on him and kills him. However, Akihito does not actually die. He is in fact a half-shade, the offspring of a human and a dreamshade, a supernatural being said to be the physical manifestation of negative human emotions.
The girl who just stabbed him through the chest now introduces herself as Mirai Kuriyama, a spirit world warrior destined to kill threatening dreamshades. The only issue is that she, too, is insecure and too shy to do that. And so begins a weird adventure of a girl trying to kill an immortal guy over and over again as combat practice.
Insane as that premise sounds, Kyoukai no Kanata actually delivers well on the presentation. It has just the right mix of character development and drama to advance the plot, while offering enough comedic interactions here and there to make the characters seem more human.
On the battle side of things, Kyoto Animation ups their game as they deliver fluid, though sometimes floaty battles, throughout the show. The music and sound effects are greatly noticeable too, with probably the best ending theme of the year.
Despite all this, however, Kyoukai no Kanata has some issues with plot pacing, sometimes opting for filler comedy episodes during weird points in the story. In fact, one could argue that it could have benefited more from two seasons worth of episodes, instead of the one it did get. Nevertheless, near the end of the show, it uses its time well, delivering one of the most beautiful, yet bittersweet endings in an anime in a long time.
For fans of anime who are particularly apprehensive of Kyoto Animations works, this one might just be up their alley. For everyone else, it definitely warrants at least one watch.
