bishopcruz Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Just started watching a series called Kara no Kyoukai (Edge of Emptiness) last night, and in a word it is awesome! In a few more words, it's an amazingly animated series of supernatural detective stories with an amazing soundtrack, great direction, well defined characters, and more than a bit of blood. Kara no Kyoukai is an anime adaptation of a pair of novels that have become incredibly popular in Japan. The two novels cosist of 7 novellas, each adding one new thread to the overall story. Each film in the series covers one of those novellas. The main characters are Ryougi Shiki, a girl with some pretty interesting powers (don't want to spoil anything), her friend Kokuto Mikiya, and their employer Aozaki Touko. Touko runs what's more or less an anime version of Angel investigations, Kokuto works as an investigator, and Shiki is the muscle of the group. Each film is a new mystery, and at least up through the fourth film, work pretty well on their own. And that's right, I said films, the cool thing is that this isn't an OAV or TV series with fixed lengths for each episode. Every one of the films has its own running time, depending on what they needed to do for the story, the first four films are around 45 minutes to an hour each. The fifth one is almost 2 hours. Also since they are theatrical releases they get a pretty hefty budget, and it shows. This is one of the best looking anime I have ever seen, the depth, coloring, everything is just amazing. It's probably near Ghost in the Shell 2 in that regard. Anyhow, below I have a trailer video using the end theme from the first movie: as you can see, soundtrack rocks too. Oh yeah, if any of you know Tsukihime, or Fate Stay/Night, this is set in the same universe, the novels predate both of them, it's the start of it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalHeart Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Cj is in the middle of these right now! The few bits I've seen have been really good (and fucked up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted May 8, 2009 Author Share Posted May 8, 2009 Well, finished the 5th movie a couple of days back, that's the 2hr one. Awesome story as usual, but I think stretching the budget on this one made the animation not QUITE as nice as chapters 1 and 3 (which are probably the best, visuals wise). The storyline is awesome, the characters rock, and aren't that cliche, which is a refreshing change. I also love the fact that it isn't in chronological order, it makes re-watching earlier chapters awesome, as you catch stuff that you missed before, because now you have the whole story. And again, the soundtrack is amazing, Yuki Kajiura did the music for series like .hack as well as the later Xenosaga games. Each movie has its own soundtrack, but they all play on themes that have been present since the first one, and it's haunting stuff. Kinda gives me a bit of a Silent Hill with a choir vibe. But, yeah, more people really need to see this series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 shit, but this one's impressive. I still have to watch the 5th movie, but caught all 4 at bishop's the other night, its really a stunning series - its gorgeously animated, OST is apparently the same folks as Xenosaga 2 & 3 (and it shows), and the story's quite dark like i like them. Chronologically, it does shift back & forth but its not Lynch-esque in its delivery, the series showed dates and was always quite clear on what period you were looking at. It weaves in & out of the supernatural, and even psychotic conditions like schitozophrenia and multiple personality disorder, fear easier than you'd think. Overall, i can see why bish is pushing this one, ill say more after catching the most current movie (im told 6 is still a bit off). I kinda wanna go back and see Fate Stay/Night and Hime or whatever the other one was now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 I do have Fate Stay/Night. Would you care for a copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 sure, sure - you wanna borrow this series? Bish left it on discs, i just gotta tie up # 5 and you can totally borrow it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 sure, sure - Bish left it on discs, i just gotta tie up # 5 and you can totally keep it. Your being real kind. Of course I'll take them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 alright, they're yours when i watch it. just wanna rip em to the drive so sen can see it too. you know, right after GITS: SAC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newtype Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 In other words I'm never getting the dvds from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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