Since I don’t have enough time to binge-watch an anime nowadays due to my full-time daddy duties, it has become more difficult for me to choose an anime to invest in watching.
Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) is somewhat of a surprise for me since I instinctively wanted to watch it after seeing a few moments of episode 1 on YouTube.
This bespectacled beauty stabbing this young man right through his heart when he is supposed to be helping prevent her from attempting a suicide dive from the building is an impactful image from my perspective. And that is only the first 1-2 minutes of the first episode.
After watching the 12 main episodes of Kyoukai no Kanata, I strongly appreciate how the story does not waste any time to get to its main points, which was both good and bad for me.
There was a point in one of the episodes that I felt I’d been watching this story for a long time (which is good), and there were also times when I stopped and talked to myself “How did it jump from this intense action and drama to a Jpop dance routine!?”.
But the strange thing was, it did not feel wrong or forced. It felt familiar, like looking through a room full of memories contained in specific frames per section.
The characters are fleshed out and every one of them stands out on their own.
I am biased toward two specific characters since they hit a chord in my otaku heart: the heroine Kuriyama Mirai and the calm and collected Izumi Nase.
The bespectacled beauty that is Kuriyama combined with her funny quirks and down to her cute mannerisms are golden! I can relate to the protagonist of the story, Akihito in the way he reacts and feels whenever Kuriyama is being Kuriyama. Every word he says is also a spot-on description of what I feel about Kuriyama’s character.
On the other hand, Izumi Nase’s strong intimidating presence contained in her calm demeanor keeps me glued to every scene she appears in. And I truly love her during the scene where that calmness and collected persona of her was wavering and it showed her hidden vulnerable side.
The last 3 episodes of Kyoukai no Kanata showed its true strength which lies in love, sacrifice, and choice that Kuriyama and Akihito exchanged especially in these last episodes.
Truly, the ending scene was uplifting and what I want to personally see in the finale.
In the end, I am giving it a 9/10. 不愉快じゃないです! (Fuyukai janai desu) It’s not unpleasant <3
