Kara No Kyoukai (8 Films - 2 Shorts/Specials) 8.34 out of 10 Stars
Kara No Kyoukai was a incredibly breathtaking & mythical production for it's time, marking Hikaru Kondo's Ufotable breakout animation that garnered national attention with team Ufotable's dazzling post production digital effects and CGI - First alongside the rise of it's other peers such as the revamped Shaft with team Shinbo on Bakemonogatari & Naoko Yamada's K On from Kyo Ani. Lately I've talking alot about the early & mid 2000's transition period into incorporating digital colouring techniques (Otherwise known as Digipaint) & CG - And while it certainly was a rough transition, that changed everything from broadcasting standards, production flows to introducing the beginning of the Bluray and DVD format wars, it also so happens to mark the rise of yet another animation tour de force in Ufotable's heavily emphasized post production digital effects and CGI, animating the hesitant Nasu Kinoko's Kara No Kyoukai light novels originally self published online some 18 - 19 years ago. You see, in the years following Nasu Kinoko's amateur debut as a writer, his work was later on edited and refined for official release by the publisher Kodansha in 2004. In that the popularity of his works garnered interest from the animation industry to adapt his works, though he was quick to decline, citing that he just felt that Kara No Kyoukai was never meant to be filmed or animated, being that he felt, if it was animated in to a TV series, audiences attention spans would wane & it would be hard to understand, having to condense and compress way to much of the original story, into enjoyable 20 minute segments that could carry on from a weekly basis -
"Certain people have been wanting to make Kara no Kyoukai into an anime for a while now, but it isn't a story which really lends itself to being filmed, so I always turned them down." - Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007]
The same could be said of a standalone movie as well, though later on he was approached by Kondansha's Oota Katsushi with an offer Kinoko Nasu couldn't refuse -
"..."I was thinking of teaming up with Aniplex and ufotable and making Kara no Kyoukai into a consecutive seven-movie release; what do you think?" It was such an off-the-wall idea that I got caught up in the enthusiasm; the offer was so awesome that turning it down seemed rude, so I agreed readily." - Oota Katsushi's offer according to Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007]
10 years later, after much confusion & negative press over the non linearity of Kara No Kyoukai's lack of a chronological order, we're left with a modern day classic & a touch stone to the one of few animation breakouts within the 2007-2009 that challenged the entire industry to eventually make the full transition into incorporating the related digital processes into animator work flows. Not only that, but now that the dust has settled, and we have each of the 10 films (depends on how you count) laid out before us, has it really held up to facet of time? Does our unexpected heroine Shiki & Kokuto's story of finding identity, navigating morality & reconditioning the heart still hold it's same magic as it did once before?
Plot & Narrative Aspects
The story is set in Japan predominantly in the late 1990's in Mifune City consisting of a string of murder investigations, as Shiki recovers from a relapse in her memory she continues to recondition and find out who she is as a person, and what she wants from life. In that her long time friend Mikiya Kokuto is the key to filling that void in her life, and new acquaintance Touko Aozaki who specializes in the Art (or rather mage-craft), helps unravel the mystery of Shiki Ryougi and her peculiar past with her possible involvement in serial killings that happened some odd years ago, which she remembers little about. In that, Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners, really is a story about disadvantaged and misanthropic characters struggling to cope with their difficult circumstances & idiosyncrasy as people who've fallen through the cracks of society. In how one may be tempted by their darkest ambitions & are those who struggle to find peace, acceptance and salvation in a relatively unfair world, contrasting and drawing unique parallels between the two, and in how they may inevitably clash. As Kara No Kyoukai is a despondent and nihilistic story about Shiki wanting to know what to do with herself and finding meaning in life, really harkening back to what the light novels were originally called "The Boundary of Emptiness"
You see, in this pattern of murder investigations and character exposition, while we continue to have the relationship dynamic between Tōko, Shiki, Kokuto, each chapter or rather arc is often about an entirely another character, and the correlation between Shiki trying to find identity and how it relates to the given story at hand such as Remaining Sense of Pain or Overlooking View, is somewhat weak & overly deliberate. In that, Kinoku Nasu makes an attempt to draw parallels here between Shiki and stand alone characters such as Kirie Fujõ & Fujino Asagami, but having Shiki simply seek out murders such as herself only to satiate her bloodlust and being perhaps envious in their murderous abandon is a poor contrast, in that her desire to kill has little to no emotional context, as it's more or less an unexplained impulse of hers, which makes it somewhat unrelatable as I, like many others feel somewhat indifferent to this. I mean while we are given a reason at the epilogue, it doesn't serve to save face in why Shiki has such a palpable urge to kill, other than that Kinoko Nasu simply made her that way, and as you can imagine it seems far more like a poor excuse, then something that was truly creatively inspired.
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| Kinoko Nasu [Original Creator] |
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| Hikaru Kondo [President & Producer] |
Today were taking a special deep dive here to find out exactly what up - 10 years later
Plot & Narrative Aspects
The story is set in Japan predominantly in the late 1990's in Mifune City consisting of a string of murder investigations, as Shiki recovers from a relapse in her memory she continues to recondition and find out who she is as a person, and what she wants from life. In that her long time friend Mikiya Kokuto is the key to filling that void in her life, and new acquaintance Touko Aozaki who specializes in the Art (or rather mage-craft), helps unravel the mystery of Shiki Ryougi and her peculiar past with her possible involvement in serial killings that happened some odd years ago, which she remembers little about. In that, Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners, really is a story about disadvantaged and misanthropic characters struggling to cope with their difficult circumstances & idiosyncrasy as people who've fallen through the cracks of society. In how one may be tempted by their darkest ambitions & are those who struggle to find peace, acceptance and salvation in a relatively unfair world, contrasting and drawing unique parallels between the two, and in how they may inevitably clash. As Kara No Kyoukai is a despondent and nihilistic story about Shiki wanting to know what to do with herself and finding meaning in life, really harkening back to what the light novels were originally called "The Boundary of Emptiness"
"When I wrote Kara no Kyoukai, I felt resistance towards so many things—society, entertainment, culture—and it was my motivation to write the story." - Kinoko Nasu [Comptiq 2013 November issue]
As you might already know, I definitely have quite a bit of mixed feelings on the story, as for a film tier production, Kara No Kyoukai really feels as if it's more of a T.v series than the former. You see despite small to moderate changes here & there, the films story is indeed relatively intact and faithful to the originals. As the core fundamental story, chapter to chapter is essentially the same for the most part - So please keep in mind that this is not necessarily a criticism of the films alone, but the novels too. In that, while it's pretty great to have juicy action and our traditional pattern of paranormal murder investigations, however without better context to the blood & violence, along special effects spectacles, sometime's I feel the story rings a bit hollow at times and without good purpose or resolve.
You see, in this pattern of murder investigations and character exposition, while we continue to have the relationship dynamic between Tōko, Shiki, Kokuto, each chapter or rather arc is often about an entirely another character, and the correlation between Shiki trying to find identity and how it relates to the given story at hand such as Remaining Sense of Pain or Overlooking View, is somewhat weak & overly deliberate. In that, Kinoku Nasu makes an attempt to draw parallels here between Shiki and stand alone characters such as Kirie Fujõ & Fujino Asagami, but having Shiki simply seek out murders such as herself only to satiate her bloodlust and being perhaps envious in their murderous abandon is a poor contrast, in that her desire to kill has little to no emotional context, as it's more or less an unexplained impulse of hers, which makes it somewhat unrelatable as I, like many others feel somewhat indifferent to this. I mean while we are given a reason at the epilogue, it doesn't serve to save face in why Shiki has such a palpable urge to kill, other than that Kinoko Nasu simply made her that way, and as you can imagine it seems far more like a poor excuse, then something that was truly creatively inspired.
The funny thing is Kinoku Nasu distinctively distinguishes the difference between murder & slaughter as a very core & fundamental aspect of the story, explaining that murder is accepting that you must discard some of your own humanity in order to kill another human being, and to slaughter is to indiscriminately kill people without particular cause, asides from the thrill and the sensation of the act. Being that the person committing slaughter can no longer be considered human, but more or less an animal acting on it's impulse and or perhaps akin to a natural disaster claiming the few unlucky victims who so happen to be caught up in it's storm. While it's interesting to see Kinoko Nasu elaborate and contrast theses differences between murder & slaughter, thanks to to lack of substance or rather complete subversion of the issue, the said films feel more like action spectacles with all the blood, gore and post production magical pixie dust and pseudo magical science to go around, but resembles little of a properly written and explained character story with the clarity of cause, consequence & recognition - such as a characters motivation, how it relates to the story and why it's important.
Kara No Kyoukai is also something of a mystery as well, in that the overarching narrative and corresponding plot was structured to converge into a certain revelation later on in 5th film and onwards, this of course also plays into the fact that the story is anachronistic, so it's quite a bit harder to piece the story together. In that a lot is omitted in exchange for subtle messaging within the ongoing story and in the case of the films, the visual counterpoint regarding the distinct film grammar, composition & cinematography, in how they make such suggestions & clues to what's really up. As the story dabbles into a lot of the metaphysical and occult ideas in how they relate to humanity, regarding the suffering and salvation of the prospect of life itself - As who we are and what we want, often clashes with reality and the circumstances that we're given at hand.
Release order VS Chronological order
One thing that may stand out to you is the anachronistic timeline of the story, as over the years quite a fair amount of debate has occurred on whether or not (Now that all sinner films are out) Kara No Kyoukai should be viewed chronologically or in it's release order. Though going through the novels, it's clear that Kara No Kyoukai was meant to be viewed in this order, as it's clear that it was Kinoko Nasu's original intent for telling the story. However, now that I've experimented with both ways to watch Kara No Kyoukai, I can say that watching the films chronologically definitely makes the films easier to understand, however it takes away from the power of self investigation & mystery that a viewer would have to go through to piece the story together by themselves. Destroying the intended means to foreshadow and allude to events with the anachronical release order, as it in up in itself can have a power to it as well, thanks to the duality of the question, and the answer. It was a deliberate decision to control the emotional flow of the story by playing with the temporality of events, knowing when to most effectively cue each arc, regarding the sequence of information given to the viewer at the time. Whether or not that is enjoyable to the actual viewer is up to debate, but the deliberate choice to release a film series out of chronology shall be respected regardless of opinion.
"...fans may be confused while watching chapter one, but watching all the way through chapter seven they'll find out about the riddles and will understand the series in the end." Atsuhiro Iwakami [ANN Feb 25th 2011]
In that the chronological order goes as the following:
2 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 (Mirai Fukuin is it's own thing)
You see the film trilogy is consistent with the light novels, so that when you first either read or watch Kara No Kyoukai, you get your first glimpse experiencing the first chapter Overlooking View - In that, Overlooking view quite literally takes us to the middle of the action, as we are first introduced with a story that's indeed more potent with more action and satiable visuals, and say what you will, but for a film or novel series, it's quite important to capture your readers attention with the first entry. so that they may go along the ride for another 5-6 novels/films.
From a business perspective it makes perfect sense to have Overlooking View debut the series, since alot of details are omitted until you read further on in the series. Actively enticing you to figure out more about the story & it's given characters, such as Shiki, Touko or Kokuto. In this order (Release order) the story is mixed half way of the time so that every other film you watch will follow the pattern regarding it's tempo being:
Action - Character Exposition - Action - Character Exposition Etc.. Etc..
Though of course later on in the 5th, 6th and 7th film this sort of does get homogenized into more or less the same formula. Point is that the novels we're written and designed in this manner to perhaps fundamentally carry the story through a series of momentum swings and dynamics within the story, and while it may be perhaps an artificial way of doing so, it doesn't necessarily make the practice an entirely bad one, because of the said reasons. Later on though, you'll see why the story chronologically is quite slow to start out as I further elaborate on the story as a whole, hence my reasoning.
Character Analysis - Relation to plot
However that aside, Shiki & Kokuto's relationship and their own personal stories is where I feel the stories shines. In that it's a beautiful dynamic in how Shiki can't help wanting to become a better person by repressing her murderous urges, to perhaps live up to Kokuto's expectations and one day be able to live with the peace in mind that living a normal, regular life entails - Something she continue's to feverishly desire as a rather misanthropic character with odd family circumstances and personal issues. Though the duality between that is, despite actually loving and envying Kokuto as a bright and honest person, it also makes her feel inadequate, as she feels as if the life and person she was comfortable being, now makes her feel distraught and anxious. In that she feels that Kokuto is constantly dangling the prospect of the normal simple life only to feel cursed by it, knowing full well she could never attain it, though everyday is constantly reminded of this fact as often as Kokuto is persistent in being her friend. She feels pressured day by day to feel the need to change and the desire to open up, contrasting her usually introverted personality, though she feels she needs to protect herself as well, and doesn't want to, as she feels she doesn't want to be hurt in the end, as her desire to kill certainly doesn't loan itself to getting close to others.
As you might already suspect, the underlying reason for Shiki's desire to kill is more like a disease or curse she has to bare, rather than having emotional context within her character story that propagates her to the act. In that what's more interesting and compelling about the story is how Kinoku Nasu utilizes this, rather than the intrinsic value of Shiki's condition itself. In that it's this constant struggle of having to keep in check and deny who she is, but with the underlying reason of wanting to also change a become a woman that's worthy of Kokuto, someone who she envies very much, in how plain, simple & ordinarily special he is in his own way.
Though some characters, who I will not name, aim for loftier goals, attempting to transcend these barriers and rules in attempts to find salvation from this world, however at the cost of their humanity, as they begin to manipulate everyone in their path as their means to an end. It's a storm of clever manipulation as such characters slowly catche Shiki within their grasp, entangling her and those close to her, making it seem like the normal life she wanted & yearned for even more of a hopeless prospect to fight for and achieve. As life & the odds seem very deliberately stacked against her, whereas Shiki herself continues to deal with the cards she's given, accepting the struggle of her circumstances. In that she slowly realizes her right to the peacefully normal and mundane days with Kokuto she'd taken for granted is truly something she's willing to sacrifice, fight and struggle for, as it's something she now truly wants to protect, now that the prospect of loosing it is seemingly unbearable.
How it All Ends -
Kara No Kyoukai while the 7th chapter to me was met with little bit of mixed feelings for various reasons, the way it ended and resolved at the very very end, ended like a wish in how beautiful and promising it was, and the same goes for the 8th epilogue film as well, though I find it's was a bit more clever in how it concluded in how some details that we're omitted in the past were finally revealed for us. As to me it truly struck a chord being that it's almost (Almost) as if how Kara No Kyoukai started (If you ignore the first film) was how it ended as well, with such a familiar scene, showing how little has changed despite all the struggle and turmoil has occurred through the span of 4 years, in that it feels so timeless evoking that sensation of finally making their way back home, signifying that the struggle is now over.
Mirai Fukuin is just as it might sound, it's the fulfilment of a wish or prayer in the future, hence the title Future Gospel. And while it does indeed have it's own little small episodic story the same some of the other films within the original series, it's does indeed harken back in a timely manner, showcasing that Shiki's struggle and sacrifice was not in vain & that Shiki's dream continue's to live on. So as you might imagine it really serves an a second extra epilogue film if you will, that's something like an update or a fulfilment of the wishes that the original film series left - An encore if you will
Personally I really don't understand why so many people expected the 8th film which was titled Epilogue, to have a full length story or plot that any other film within the series would have, when it simply was adapting the epilogue from the original light novels. A resolution to a story is not supposed to have a conflict, a struggle or a plot in general, in that this is a film series. As the 8th film doesn't serve as an individual part but as the title and original intent of the author suggest is an extra resolving piece within the story to close off the entire series, a larger body of work. In that the epilogue is a sentence within a paragraph, not another individual paragraph or entire story itself. I can't help but the draw the parallel here between click bait writers trolling a quotes out of a larger answer to pull it out of the original context, to the misguided criticisms people have left on their reviews of the Epilogue film.
2 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 (Mirai Fukuin is it's own thing)
You see the film trilogy is consistent with the light novels, so that when you first either read or watch Kara No Kyoukai, you get your first glimpse experiencing the first chapter Overlooking View - In that, Overlooking view quite literally takes us to the middle of the action, as we are first introduced with a story that's indeed more potent with more action and satiable visuals, and say what you will, but for a film or novel series, it's quite important to capture your readers attention with the first entry. so that they may go along the ride for another 5-6 novels/films. |
| Atsuhiro Iwakami [Producer] |
Action - Character Exposition - Action - Character Exposition Etc.. Etc..
Though of course later on in the 5th, 6th and 7th film this sort of does get homogenized into more or less the same formula. Point is that the novels we're written and designed in this manner to perhaps fundamentally carry the story through a series of momentum swings and dynamics within the story, and while it may be perhaps an artificial way of doing so, it doesn't necessarily make the practice an entirely bad one, because of the said reasons. Later on though, you'll see why the story chronologically is quite slow to start out as I further elaborate on the story as a whole, hence my reasoning.
Character Analysis - Relation to plot
However that aside, Shiki & Kokuto's relationship and their own personal stories is where I feel the stories shines. In that it's a beautiful dynamic in how Shiki can't help wanting to become a better person by repressing her murderous urges, to perhaps live up to Kokuto's expectations and one day be able to live with the peace in mind that living a normal, regular life entails - Something she continue's to feverishly desire as a rather misanthropic character with odd family circumstances and personal issues. Though the duality between that is, despite actually loving and envying Kokuto as a bright and honest person, it also makes her feel inadequate, as she feels as if the life and person she was comfortable being, now makes her feel distraught and anxious. In that she feels that Kokuto is constantly dangling the prospect of the normal simple life only to feel cursed by it, knowing full well she could never attain it, though everyday is constantly reminded of this fact as often as Kokuto is persistent in being her friend. She feels pressured day by day to feel the need to change and the desire to open up, contrasting her usually introverted personality, though she feels she needs to protect herself as well, and doesn't want to, as she feels she doesn't want to be hurt in the end, as her desire to kill certainly doesn't loan itself to getting close to others.
As you might already suspect, the underlying reason for Shiki's desire to kill is more like a disease or curse she has to bare, rather than having emotional context within her character story that propagates her to the act. In that what's more interesting and compelling about the story is how Kinoku Nasu utilizes this, rather than the intrinsic value of Shiki's condition itself. In that it's this constant struggle of having to keep in check and deny who she is, but with the underlying reason of wanting to also change a become a woman that's worthy of Kokuto, someone who she envies very much, in how plain, simple & ordinarily special he is in his own way.
Though some characters, who I will not name, aim for loftier goals, attempting to transcend these barriers and rules in attempts to find salvation from this world, however at the cost of their humanity, as they begin to manipulate everyone in their path as their means to an end. It's a storm of clever manipulation as such characters slowly catche Shiki within their grasp, entangling her and those close to her, making it seem like the normal life she wanted & yearned for even more of a hopeless prospect to fight for and achieve. As life & the odds seem very deliberately stacked against her, whereas Shiki herself continues to deal with the cards she's given, accepting the struggle of her circumstances. In that she slowly realizes her right to the peacefully normal and mundane days with Kokuto she'd taken for granted is truly something she's willing to sacrifice, fight and struggle for, as it's something she now truly wants to protect, now that the prospect of loosing it is seemingly unbearable.How it All Ends -
Kara No Kyoukai while the 7th chapter to me was met with little bit of mixed feelings for various reasons, the way it ended and resolved at the very very end, ended like a wish in how beautiful and promising it was, and the same goes for the 8th epilogue film as well, though I find it's was a bit more clever in how it concluded in how some details that we're omitted in the past were finally revealed for us. As to me it truly struck a chord being that it's almost (Almost) as if how Kara No Kyoukai started (If you ignore the first film) was how it ended as well, with such a familiar scene, showing how little has changed despite all the struggle and turmoil has occurred through the span of 4 years, in that it feels so timeless evoking that sensation of finally making their way back home, signifying that the struggle is now over.Mirai Fukuin is just as it might sound, it's the fulfilment of a wish or prayer in the future, hence the title Future Gospel. And while it does indeed have it's own little small episodic story the same some of the other films within the original series, it's does indeed harken back in a timely manner, showcasing that Shiki's struggle and sacrifice was not in vain & that Shiki's dream continue's to live on. So as you might imagine it really serves an a second extra epilogue film if you will, that's something like an update or a fulfilment of the wishes that the original film series left - An encore if you will
" I am thrilled to be writing from a place of gratitude, though with just a touch of sadness. It feels like the old Nasu Kinoko has passed on." -[Comptiq 2013 November issue] - Kinoko Nasu
Personally I really don't understand why so many people expected the 8th film which was titled Epilogue, to have a full length story or plot that any other film within the series would have, when it simply was adapting the epilogue from the original light novels. A resolution to a story is not supposed to have a conflict, a struggle or a plot in general, in that this is a film series. As the 8th film doesn't serve as an individual part but as the title and original intent of the author suggest is an extra resolving piece within the story to close off the entire series, a larger body of work. In that the epilogue is a sentence within a paragraph, not another individual paragraph or entire story itself. I can't help but the draw the parallel here between click bait writers trolling a quotes out of a larger answer to pull it out of the original context, to the misguided criticisms people have left on their reviews of the Epilogue film.There is a Reason why the epilogue starts out almost the exact same as the 2nd film Murder Speculation - In that it's supposed to correlate the chronological beginning & corresponding end of the film series, it's supposed to evoke a sense of timelessness and nostalgia. Some may bore over the 30-20 minute dialogue, but I don't because it's a change of precedent in how a writer would normally construct dialogue or a story for that matter. The conversation is supposed to occur as an uncut unfiltered 1 take of a conversation from an objective perspective. As a result it feels raw and a bit of impulsive as you supposedly listen to the characters in real time without any skimmed over details or temporal compression, and in of that itself has a magic to it as well, since despite the lengthy dialogue, it's far less subjective and filtered, but raw and impulsive show don't tell occurring here, regardless if you are reading the novel or watching the short film.
The Problem Here -
While I love how earnest the story is in it's appreciation of the normal and mundane, in how flawed and relatable Kinoko Nasu's characters can be (Such as Shiki), if feel that circle of light if you will is not really extended beyond Shiki & Kokuto's relationship. You see, the vignette nature of the novels entirely consist & introduces plenty of one & done character arcs for the most part (Save Shiki, Kokuto & Tōko) & if the story so narrowly prioritizes this relationship, as every other element seemingly revolves around it, other characters who were introduced, such as Kirie and Fujino seem nothing more than stock parts within a larger machine - In that the episodic nature of the series & the corresponding introductions of it's characters lacks quite a bit of correlation and consequence to the story as a whole. You can have opposing characters physically clashing with blades & magical pixie dust all you want, but if the motivations & desire's of the two opposing forces are not clashing as well, the physical symbolic meaning behind the act becomes meaningless - No matter how fantastical, or how wonderful the post production effects, salacious content or animation may seem.
I always like to talk about Naruto & his Rasengan in this regard, in that the visual wonder of the spiralling blue ball of energy is an embodiment of his mentor Jiraya, an heirloom if you will, and it's raw power is the embodiment of his life's struggle against bullying, and how the odds were always stacked against him, in how he was always regarded as a failure and would always be one in the eyes of others. The Rasengan, essentially a magical ball of energy is not just a flashy signature move you can implement perfectly into the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm video game, it's an extension his character itself, and accomplishment that signifies his breakthrough in smashing other's people expectations and having other's finally acknowledge & respect him.
That is what you call emotional context
While his characters certainly have deliberate introductions and a presence within the story, they don't necessarily have much purpose. In that yes you can implement a lot of direct exposition & and high action, but without the proper emotional context & progression, it really has little meaning other than to simply have action spectacles and wonderful violence for the sake of it. & Here's the thing, the third main character Touko is far more like a third wheel instead - In that she serves a very similar role to Oshino Meme in the Monogatari series, however while I truly love her character in it's sassiness and baddassitude, I really can't ignore that the only purpose she really serves is a walking talking expositive dictionary for all things magical pseudo science, or whatever they call it, the Art yes? What's more while this is not necessarily a bad thing her stoic and fickle nature while describing such matters is often done in riddles with plenty of sarcasm and lack of enthusiasm. She's has a strong sense of character in the peculiarity in the way she acts & speaks, but her underlying reasoning for her hospitality towards Shiki & Mikiya is as whimsical as she is as a character "Maybe that's the point no?"
We'll you see, while that may be, it doesn't empower her as a character or speak any regarding her complexity as a character or a human being. In my opinion while it's not necessarily a bad practice to omit details here & there, it definitely doesn't hurt either to at least perhaps subtly suggest her motivations and context as a character. Say back to Oshino Meme in Monogatari, while they are similar characters, the key difference is being that we are given quite a bit of reason to believe with events within the plot & and suggestiveness in Oshino's dialogue that he's helping Araragi out of pity, feeling sorry for him, and that while he will lend Araragi his strength and gently guide him through his supernatural problems, he certainly won't solve them for him.
"We can only save ourselves"
Is a popular slogan of his that attests to that, in that he know's that he can't and won't be around forever to babysit Araragi through all his problems, speaking volume's of the story in how it's about learning to grow up & become an independent adult. Touko on the other hand is just perhaps vaguely curios about the two, particularly Shiki with her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (Wow that's a mouth full, I think Kinoko Nasu can learn a thing or two from Masashi Kishimoto - Sharingan anyone?) & just so happens to be in need of employees. Sorry but when your entire relationship between characters is only based upon whimsical curiosity and coincidence, that doesn't really make for a good underlying story or characters no? However it's not all bad or anything like that despite some disappointment, in that I found that I loved Enjou Tomoe in Paradox Spiral, as his story I find was the most elaborated upon the standalone character arcs in the series, also backed equally in the visual department thanks to Takayuki Hirao's ingenius use of his psychedelic film grammar that gelled fantastically with the correlation beteen both the plot and Tomoe's character story, however more on that later as I get into the cinematography section.
Page 1
Article Contents
- Plot & Narrative Aspects [Release vs Chronological Order | Character Analyses]
- The Light Novels & The Films [The Differences | How It Translates To Film]
- Production Aspects [A Little History Overlook | Bluray's Just Dvd Upscales? | Animation & Photography]
- Voice Actor Cast & Choreography
- Addendum
3rd Page will contain individual links for production analysis on each individual film
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