Kara no Kyoukai: Shuushou

lublei

This is a horrendous OVA that I can't fathom was produced by ufotable. The Garden of Sinners movies are all generally excellent and have very high production values so when I watched this OVA I genuinely felt scammed. For context, the entire 30-minute-long episode is 2 characters talking to each other. That might not have sounded as bad as it is, but that is literally all that happens. The characters don't move around, the background stays the same, and they just talk until the episode finally ends. We don't even see the character's bodies for most of the episode, just a talking head in front of the same snowy background. Putting the voice actors in VR chat and recording them would have made this more interesting since they would inadvertently move around a bit during the 30 minutes rather than standing and talking like dolls. What really pisses me off about this abomination is that it being an anime significantly detracts from it. This conversation would have been better portrayed in a pamphlet, a PowerPoint presentation, or a docx document with a gif attached. At least then it would have taken less time to consume. The fact that a word document and a gif file would have conveyed everything this anime did, perhaps better, really makes me question why and how this thing was created. It is an extra episode they could have just not produced it but someone wanted to make this garbage. Someone thought this was necessary to make and that it was a good use of animation. This episode doesn’t utilize anything about the medium of animation, and barely even has any animation. 2 actors could film this in live action and it would be more interesting to watch without losing anything. Even the PowerPoint presentations disguised as the final 2 episodes of Evangelion are more animated than this trainwreck. In those two episodes, there are frequent cuts, perspective changes, etc. At least they put some effort into making those episodes, while this thing puts the expressionless faces of being characters on top of a snowy background for minutes on end. This has no passion and no value behind it. Even pieces of absolute garbage like ex-arm and mars of destruction at least tried enough to become animated works. You cannot adapt ex-arm 1:1 to a word document but you wouldn’t have much trouble adapting this. Ex arm at least tried, no matter how badly, and failed while this epilogue didn’t even bother. I would recommend this as an audiobook if you want to listen to something as you do chores and really like the garden of words. It is very rare that an anime fails so utterly at being an anime. This thing is an insult to its franchise and to every single animated work that had a shred of effort put into it. This thing genuinely offends me.

R2R

~~~https://anilist.co/anime/6954/the-Garden-of-sinners-Chapter-8-The-Final-Chapter/ img330(https://i.imgur.com/5ARA5Jp.jpeg) "4 years later, _they_ meet again". ~~~ ____ The final chapter that quite a lot seem to ignore just because it's all words and doesn't have all those cool fights or "GREAT ANIMATION". This is untrue, by the way. Because the movie is definitely well-animated, especially considering the fact that it's just about a conversation between two characters. Just like the beginning of the story (i.e., the beginning of part 2), Mikiya walks with his umbrella under snowy weather only to get a glimpse of the same person he met 4 years ago, 「Shiki」. Shiki's true identity has been explained in three different archetypes in this film: Shiki as a body, Shiki as a psyche, and Shiki as a soul. As she argues, this 「Shiki」 we see here is the soul, an empty soul. ~~~img330(https://i.imgur.com/GoCYU5y.jpeg)~~~ The entire film reminisces on many events from previous films, such as the similarities between Shiki and Fujino which Shiki stated in part 3, the concept of the Soul and its origin which is the central concept in part 5, and finally answering my personal question about the consequences of not forgiving Shiki. What also pleasantly surprised me was the subtle similarities between Mikiya and Shiki, that Mikiya fell in love with Shiki, because of how similar his normalcy is to her abnormality. ~~~img330(https://i.imgur.com/iacCRt0.jpeg) ##### ... who leads an ordinary life. ~~~ Expects nothing and receives nothing, neither looks into the future nor regrets the past, never hurting anyone nor yourself. That is the normal person he is. There's a tiny line between Mikiya's nature of life (as in to live in the present) and 「Shiki's」 origins (from the nothingness), and it's a bit lovely that these two characters, each on the other side of this boundary, were able to fall in love with each other. This film feels more like an epilogue than a typical film because it is highly filled with dialogue, with animation and music only providing enough support to make the most of the least so as to not make it a drag to watch, although this will undoubtedly be the case for many. The peaceful and languid tempo contrasts sharply with the preceding parts' blood and gore; one could even call this an artsy entry to the franchise rather than a commercial movie. Though I do agree reading this entry in the novel works better as it is full of words, by no means this film is an abomination. Only people who think that good fights = good animation will get to that conclusion. ____ #

NetzLain

If you are someone who believes in spoilers, be aware that this essay-like review will explore some of the main themes of the anime, and some key elements of the plot may be exposed.

Also, writing this made me feel like every thread that I decided to pull, I had to go back and revisit it from another angle. After doing so many times, I'm confident that I could do it endlessly, so I'm going to try to keep it brief for everyone's sanity.

By stating that personality lies in the body, Shiki echoes Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy of the will. For him, this will is an irrational force that drives all phenomena, including the actions of living beings. It is the primal force that manifests through the physical actions and desires of individuals, creating the essence of being. In short, she is the embodiment of It, suggesting that the core of Shiki's existence lies not in abstract, metaphysical realms, but in the tangible, corporeal vessel that houses the will. She explains why that is and how we manage to deceive ourselves into believing that the mind is something special which encapsulates the self:

While reflecting on her loneliness, she also acknowledges Kokutou's:

The animation maintains the Kara no Kyoukai level of quality focusing on the details, even with not much going on action-wise, the composition of the scenery is very well thought out and it acts accordingly with the episode which the main focus is its dialogue creating a unique and thought-provoking narrative. In my opinion it doesn't need to be more than It is. It's effective in conveying the narrative and themes.

The dichotomy between male and female Shiki, broadly examined in previous episodes, provides space for the Shiki that exists between these two seemingly distinct entities. This intermediary Shiki serves as a bridge, a liminal space that defies conventional categorizations. Here, the narrative compels us to question whether the space between dualities is as significant as the dualities themselves, challenging the tendency to perceive identity as a binary and encouraging an exploration of the dynamic, evolving nature of the self, emphasizing that identity is a continuum rather than a static point.

Shiki's will is defined by her determination to understand her own existence, confront the emptiness within her, and forge her own path. This relentless pursuit forms the core of her character, driving her actions and decisions throughout the episode. Conversely, Kokutou's will is characterized by acceptance, embracing the present and finding fulfillment in the connections he forms with others. Embodying the Eastern concept of harmony and balance, he seamlessly navigates the narrative's complexities with a calm and composed demeanor.