Kara no Kyoukai Movie 3: Tsuukaku Zanryuu

On a solemn night in July 1998, teenager Fujino Asagami is mercilessly raped by a street gang in a dilapidated bar. No matter what physical or sexual abuse they deal, however, the girl regards her captors with the same apathetic expression. The next day, mangled bodies are discovered in that same building, so torn apart that investigators find it infeasible to even consider the culprit human.

Elsewhere, a client request reaches Touko Aozaki's detective agency, tasking Shiki Ryougi with either capturing or killing the perpetrator of last night's incident. But soon, word spreads that a single survivor escaped the slaughter, and now the murderer is plowing down everything in their path to locate and exterminate him. A brutal race against time begins, pitting Shiki against a dangerous foe imperceptible even to her legendary eyes.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ryougi, Shiki Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Aozaki, Touko Main

Honda, Takako Japanese

Kokutou, Mikiya Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Asagami, Fujino Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Kokutou, Azaka Supporting

Fujimura, Ayumi Japanese

Gakuto Supporting

Takahashi, Kenji Japanese

Minato, Keita Supporting

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kondou, Hikaru Producer

Hariu, Masayuki Producer

Toba, Yousuke Assistant Producer

Reviews

Apr 27, 2022

tsujiri

Recommended

I first started watching 'Kara no Kyoukai,' after seeing it recommended on a forum here for 'strong female leads,' and I haven't been disappointed once. I adore this series/franchise.

From the beginning (Part 1), it was clear that the writers of this show had very in-depth knowledge and possibly personal experience from the stories they were portraying. I had never watched a series that fully accurately conveyed how I felt about death (and more importantly, suicide) until now. Satsuriku no tenshi (Angels of Death) came VERY close, but this took it to the next level. I felt so completely understood and validated. If I had ... watched this series when I was in high school, it probably would've saved me sooner. To know I wasn't alone, I wasn't weird, and that depression was actually something that existed; that it was something that could be - and should be - professionally treated.

Anyway, despite the late discovery, I'm still incredibly fond of this anime. It just speaks to me on such a deep level. Initially, I wasn't going to write a review about any of them, just because I can see it being a controversial show. But this sequel, Part 3, re-kindled a lot of emotions for me to the point I felt I had to say something about it publicly, lol.

1) Part 3 should come with a trigger warning.
I mean, technically, the whole series should come with trigger warnings. But this one covers rape and many, many other instances of physical abuse.

2) Representation needs to be rewarded
If nothing else is remembered from this movie, I want to praise the studio for giving a poignant and meaningful representation to marginalized and victimized women. Maybe this is a controversial statement to say, but I really do think revenge (and related violence from revenge) can't be easily understood unless someone has suffered deeply enough to sympathize or empathize with the person carrying it out. I'm not going into gory details here, but let's just say this movie was very much balm to my soul.

3) 1 point away from a masterpiece
It had all the makings of a 10/10. I think the only reasons why I didn't give it a full 10 was that
- I wanted more (selfish, I know).
- Truthfully, they didn't do a good job of explaining the basically-supernatural powers that both Shiki and Asagami have. This part felt like a crack in a closed door that really should be open wider, because we are on Part 3. I wanted to hear more about Asagami's background, family, and of course, the power sealing / unlocked sensitivity etc. it just seemed like a lot of important details told in a confusing way. I am hoping that the other sequels will provide more context into this 'pureblood' thing referenced, but it will be disappointing if it isn't covered. I don't know if maybe it was just a Japanese to English translation thing not conveying the story right, but that was a LOT of details to be missing.

Aside from all that.
Highly recommend for those who like the following anime/manga:
- Satsuriku no tenshi (Angels of Death)
- Boku Dake Ga inai Machi
- Anyone else who gets angry at non consensual adult manga/anime...*cough*

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 13, 2013

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

Welcome to the end of film festival week. As promised, we're going to look at Kara No Kyoukai 3: Tsuukaku Zanryuu. Which is also the third film chronologically. Hey, they got one out of four in the right spot. I just hope it's more like the second film (first chronologically) than it is the first (fourth chronologically.) Let's take a look at KnK 3 and find out.

We open the story with a scene of a woman being raped... Isn't that a bit too serious of a scene to open with? This is the type of content you want to give your audience time to brace ... for, not just put it in from the get go. We need time to brace ourselves, Movie. We then switch ahead a bit and find out that most of the rapists have been killed off screen. A fate that should be suffered by all sexual predators. Preferably with a lot of pain involved. Touko's agency is hired to find the killer who, it turns out, is their victim, Fujino. And no, that's not a spoiler. It's revealed almost right away. Someone give that girl a medal and a puppy. Meanwhile, Keita is approached to find the last surviving rapist who doesn't deserve an actual name so I'll just call him Scum but Fujino is looking for him as well. They should just hand him over to her, but they decide to protect him in spite of his confessed crimes because... murder is bad even when it's well deserved and entirely justified. Yeah, I'm not buying it. But there's more to this scenario than a justified revenge killing spree and it could mean disaster. Okay, let's look at the positives and negatives. I'll start with the negatives because, in this case, there are fewer of them. One issue with the film is the pacing. Although, unlike the first two, this one doesn't have a bunch of slow stretches. It's just overly hectic. They introduce a lot of story elements which they either rush through or leave unfinished. They just try to cram too much in. That leads to my biggest issue. Scum never has to go through any sort of punishment, at least none that you see. Which really ticks me off. They aren't going to vivisect him? Disembowel him? Quarter him? We don't even get to see him maimed a little. They could've at least sent him to prison where he would hopefully get shanked and die of tetanus. Now we move on to the positives. This has quite a bit of disturbing content but, in spite of the impression I may have given, it is handled pretty well. Yeah, the opening sets a very dark tone and it could've easily led to some huge problems if they'd tried to, say, inject humour into later scenes, but they avoid that. The moral questions they bring up are pretty poignant. Even if some of us already have a strong opinion on them. I also like the way that Touko, Shiki, and Mikiya are inclined to sympathise with Fujino, albeit in different ways and that the event that leads to her climactic clash with Fujino is somewhat separate from the original case.

One thing that's a little odd about KnK 3 is that the antagonist, Fujino, comes off as the most sympathetic character around. If you don't feel sorry for her there's something wrong with you. This isn't to say that our three major protagonists aren't well handled. They all have a good sense of personality in this. Mikiya especially comes off really well. Like the other films, the side characters in this are pretty shallow, but the main characters do carry things effectively so it's not a major issue. This is also the first film that's given you a sense of Touko's personality which does have some interesting elements to it.

The art remains incredibly well done. With really detailed backgrounds and objects. The character art is still the weak link being well done, but kind of standard.

This film, like the last one, has really good voice acting. Noto Mamiko, Suzumura Kenichi and Honda Takako in particular give strong performances. Although there really isn't a weak link. The music is used to add to the atmosphere and works quite well.

The yuri factor is a 1/10. There's no yuri in this.

KnK 3 is a dark and disturbing film. It is certainly not for everyone and you should probably skip it if you're a sensitive sort. However, it is a pretty well done film and, if you can handle the content, it is an interesting work with some layers to it. That being said, it does have some pretty serious faults and I didn't like it as much as the second film overall. I give it a 6/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 23, 2024

YaBoiBunsen

Not Recommended

Spoiler

No bad reviews of this anime yet? Yeah I can to fix that.
This review contains spoilers for the first 15 minutes of the film with some inconsequential references to later scenes.

The good:
Visually it's the best out of the first three.

The bad:
This film is INCREDIBLY stupid.

The first 15 minutes of the movie seems promising on first watch. A classic rape-revenge setup. It's a cheap way to make the audience feel sympathy for our antagonist but it works well. They conspicuously introduce a Ouija Board in the first 5 minutes which seems like some obvious setup, but it's never mentioned again. I guess the writer never ... heard of Chekov or couldn't think of a single object that might serve the plot later down the line. Now here's our first taste of the genius dialogue you're going to hear throughout this movie.

Shiki: "Finish your story".
Touko: "I'd rather not accept this request, but I'm broke so I have no choice. About last night's incident..."
Shiki: "That's not necessary. I've got the idea."
Presumably Shiki was just very concerned about Touko's financial problems. What a good friend!

Touko then offers her Fujino's photo and bio, Shiki says "I don't need it. We're cut from the same cloth. I'm sure we'll try to kill each other the moment we meet." Excuse me? Isn't the entire point of giving you her bio so you can find her? What will you do if you never meet, Shiki? Do you not live in a large city? Thankfully Shiki is spared this embarrassing moment. They just happen to meet entirely by coincidence in a coffee shop because Kokutou flaked on his sister. Shiki realizes who Fujino is but doesn't kill her because Fujino isn't the right Fujino, she's the Fujino who doesn't feel pain rather than the murderous pain-feeling Fujino.

It's later explained by Touko that Shiki doesn't kill indiscriminately because:
"Shiki is murderphilic, yet subconsciously knows how precious death is. To Shiki, Fujino's mindless self-indulgence is unacceptable."
Stupidity of this line aside, this does not even remotely explain why Shiki refuses to kill Fujino. It may sound like it when you're watching the film and have about 3 seconds to think about it before the next idiotic line of dialogue, but no.

The writer is spared his blushes because it turns out Shiki meets Fujino in the next scene anyway after Fujino turns a rapist into a pretzel. Shiki says that she's been following Fujino ever since Fujino lured out "that piece of meat" (the rapist). She didn't follow Fujino. I guess the writer would have felt stupid if the reason Shiki caught Fujino in the act was because Kokutou couldn't keep his appointments.

Fujino: "Don't call him a piece of meat! He is human. He is..."
Shiki: "You know what? Humans don't die like that. Those who don't die like humans can't be called humans. Those removed from their boundary are deprived of their origin."
This one speaks for itself I think, go ahead and chew that one over.

Shiki once again doesn't kill Fujino because it's not the right Fujino. "You're not even worth killing right now." Thank God! The movie would have been over otherwise!

I think you get the idea. Keep in mind these first 15 minutes are the most coherent of this film. If I were to review the next 45 minutes in the same vein I'm not sure I would ever finish, it gets A LOT worse. I'm trying to refrain from spoiling further but I can't help but mention that one of the twists relies on Kokutou not knowing a stab wound in the stomach doesn't heal in two days, the shock on his face when Touko tells him this is priceless. But no! I have to stop writing. If I keep going I may never finish. Lord knows this movie is not worth it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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