Kara no Kyoukai Movie 4: Garan no Dou

Kara no Kyoukai review Part 4

One of the hallmarks of a good story is the ease with which it can suspend the disbelief of the reader or viewer, and in that respect the Kara no Kyoukai franchise has been good, but not truly great. That said, the fourth installment, Garan no Dou (The Hollow Shrine), is a tad more introspective than previous outings, and it may signify a shift into a higher gear for the series.

The story begins directly after the end of the second movie, with the unconscious Ryougi Shiki being transported to hospital in an ambulance accompanied by Kokutou Mikiya. When she finally ... awakens from her coma, Shiki discovers that she has somehow gained the ability to “see” strangely distorted patterns on everything and everyone, and also that she has been asleep for two years. During that time Kokutou has graduated from highschool and is now working for Aozaki Touko.

Unlike the first three movies Garan no Dou is surprisingly straightforward in that the focus is solely on Shiki, and while there are some plot twists, these are pretty easy to follow. The story flows at a pace that allows the viewer to absorb the relevant information with a degree of ease, and this makes a nice change of pace from previous episodes. Unfortunately, the simplistic nature of the plot means that the show is a tad predictable, and viewers may find themselves wishing for a little of the slightly demented nature of previous outings.

That said, the main goal of Garan no Dou is to offer viewers an insight into one of the franchise’s most enigmatic characters, and in that respect one might fairly say that this movie is a job well done. The simpler approach to storytelling offers the ability to develop specific characters or scenarios in a way that more complex plots simply aren’t capable of as they lack the “free time” that is required. The movie does dip into some complex themes though, but rather than use them as a means to drive the story forward these dalliances with conceptualisation serve to offer insight into the mind and heart of Shiki, something which has been missing for quite a while.

Ufotable have once again done an excellent job with the artwork and animation, however there are some small areas where the quality drops a little. The hospital environs have an appropriately clinical feel to them which are surprisingly adaptive as when the story takes a darker turn, these surroundings and backdrops adopt a far more ominous feel. Then again, they’re really nothing more than spartan rooms and corridors (which in anime terms is just above a blank canvas), so one has to wonder how much effort went into the environmental design.

The characters are depicted at quite a unique stage given that Garan no Dou covers the two year period between the second and third movies, and the audience is given the rather rare and welcome opportunity of seeing them physically age over the course of one episode (admittedly there is an accelerated sense of time but that’s by-the-by). The slight changes in the design of Kokutou and Shiki (especially facially), are subtle, but they are noticeable (something which Ufotable should be applauded for).

As for the animation, the action sequences are well executed and Garan no Dou features some very fluid natural and unnatural motions (you’ll understand what I mean when you watch the movie). In addition to this the visual effects are suitably ephemeral when necessary, and the incorporated CG fits in to the whole rather nicely. That said, some viewers may find the more physical aspects of the various supernatural phenomenon to be a tad mundane, but it should be pointed out that the main reason for this is simply because of the limitations imposed by “reality”.

To put it simply, there’s only so much that can be done with the “real” world and human beings in a movie like this as taking the more fantastic elements too far would only destroy the storyline.

In addition to some excellent visuals, Garan no Dou also features some highly atmospheric background music, with the tracks on offer ranging from hauntingly melancholy to chorally dramatic. The audio effects are sharp and clean, and it’s nice to see that efforts have been made to rectify the the overwhelming nature of the various sounds that sometimes marred the previous episodes.

One of the strengths of the franchise since the very first movie has been the quality of the acting, and in that respect this film has several things to offer. After much waiting and several fairly mundane appearances in the series so far, Honda Takako is finally able to add some character to the role of Aozaki Touko, and she does it very well. Additionally, viewers are able to see a new and different side to Shiki, and Sakamoto Maaya really manages to capture the feelings of fear and confusion in an otherwise stoic (and psychotic), lead character.

Now many people believe that the second movie, Satsujin Kousatsu Part 1, features the best development thus far in the series, and while the characters do receive a good degree of definition in that episode, Garan no Dou is at least equal, but from a completely different angle. This installment offers viewers the chance to see a far more complex side of Shiki than any of the previous outings, and allows some of her true potential as a character to shine through. That said, Kokutou is relegated to bit parts, but this is counterbalanced by the fact that much needed characterisation is given to Touko.

Which brings up an interesting thought. There’s an argument that the Kara no Kyoukai franchise would have been better off being released as a standard anime series of 26 episodes as this would allow all of the important characters the chance to get some much needed airtime. The current format seems limited in that respect as each episode can only focus on specific characters, with the rest appearing in minor supporting roles no matter how important they are in the overall storyline.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for the current approach as it has the benefit of really focusing attention on the important characters and events in that episode, and the fact that the series jumps around in time means that there is less for viewers to make educated guesses about, and this helps to keep future episodes fresh.

Whatever one thinks of the Kara no Kyoukai franchise, one of the nice things about the series is that it takes the the main theme of Lunar Legend Tsukihime, tears it apart, and rebuilds it as something new, and Garan no Dou signifies the difference between the two shows far more than any other episode thus far. Granted there are overarching plot points that still need explanation, themes that could have been explored in a bit more detail (the whole concept of The Void is just one example of this), and a degree of predictability to the story, but these can be forgiven in the face of some solid character definition and development. One should also remember that this is simply the midway point in the series, so questions will undoubtedly remain about certain aspects of the story, and it remains to be seen if they will be answered in future installments.

The fifth episode awaits….

I really like many of the TYPE MOON series and one of them is Kara no Kyoukai. And this chapter is very interesting and fascinating.

First at all, I was delighted with the graphics. They are very cool, and well done. The animation is very clear, many scenes were dark but this just add more mystery and thrill, just what this anime is. There are many abstrac obscure scenes and in this time, you're not going to see many bloody scenes, however, routine scenes are intriguing, too. I like the character design but I think is kind of little cliche, both of the main characters ... remind of the main characters of Tsukihime, although the personality of the main female characters are really different.

Another thing I liked was the soundtracks. They are really nice and they complement the scenes and mix with them very well. They just give you more occult and mystery senses and a little bit of sadness and doubt of many things. Well, I really like Yuki Kajiura songs and this anime is perfect for her songs.

About the story, this chapter explain a lot than the others chapters. As I said, there aren't many bloody scenes or too much action as the third one, but this complement the other three previous chapters and you are going to understand a lot of things, but obviously, not everything (If you understand everything, then this anime would have never been classify as mystery). I like this anime doesn't follow the traditional linear chronological order, maybe it is a little confusing, but this chapter is going to clear up many concepts and ideas.

To conclude, if you like mystery, thriller, psichological plots and obscure gore things, also you like supernatural things like ghost and souls and you had seen the other chapter and you don't understand it very much, I really recommend you to watch this anime.

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but Garden of Sinners (aka Kara no Kyoukai) movie 4: The Hollow Shrine is not that good! In fact, if you take away the gorgeous animation, artwork, and music, its actually a pretty bad movie!

Spoilers ahead


Up until now I have been enjoying the Garden of Sinners anime quite a fair bit. Although not on the level of Nasu's other works (Fate and Tsukihime in particular) it still remains an enjoyable watch. Yet, I can confidently say that this movie was an absolute slog to get through, despite only being 46 minutes long. I also feel confident in saying that if ... Garden of Sinners did not have top tier production values, I'd easily rate this movie below a 5.

Let me explain my reasons why.

So basically in this movie Shiki has been in a coma for 2 years, and it is diving more into her backstory. Cool right? More Shiki = great! Well yes, but actually no. While I was looking forward to seeing Shiki's backstory being explored, this movie handled it in the worst way possible. They could have showed us more of her upbringing, her relationships with other cast members, maybe revealed a power or secret that she had been hiding from us all along. But this entire movie is just pretentious anime bullshit times 1000. Instead of the usual badass Shiki that we got in the first 3 movies, this time around we get a depressed bitch who constantly flip flops between wanting to live and die, leaving the viewer with a miserable watching experience. Some random fuck jumps at you out of nowhere and begins to strangle you. What do you do? Well I'd assume most people would at least try and fight back, maybe start punching and kicking, throw objects or grab a potential weapon and utilize it. What I can fucking guarantee you is that pretty much nobody is going to lie there and begin pondering the meaning of existence. "What is the meaning of life?" "What purpose does my life actually have?" "For what reason were we brought into this world?" "Why should I keep on living?" "Is death as bad as it seems?" "Life is so hard and death is so easy." "Why was I even born?" are all questions that are completely and utterly meaningless as you only get one shot at life. Once you're dead, that's it. Your time's up. Game over. Lights off. The time is now, and if you aren't living in the present you will just waste your life away whether you like it or not. But yeah, Shiki literally just sat that for minutes on end like a dead fish out of water, spouting all that existential, philosophical crap (in her mind) trying to make it sounds "deep" and "mature" when in reality she's just making herself look like a big fat clown.

Now, Garden of Sinners is a franchise that is praised heavily by elitists. "It's peak fiction" they said. "Shiki is top 1 fictional female" they said. "Kara no Kyoukai = best Nasu work." they said. Well I'm here to tell you that those are all a bunch of lies. Granted, I just finished watching this film, so I can't speak on movies 5-8. Maybe they are much better and will solve my problems that I have with this franchise.

I do enjoy the mystery elements of Kara no Kyoukai. Which is why this movie felt like a massive gut punch because it pretty much answered none of the pre-established mysteries, left us with more, and just was kinda an overall waste of time.

There were some good moments in the film like when Shiki "killed her other self" with the knife. And look, I'm not trying to sit here and tell you that Kara no Kyoukai has a complete garbage story, because it doesn't. It actually has very interesting themes and presents them in a unique way. The problems lie within the execution. For example, it seems that Nasu loves using negative things such as r*pe and death to drive home points (this happens more in movie 3). I'm not going to dive into that right now, but I'm glad he toned that shit down in Fate because it can be insanely edgy at times, and the only reason I can think of it being there is for pure shock factor, which doesn't work after you've experience enough media.

And, I know people are going to hate me for this, but I gotta say. If I wanted a "deep" and "complex" story, I would just read Ulysses, Crime and Punishment, How to Kill a Mockingbird, etc etc. Those would have a lot more to offer in terms of compelling narratives than watching a depressed anime girl go between wanting to die versus not wanting to die. Instead of making a quick decision that would satisfy us we are forced to watch her lie in bed like a dead moth just because she doesn't have the balls (literally and figuratively) to off herself.

Again. Only reason I'm giving it a 6 is because it has beautiful animation (credit to ufotable) and amazing music (credit to Kalafina and Yuki Kaijura). If these aspects were nothing short of stellar, I probably would have given this a 3 and dropped the franchise as a whole.