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Beyond the Boundary is a nonsensical attempt at an emotional rollercoaster starring strikingly designed and animated characters that viewers won’t care one lick about. Things are not as they seem Beyond the Boundary, but is this because of a well-written thriller, or an unorganized plot that jumps the shark every episode in the second half? Unfortunately it’s the latter. The central problem lies in the shows struggle to define spirit warriors, their organizations, powers, limitations, and relationship with Yomu (monsters). I typically enjoy anime where the negative emotions of humans manifest in some sort of tangible threat as BTB does with Yomu. This gives shows ... the ability to explore emotional stakes with visually striking fights…and BTB succeeds in the visually striking part with some of the most inventive fight sequences I’ve seen in a while. Where BTB fails is in those emotional metaphors being unable to strike a chord with its audience. Besides physically fighting the monsters, by the end it’s unclear how any of the main characters grew and overcame the negative emotions they were experiencing. Without real emotional stakes, what we’re left with is a guy with a glasses fetish having an unnecessarily complicated will-they/won’t-they with the new transfer student. So much time is spent playing up the two male characters fetishes for laughs that it obscures any personality that is hinted at later as having existed behind that. The humor falls flat most of the time. The character designs on the other hand are gorgeous and distinct. Each spirit warrior with their own unique fighting style, from fighting with a scarf that flows like a whip, to a tiny pet that dashes in the air on the warrior’s behalf, is choreographed exquisitely in their fight scenes.

I would show fight scenes of this to someone, but I wouldn’t want them to have to sit through the whole show.

Story: 3/10
Characters: 2/10
Animation: 10/10
Design: 9/10
Enjoyment: 5/10

For newer anime fans, I think watching this short will open your eyes as to what is possible in the medium of animation. This anime project put Yochimichi Kameda on the map as one of the most talented up and coming animators in the industry. Paroru has the charm of a Ghibli movie, but with linework evocative of brushstrokes a la Takeshi Koike or Takahata’s Tale of Princess Kaguya (though not quite as painterly and more frenetic than the later). I was blown away by how stylish and fluid the animation was, despite having such complex, unique character designs. Even background movement like the legs ... walking in the background of a scene in a busy city are lovingly animated with the attention of a main character.

If you are a sakuga enthusiast then you probably already know about Kameda’s work, but if you haven’t seen this early animation direction by him, I highly recommend seeking it out. As for the narrative itself, don’t expect anything more than a simple adventure, but sometimes that’s all you need to have a good time.

Best described as a mashup of SAO and Gantz. Some incredibly stellar fight animation, like seriously stylish!

Which makes it all the more incredible that these fights can be made tedious by a main character that narrates every moment of fights in video-game terms. Nothing takes you out of the action like a character stopping to literally read character stats and skill names off a screen. But self-narration isn’t enough to encompass what a bad*** the protagonist is… We also need side characters too exist for the sole purpose of commenting on how strong and skilled the protagonist is. For such a gory anime, the ... stakes never feel real for our protagonist because he openly talks about his own plot armor as a “player”.

The music isn’t particularly memorable either. Come for the visuals, stay if you like (or can tolerate) watching anime emulate video games.

A fun series of social strategy games, that’s unnecessarily cringe for the edgelord protagonist and unreliable character motivations of everyone around him.

The character motivations of everyone who is not the protagonist, are whatever is required to juke the audience and move the plot along. Sometimes that includes 180 degree turns of character personalities. This betrays the sense that these are real people and friends of the protagonist, which ultimately undermines the tension of their precarious situations, because who cares about characters that don’t seem human, right?
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Lots of time spent on characters marveling at what a genius the protagonist is and how much that turns them on sexually.

The animation is sub-par.

That being said, the games themselves are creative (when they aren’t torture porn), the design and comedy of the creepy mascot was fun and memorable. I enjoyed working through the logic of some of the games. That earns it 3 stars.

Shinkai shows once again why he is a master at tugging the heartstrings, specifically in conveying the space between human connection. In just 7 minutes we get a sense of the all to relatable distance between father and daughter, as well as the quiet desperation of the daily grind of a working adult living alone, who has become disconnected from the joys of family and youth. In just 7 minutes we understand how things got to the place, through gorgeous character design and limited animation we are taken on this heartfelt journey of adulthood.

I think there’s an instinct to describe this short film (and ... most of Shinkai’s work) as sappy or melodramatic, but it’s so connected to something genuine that many of us experience that I don’t think it’s a fair description, even if I understand where that instinct is coming from.

I enjoyed watching each mystery solved bring catharsis to a pre-existing trauma for a supporting character. The playful rivalry between childhood friends Haruta and Chika is entertaining and smartly written. The romantic rivalry for the teacher is handled carefully with a sense of innocence that allows it to avoid becoming gross. The Japanese voice actors perform some lines in english that come across more believable than most examples of english dialogue in JP dubs. The animation itself was above average, particularly the character expression and the emotional beats of the directing.

There could have been more focus on the music performed throughout the show considering ... the setting of a school brass band club.

I almost didn’t watch this because I assumed I would dislike it, like I dislike all 3D CGI anime. When they announced Blade Runner was getting a full season anime, I was hyped...when they later announced it was going to be another Shinji Aramaki 3D joint, my hopes immediately deflated. I’ve seen enough of Aramaki’s work to know I don’t like anything he’s done since he got on the 3D train with Appleseed.

But I decided to give it a chance out of curiosity, and you know what? As soon as I got over the disappointment that it doesn’t look like Blackout, I found myself wrapped ... up in this incredibly atmospheric production. The CG backgrounds and vehicles create a truly immersive world, and the narrative grabs your attention and keeps it there. The sound design is equally as immersive with a bangin soundtrack to boot! Even the unexpressive CGI faces work in the show’s favor, putting us into the same position as its characters trying to work out who’s human and who’s not, and compounding the unsettling nature of the questions this story forces us to reckon with about the nature of humanity amongst our creations.

Plunderer introduces story elements that could have made for an interesting show: A world where people are station in a rigid hierarchy with tattooed numbers indicating rankings, where one must listen to anyone ranked above them and the only way to advance is to perform an (often mundane) assigned task, while failure to comply results in being dragged into an “abyss” (death? purgatory?). Anyone with a day job in a capitalist country can relate to this and it could have been an interesting focus for this anime. There’s also a fun soldier side-character stationed in a small town, who defies orders, instead spending her time ... doing volunteer work around the town, calling into question our conception of what an effective law enforcement officer might look like. This would have been yet another worthwhile concept to explore...but the writers of Plunderer aren’t interested in any of it. Instead she’s just there to be groped, flash her panties, and act demure towards our overpowered, lecher of a hero. After 5 episodes it becomes abundantly clear Plunderer is nothing more than a generic self-insert ecchi fantasy, and that the number system is just a lazy way of expressing power levels of these mostly bland, cliche characters. Don’t waste your time thinking it’s more.

The movie has some incredible animation and breathtaking backgrounds, but is wildly inconsistent. Not that any of it is terrible, but some parts clearly stood out as rushed or with janky cgi character movements. Other scenes are quite striking, with fluid animation that adeptly conveys both action, and more subtle body language. In fact, one of the film’s greatest strengths is the animation’s ability to capture the personality of the characters in each scene, whether it’s the rebelliousness abandonment of Qi Jingxuan, or Yao Zhe Tian’s quiet desperation to find purpose and break free from her overly structured life. Even side characters like the teacher, ... who alternates between egotistical authoritarian, sniveling brown nose, achieve a depth of character through their movements and expressions...which is fortunate, because the English subtitle translations often left me unsure of what was really being said in dialogue.

The other great strength of the film is a touching soundtrack that hits all the right emotional notes and really like a punches you in the gut when it wants to make an impact! While not a masterpiece, it’s a respectable feature film from this first wave of big budget Chinese productions. This is a movie that I would like to rewatch if I can find a copy with more accurate english subtitles.

You know how some stories can wind up going downhill? Well in Gibiate’s case, that hill is a 90 degree cliff...

At the top of this cliff are some uniquely beautiful character designs harkenng back to the days of late 80’s and early 90’s OVAs like Ninja Scroll, with realistically proportioned adult bodies and copious amounts of shading to give them depth and edge! Frankly, the designs are super cool, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since they are the brainchild of Yoshitoki Amano (of Final Fantasy and Vampire Hunter D fame) and then refined by the amazingly talented mangaka Naoki Serizawa, of whom I’m a ... huge fan. (Seriously, check out his art in Billion Dogs and Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire!)

From there these characters are placed into a story with the promising premise of Edo era samurai timetraveled into a scifi dystopia plagued by mutated human monsters, where they must assist the scant remaining pockets of uninfected humanity as they struggle to survive. The tone is set with an awesome OP from the Yoshida Brothers, a talented duo of shamisan players, and a very cool choice for anime opening music that we rarely get to experience. And then there’s the cliff...

The actual execution of the story begins and it turns out the crew of animators is not prepared to animate these incredible character designs. We see a lot of still shots and the animation we do get is stiff and lifeless. The characters are often placed in extraordinary circumstances with little to no visible reaction. This inability to convery emotion makes the characters come off as unsympathetic and robotic.

Rather than being absorbed into the story, the viewer is constantly made aware that they are watching the interactions of poorly written characters. The dialogue also seemed rushed and expository. Rather than expressing the thoughts and personalities of the characters, the dialogue is simply a vehicle for the scriptwritter to coldly convey to the viewers the data and background information necessary to reach the next plot point.

By the third episode, the animation team can’t even maintain the consistancy of the character designs in scenes with limited movement. What a train wreck. Which coincidently, is exactly what you get when you start a train at the top of a 90 degree cliff...

But man are those character designs a thing of beauty at the top of that cliff. Maybe that’s how this is best enjoyed - as pre-production images. Or hopefully, as part of Amano or Serizawa’s next art book ;)