Kyoukai no Kanata [KyoAni]

rtil · October 11, 2013 10:01 PM

yea the pacing of the 2nd episode was a lot better. aki and mirai both seem to have some similar dark pasts, i'm curious about it now.

Gilthwixt · October 24, 2013 09:30 AM

[spoiler]This series is really snowballing. She beat the Hollow Shadow that they've been playing up as a big bad/key to her past at halfway into the episode, then immediately dove into MC's "I'm just as much a monster as you" background. I feel that if this were any other series, we'd be 6-10 episodes in at this point, but I guess since it's only a 13 episode series they're hauling ass on the plot. Also, that post credits scene. Now I have no clue where the plot's going. The factions seem to be the Society of SWW, MC and the Megane, their "friends" from the town, the imouto of the girl Megane killed, and the onee-chan that stole the Hollow Shadow and delivered it to mysterious old guy. Looks like the SSWW and the Old Guy are the two big opposing powers, with MC and friends caught somewhere in the middle, and the imouto as a wild card.

I'm enjoying the series so far but damn the pacing is fast.[/spoiler]

rtil · October 29, 2013 11:25 AM

Quote from: Gilthwixt on October 24, 2013 09:30 AM
[spoiler]This series is really snowballing. She beat the Hollow Shadow that they've been playing up as a big bad/key to her past at halfway into the episode, then immediately dove into MC's "I'm just as much a monster as you" background. I feel that if this were any other series, we'd be 6-10 episodes in at this point, but I guess since it's only a 13 episode series they're hauling ass on the plot. Also, that post credits scene. Now I have no clue where the plot's going. The factions seem to be the Society of SWW, MC and the Megane, their "friends" from the town, the imouto of the girl Megane killed, and the onee-chan that stole the Hollow Shadow and delivered it to mysterious old guy. Looks like the SSWW and the Old Guy are the two big opposing powers, with MC and friends caught somewhere in the middle, and the imouto as a wild card.

I'm enjoying the series so far but damn the pacing is fast.[/spoiler]

now that i'm finally caught up on this i can contribute again

this is definitely lighting fast pace for kyoani considering how easy-going their shows tend to flow. i don't mind it , although at times it can be hard to keep up as there is so much going on at once.

too many characters and alliances for me to keep track of, but there is one thing they still haven't touched on, and that is the implication that [spoiler]mc killed someone in his past as well, possibly as a result of his darker half[/spoiler]

Kött · November 3, 2013 07:04 PM

Did anyone notice that almost all of the spirit hunters seem to have at least one funny quirk? For instance, the black haired girl from the protagonist's club has her lollipop, her brother has his weird armpit fetish and the guy from the spirit hunter association seems to be a juice addict. This is just a dumb theory and I might be a little biased as I have watched Darker than Black just a while ago but these quirks might in fact be related to their special powers in some way. On the other hand, they might as well just be funny quirks to make the characters seem more interesting...

We know that both main characters have killed someone since episode 2. I guess I didn't pay attention at the part when it was cleared up that Megane killed that Chainsaw-staff girl's brother, but I have to admit that the viewer is fed a ton of information and hints at the same time in this show. In fact, I always liked about KyoAni's shows that the pacing was so laid back in the beginning, but this show is indeed very different. But I won't complain about that after Tamako Market and Chuuni.

Gilthwixt · November 3, 2013 11:02 PM

Quote from: Kött on November 3, 2013 07:04 PM
Did anyone notice that almost all of the spirit hunters seem to have at least one funny quirk? For instance, the black haired girl from the protagonist's club has her lollipop, her brother has his weird armpit fetish and the guy from the spirit hunter association seems to be a juice addict. This is just a dumb theory and I might be a little biased as I have watched Darker than Black just a while ago but these quirks might in fact be related to their special powers in some way. On the other hand, they might as well just be funny quirks to make the characters seem more interesting...

We know that both main characters have killed someone since episode 2. I guess I didn't pay attention at the part when it was cleared up that Megane killed that Chainsaw-staff girl's brother, but I have to admit that the viewer is fed a ton of information and hints at the same time in this show. In fact, I always liked about KyoAni's shows that the pacing was so laid back in the beginning, but this show is indeed very different. But I won't complain about that after Tamako Market and Chuuni.

Pretty sure she killed gun-spear girl's sister, did't she?

Akihito might have killed someone but I think the only thing he's done is heavily injure the kid with the scarf, which is where his scars are from. It's interesting that they're all so friendly/touchy feely with him despite being prepared to kill him at any given time. It's simultaneously cute and unsettling.

rtil · November 3, 2013 11:16 PM

i-it's not like i'm killing you because i like you or anything.. b-baka....

iinnkk · November 7, 2013 05:28 AM

Today's episode was super cute, and it had me laughing through the whole thing.
seriously my waifu...

rtil · November 11, 2013 10:55 PM

episode 6 was one of the most fun filler episodes i've ever seen in an anime

Kött · November 17, 2013 07:08 PM

Haruhi Suzimia all over da place

rtil · November 18, 2013 01:33 AM

knk is way better than harushit

Kött · November 19, 2013 01:34 AM

Pretty sure a lot of people would disagree there but let's just wait and see for now...

Gilthwixt · November 19, 2013 01:45 AM

KnK has been much more entertaining for me than Haruhi. Everything about it is solid, even the silly filler episode. Haruhi couldn't hold my interest and I stopped watching halfway through the first season, and while the nonlinear narrative was interesting at first it made it hard to follow.

rtil · November 19, 2013 02:55 AM

Quote from: Kött on November 19, 2013 01:34 AM
Pretty sure a lot of people would disagree there but let's just wait and see for now...

oh i would certainly not disagree with you. haruhi has a huge fandom , but honestly i think most people love it moreso for the movie. the movie was excellent. however the movie has the prerequisite of seeing the 1st mediocre season and the 2nd terrible season in order for you to get the most out of it. if you look at only the series, i don't see how anyone could say that it is good. maybe the 1st season, and the 2nd if you removed 2/3rds of it, but that's stretching it.

of course, knk isn't over, and the ending might end up being crap. but so far it is much better than haruhi ever could have hoped to be.

Gilthwixt · November 21, 2013 05:00 AM

Episode 8 is out. All aboard the hype train, no stops until the climax.

[spoiler]I still haven't figured out what Izumi did to the teacher and Akkey. If it's just a spell to put people to sleep and have them forget anything happened, then I wonder what she did to cause his transformation at the end of the episode. On the other hand, the sleep spell itself could have suppressed his human-half to the point that his youmu-half has awakened, but if this is The Calm then wouldn't that half be suppressed too? Maybe it has something to do with the gem from the Hollow Shadow. Bahh I honestly have no idea what's really happening with the two factions, but this episode was great.[/spoiler]

rtil · November 28, 2013 06:40 AM

Quote from: rtil on October 3, 2013 05:10 AM
"i stab you because i like you"

[spoiler]pretty much the plot now[/spoiler]

Gilthwixt · December 5, 2013 06:15 AM

Quote from: rtil on November 28, 2013 06:40 AM
Quote from: rtil on October 3, 2013 05:10 AM
"i stab you because i like you"

[spoiler]~~pretty much~~ the plot now[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Fixed. This fucking series. I don't know about you guys but I'm really enjoying this. That twist halfway through this weeks episode was great.[/spoiler]

rtil · December 21, 2013 12:05 PM

most rushed ending i've ever seen. 5/10 overall .. pretty disappointed.
[spoiler]so many things unexplained and the plot just ended up being a complete mess. so many things were glossed over or just dropped and never mentioned again. it's a shame because the premise was interesting and there could have been a lot more to the universe. they ran out of time, and the pacing never really got better. there were so many weird jump cuts during the last episode, and then the last bit was just the cheapest way to wrap everything up. oh well, the animation was still great , but other than that it's overall just average.[/spoiler]

Kött · December 21, 2013 01:49 PM

Quote from: rtil on December 21, 2013 12:05 PM
most rushed ending i've ever seen. 5/10 overall .. pretty disappointed.
[spoiler]so many things unexplained and the plot just ended up being a complete mess. so many things were glossed over or just dropped and never mentioned again. it's a shame because the premise was interesting and there could have been a lot more to the universe. they ran out of time, and the pacing never really got better. there were so many weird jump cuts during the last episode, and then the last bit was just the cheapest way to wrap everything up. oh well, the animation was still great , but other than that it's overall just average.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Idunno... 5/10 seems pretty hard but I cannot say that I am really satisfied with the way it ended either...
First of all I'd like to say that I really liked the way the final 3 episodes started. I watched all of them in a row yesterday with a couple of friends and at first they really had us guessing what had happened after the male lead got stabbed and what was actually going on at the moment. Also the battle scenes were pretty epic, hands down.
My main problem is the way they let it end as well as the drama. The scene where Akihito received Mirai's text message was directed well and so was the later scene where she finally dissolved after the battle and his reunification with KnK... but it simply wasn't a Kyoani level of feels imo... and it was even further weakened with the final scenes (her just reappearing out of nowhere with no proper explanation, completely setting everything back to the way it started).

This typical mix of forced drama and deus ex machina happy ending... it's simply something that should have been avoided. The ending would have been a lot stronger if Mirai had been left dead/vanished in my opinion.

Second issue is based on the loose ends, as you have already mentioned... bit I figure that it's merely a way of hinting at a second season as the novel that this show is based on is still unfinished.

It is true that this show definitely had its flaws, but all in all it was still a rather enjoyable anime imo.[/spoiler]

rtil · December 21, 2013 02:14 PM

honestly i think the best episode was the filler ep. makes me wonder if this show would have been a lot better if it hadn't taken itself so seriously.

Gilthwixt · December 21, 2013 04:23 PM

[spoiler]Gonna echo Kott on this one. I really enjoyed the final arc up until this episode. I think the disappointment on my end is partially my fault, since I started setting my expectations so high once the twist happened, but honestly that deus ex machina crap at the end was just terrible. And the way they tried to mirror the dialogue at the end with the dialogue from episode 1 just came off as lazy rather than smart. All of the loose plot threads just smells of obvious sequel bait, which I have mixed feelings about. If they do run a sequel I'll probably watch it, but after this ending it'd be hard to expect much, despite the series as a whole being pretty solid.

I think what really makes the ending bad is that in the end, nothing really changed, apart from the older sister running off and MC getting power over the KnK. If they do a new series I think they're more likely to be back at square one rather than upset the status quo (by having MC actively hunting youmu with the cast, having him and Mirai actually dating, etc.)[/spoiler]