BEYOND THE BOUNDARY Series Review

I've really been rooting for BEYOND THE
BOUNDARY, also known as KYOKAI NO KANATA. It's one of the best
animated shows that came out last fall, and despite being moe bait I
found a lot to enjoy in the interactions between characters. There
was a rich setting of Spirit World Warriors fighting youmu demons
(which represent the negative feelings of humanity) and the politics
associated with such a powerful and important group of people.

It's a shame, then, that so much of
this potential is wasted by inconsistent storytelling. Elements are
introduced, then shelved for several episodes. Politics are used as
explanations, but never explained themselves. And, in the final few
episodes of the series, the plot moves at lightspeed in a desperate
attempt to cram as much closure in as possible. My best hypothesis
for this is that Kyoto Animation, the studio that brought us the show
and the light novels it's based off of, wanted to do a full season of
26 episodes but only had the budget for 13.

== TEASER ==

The story goes that Akihito Kanbara, a
rare half-human half-youmu, befriends the lonesome transfer student
Mirai Kuriyama because she looks so good in glasses. It turns out
Mirai is from a cursed clan of Spirit World Warriors who can
manipulate their blood, and after several failed attempts to kill
Akihito (immortal thanks to his demonic heritage) he convinces her to
join his circle of friends—who happen to be other Spirit World
Warriors tasked with watching him in case his demon half gets out--in
their high school's Literary Club.

When describing BtB to people I often
mention the superb fighting, which is something you don't really
expect from a moe show. Combat is fluid and intricate, full of
flowing ribbons of destruction and explosions with great lighting
effects. The supernatural powers on display, even if they're just
punching stuff real hard, shows wondrous imagination. Mirai's blood
sword deserves special mention as not only does it look good, she
uses it in several interesting ways like changing the direction it's
facing.

And this continues through to the end
of the series, where the granddaddy of all youmu show's up and only
Mirai can take care of it. Unfortunately that's also where the show
starts falling apart.

Now there are some huge plot twists in
the last few episodes, as one might expect. Unfortunately they have
almost no gravitas because their setups were so brief. When one of
your villains is a villain because he's crazy, your plot is already
on shakey ground. Combine that with monologues about character
relationships we only assumed were present, and it seems like you're
trying to retroactively cram in character development.

Sure things are revealed, but major
questions about the origins of the show are never addressed. Big
things like who Akihito's father is. Or if Hiroomi Nase was in love
with Akihto. Or even just what the heck the Society of Spirit World
Warriors does. It seems like the show knows what these answers are,
but doesn't have the time to tell you and so rushes to the inevitable
conclusion.

But then the worst part—the worst
part—is when the show undoes it's own ending. By the last frames of
the final episode and thanks to some blatant deus ex machina,
everything is basically at square one again despite all the conflict.
Little is resolved and the relationships that remain feel
artificially happy and hopeful because there's no explanations for
how things got to start all over again.

So basically, if you're down with some
light moe fluff with an eye toward amazing animation, BEYOND THE
BOUNDARY will hit the spot just fine. Just don't expect great things
from the story, despite what it might lead you to believe.

Matt Murphy is a freelance nerd who has contributed to many nerd websites. You can reach him by going to where the light meets the shadow, by sending out zeta-brainwaves or by following him on Twitter@Murphix.