Review: Kara no Kyoukai movie 2
Watched the movie this morning after waiting in a line for an hour with a bunch of nerds who were doing things like reading the Spice and Wolf novels and playing PSPs.
Part 2 concentrates almost exclusively on the initial meeting between Mikiya and Shiki. Mikiya pretty much instantly falls in love for Shiki because she is gigamoe he’s crazy/a teenager and Shiki doesn’t really appreciate this, because she’s kind of crazy/yandere, too. (I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but if you want spoilers then read the novel!!)
For a movie that’s essentially 50 minutes of introduction to the characters and setup to the rest of the films, this works out okay. It’s much slower and moodier than the first film, and the director even admits that action scenes are not his forte. (fun fact: he also directed coyote ragtime show. oops.) Mikiya and Shiki’s relationship here is the focal point of the plot, and it’s an interesting enough relationship to keep your attention for the span of the movie. I mean, on one hand you have kind of standard anime relationship plot points, female transfer student is shy and pushes guy away, guy is persistent and eventually gets girl’s attention. On the other hand, they’re both crazy, which may or may not account for Mikiya’s near-stalking of Shiki in the latter half of the film, and makes for a lot of boogiepop-style fun with Shiki. The ending is a semi-cliffhanger, which bothers me slightly, because I know I’m not going to get to watch the rest of the films for a while.
Again, the ticket was definitely worth my 1000 JPY, and again, I spent double that on merch. I’m not quite as enthusiastic about this one as I was about the first, but in the grand scheme of the 7-part cycle, it’s probably much more important than the first.