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Beyond the Boundary (Kyoukai no Kanata) (TV).


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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:24 am Reply with quote
Fell behind a week because of a brief infection of real life. Decided I'd just wait at that point and watch all three final episodes at once. Glad I did.

#10 - That was absolutely [expletive] awesome! This is the best kind of twist. Because it doesn't just serve to surprise you with an unexpected revelation. It makes you completely re-contextualize everything that's happened up until that point. It totally explains why Mirai is so unwilling to get close to Aki in addition to her own reasons. Their meeting is so cool now too. I mean, it seemed fairly goofy initially so it isn't the perfect setup but it at least made enough sense at the time with him being half Youmu and her a Youmu hunter that I more or less just bought it and thought nothing much of it. But now it makes the whole "I was actually trying to kill you all along" twist work so well because in retrospect it actually seems so obvious since she was literally was trying to kill him initially.

They also made a little more explicit what I have been saying made episode 4 so great. And I thought they handled the whole dream thing very well too. It's so artificially cheerful after last episode that you feel instantly that something is off. And then you've got the scenes of Mirai in the winter which you assume is the real world where something is wrong with Aki from the battle. Except then it turns that right on its head too! This show has an great talent for misdirection.

Also, before criticizing Mirai's self-sacrifice people should keep in mind that the show addresses this. In her last conversation, Izumi tells her that Aki would want for her to just kill him. And she says "right back at him". It's a very poignant scene I think because it's true. She doesn't want him to die for her either. So it goes both ways. You can hardly fault her for sacrificing herself for him any more than him for wanting to sacrifice himself for her.

#11 - It would be easy to just rush headlong into the conclusion but instead it is nice to see them bring some resolution to Izumi by having Aki confront her. She's cold but honest and her motivations do make sense. And Sakura too. And Mirai's last text was really nice. Brilliant timing on the music at the end there. Just a solid setup/buildup episode all around.

#12 - Well, it might have been nice if Man-Glasses had more of a discernibly goal besides just hating Izumi and wanting to destroy everything. Then again, he was never really the focus so it wasn't a big deal one way or the other. Basically this episode delivers what I wanted. It already kinda pulled off its last big twist in episode 10. All it really needed at this point was a big, epic battle where Mirai and Aki kick ass together to cap it all off. And the side battle with Izumi and co. was cool too if a little short lived.

You know, if they'd just vanished Mirai and then immediately brought her back it would have felt a bit pointless and manipulative. But, Aki's ending monologue was really nice. The fact that he actually has to move on makes what happened work a lot better. The fact Mirai reappeared at the end was just sorta icing on the cake afterwards. I'm not really clear why it happened. And yet, I could also not care less. I'm really glad that these two got a happy ending.

Summation: Love this show. It takes familiar tropes but builds them into something great. This is certainly my anime of the season. Would be my anime of the year but...you know...Flowers of Evil. In any case though, I really really enjoyed it.

DuskyPredator wrote:
And for chemistry between them, come on they had it by now. The more I think about it the more I realize that Akihito always talking about glasses may have been his way of giving a reason for people hating him, a reason that was not just because of what he was. As he mentioned in the episode, he is actually rather insecure, jealous etc, he hid those feelings and tried to act goofy.


Yes, absolutely. I'm glad someone else seems to get this. All the people complaining about the glasses thing are clearly not seeing the forest for the trees. I mean, he obviously does like glasses, but the way he is always talking about it is clearly an act. He acts goofy but its a way of hiding his real feelings.
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Heinzendegger



Joined: 22 Jun 2012
Posts: 321
PostPosted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:00 pm Reply with quote
And I think it was just Key magic copypaste kind of ending, with no explanation, as expected of a soulless show.

I'm sure they'll be over with Chuu2 second fast and will finally focus on their main dish, that is Free 2.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:31 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
There wasn't anything about the final battle that particularly gripped me except waiting to see how everything would shake out.

I'm with you there. Big finales are hard to pull off in any case and they had set up a particularly difficult one.

Also disappointing was the fully unexplained manner in how Mirai just materializes again out of thin air just to make a happy ending out of it.

Although given that she was the last of the Cursed Blood clan and only that clan can defeat the BtB, the human race would be SOL if it ever materialized again and she or a descendent wasn't around to take care of it.

Regardless of all that this turned out to be a much better anime than the early reviews suggested.
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Akito Kinomoto



Joined: 24 Dec 2010
Posts: 48
Location: Pretentious University
PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 6:20 pm Reply with quote
I've heard some very interesting things about Beyond the Boundary. When I watched it for myself, there were things I liked, things I disliked, and things I absolutely. Cannot. Stand. More thoughts below...
---
It was the night before Monday, when curiosity struck me, to watch an infamous anime called Beyond the Boundary. I shrugged off the bashers, the haters, the cynics, thinking they’re just nothing but old school critics. And I was right, this anime was harmless at the start, inoffensively uninspired, but I wasn’t looking for art. But as the show went on, it started to unravel, and soon I knew I was watching trashy drabble. I didn’t want to hate it, but it gave me so little to like, and that amounted to hit and miss humor and some very nice fights.

But the story itself was so empty and bare, when it tried to convince me it was worth something at the end, I felt like tearing my hair. To explain every detail would take too long for a review, so I’ll break it down into the show’s three story arcs just for you.

The first story arc leads to a dramatic reveal about Akihito’s past, but it doesn’t work because Mirai’s backstory goes so fast. The idea here is Mirai thinks Akihito doesn’t understand what she goes through, but the reveal at this story arc proves her thoughts untrue. Akihito’s past itself isn’t shown, because we’re supposed to substitute Mirai’s past for his own. And that idea might have worked, parallelism can be great, if only Mirai’s past wasn’t so poorly paced. Her motivations are certainly revealed at the end, but this isn’t her backstory, it just sort of begins the story again. But back to Mirai’s past and this story arc, it introduces Yui who’s essential to the next character’s part.

With the next story arc comes Sakura the kuudere for a revenge plot, and that’s all we have to go on for her, I kid you not. She’s Yui’s younger sister, she wants to kill Mirai, but it’s hard to feel anything for her because her backstory with Yui just flew by. I wish I was exaggerating when I say that’s all I can type, but did you honestly expect more when the show couldn’t get its main characters right? So her conflict was resolved, no damns were given, at least the final story arc is purely story-driven.

Though I liked the last story arc for all of the action, it’s hard to cheer for these undeveloped characters with any kind of passion. I don’t mind simple characters who don’t become anything more, but in a show this serious and this backstory-heavy, it’s a fault I can’t ignore. But even if you could like the characters, the humor kills the mood all throughout show, as if proper comedic timing is something the writers didn’t know. The jokes themselves can be repetitive but I’ll leave that to taste—I certainly enjoyed seeing Mitsuki with glasses on her face. But I think once you see Mitsuki pointing out the absurdity of such serious words from a MILF who’s scantily-clad, you’ll realize that even if you liked the humor, it’s placement is everywhere and it just becomes bad.

I liked the comedy when it didn’t kill the mood, and the fight scenes were certainly visual eye-candy food. But when a serious story tries to use too many comedy spices, it makes it look like the show is suffering from an identity crisis. Coupled with characters so undeveloped and backstories rushed, any hope of being attached to them is swiftly crushed. If Fall 2013 gave us many anime presents, Beyond the Boundary is the charcoal, and it’s just unpleasant.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 6:54 am Reply with quote
Yeah, the big twist of Beyond the Boundary wasn't that Mirai was trying to kill Akihito, it was she was {spoiler]trying to kill Akihito{spoiler}.
...

It's still a beautiful show, well animated and with dialogue so wooden Abe Lincoln would say "That'd make for a good cabin".

I was fine with that. Then I got to the plot of episode 10, the series itself, and there's a problem. Magic, magical attacks and magical creatures can be whatever you say they are, whatever you want them to be. It's magic, you know? But, and this is the important part, when something happens regarding your magic system, it has to be understood, unquestionable, and above all, untragic.

Maybe I'm not explaining this right. In My-Hime, the rules were spelled out - after the fact but still, it was explained and what happened, and happened, and happened again, was appropriate. But here...

Quote:
#10 - That was absolutely [expletive] awesome! This is the best kind of twist.


It actually was a large pile of crap, still steaming in the cold winter air but I can understand the confusion. So where did Beyond the Boundary go wrong? Having vaguely understood rules governing character choices? A problem to be sure but as long as you don't focus the plot on it, you should get away with it. Having conflicting character motivations up to the point where you don't know why character A has to be dead, let alone why character B wants it done by C? It doesn't help but if you explain rather than just laying out bland terms with the fate of the world in the balance! then you should be able to get away with it.

A consistent magic/magical creature system that's fully formed and can stand on its own rather than a series of thefts from shows like Kikaishi, Soul Eater, Hellsing and who knows what else? What, the basis for everything else is rotten as well?

And I'm just saying this in the emotional context of episode ten but I can gather what happens afterward, regardless. Outside of logic, plot and character needs...

Quote:
You know, if they'd just vanished Mirai and then immediately brought her back it would have felt a bit pointless and manipulative.


Thanks to this, I'm having problems closing my mouth; I've never seen anyone get so close to an idea and just completely miss it.

*cough* They're making up the rules, it is manipulative!

Quote:
This is certainly my anime of the season. Would be my anime of the year but...you know...Flowers of Evil.


I know.... it sucks. Too.
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Crisha
Moderator


Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:01 am Reply with quote
Akito Kinomoto wrote:
I've heard some very interesting things about Beyond the Boundary. When I watched it for myself, there were things I liked, things I disliked, and things I absolutely. Cannot. Stand. More thoughts below...
---
It was the night before Monday, when curiosity struck me, to watch an infamous anime called Beyond the Boundary. I shrugged off the bashers, the haters, the cynics, thinking they’re just nothing but old school critics. And I was right, this anime was harmless at the start, inoffensively uninspired, but I wasn’t looking for art. But as the show went on, it started to unravel, and soon I knew I was watching trashy drabble. I didn’t want to hate it, but it gave me so little to like, and that amounted to hit and miss humor and some very nice fights.

But the story itself was so empty and bare, when it tried to convince me it was worth something at the end, I felt like tearing my hair. To explain every detail would take too long for a review, so I’ll break it down into the show’s three story arcs just for you.

The first story arc leads to a dramatic reveal about Akihito’s past, but it doesn’t work because Mirai’s backstory goes so fast. The idea here is Mirai thinks Akihito doesn’t understand what she goes through, but the reveal at this story arc proves her thoughts untrue. Akihito’s past itself isn’t shown, because we’re supposed to substitute Mirai’s past for his own. And that idea might have worked, parallelism can be great, if only Mirai’s past wasn’t so poorly paced. Her motivations are certainly revealed at the end, but this isn’t her backstory, it just sort of begins the story again. But back to Mirai’s past and this story arc, it introduces Yui who’s essential to the next character’s part.

With the next story arc comes Sakura the kuudere for a revenge plot, and that’s all we have to go on for her, I kid you not. She’s Yui’s younger sister, she wants to kill Mirai, but it’s hard to feel anything for her because her backstory with Yui just flew by. I wish I was exaggerating when I say that’s all I can type, but did you honestly expect more when the show couldn’t get its main characters right? So her conflict was resolved, no damns were given, at least the final story arc is purely story-driven.

Though I liked the last story arc for all of the action, it’s hard to cheer for these undeveloped characters with any kind of passion. I don’t mind simple characters who don’t become anything more, but in a show this serious and this backstory-heavy, it’s a fault I can’t ignore. But even if you could like the characters, the humor kills the mood all throughout show, as if proper comedic timing is something the writers didn’t know. The jokes themselves can be repetitive but I’ll leave that to taste—I certainly enjoyed seeing Mitsuki with glasses on her face. But I think once you see Mitsuki pointing out the absurdity of such serious words from a MILF who’s scantily-clad, you’ll realize that even if you liked the humor, it’s placement is everywhere and it just becomes bad.

I liked the comedy when it didn’t kill the mood, and the fight scenes were certainly visual eye-candy food. But when a serious story tries to use too many comedy spices, it makes it look like the show is suffering from an identity crisis. Coupled with characters so undeveloped and backstories rushed, any hope of being attached to them is swiftly crushed. If Fall 2013 gave us many anime presents, Beyond the Boundary is the charcoal, and it’s just unpleasant.

I haven't watched this series at all, and I'm only in this thread to point out that this review is awesome! Awkward at times, but awesome! Laughing

You're just missing one little bit:

And I heard Akito exclaim as he left for the night --
Happy late Christmas to all! Now get this anime out of my sight!
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:33 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I don't find that review awesome at all because I disagree with aspects of it. It's all personal opinion, of course, but I certainly had no problem with how the show juxtaposed serious and comedic moments at all. I know some people did, but I didn't. In fact, I find the claim that the writers don't understand comedic timing to be utterly ridiculous, but hey, humour is wildly subjective.

I also had no problem identifying and rooting for the characters even though it can be argued that development for some of them was skimped on. I guess some viewers need their hand held more than I do. A few quick traces and I "get it" - I don't need a big song and dance all the time.

Personally, willag, I think you'd like this show.
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Crisha
Moderator


Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:03 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Yeah, I don't find that review awesome at all because I disagree with aspects of it.

B-but, 'twas the night before Christmas! I wasn't paying as close attention to what the content was saying as I was that it made sense and rhymed! Because Night Before Christmas!

Dude, this is like the pinacle of my life all wrapped up in a pretty little bow and strapped to a ticking timebomb. I keep telling myself my life is now complete after being introduced to something epic on the interwebz. But, no, this is it, quote me, THE BIG ONE, catchphrase willag 2014: My life is now complete for the next few minutes.

Blood- wrote:
Personally, willag, I think you'd like this show.

Hmm... I'll definitely consider it, given yours and ikillchicken's reviews (but mainly yours, of course, my brotha from another motha). The whole "helpless adorable girl" routine to reel in the people attracted to that has no appeal to me at all, but I could probably ignore it if there's something special about the series I'd like.

Personally, Kyousogiga has more appeal to me. I just didn't feel like watching any shows weekly for the Fall season like I did for the Summer. So I've just waited for the series I wanted to see to conclude.
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Akito Kinomoto



Joined: 24 Dec 2010
Posts: 48
Location: Pretentious University
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:21 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
It's all personal opinion

No it's not. It's indisputable fact.

Wait let me check again.

Yes. It is definitely personal opinion.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 4:21 pm Reply with quote
Can we meet in the middle and say it's indisputable opinion?
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:06 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:

Personally, willag, I think you'd like this show.


Then the formulaic manipulation will strike you like lightning out of the blue and you will hate yourself for liking it in the first place. Or not, if you don't think about it.

Definitely a "feel, don't think" kind of series. I find it hilarious that episode ten was the episode that was supposed to be "OMG, this is so amazing" for the audience, for those on the fence about liking it but I just found to be irritating and anticlimactic. For a plot point introduced in episode 9. Or was it 8? No, it was 10, wasn't it? No, 9 was supposed to be the OMG! episode and ten was the aftermath/backstory explaining why 9 was so OMG! Six months happened after but four months was before so he was stuck for... so it was summer than winter, no winter then summer... oh, it was all wrong anyway, never mind.

And I still have two episodes to go for everything to reset! Or is that a spoiler? I don't how this works, I haven't seen those episodes but I already know how the whole plot is going to work out because of its sheer incompetence.

Just watch the stand alone episodes, all two of them and just pretend she's a beginner and he's not the whatever he is, was and will apparently be. I thought the arbitrary youma stones pricing was just a joke, a running gag, and not foreshadowing of ...

Everything. No rules, no worries!

Quote:
It's all personal opinion, of course, but I certainly had no problem with how the show juxtaposed serious and comedic moments at all.


No, it's not opinion that the dialogue was so forced that you could cut out all those "development" bits and not lose anything. That one has a glasses fetish and that one has a thing for his sister, it is funny. And the one with glasses reacts and the sister reacts, it is funny. Then they repeat it, then they explain it and then they extoll the virtues of it. Then they repeat it again...

It is funny.

The one off episode with the eye youma? Funny. Actually amusing with real human reactions. The serious stuff? Pointless and confusing, you're better off skipping it.

Skip the rest of it while you're at it. You have been warned.

Oh, and this:

Quote:
Yes, absolutely. I'm glad someone else seems to get this. All the people complaining about the glasses thing are clearly not seeing the forest for the trees. I mean, he obviously does like glasses, but the way he is always talking about it is clearly an act. He acts goofy but its a way of hiding his real feelings.


Denial, pure denial. In order for that to work, the other guy has to be joking about his sister. It is a two person act, after all.

Comedy is easy, dying is hard. No, in this series, it really is: dying is easy, comedy is hard. So very hard to take...
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:45 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
It actually was a large pile of crap, still steaming in the cold winter air but I can understand the confusion.


Quote:
Thanks to this, I'm having problems closing my mouth; I've never seen anyone get so close to an idea and just completely miss it.


Quote:
Denial, pure denial.


Probably no reason you need to be quite such a colossal prick about this.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:03 pm Reply with quote
Being a colossal prick is bad enough, but to be a colossal prick with really horrible taste is unforgivable. If you're going to bitch about a show, how about expressing your objections in a coherent, cogent way? That would be a good start.
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Akito Kinomoto



Joined: 24 Dec 2010
Posts: 48
Location: Pretentious University
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:03 am Reply with quote
Pro-tip: I disagree does not a discussion make. The Kokoro Connect argument I had on this forum a few weeks back is a discussion. The way I expressed my gripes with Eureka Seven with one of my friends was a discussion. The debate I had with someone over their criticisms on Clannad and Angel Beats! was a discussion. The way another of my friends convinced me a certain character in Fate/Zero season one wasn't wasted was a discussion. Trying to explain to someone why I didn't like Tatami Galaxy was a discussion.

This isn't anything, but I'm not sticking around if the next counter-post doesn't go anywhere. Your move.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 2:11 am Reply with quote
I don't agree with such bad mouthing of Beyond the Boundary, it does not deserve to be compared to feces and the like but I can't just respond and something like "it is your opinion and a bad one at that". You did not like it, but I liked it, so opinions. And in terms of opinions there was a good amount of people claiming Akihito and Mirai as the couple of the year, so there is a fan base.

I really don't see where the problem was with the twist as things actually lined up perfectly. From beginning we had Mirai trying to kill him, we had multiple people telling him not to get involved with her, she continuously turned him down in joining him or the others like she was something bad. The Shadow seemed to be something the other people did not thing they could take on, but Mirai thought she had a chance, she thought she could take on something that had no real body just like their was another Youmu there was another thought untouchable. Mirai's opinions of him began to change when he was willing to sacrifice himself, I don't think it is wrong to in one episode changing what we considered her motivations, Madoka did the same thing and I think you are biased because you were already unhappy with what you thought. You said the story was bare, but it actually was getting built up, most of the evidence from how the characters interacted.

And I don't think it is wishful thinking that his glasses thing was a cover up for his insecurities, I think it was subtle. It is was shown that his past really messed him up, having everyone around him stay away, his mother is quite weird and somewhat fetishy, so I see it very likely that something rubbed off onto him. He chose something that excited him, that was not something of a monster and decided to focus on it, and then he would make sure the people he was allowed to be around knew this as being thought of as a pervert was better than the alternative.

And with the siblings, it seems clear that the pride their family had created quite the problem with the younger two not being able to make connection with normal people. It gets worse when you take note that the eldest sister seems to show barely any affection at all, it actually seems to show why the brother would do the whole siscon thing. It is that he could see that his sister craved affection and connection, and I think might not really know how to give it normally due to they way the eldest is, so he goes a little overboard. But it also serves to hide also how isolated he feels, it fills holes others would be in, and perhaps a somewhat distraction for her.

Story was not rushed or out of nowhere. Although Sakura appeared quickly, we could get a good understanding with how she fitted into Mirai's trauma, the other person in the picture. Akhito's transformation might look sudden, but it was actually hinted at for some time with how watched he was for only supposedly immortality. Mitsuki feeling so lonely might seem sudden, unless you consider the way she acted around the guys, and telling him to stay away from her as if she was already used to isolation, and how attached she was to her pet. Even how distraught she was finding out how he brother could not get close to her when she got sprayed showed that despite how she acted she did cherish him.
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