Kara no Kyoukai : Tsuukaku Zanryuu

Fukan Fuukei | Satsujin Kousatsu (Zen) | Tsuukaku Zanryuu | Garan no Dou

And I always thought 残 was pronounced ‘zen’. Whups…

Well, first things first, Chapter 3 doesn’t diddle as it’s violent, gory, and messy pretty much from the get-go.

(Rape, gallons of blood, spoiler, and mucho screencaps alert.)

As said, in Tsuukaku Zanryuu the audience is thrown immediately into the surprisingly (unnecessarily) explicit rape of Asagami Fujino, the fan favourite busty yandere.

Mikiya, as usual, is a magnet for murderous psychos and is persuaded by a friend to look for a missing former-underclassman. Another unexpected element was the investigation process which felt like a police procedural. Touko is contracted by a client to find, and if necessary, silence the killer. By chance, Shiki and Fujino meet in a coffee shop (Ahnenerbe) after Mikiya asked Shiki to inform Azaka of his absence. Shiki and Fujino pretty much recognize each other as abnormal killers immediately.

Chronologically, this is the third chapter, as Shiki has just left the hospital after the coma. For those who remember, Fukan Fuukei (which happens after this) also had a small mention of “the Asagami Fujino case.” And what a case; there are so many damn twists that the viewer doesn’t really know what is wrong with her until the end.

On the audio and visual sides, it’s the same affair – generally well done, nothing beyond a few odd moments in the animation. It is a much more frenetic film than Fukan Fuukei, with a lot of scene jumps and cuts, but the director manages to make it smoother than Satsujin Kousatsu 1; a lot of the softer scenes still stick out like a sore thumb, though.

The characters are much better developed and interact (and conflict) frequently; in particular, Shiki’s viewpoints clashes with practically everyone. Fujino is a very active and very sympathetic antagonist without ever losing her threatening nature. Mamiko Noto’s performance was top-notch, rivalling Sakamoto Maaya’s performance in Satusjin Kousatsu.

Though unfortunately, the series-wide questions are still loose strings, for those who are getting frustrated by Kara no Kyoukai’s anachronistic order.

(But that’s for a further entry which I’m currently writing.)

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This is the first major fight in the series, and epitomises brain-versus-brawn. Shiki is inhumanly fast and unstoppable melee attacker, but Fujino has raw overwhelming power as far and fast as her eyes can see. A stellar sequence, to say the least.

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The next movie, Chapter 4, is Garan no Dou, chronologically second, dealing mainly with the events immediately after Shiki wakes up from her two-year coma. From the trailer, it looks like Fukan Fuukei in terms of balance: dialogue-heavy.

And the name of Araya Souren is starting to pop up quite a bit.

PS: The claymation with Rin and Sakura was lulz.