ONGOING ANIME: Kyoukai no Kanata EPISODES 1-3

This is easily the most promising show this season, as Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) gives us a heartfelt tale of spirits and warriors with drama and action placed in all the right moments. 

Akihito Kanbara, a sophomore in high school, is walking home one day when he sees the new first-year student, Mirai Kuriyama, standing on top of the school building in what appears to be an attempt at suicide. Akihito rushes to the rooftop and tries his best to persuade her from doing so, when out of nowhere she leaps back to where he stands and stabs Akihito through the heart with a blade made of her own blood. It is then revealed that Akihito is an immortal “half-youmu” and Mirai is the descendant of a cursed clan that can manipulate their own blood as a weapon. Mirai is one of many Spirit World Warriors who hunt down and kill youmu, which are the manifestations of human emotion and occasionally upset the balance between humans and spirits. After their encounter, Akihito and Mirai are forced to confront the many dangerous youmu which threaten our world, while a looming threat to the society of Spirit World Warriors mysteriously pulls the strings from the shadows.

This isn’t meant to be a full-on action show. This isn’t a drama. It’s not a comedy, or a supernatural story either. It’s all of these things combined, while being presented in the best quality of animation Japan can offer today. Based off the light novel of the same name, Beyond the Boundary first introduces itself as the typical high school slice-of-life drama, intentionally setting up this ploy so it can turn around and stab the protagonist within the first few minutes and throw us headfirst into a great fantasy tale. This unexpected turn of events goes straight into the show’s opening, which fully demonstrates its capacity for beautiful action scenes and shows Kyoukai no Kanata’s true colors. Combine this with an incredible and majestically sung opening song, and you’ve already got a contender for Best Anime of 2013 (although we’re pretty sure Attack on Titan’s already claimed that). Regardless, this is a show that promises to surprise, amaze, and keep you in suspense for every episode. 

This is Kyoto Animation’s renaissance right here, and it tells us that they’re capable of more than just tear-jerker high school dramas with moe-characters. However, there’s still plenty of that in here as well, and we’re honestly okay with that!

Expect to see more episode reviews and coverage as they come out each week, and definitely check out this show if you’re looking for a good action/romance/drama with a big supernatural twist to it. Trust us, this isn’t Bleach. Until next time, keep checking back for all good things anime-related!

-The A7 Team