ONGOING ANIME: Kyoukai no Kanata EPISODE 4

This is really where things pick up for Kyoto Animation’s latest anime show. If the past three episodes have let you down in any way, this episode will definitely make up for it.

As the Hollow Shadow approaches their town, Mirai directly confronts it in order to fulfill her duty as a Spirit World Warrior. Her plans are interrupted, however, when a girl from Mirai’s past comes back to attack her. This girl is revealed to be Sakura Inami, younger sister of Yui Inami, whom Mirai was forced to murder a long time ago. Sakura has come back to avenge her sister, and in the ensuing fight both girls are sucked into the Hollow Shadow. After Akihito enters the Hollow Shadow and finds Mirai, the two desperately search for a way out of the labyrinth which the Hollow Shadow has created from their memories, all the while running away from Sakura’s lethal attacks. 

And that only comprises the first half of this exciting episode! Our favorite moments are in the second half, but we don’t want to spoil too much of the story here. However, shit does get pretty real here, and we are finally able to gain some solid background on Akihito’s character as well as some insight on why he’s so serious about Mirai. A great deal of character depth from several people, a tremendous amount of impressive action that shows what KyoAni is capable of, and several scenes forshadowing what’s to come; this episode is the best one so far, and will probably be one of the highlights of the series. 

Next week’s episode is looking to be a break from the dramatic events episode 4 has brought, but here’s to hoping that Kyoukai no Kanata will only be getting better from here on out! Also, we can now officially say that Akihito’s youmu-side is totally badass.

-The A7 Team