Before I start the review itself, I should probably clarify a few things regarding the behemoth that is Kara no Kyoukai, as well as some of its connections with other types of media:

1. It’s a movie series of about 9 films and a short addendum in the form of a 30-minute montage. Each film (save two of them) will probably eat up an hour of your time, with the other two (I’ll explain which ones they are later on) taking up double the length. Don’t be deterred if you’re already getting cold feet- this will eat up less of your time than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and be much more worth of it.
2. You need to watch it in release order. Yes, the plot is completely out of place and jumps around from film to film, but that’s one of the compelling factors that adds to the sense of mystery and tension present in the series. DO NOT WATCH IT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. If you’re confused after the first watching, go back and watch the series again. It’ll clear things up a bit.
3. Kara no Kyoukai is written by Kinoko Nasu, also responsible for writing other well-known visual novels and anime such as the Fate series, and as a result, shares some plot elements with other works written by Nasu. However, despite some plot callbacks and references, Kara no Kyoukai is considered by most to take place in a separate universe from the rest of Nasu’s works, due to some contradictions with later works.

You got all that? Good. Now into the review itself…

Kara no Kyoukai (or the Garden of Sinners as it is known in English for some bizarre reason) is not a very well-known anime. Nor is it a very contemporary one. The novels of the same name the series is based on come from 1998, and the first film was released in 2007, when George W. Bush was still in the White House and no one had heard of Thanos. As stated above, the films weren’t released in chronological order as part of the plot’s intrinsic structure, and the plot is so loaded and complicated that you might want to get a chart to write down everything that goes on. But despite all those factors against it, the series has been widely lauded by those who have had the chance to watch it for themselves and realise what a masterpiece they’ve found themselves. And believe me, it really is.

I’m not going to explain each and every one of the films’ plots in this review, since that would be spoiling the experience, but it would be rather unkind to just rant on about how good the series is without giving you some background. So instead, here’s some dough on some of the main characters that appear to help you better understand what’s going on:

The woman above is Ryougi Shiki (Shiki is the first name here following Japanese naming traditions.) The intimidating dagger and cool-looking jacket notwithstanding, Shiki is a being of her own class. The glowing eyes you see in the image above are known as the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, which basically allow her to see death in the form of red glowing lines and points. Cut them, and you’re toast. Not even supernatural beings like ghosts are immune to this. Personality-wise, Shiki is quite interesting. Initially, she was raised with two separate male and female personalities, which take control of the body whenever they each wish to, but after a car accident where she fell into a coma, she was only able to feel the female one, though she acts in a masculine manner to compensate for that loss. At the same time, she acquired her Mystic Eyes, and proceeded to start using them to get rid to supernatural threats to society. She might seem cold and detached (and harsh) when we first meet her, but over the course of the series, we slowly realise that she does have a heart somewhere.

The other main character is Kokutou Mikiya, and compared to near-invincible Shiki, he’s… relatively normal.

Mikiya basically serves as a character for us to relate to in the story, mostly because he’s the most normal one in all the crazy shticks that go on in the series. But that doesn’t mean he’s useless. He is actually quite helpful and altruistic, and also pretty faithful. Mikiya first met Shiki when they started attending the same high school, and since then, they’ve remained pretty close friends (I’m not using the term boyfriend/girlfriend here, cause initially their relationship doesn’t get to that level), even working at the same supernatural detective agency run by a puppeteer who’s secretly a magus(magus here just means magician). He’s got no special abilities, if you’d like to know, and he’s as useless as sand in a fight, but he does have a heart of gold, and does provide a welcome respite through the development of his relationship with Shiki.

There’s a bunch of other side characters, but I’m only going to list these two cause they basically form the backbone of the story. Even so, most( if not all) of the characters are pretty well written and executed, and those who have watched the Fate series may even find some similarities between the two in terms of characters.

The reason why I decided to talk about the characters before the plot is simply because the plot is a) non-linear and b) stretched out across 10 hours. But to get the gist of it, it follows the relationship of Shiki and Mikiya as they both work to solve the many seemingly random and supernatural mysteries that pop up, only for them to be interconnected in one way or another. That’s an oversimplified version of what happens, but while it seems simple, it’s not. In fact, it gets really deep, partially due to Shiki’s connection to all these mysteries and the nature of her powers.

Without going into too many details, the story has a consistently dark and grim atmosphere that deal with very sensitive themes such as drugs, suicide, murder, rape and so on. One defining example would be the first two minutes of the film, where we basically see a girl fall to her death to the tune of some harmonising vocals. Yeah. But even so, the writing does shine in these spots, as Nasu uses the best of his abilities to shock and suspend us whenever he sees it fit.

The non-linear plot, while initially annoying, actually helps the plot development quite a lot. When you first watch the first film, you’d find potentially nonsensical things being spouted by the characters and you might feel confused. Cue the 5th, and you’d be marvelling in awe at the genius of the writers. The fact that stuff gets thrown around helps to create more of a sense of mystery and suspense, that hooks viewers on and pushes them to go further.

That said, I do understand that some may find all this really confusing, and the initally slow pacing doesn’t help much, but once you get over that, I guarantee you that you’re in for quite a ride.

So I’ve gone on for a long time about the plot and characters, but that doesn’t mean the series is hampered by the visuals or music. On the contrary, they are what elevates Kara no Kyoukai to such a highly-regarded status.

The animation for the whole series was done by Ufotable, which would go on to continue adapting other works by Nasu or connected to him, such as Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works, both of which are held in high regard for their god-like animation. Clearly, the studio had to start somewhere to get that quality nailed down. And that ‘somewhere’ was Kara no Kyoukai.

Without delving into spoilers, here’s a scene from the first movie, which was produced in 2007:

This was made 12 years ago. And it still looks amazing. That’s how high the production standards were for this series. The fights, while not as plentiful as those in an Ugandan Wakaliwood movie, shine when they do with their carefully choreographed movements and camera angles. I mean…

The music adds yet another layer of epicness and mystique to the already ominous atmosphere and tone. If you’ve watched the two clips above, then you’ll note the chorus in the first and the ‘epic fighting music’ style instrumentals. Yuki Kajiura, known for composing scores for other shows such as Fate/Zero and Sword Art Online(ok SAO is a bad example, avoid this one like the plague), doesn’t fail at all when it comes to composing epic music soundtracks, and even elevates the viewing experience to an all-new level. Kajiura even had a completely new band, Kalafina, created to make the ending songs for the movies, and the results were so spectacular that Kalafina continued soldiering on and making songs for other anime until 2018 when they broke up due to unfortunate circumstances.

It’s clear that from my long-winded explanations and rants, I found Kara no Kyoukai to be an epic experience. And it is. If I’ll be honest, though, as amazing as all the films were (well, the 6th was perhaps a bit off, but it was understandably necessary), if I were to choose a favourite out of the saga, it would have to be the 5th instalment, Paradox Paradigm. I wish I could explain more about why, but to avoid spoiling you all, let’s just say that you should prepare to have your mind played with in a very unpredictable manner and get good headphones to listen to this epic track again and again to recall the feels you get from the scene it plays in:

Or if you just want to recall some epic fights, listen to this instead:

So if you happen to have stumbled across this review (or others) and are still a bit undecided about whether you want to watch it or not, and have the time and effort to spare, let me put it this way:

THIS IS A MASTERPIECE. GO WATCH IT NOW.

TL;DR:

The good-A lot. Masterfully executed writing, stunning visuals, godly soundtrack, deep thought-provoking themes, very likeable and relatable characters, epic fights etc. etc.

The bad-Admittedly it can get very confusing at times, slow pacing at first, sometimes there’s too much exposition

The ‘Eh’- The only legal way to watch this with English subs is buy spending $300 on some Blu-Rays from America. For some reason, German and French dubs exist. You may have to ‘sail the high seas’ to watch this.

Conclusion: WATCH IT. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED AT ALL. AT LEAST I WASN’T.

Fun fact: Most people probably only knew of Kara no Kyoukai‘s existence through a certain smartphone game after blowing a few hundred dollars to get Shiki as a playable character. I would not advise people to do so unless they are desperate. Still, here’s the commercial:

Also, try to watch this in the highest definition possible for the best experience. Trust me on this.