Kyoukai no Kanata – 07
A memory from happier times
Hello again, and sorry for the late post on Kyoukai no Kanata, but this and that and this happened, and I only found out Sunday I was writing the post. So here we go with Cloudy Grey.
Blood Vendetta
The Weapon and Sakura
This episode was entirely focused on Sakura Inami, the younger sister of Yui, the friend that Mirai killed in her past. And the entire point of Sakura’s existence is revenge, vengeance for the death of her sister. The only thing we don’t really learn about the whole thing is more details about Yui’s death, like why were a couple of inexperienced kid spirit warriors going after the Hollow Shadow.
Painful
But the odd thing about Sakura is that she is not a spirit warrior. In fact, she has no talent for it at all, and never has. But she does have a fancy weapon, given to her by some guy she met. A weapon that just happens to absorb the youmu stones that she kills… as well as sucking her life force. It even injures Akihito when he picks it up and uses it.
Showdown Time
Battle Time
Mirai makes a good decision to go settle things with Sakura, rather than living in fear / waiting for her to make a move. And the fight they have is pretty one-sided, with Sakura being merely a weapon stand. And when she realizes there’s no way she can win, that same weapon turns on her, precipitating a save from Mirai. The real takeaway from the episode was Sakura going from someone consumed solely by the revenge for her sister to someone who is reclaiming her own life.
Sakura is overmatched by her own weapon
If this episode review seems a bit thin, well, the episode seemed a bit thin. From the redemption of someone who could be a semi-major character, there really was almost no impact at all. Sure there was some interesting information, such as the provider of that strange weapon (the ‘observer’ from before) and Sakura’s motivations, but ultimately, the episode lived up to its name: Cloudy Grey. Not sparkling, not shining, pretty grey and, honestly, not that important. It really felt like the side story it may have been, and some cute “fuyukaidesu!” from Mirai isn’t really going to save an episode like this. Even the sisconning and megane-gazing seems to be getting kind of old at this point.
Would it have been better to just behead her?
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, thinnest, or weakest, episode to date. The big reveal, that the Observer is playing some tricks, could have been better served folded into other plot points. The battle’s conclusion was foregone, and the only surprise, was seeing that weapon turn against Sakura.
And on her note, she is pretty darn flat. I don’t see the purpose behind this character, other than to have been an antagonist, which this episode drops out of hand rather quickly.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I was actually more surprised that Sakura survived than that her weapon turned against her. But Sakura was absolutely no competition. Never had been, never would have been, never could have been.
I’m at least hoping that the Observer guy is lying about who he is. Not like we could evaluate his credentials anyway, but he just seems too sketchy (although Izumi is pretty sketchy herself).
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Sakura is an anime-original character not present in the novels.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I did not know that. I do wish I had proper access to the LN for this series. As it stands Dekomori was an anime original character in Chu2Koi, and Jukki Hanada had a much better handle on Dekomori than he does on Sakura. Might be down to this episodes writer thou.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Sweet Potato the pet shade and Ai are anime original too.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Ah, that’s why she doesn’t look as complicated as the other characters. Compared to other characters, she’s the weakest so far. Physically, mentally, and plot-wise…ly?
Ugghh parallelismPOWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I don’t think we can just dismiss the issues with either Sakura or this episode by saying she’s not in the text. As skylion points out, Sanae Dekomori was not in the text for Chuu2Koi, but she was an integral, perhaps even necessary, component for the success of that series.
Comparatively, Sakura is a very poor character. Completely unintegrated into the story, not compelling, and doesn’t even really serve much of a point in the development of Mirai. So why include her? Padding? That’s kind of what I think it is, and it’s not like the rest of this series is that stellar, imo.
I’d say it’s missing a spark, but it’s more than that. It’s not like this show is a bonfire soaked in kerosene waiting for a spark to catch fire. It’s more like it’s a pile of damp wood, smoldering and smoking and maybe showing the briefest of flashes, but in reality, there’s no way it’s catching fire, and just ends up being frustrating. I really don’t even see much potential for it to do better. It’s not like there’s some unexplored but tantalizing character dynamic that’s out there we’re waiting for. It’s like we’ve seen all there is to see about them, and they’re just not that interesting. I’m uninterested in a possible romance between Mirai and Akihito, there’s just no fascination there between the two of them. In fact, the only characters at all I’m interested in are Nino, Ai and Ayaka.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I accused KyoAni of being amazing with the run they had with Hyoka, Chu2Koi, and Tamako Market. I can only accuse them of being rather, as HWY says, smoldering damp wood. I was left with a good impression of Free!, and KnK is not winning it for me either. It has potential. Well, it had Episode 6.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
“left without a good impression of Free!”
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I enjoyed Free! overall, just thought that Rin and his whiny emo angst was bad for the show. But it definitely had energy and pop, and a very definite story arc. KnK really doesn’t seem to have a story arc to it, and no real motivation to find one.
Both are inferior to the previous 3 series, tho.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
That’s true. Rei was an anime only character to Free! (which is my only real introduction to KyotoAni) and he was nicely done and fleshed out as a character. Sakura seemed to have no point. In fact, she doesn’t make sense. In the flashback she seemed to have understood what happened to her sister and didn’t blame Mirai. She even brought her a sandwich and they mourned together. Why all of sudden, does she suddenly want murderous revenge?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Then they should have been more enthusiastic with that gamble because it backfired with Sakura being flat as a character.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I thought Sakura was a boring character, the episode was a return to plot but not really that interesting.
The only parts that I had interests in was the fact that the observer guy is up to no good and was trying to get rid of Mirai while simultaneously amping up a weapon for some purpose. And that there seems to be an even worse youma on its way, called “Beyond the Boundary”. Other than that, nothing really sparked this time around.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
So if my intuition is correct… The Calm = Persona 3 Dark Hour?
So we now have 2 antagonist faction, Izumi with the old guy and the observer guy. And if tht not bad enough, we have another youma tht top HS on the way. (Kriemhild Gretchen anyone?)
I dunno, I thought the siscon and megane gazing remains as hilarious as ever last I remember. Different strokes for different folks?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The episode was lacking, really one of the weakest to date of the series. Mostly because Sakura was such an uninteresting character, everything felt dragged down. There was nothing appealing about her and her desire to go after Mirai felt forced.