I wouldn’t mind being knifed by you, cutie

The third installment to this 7 part movie series, “Remaining Sense of Pain” is probably one of my favourites as of yet. For those who haven’t yet discovered this adaptation of Kinoko Nasu’s “Kara no Kyoukai” the novel, it isn’t something you should miss. So go ahead, watch the first three movies then come back, I’ll wait. As for the rest of you…isn’t it awesome?!

And we’re back.

So the first installment, “Overlooking View”, introduced us to Ryougi Shiki and a lot of blood. We learn a few things like about strawberry flavoured Haagen Dazs, Shiki’s red leather jacket, and her oh so beautiful possessed blue eyes. It was a wonderful hook to catch us full of mystery and excitement. The mystery was only compounded by the quick paced flow of the episode. What is going on exactly? Who was this guy passed out on a couch? Who was this kimono, red leather jacket, boot wearing, dagger bearing, ass kicking cutie?! Walking out of this first movie (I didn’t actually watch this in theaters so don’t take me literally), I had only one thing on my mind, I wanted more.

The second installment, “A Study in Murder (Part 1)”, although greatly slower paced than the first, gave the audience a bit of what they wanted; some background. Focused more on how the relationship between Kokutou Mikiya and Ryougi Shiki began, we find out a bit more about what exactly is going on with Ms. Blue-Kimono-Red-Jacket. Turns out there are actually 2 Shiki’s residing within a sole body. A Shiki that is both the assailant and victim in the pain known as murder. Though not as spectacular as the first movie, this episode was essential in order to build the characters and let the audience know a bit of the past. The dull tone however did let me forget about this series for a while until the third movie popped up.

The third installment, “Remaining Sense of Pain”, is like a combination of the first two. Packed with more mystery, background, and action. The setting lies between the first and second movie. In fact the chronological ordering of the episodes is 2, 4, 3, 1, 5, 6, 7. The third movie sheds a bit more light onto the world in which Shiki lives in, Kokutou’s role, and what Shiki’s oh so beautiful eyes are; Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception; they sound as kick ass as they are pretty

The episode begins with Asagami Fujino being raped in a dimly lit room as a gang watches over. She obviously isn’t normal. Her reaction to the situation was inhuman, dull, and unresponsive. For a few moments before she spoke, I assumed her to be a corpse. In between flashes of the opening credits the tension builds in the dilapidated room and suddenly jumps to Kokutou who discovers Fujino at the side of a small street. She appears to be in pain, clenching her stomach, and Kokutou kindly allows her to rest up at his home. The next morning as the sun rises, light is shed on news of several murder victims having been killed in an abandoned underground bar; their corpses mutilated by someone who had severed their limbs by means of tearing. Fujino, gone without a trace.

I mean, wouldn’t you want to just…bring her home?

Given a new assignment, Shiki is to capture a target as requested by a client. The goal is to secure the target but if she fights back, Shiki is granted permission to kill her. Having been given only the description of the crime scene and refusing photos of the target, Shiki immediately knows that she is dealing with her own type. Kokutou, in search of money after having his pay being delayed until next month, is asked to help look for one of his old younger schoolmates, Minato Keita. Keita turns out to be one of the gang members from the rape and has gone into hiding as phone calls from Fujino slowly drive him to a place called insanity.

Other members of Keita’s gang are hunted down one by one and questioned about Keita’s whereabouts by Fujino. The problem is, while being contorted and mutilated, the victims are in too much pain and shock to comprehend the situation that they are in. Limbs being twisted by invisible forces, heads being severed without a moment of hesitation, and bones cracking on their own, Fujino’s ability becomes apparent; she is able to manipulate objects simply with her will. This absurd and gruesome ability conjured with a simple word, “bend”.

Reinforced throughout the episode, Fujino appears to be in pain although a flashback of her past provides some contradictory and supportive evidence of her behaviour. When she was a child, in her play cook set was a real knife. Playing with it, Fujino cut herself badly and blood stained her toys. She continued to play, oblivious to the pain and did not react until a woman, assumed to be her mother, told her that it must have “hurt”. Hurt, a word she did not comprehend at the time since she, apparently, lacked a sense of pain.

It’s all fun and games until somebody gets…hurt?

Having finally discovered Keita, Kokutou learns a few more details about what occurred on the night of the initial murders. Keita reveals that the gang had been raping Fujino for some time but she was always unresponsive, even to threats. Her dullness was broken only once by means of a baseball bat to her back. Having been struck by such a concussive force, Fujino finally expressed a hint of being human as her face contorted in pain. Keita went into hiding because he was afraid, afraid of what he could not comprehend, he was afraid of Fujino, Fujino and her quest to kill him like in some twisted game of cat and mouse. On that very night, Keita had witnessed others around him having their limbs fractured and dismembered and eventually killed. The sights and sounds reverberating in his mind causing him to reach the torturous hell known as fear. Kokutou was more disgusted in Keita’s actions rather than Fujino’s; this was simply, karma.

You called long distance for HOW long?!

Choosing to protect Keita, Kokutou believes that they can talk to Fujino and try to convince her to stop. Shiki tells him otherwise; Fujino is beyond help and will only stop when her goal of killing Keita is fulfilled and even then her rampage may not cease.

According to Touko, on the night of the initial murders, Fujino appears to have been stabbed but Shiki had met Fujino 2 days later and there were no wounds. Regardless, the stabbing may have been the spark that ignited Fujino’s killing spree. Although the wound may have healed, Touko believes that the pain driving her revenge is from the thought of being raped and not physical. Shiki disagrees saying Fujino can feel pain and the wound still hurts even after having healed. With such conflicting facts and theories, Kokutou manages to conclude that Fujino is insensitive to pain or rather has an abnormal sense of pain. The blow from the baseball bat temporarily allowed Fujino to regain her sense of pain. Having never sensed pain in her life, it became Fujino’s motivation to commit the murders.

Kokutou decides to leave for a couple days to research Fujino’s past. In that time, Fujino kills an innocent person unrelated to the gang that raped her. Disgusted by Fujino’s previous murders, this was the last straw for Shiki; out comes the red leather jacket to kick ass.

Looks like somebody is going to open a can of whoop ass

Another flashback of Fujino’s past, this time in her teens, reveals that Fujino had met Kokutou before. Having been harassed as a child because of her ability to bend objects, she wished to appear normal to others and feigned her perception of pain. She had injured her ankle and Kokutou told her to speak up about pain. Hitching a ride on Kokutou’s back, Fujino’s love (or infatuation rather) for Kokutou blossomed in that very moment.

Meh. KokutouXShiki looks way cuter

Kokutou returns from his investigation trip quicker than expected (Touko’s expression was priceless) and reveals that Fujino is in fact insensitive to pain but was, at one point in her life, normal. Fujino’s father had been aware of Fujino’s absurd ability and requested medicine to be prepared for her. Fujino’s sensitivity to pain was artificially removed according to Touko and that Fujino’s case is the exact reverse of Shiki’s. The Asagami family tried to suppress Fujino’s abilities by removing her sense of pain where as the Ryougi family created its successors through the reverse process.

It turns out that Fujino was never injured on the night of the murders. Fujino was also diagnosed with appendicitis and moments before she was about to be stabbed, her sense of pain returned misleading her to believe that she had been stabbed where in fact, her body had already acted in self defense and the assailant/rapist was twisted to death. Regardless of this fact, Shiki believed that Fujino’s mass murders had stepped into the realm of massacre, beyond the border of acceptable in Shiki’s book.

Meanwhile, Shiki had tracked down Fujino. Their fight was inevitable and the battle quickly entered an abandoned building. In a flurry of explosions, Shiki managed to dodge Fujino’s attacks. Letting her guard down momentarily, Fujino’s opening exposed her to Shiki who, without hesitation, grasped the opportunity to perforate her target. Unfortunately, Shiki’s left arm was crushed, allowing Fujino to evade the lunge. After a short rest, Shiki returns to the battlefield as she has figured out Fujino’s magic; Fujino’s ability manifests itself as a formless spiral of red and green.

Even her scary face looks cute

I must admit, her hair is purple under any lighting conditions

Warning! Warning! Bitch slap imminent

With her attacks rendered useless, Fujino is thrown down by Shiki’s one functional arm. The fight appears to be over as Fujino tries to justify her killings by using her pain as her reason for murdering. Shiki immediately points out Fujino’s twisted smile. Opposite to what she said, Fujino actually enjoys murdering people. As Shiki is about to pass judgement, Fujino blasts a massive bend as a last ditch effort causing a near by bridge to be decimated and in the process separating the two. Following the collapse of the building, Fujino collapses and emotions begin to flow. She is not yet ready to die as she wants to be with Kokutou more. The scene ends with Shiki echoing Kokutou’s past words and eventually thrusting a knife into flesh.

WHO THE HELL HURT MY SHIKI?!

You’re one crazy bitch

Battered. Bruised. Bloody. Beaten. Beautiful.

The movie wraps up with Shiki revealing that she had removed the infected part of Fujino’s intestines. Touko is also asked to build Shiki a new arm which she gladly accepts and includes a spirit-grabbing feature. Kokutou and Shiki are left alone to converse. Kokutou considers murder as wrong under any circumstance with the exception of this case. Kokutou felt sympathy for Fujino rather than the murder victims. In a sense, Fujino acted more human than the whole gang combined. Even so, the murders were still murders and he felt that Fujino will take responsibility for and accept her actions. Although adding another sin to her collection, Shiki also learned something intrinsic about herself. She learned about what she wanted; a slight murderous intent towards Kokutou and she smiles.

KokutouXShiki ftw

The Kara no Kyoukai series has yet to disappoint me. In fact, I pray that it does not. The first movie, without a doubt, is probably one of the strongest opening episode for any series, movie or not. The second movie, although a background and character building episode, still contained enough action and mystery to keep me interested. However, out of the 3 installments that have graced my eyes, the third stands above and beyond. A perfect balance of action and background development as harmony between the two is materialized in “Remaining Sense of Pain”. Fans of Kara no Kyoukai will definitely rejoice for this episode.

A movie budget is definitely noticeable in the Kara no Kyoukai series. ufotable obviously is putting a lot of effort into their latest project. Animation quality is as expected, continued from the first two movies, and CG is used appropriately; for special effects and not to cut down the animator’s work. All the episodes appear to take place in dark, rainy, melancholic settings despite the fact there are significant numbers of scenes in bright daylight, warm sunsets, and nostalgic sunrises. The dark atmosphere rarely gives a feeling of despair but rather of befitting the plot, after all, the stories revolve around horrifically bloody murders.

The characters in this episode are fleshed out more and we can finally become more familiar with who they are, especially Kokutou since the first and second movies only revealed an unconscious and teenage version of him. Being a episode placed near the middle, chronologically speaking, it reveals details that lead both to the past and the future as in the Ryougi family and Shiki’s left arm respectively. Even so, there is still much to learn about Shiki and the rest of the gang as well as building up to the climax of the series. I can only look forward to what the remaining episodes of Kara no Kyoukai have to offer.

The embodiment of “cute”

phuzy over and out.

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