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「曇色」 (Kumori Shoku)
“Color of Clouds”
We’re back on track this week with the action and the story plot advancements. Unfortunately, I can’t decide if I’m pleased or disappointed with the story revolving Sakura. On one hand, I think Sakura has potential to be a well-defined character and she can become more permanent and prominent in the future. On the flip side, this episode doesn’t showcase her background story very well and her motives for trying to kill Mirai aren’t very solid. In the flashbacks, they show that Sakura already understands what Mirai is going through, so why is she seeking revenge now? The sandwich scene was self-explanatory and a touching story between the relationship that Mirai and Sakura have, but that all gets flushed away when Sakura clearly hates Mirai for killing her sister. This is what bothers me about anime original characters because it feels like they’ve tried too hard to force Sakura into the story when she’s not meant to be there. It creates more plot holes and discontinuity that the writers will have to cover up… which leads us down the path of an anime original ending or other fillers to try and make use of Sakura. Like I said, it’d be nice to see Sakura as a more prominent character since her arc has ended. However, I think it’s more likely that she’s going to fade away into the background now that she’s been used as a plot device. She barely talks too… what’s up with that?
These past two episodes have been fairly offside to what I was expecting out of Kyoukai no Kanata. If anyone else has been rather confused by the pace or the subject of each week, well you’re not alone. This is because they’ve both been anime original – last week being… more comedic and fun, and this week focusing on a new character. I didn’t mind last week as much though because it turned out to be a fun one-off event. The focus on Sakura this week just felt like it didn’t tie in very well to the rest of the story. Normally I’m very forgiving when it comes to anime original plot twists, but when you’re expecting something (something epic!) and it ends up being rather anticlimactic, you can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Sakura’s resolution at the end just came very abruptly and the only interesting thing that came out of that was Fijimu’s involvement. He does seem rather ominous right? No one can say that they weren’t expecting that twist. I’m a little skeptical now what’s going to happen going forward… I hope this is the turning point that brings us back to the original source material. In my eyes, this is still meant to be a dark fantasy and not a comedy with drama.
That being all said, the comedic moments are another hit and miss for me. It’s always enjoyable to see references to things outside of the anime realm and it makes the audience feel more involved when they talk about J-pop groups for example. I love seeing the interactions between Hiroomi and Akihito because they behave exactly how I would imagine my friends acted back in high school. They’re being used mainly for comedic relief right now and that’s the part which throws me off. I was under the assumption that the show would be more serious and the slice-of-life moments are fun, but don’t add any value to my experience. It’s never a bad thing to have a good mix of tones, but it’s to the point that I think it distracts from the true underlying plot line. It needs less of the “objectifying my sister” feel and more of Mituski herself. That’s a better way to spend my 20 minutes than simply being left with a 30-second cliffhanger.
TL;DR – @RCCherrie: For an anime original, Sakura wasn’t a bad character although she lacks a bit of depth… Needs more Mitsuki =P #kyo_kai
Preview
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The weapon also likes juice boxes.
https://randomc.net/image/Kyoukai%20no%20Kanata/Kyoukai%20no%20Kanata%20-%2007%20-%20Large%20Preview%2002.jpg
Peter Griffin: “Ah! She said it! She said it!”
Do Aki and Hiroomi talk about ANYTHING besides their fetishes!? Did some law prohibit KyoAni from portraying the boys talking about anything BUT fetishes when nothing’s going on?!
Let them continue…
I’m in the megane camp
Doesn’t look like it. I’d swear Kyoani just doesn’t know how to write about male characters without resorting to making them the worst kind of perverted doofus. It’s almost like because they can’t particularly make them moe like the female cast members and they feel unsure of how to make a character appealing to the audience in any other way but making them look moe and cute they just fall back on talks about fetishes. That’s the only way I can think of to explain what’s going on with those two.
I would correct your innocent(?) mistake. KyoAni didn’t write the script for this show. The production committee hires people to handle series composition and script. Series composition is where he/she forms the general flow of ideas of how the show could progress. The script writer/screenwriter fills in the minute details.
If there’s anyone you wish to blame in the KyoAni staff, the liable one would be the director. Do not blame the director for writing the bland script but blame him for not seeing how bland the script was written and asking for a revision.
Now i finally understand why the title “Kyoukai no Kanata ” mean BEYOND THE BOUNDARY…..
Yaoi in my Kyoukai no Kanata? Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Except the fujoshis who were attracted by KyoAni last season.
They just can’t ignore their fujoshi fans ya know.
That weapon can create laser “tentacles” if you know what I mean.. xD
Whoa wait what? The Japs can legally download a whole CD into a phone? I never heard such a service. That’s cool.
So now we get back to the main edgy plot, like how the edgy edgemasters wants. Predictable really: Someone wants Mirai dead. I can only guess it’s because of her blood.
Finally that title drop at the end(see people, THAT is how you do a title drop). Last arc for this series is up I guess.
You have never heard about something called mp3?
Znail, I’m talking about the service. Not the format of the file. Also most(actually all) of the time I just pirate through torrents if I put music in my phone.
Yeah I’m a pirate…
It’s called iTunes, and happened in Sep 2007.
Was it available in non-iPhone, non-Apple products too? =_=’
OMG, CD’s are so big and circular, how can they fit in a phone!?
once again, KnK demonstrated what it knows to do best – animation. the fighting scene between Mirai and Sakura was gorgeous.
but the truth is…animation aside, a lot happened this episode. mostly for good, but also a bit for bad.
the main event was between mirai and sakura. not only the fight..but the whole sequence of events ended up solving the tension between the two:
1. sakura – I agree with your saying about “it was very abruptly”. for me, it felt too easy and in a hurry..the “solution” brought not too lightly, but it felt like “ok, now let’s finish with it quickly”.
let’s recall the episode inside the hollow shadow’s labyrinth – let’s say that – if sakura were to be defeated back there by mirai…she would have come to resolution this lighlt and quickly? I doubt..and I guess most of you too.
so I wonder…why?it could have much more impact with the “killing” matter that mirai said.
I don’t..it simply..didn’t felt right. the course of events: sakura moving to school, the meeting with akihito, the battle, the flashback, the talking about “killing someone is…” everything was perfectly done..but something went a bit wrong with the end in terms of sakura.
as you said, all of it showing her potential as a great character!I hope we’ll see her around and not as guest character.
2. mirai – you didn’t say much about that, mirai has changed. when facing sakura seriously she was able to change mode and control not only the situation but herself too. the way she talked about her resolve to fight sakura for the sake of Yui, it was also Mirai resolve for fighting in general.
although at the beginning of the EP she was same-old mirai who loves food (rings a bell Cherrie? 😛 ) we can feel the change mirai has been through since ep 01.
well, basically, the episode felt good mostly. KyoAni demonstrated not only great animation skills, but their own way of carry out an episode. we saw it thorugh the character development, the course of events this ep, the bit more meaningful saying and the glimpses of what’s waiting ahead. we even got less “siscon” X “megane” shit..which fulfilled its purpose of comic relief.
yet, they could finish things a bit more smoothly, but still it felt very “KyoAni” way.
what’s ahead of us? well a lot in terms of plot. “holes” will start getting closed. by that I refer to those glimpses of plot we got during the last eps: Mirai’s sister with the father(?), the “true” hollow shadow?, the agent and his deal with akihito, mirai, Nase…and what’s with “beyond the horizon”? there is alot to answer, and I believe KyoAni know what and how they wanna connect between things.
what about in terms of characters? I wonder about that…we saw a lot from Mirai’s side, but I can assume there is still stuff for us to see related to her. maybe her “curse”..maybe about the real issue with Yui (if the hollow shadow would return it’s very likely to see Yui again).
but I’d like to see more about Mitsuki (best girl <3). I feel like they are still indebted with something about her from what we saw in the festivel ep (also that woman who were crying at the end).
as for Akihito?I really don't know. 7 eps are behind us. it feels like he isn't a real MC…a pseudo-MC. maybe the final sequence is more related with him (that agent..the hollow shadow). I wonder if we are gonna see his bizarre mom again XD
Right now Mirai is more of the MC in my eyes and i think that what the series wants us to feel. Akihito might have the top billing as MC but he’s kinda supposed to play as mirai’s sidekick in a way, only showing his true prowess as an MC when he and Mirai need to support each other. Either way the seems to be a very important moment for akihito’s character so lets see what unfolds. In my opinion, this weeks ep followed the template of the strong eps started by ep 4 and 5 (although eps 1-3 where certainly solid albeit the flaws). Im the type of viewer who doesnt like everything explained to me and i think the subtle way sakura’s arc was handled (leaving hints about what drove her) was overall a good effort (i just thought the resolution needed work…sigh…this series needs to be two-cours)
I didn’t say much about Mirai because she did exactly what I expected her to do this episode. She kicked ass, she “defeated” Sakura and I think the only thing that we really saw of her this episode is her strength and her growth. You’re right, she’s grown a lot since the beginning of the season. I’m not sure how much time has passed, but she’s definitely become more of a warrior and I like that. The only thing that urks me is that she’s seen as somewhat dense at times (when she goes to Akihito’s house at night and her plants in the club room).
Also agree with sonicsenryaku. Akhito isn’t really the MC in my eyes anymore, he’s probably just a “sidekick” to Mirai. In just one cour, it’s hard to concentrate on developing two characters when there’s so much happening and so many other elements to take into consideration. If this was a rom/com, maybe I’d expect more out of Akihito, but meh… his story kind of just ended after he transformed >_>
The UTW subtitles translate ep 7′s title as ‘Cloudy Grey’, which makes more sense if you consider the storm scenes, the greyness of the alleys, and the grey filter on some flashback scenes.
The literal title ‘Colour of Clouds’ is rather vague-ish, I think, considering clouds can take on various colours depending on the weather.
I’d figured the title referred to the difference between Sakura and Yui/Mirai. Like in that scene with Yui asking Sakura what colour the sky looks like to her.
I don’t watch the UTW subs, and I did a literal translation of the title. “Grey Clouds” would work as well since it probably fits the mood of the episode better =) I’ll be keeping the title as is for continuity sake but thanks for the tip.
Maaaann them action sequences. Mirai’s badassness was finally fully shown and can only be described by her end quote:
Mirai: “are you jealous of my power?”
Me: HOLY SHIT.
The last half of the episode truly hit home how powerful her clan must have been. Bonus 3 points for Mirai character development in slowly becoming an super awesome action hero. (Moar of that please)
What I thought was interesting is the action of Izumi taking the stone, was it to protect Mirai and others? Since we have Fujimu going all ~not-so-secret villain~ on us, or is it to still have some sort of power from the stone for her family?
I was pretty pleased with the way they handled the end of Sakura’s arc. Thought she was a puppet the whole time (“secretly” being controlled by the shadow hollow and all, it’s nice that she had actual motivations). To me, she seemed driven by both revenge and becoming like (or greater than) her sister (Sakura’s “That’s all I can do”, with Mirai bluntly putting it: “You cannot become a Spirit World Warrior!”). Instead of immediately killing her off or disappearing, it led to forgiveness and friendship. I was surprised It ended better than it started.
There’s still issues regarding the balance the Slice-of-Life and action/intense moments, but I can’t deny the power of that last quote tho.
Izumi: -epic ED song in the background- And then there’s the… “Beyond the Boundary”
Me: OH SNAP THEY MENTIONED THE TITLE. SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN SON
(In short, I appreciate the episode for making my mouth drop more than once, both in meaningful intense action sequences and hints of character awesomeness growing in Mirai)
While I understand the angst of most people on this ridiculously rushed episode, i got a feeling that KyoAni is just trying to get this Sakura Arc done with as fast as possible. Who knows, maybe the next episodes might be worth skimping down Sakura’s story. Only time will tell
While that does sound understandable, I don’t think thinning an arc would help the overall of this series. Kyoukai no Kanata has a interesting setting along with unique characters that fill up the show’s universe, so with rushing the arc, it feels like Sakura and maybe Mirai got closure a little too fast; maybe even some more insight to Sakura and her sister’s relationship would be helpful to make the arc better.
Although with some of the flaws, the show is still very entertaining and the atmosphere that Kyoukai upholds is still pretty exhilarating that I await to see what else happens in their world.
Which is why it pains me that this series is not getting the 24 ep treatment or at least the 22-ep hyouka treatment. Clearly this series wanted to have more eps to fool around with the characters while fleshing out the characters and the setting but it just doesnt have enough time. Again this series is definitely a solid one with the potential to be a very good or even great series had it had enough eps and i thought ep 7 was a strong ep in this series (this is mirai i like to see, a badass spirit hunter; who said she’d always need akihito to come to her rescue?). The only flaw that bugged me was the fact that sakura chased after mirai just secs after declining her hand. I wished she stayed isolated from mirai for a few more eps because that would have made her declining mirai more impactful (this is where a 24 ep format would have definitely helped)
In regards to this ep, it was easy to miss, but sakura’s thirst for vengeance didnt completely come from her own. As shown by the last flashback, sakura had kinda made peace with the fact that mirai killed the possessed yui, but at the same time, being human, she couldnt help but feel a bit of sadness and resentment that mirai offed her sister. Those feelings werent strong enough for her to want to kill mirai….that is until miroku manipulated her into wanting to kill mirai. He is the one who gave her the order, and im banking on the fact that he might have even used his powers to twist her heart. If you watch ep 3 carefully, you can see that miroku’s ability is to use his words to force entities to do what he commands, particularly youmu. In the third ep, it looked like he told the youmu to commit suicide, to which it did. I wouldnt be surprised if his abilities had some affect on youmu hunters (remember the dark rumors the gang was talking about in regards to the spirit hunter society). Those memories that sakura said had been lost, im sure miroku had something to do with it, which is part of the reason he mentioned in the end that he feels bad for manipulating young kids.
Technically this “arc” doesn’t really exist in the LN since Sakura’s character doesn’t exist. If the writers are going to create a character and a background story for them, they should at least make the most of it and ensures that it adds value to the overall KnK plot. I feel like they’ve added Sakura’s character just to fluff it up somewhere. Not really a “filler” but adding their own touch to it to make it different and possibly something new for LN readers. Can’t say that they did the best job, but I guess to a non-LN reader, it’s also not terrible.
well that explains the lack of LN nerd rage.
It’s the Title Drop! http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TitleDrop
http://www.bananalogic.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/peter.jpg
this ep and the last one was realy bad….why they make anime original ep when the main story got enough ep anyway for how much ep they are doing anyway ?
ep 4 was good then 5 was starting to get less good…. 6-7 = bad….
im about to drop it seriously while this was my favorite after ep 4
( droped coppelion at ep 7 btw…. guess im using a new rules : the 7 ep rules )
after 7 ep you usualy know if they got a story or they start to dont know wtf they are doing…
Ep 6 was silly filler.
Ep 7, this one, focused on a filler character.
Don’t drop it yet.
…… say didn’t Mirai use Aki as target practice because he can’t die?? Are we never gonna see that again? I thought it was set up like a running gag in the show. Maybe Mirai’s so good at fighting that she doesn’t need to practice on him anymore?
PS: the should could ALWAYS use some more Mitsuki!
*show
Pretty much agree, Cherrie. Though I’m a little less charitable than you – to me this episode felt soulless and devoid of feeling, another symptom of KyoAni being a corporate automaton more concerned about building efficient production lines than creating wonderful stories full of passion and art. No climax, no payoff for the time spent, no point…why waste our time? Shoulda just cut Sakura and been done with it.
DAAAAAMNNN!!!..hahaha…I do agree that kyoani is mostly a corporate automaton but there are definitely exceptions (kanon 2006, hyoka, the disappearance of suzumiya haruhi-nobody who is only a corporate automaton makes a 2hr and 40 min quiet movie dedicated completely to character development and plot consistency) and i dont think this series is an example of that (ep 6 was very very corporate though).
This is more of directorial and story-boarding issue than kyoani’s bouts of corporate satiation. This series is definitely trying to tell a coming of age story and is trying to do it with subtlety and pathos (at least to the best of its ability). The problem is that it just that doesnt always succeed in doing what it sets out to do which would be a major issue if it just failed at it completely but it doesnt. This ep does accomplish something on a character front as the results of the arc tend to favor mirai’s growth rather than fleshing out sakura as a character with relevance which is a positive and a negative. This ep follows steps in the right direction (though again i could have done without that resolution at the end). The art is fine, and the technical values definitely are at a high standard; im just holding out that this all comes together in the end.
Awww… you’re so harsh onii-chan. I think every series has it’s ups and downs and unfortunately, usually around the middle of a one-cour show, it’s “downs” are now. I don’t blame KyoAni of this in any way because I think a lot of other studios suffer from creating these subcharacters or filler plots, but it does suck that I’m expecting a lot more from KnK and they went all anime-original. Even though the source material is already so good!
The only reasonable excuse I can see about the past 4 episodes (especially this episode) was KyoAni finishing up what they started in regards to adding a character/plotline that was not there in the original format.
At least they finally writen off Sakura and her “staff”, which incidentally I am willing to bet it’s all part of the background movements of the entire series.
I thought that sakura’s motivation was revenge for attacking mirai but it was that she could own the weapon. A life for a weapon, and from the person who she lived with for some time no less. After she was defeated, i thought she would be a bit more reserved before approaching mirai again but she recovered quickly walking side by side smiling wit the person she was trying to kill just a few minutes ago…what im trying to say is that the conflict was resolved very abruptly and it kind of hurt the story.
on another note, Ai’s “Boings” in the pool scene is a bit modest than how mirai described them.
My understanding was that Sakura was given the weapon because she had an urge to defeat or “seek revenge” on Mirai. I don’t think Fijimu would’ve given her the weapon unless he knew she was going to use it and power it up for him. Either way, it was a very short story arc and now we’ll see if it was put to good use.
Actually, i believe what happened was that sakura was not satisfied with just being regular; she had potential to be a spirit world hunter, but her powers were underdeveloped. Even so, she wanted to be this person she wasnt and wanted to fill the shoes of her older sister. This were miroku came in, who told her he could help her if he powered up the weapon and killed mirai. He told her it would be hers if she gave it enough youmu, but in reality it was just going to devour her when it had all that it needed. Her thirst for revenge was buried underneath sorrow, even though she seemingly forgave mirai, miroku brought that unresolved anger out.
See, this is what i mean by the ep was stronger than the beginning eps in that it had these good ideas it was trying to convey rather than not having nothing at all. It just didnt make them clear enough and before those ideas could become powerful emotions for the viewer to digest, the ep pulled the plug on it with its resolution before its audience had the chance to dine. Time is what this series needs; though i definitely have faith in the next 6 eps. Let’s see what happens.
Mitsuki, Mirai and Ai need their own show!
Or make their own school idol unit.
Love Live Kyoani version anyone?
Need to add an oneesan version with Izumi, Shizuku and Aya.
Do mine eyes deceive me, am I actually in sync with what appears to be the majority take on an episode from a Kyoani anime. I’m glad I lived to see this day.
I see potential for this series in better hands. All the pieces are there for something at least, but it just seems the staff is unwilling to really try to make something of it. Instead we get repetitive gag statements, half-hearted and vague backstories, seemingly shallow and inconsistent motivations, quick and easy resolutions, and IMO some surprisingly middling fight sequences. I think on the last part it’s that they are so devoid of passion as to make them feel like sometimes pretty spectacles. There’s very little tension or emotion to the combat in this show such that they often come across as feeling more like a showcase of animation rather than meaningful conflicts between characters.
Anyway I don’t see the need for more Mitsuki if it’s just going to be more of her calling the male cast perverts and her brother objectifying her. I’d sooner see them try to focus on somehow making the whole Mirai/Akihito dynamic work, but somehow I just don’t feel that’s going to happen as neither of those characters feel like they’ve been brought alone far enough to make much out of them now that won’t just feel kind of awkward and ill-defined.
Ever thought that maybe the sandwich scene happened post-Yui death, but before Sakura found out? Perhaps the scene was meant to convey the bond the two had, and still kind of have but only blocked by Sakura’s spiral into a vengeance-seeking soul. The quick yet abrupt resolvement of the issue might’ve stemmed for conflicting feelings within Sakura (though this was not communicated well I’ll admit). Its not as though she hated Mirai, but she flung herself into that sort of state believing that killing Mirai would solve her emotional problems. But what she really needed was just someone else, like an emotional broken child who just needs a good friend to talk to.
Thats just my two piece of the whole matter.
Pacing is seriously all over the place in this episode. Is this series really written by Hanada Juuki, the same guy who had quite a decent adaptation with ChuuniKoi? He’s even written Steins Gate and Robotics Notes lately.
Both series can be considered “similar”, with ChuuniKoi’s supernatural stuff being imaginary while Kyoukai no Kanata is actually real. Maybe he’s more suited to writing scenarios for the generally comedic slice-of-life nature of the former than the serious tone of the latter.
Well Jukki Hanada didn’t adapt Chuu2koi, he came up with original script for it. An accurate word for it would be loosely adapted. Despite some of the brilliant comedy scenes, it’s serious moments get muddled at the latter half. It’s evident in here as well that he’s having a hard time balancing humor and serious tones. It’s not enough to conclude yet that he’s not good with this since he hasn’t done so much shows like this.
They could have at least TRIED to build a mystery, instead of revealing the puppet master after 10 minutes.
LOL! After the first flashback, I was already thinking that it was Fijimu…. then they showed his face and then I’m facepalming myself. No mystery AT ALL o_o just hand the bad guy over.
I’m going to say that they’re just blatantly painting him as a bad guy for the sake of shocking us with whatever reason he is for needing the Hollow Shade’s stone.
The way I see it so was Sakura never out for revenge, she just wanted power and was willing to sacrifice anything for that and felt that she could do this as Mirai kind of owed her. So she didn’t do a 180, but more like a 90 turn by realising that Mirai as important to her as her sister and that let her give up her quest for power to fill her sisters shoes as Mirai could do that for her.
I laugh at the naked salary man series.
TQ
Some good comedic moments and a closure to Sakura’s story of revenge – and setting up of a new arc. Can’t wait to see what is “Beyond the border”… Oh and the guy from the Society taking up the scythe actually made me surprised, a bit. I knew there was someone manipulating Sakura, but did not actually expect it to be him.
Overall an ok ep. The problem I had here was that Sakura barely had an impact in this episode. I mean she was so monotone that it hurts. Even at the most crucial parts.
The idea was there and very clear however the performance/delivery wasn’t really convincing. I mean it’s not a terrible idea for the show that Sakura was on a quest not for vengeance but out of jealousy and self pity. I’d say it was pretty damn solid. Delivery was the glaring issue for this ep.
The obvious route though but still a very good one was that Mirai told her that she wouldn’t throw her life even if she’s burden with such sin. She’d accept her responsibility and continue being a spirit warrior as her way of atoning. This was probably the strongest part of the episode.
However though as good as the idea was, it felt really rushed as the reconciliation between the both of them was too quick. Cons was that it was awkward, Pros would be more room for the actual plot.
If I remember it right someone posted here that sakura is an anime-only character, is this eps also anime only?