Rory’s Reviews: Beyond the Boundary

Beyond the Boundary or Kyoukai no Kanata is a supernatural anime series based upon the light novels written by Nagomu Torii and illustrated by Chise Kamoi.

The story of Beyond the Boundary begins when the immortal half-youmu Akihito Kanbara encounters a glasses-wearing girl named Mirai Kuriyama on the school’s rooftop. Strange events begin to unfold after their meeting, involving creatures known as youmu.

Akihito Kanbara is the main protagonist of this anime. He is a school student, who happens to be immortal due to being half-human and half-youmu. He also has a glasses fetish, which is the whole reason he even interacts with Mirai in the first place.
Mirai Kuriyama serves as another main protagonist. She is from a clan of Spirit World Warriors who have cursed blood. This means she is able to manipulate her blood, often using it to create a sword. She tends to find things unpleasant a lot.
The other two characters you see in that image up there are Hiromi and Mitsuki Nase. They are brother and sister, and the other members of the literature club that Akihito is in. Hiromi has something of a sister complex, though he also possesses affection for Akihito as well. Mitsuki tends to casually insult Akihito at every chance she get, and isn’t a big fan of her brother’s behaviour either.
Of course, there are other characters. Each one has their own distinctive personality, and interact with Akihito and his friends in different ways.

The soundtrack didn’t really resonate with me; I’d be hard pressed to remember any of the music if I’m being honest. Still, I imagine it would appeal to certain people.

The plot is… all right, I guess. It’s pretty obvious which way the plot goes with the relationship between Akihito and Mirai. The reason for the title is part of the plot, but I can’t say much more than that without spoiling anything.

Fight scenes tend to be fun to watch; well, once Mirai becomes a bit more confident, anyway. Of course, that serves as proof of characterisation.

There are some funny moments in there as well. Particularly any interaction between Akihito, his friends and his mother.

My personal highlight would have to be the battles against the more significant youmu (the ones that have names). Of course, that would be because I tend to be drawn towards action.

Score: 8/10
A decent enough anime, though the whole relationship between Akihito and Mirai was predictable. Still, the action scenes were great.
Oh, and there are also three ONAs where four of the girls judge a different character each time. These have no connection to the main plot, and are just silly asides.