I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so disappointed in an anime as I was with the last Kara no Kyokai. Not because Murder Speculation Part II was bad — it was very good. But it seemed to me to be the weakest installment in the series. Quick thoughts:
- This is Kara no Kyokai on drugs, and the depiction of drugs in this movie is… unrealistic. Even to someone such as myself who’s never done anything more illicit than a glass of wine.
- I understand than Mikiya KokutÅ is supposed to be good at figuring stuff out, but damn, that guy must have seven dots of investigation on his character sheet. He manages to figure out who the serial killer is, find where said killer is living, locate a hidden cargo container of mary jane; and the only investigating we see him do on screen is talk to a single drug dealer.
- Paradoxically, he’s sort of dumb. There’s a great deal of foreshadowing in this film that something bad is going to happen to him. And he’s warned, explicitly, by pretty much everyone with over a dozen lines of dialog in this show, that if he keeps going on in his investigation, no good will come of it. And, sure enough, something bad happens.
- Sever spoiler in Al-Bhed, Decode only after watching: Ra’c cdyppat eh dra pnyeh! Lmaynmo, ra’c cdyppat eh dra pnyeh vnus ruf taab dra gheva kuac eh, oad cusaruf ra ZICD mucac yh aoa yd dra aht? What the hell is up with that?
- And the ending… could not be more cliche if it tried.
Mind you, the action sequences are good, the art is as solid as ever, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are an even more amazing super power, and the villain is interesting if creepy. But compared to any of the other movies, it’s a good step or two below.