Two outcasts born with two very different curses-Mirai
Kuriyama and Akihito Kanbara. Fate turns
out to be their shared curse as the Youmu within Akihito is revealed to be one
of the most dangerous in all of existence…and it’s Mirai’s assignment to
eliminate it. Faced with an unthinkable
task, Mirai risks everything to protect the young man she’s come to adore. In equal measure, Akihito risks the wrath and
fate of the world to make sure Mirai comes back to the family she’s
gained. As manipulators play their final
hands, a love between two cursed souls dares to break free of destiny and see
what is Beyond the Boundary.
Throughout my watch of Beyond the Boundary, I’ve been
getting very unpleasant (shout out to Mirai’s catchphrase there) feelings of
déjà vu.
It was October one year ago I
covered a series that played out similarly to this one, except on a much more
violent level.
Blood-C had potential
with a cute female lead and some good animation from Production I.G. but came
up woefully short delivering on the promise of its mystery, resulting in an
infuriating finale that made the entire series feel like a waste of time.
Even without knowing there’s two feature
films coming up, I still feel like Beyond the Boundary itself wasted a lot of
its time with pointless cryptic musings and a world that hardly felt explored
or properly defined.
A lot of that blame
falls to the supporting cast for just being unbearably boring, with many just
existing to look cool and pretty and act like their upper echelon tier awesome
when theyre anything but…mostly looking at the Nase family in that regard.
Huh, feels like I’m starting my final
thoughts at the beginning of the review, rather than the end.
Let’s backtrack and go over what I figured
out, what still needs explaining, and whether or not this show was or wasn’t a
waste of time in the end.
The main conflict of Beyond the Boundary’s finale dealt
with the fact that Akihito had the titular Youmu inside of him and Mirai had
been contracted by Izumi Nase in order to take it out, lest it get loose and
end the world.
I’ll be ranting a lot
during this review so let me get the good stuff out of the way: when scenes are
focused on exclusively Mirai and Akihito, theyre pretty good.
While Akihito’s perverted side is pretty
annoying and grating, I do feel the genuine love he and Mirai have for one
another and the finale proved why it’s the strongest and best part of the
series.
Despite being tasked with
slaying Akihito because of her blood techniques, Mirai ended up falling in love
and sacrificing herself to give Akihito a chance at life, even if it meant she
couldn’t see it.
Naturally, Akihito
wasn’t going to stand for that and followed Mirai into Beyond the Boundary to
take on the universe sized Youmu and everything it could dish out.
The final battle was a lot of fun for its
mind bending physics, the stellar action on display with Mirai and her sword
and the fun banter between a much more open and less shy Mirai and Akihito, who
himself was more open about his own feelings for her.
The two lamented each others absences just
prior to their reunion was good too and you felt just how empty they were
without each other around.
In a way, it
reminds me of Kyoto Animations other legend, Haruhi Suzumiya, with the final
revelation that Haruhi and Kyon cant imagine life being life without each
other.
I could really care less about
the rest of the cast of Beyond the Boundary (except Sakura, she’s cool), so
long as Mirai and Akihito got their happy ending.
And while it looked like the show would pull
a “One must die so the other may live” ending, we got that last minute happy
ending with Mirai reappearing and getting her glasses back from Akihito.
These two really are a good Anime couple and
I guess it’s no surprise that KyoAni’s best animated sequences came when it
involved both Aki and Miria together.
Now, as for everything else…ugh, time to vent.
Except for Sakura, I felt very little
attachment or reason to care for the bulk of the supporting cast and the finale
only made me despise them even more.
Most of this dislike goes to Izumi.
She pretty much epitomizes an Anime trope I realized back when I was
reviewing Sailor Moon S back in May: she’s a stuck up and elitist character
think one/her way is the only way to solve a problem and refuses to see
otherwise (basically the same infuriation I felt whenever Sailor Uranus and
Neptune were around).
Izumi refuses to
explain things clearly and even when she does, you hate her all the more.
She outright manipulates Mirai into sacrificing
herself for Akihito without even thinking of the possibility that both Aki and
Mirai can survive this whole ordeal.
She’s so close minded and unlikeable that a highlight of the finale was
seeing Izumi actually lose her cool and calm composure when she fought Miroku
cause she had no idea what the heck was going on…making her no different from
the rest of us who were totally lost in where this story was going.
While I haven’t thought much better about
Mitsuki and Hiroomi, at least the latter stood up to his sister and called
Izumi on her BS and decided he’s not going to let the Elders of the Nase family
dictate how he handles things now that he’s the head of the family…I
guess.
Mitsuki just continued her
belittlement talk and not even a nice shot of her in a bikini could make me
like her more (and hey if Izumi being cute cant make me cut her some slack, all
bets are off).
And just what the hell was Miroku’s master plan?
I have no freaking clue and the fact that he
just disappears by the end of the series signals we’re not done with him
yet.
I was betting this was all about
some fling he and Izumi had a long time ago and he was being the guy who
couldn’t take the hint after being rejected.
But by the time I saw him jumpstarting a Youmu heart with a car battery,
I knew he was just Coo Koo for Cocopuffs, an idiot without a plan who just
wanted to start stuff just so he could look important and show up the snotty
Izumi.
There were other theories running
around about the group Miroku represented: The Society of Spirit World
Warriors, and their desire to eliminate the Nase family but nothing came of
that.
Hell we didn’t even see anyone
else from that secret society pop up during the course of the show.
Times like this I think we could have done
less with Akihito and Hiroomi being creepy perverts and more on expanding the
world around them.
Speaking of, while it
was fun to see Akihito’s Mom pop in at the end, why the hell didn’t she explain
why Beyond the Boundary was in Akihito in the first place?
I cant even begin to guess how that works and
the series is being so far up its own head to even care to explain.
Again, having a follow up movie in the works
is no excuse for not rounding out your bases and ending on a good, stand alone
note.
Well, while I’m going to grade the Movies separately in a
double feature review, how does Beyond the Boundary: The Series measure up in
the end?
It’s…a little disappointing
overall.
The two leads, the animation
and the action scenes are the best part of the entire show, while everything
else from the supporting cast to the story to the lack of world building really
works against it becoming something memorable in a positive way.
Akihito and Mirai’s romance and shared
tragedies are good stuff and you can feel them getting closer and closer to the
point where theyre pretty much acting like a cute, proper couple in the final
battle.
Beyond the Boundary does very
little wrong with them, especially rounding out and wrapping up Mirai’s
storyline.
But Akihito’s backstory is
still a mystery and there are plenty of facts and secrets not being shared by
an uptight supporting cast family that is so snobbish and elitist it ticks me
off.
Not to mention there’s a villain
who has no plan other than to get a hot girl to notice him and the world that
the Humans and Youmu cohabitate feels so small and not as epic as it could
be.
As a supernatural love story, Beyond
the Boundary is great.
As a supernatural
mystery, Beyond the Boundary kind of stinks.
Maybe the two movies will make everything a bit more clear.
But then again, Haruhi Suzumiya had a pretty
damn good TV show before the even more impressive Disappearance of Haruhi
Suzumiya came along.
In short, Beyond
the Boundary: I’ll Be Here (Past & Future) both have a lot of work cut out
for them.
Final Score for Beyond the Boundary is 5/10.
Unfortunately, there’s good news and bad news still.
The good news is that KATSUCON STARTS TOMORRW!!!!
The bad news…there’s still a Beyond the Boundary Double Feature I need to look
at that hopefully puts this disappointment to rest for good.
So I’m gonna look at both back to back in one
review, Friday, February 23 with
Beyond the Boundary: I’ll Be Here (Past
& Future) right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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