Akihito Kanbara is a child of two worlds, the offspring
of a Human Woman and a Youmu. Mirai
Kuriyama is a Hunter of Youmu, known as a Spirit World Warrior. She’s the last of her clan and cannot bring
herself to kill anyone, even Youmu. Both
outcasts in their own way, fate has brought these two young hearts
together. As the world around them grows
increasingly concerned over their friendship, Akihito begins dedicating his
time to strengthening Mirai’s combat skills while Mirai tries to figure out why
Akihito cares so much for her well being.
In a battle with one of the deadliest Youmu imaginable, both truths
emerge that will change their lives forever.
Boy meets Girl.
Boy thinks Girl is about to jump off a building.
Boy admits he likes Girls with Glasses.
Girl in Glasses leaps over a fence, in front
of Boy…and stabs Boy right through the chest with a sword…clearly this is the
stuff beginnings of romantic tales should begin.
Beyond the Boundary is another Anime that’s
been on my radar for a while mostly because, like Akihito, I do think Mirai’s
character design is incredibly cute.
Plus this is a Kyoto Animation piece, which means if nothing else, it’s
going to be a beautiful show to watch.
Considering the show seems to center on warriors of varying skills
taking on Monsters born out of human fears, this almost seems like a nice pick
for a Halloween season title (and originally it was but I opted to move it up a
few months to Spring).
Though, given the
two leads and how the show begins, this could be the first time I tackle a
supernatural romance that trumps any scares or bloody action (though this intro
has plenty of the latter).
Let’s start with Akihito and Mirai.
For most of this intro set of episodes, Mirai
is the more interesting of the two and yes I say that despite her
aforementioned cute design.
Given her
family talent for blood manipulation, Mirai’s potential seems pretty endless
but is also quite dangerous.
KyoAni does
a great job showing off Mirai’s swordswoman skills, making her beautiful dance
of death look stunning and some of the best looking moments of the show so
far.
Beyond that, however, Mirai’s blood
makes her a weapon of mass destruction.
Let’s just say when someone says “ITS RAINING BLOOD MY CHILDREN!!!” it's
not the kind of blood you’d want to stand under and bath in, lest you want to
be melted like acid.
It’s this
tremendous power and Mirai’s own self imposed sins that keep her from wanting
to get close to anyone, hence why she’s so socially awkward and distant.
It’s not just a case of cute girl pinning
over a boy.
Mirai wants to keep Akihito
away for his own safety, despite his clear wanting to be friends with her
(partly because he finds her a bespectacled beauty, his words not mine).
Many of Beyond the Boundary’s best moments
early on are Mirai’s breakdowns when she’s pushed too far and has to admit her
past sins, its very sad and tragic and good stuff for a leading lady.
Akihito feels pretty generic outside of his immortality
factor that puts him on par with Marvel’s Wolverine.
He’s easy going but quite perverted and not
shy about his fetishes.
Come to think of
it, no one in this series is shy about that, especially Hiroomi’s creepy and
disgusting sister complex, we’ll come back to that.
Still, Akihito seems the complete opposite of
Mirai: popular, has a lot of friends, and doesn’t seem to mind his half Youmu
nature.
Oh boy how that last part
finally makes him more interesting.
During the big battle with the visually amazing Hollow Shadow, Akihito’s
own truth comes out and wow…he might be just as, if not more, dangerous than
Mirai.
His inner Youmu easily beats many
of the upper level Spirit World Warriors were introduced to.
All of this comes out of Akihito’s
immortality being taxed too much…so it’s a good thing Mirai’s continuous
stabbing of him early on never brought this about.
It adds a much needed layer of complexity to
Akihito and takes him above his initial generic setting and gives better reason
why he and Mirai are a good fit: theyre both potential time bombs who just want
connection.
Supporting cast varies from player to player.
We spend most of our spare time with Mitsuki,
who is or isn’t Akhito’s girlfriend?
Whatever the case, they’ve known each other a long time and know each
other well, well enough Mitsuki has no problem casually calling out Akihito on
all of his fetishes and perversions.
Her
bother, Hiroomi, again, has a sick obsession with his sister, even fantasizing
about her in hot outfits and swimsuits…and he doesn’t know the meaning of
personal space around Akihito.
Even if
he has skill as a Spirit World Warrior, his creep factor puts him pretty low on
my popularity scale.
We don’t spend a
lot of time with their older sibling, Izumi, but clearly she one of those types
who knows things and is gonna keep everyone in the dark about them (including
the viewer).
Everyone else is kind of
just there to fill out the cast and populate with world including friendly
Youmu Ayako and Ai, a Spirit World Warriors' Observation Department
Interrogator named Miroku, and a sexy fellow Spirit World Warrior named
Shizuku, who works at Akihito and Mirai’s school (def would like to see more of
her).
While the character work for Mirai and Akihito plays out
well, I’m not sure I follow how the world of Beyond the Boundary works
fully.
Youmu are a thing but who knows
about them and who can see when Youmu are about or when Spirit World Warriors
face them in battle.
There’s a moment
when Shizuku leaps out of the school to chase down a Youmu with a bunch of
students seemingly oblivious to this and I’m wondering why they don’t notice.
We do see instances of characters battling on
other planes of existence, such as Akihito and Mirai’s clash with the Hollow
Shadow landing them in some kind of visually impressive labyrinth.
And we see characters making barrier similar
to those of the Dragons of Heaven from CLAMPs X.
But how secret is this secret world?
I’ll admit the rules could be explained a bit
better.
As for the Youmu, well the more
standard monstrous ones range in size and design but all are pretty ferocious
and aren’t easily dispatched.
The
smaller ones are tricky to pin down and the larger ones could kill someone
pretty easily.
Oh and according to
Miroku, Youmu are born from the fear and darkness in Human Hearts.
Would be good to see an actual Youmu
birth…then again would be nice to get a intro manual for this world in general
and I don’t say I need one of those often.
As an intro, Beyond the Boundary’s premiere boasts
gorgeous visuals from a reliable Anime Studio and a strong beginning for two
very likeable leads.
The supporting cast
could use some more fleshing out beyond “Oh we all know things but are gonna be
cryptic as hell about it” (I got plenty sick of that with last years
disappointment Blood-C) and the world Akihito and Mirai inhabit could use more
fleshing out.
Still, I’m onboard with
the series and I look forward to what comes next for this cute couple, as we’ll
see when Beyond the Boundary continues Next Monday right here at the Gundam
Anime Corner.
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