Impression – Kyoukai no Kanata, Episode 12

Episode 12 – “Grey World”

Phew, this episode almost quite literally takes on the form of a whirlwind of events. Not only is there a ton of information being thrown around, the pace is going a million miles per hour. I really wish they split this up into two different episodes because after all, this series only amounted to 12 episodes and could have easily been a 13 episode event. I think it would have been beneficial to have that extra time to devote a little more explanation for some of the things that transpired in the final episode.

I guess the first mysterious thing is Akihito’s mom Yayoi. She continually carries herself as this sideshow freak, but Izumi seems to think otherwise of her, and it’s pretty apparent that she’s hiding some big secret. I mean, Izumi’s even daring enough to stab her, even though Yayoi is steps ahead with her Shadow Clone Jutsu. She mentions something big that’s about to happen with the Spirit World Society, but in the end, Yayoi leaves just as mysteriously as she first appeared, entrusting Akihito to the younger Nase siblings.

Another thing I wish was focused on a bit more was the confrontation between Miroku and Izumi, as well as the teacher Shizuku. Well, I wish the showed more of Shizuku in general I guess. But I didn’t feel it was necessary to have everyone show up one on one against Miroku, especially if he was going to seal them off anyway. Sakura should have had a bigger role in this too, considering this man pretty much tricked her into doing dirty work for him. He essentially made her grind his weapon for a while.

During this mano y womano showdown, it’s revealed that both Miroku and Izumi house youmu within them but the origins aren’t mentioned. The only difference between the two is that Izumi is trying to the destroy the world, I guess. It’s kind of frustrating that Miroku suddenly comes out with his motive, and it’s simply to destroy the world. Maybe he wanted to have a youmu-only world? Anyway, Izumi makes quick work of him though the ending sort of suggests that we probably haven’t seen the last of him.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the whole episode was Mirai’s whole disappearing act. I was definitely not expecting her to actually vanish, but I can’t say I was surprised when I saw her return in the end. I’m happy that it happened, but I would also like to know how it happened. So many unanswered questions. Part of me likes them because it’s gets the mind thinking, and it’s pretty common place for novels to pull such shenanigans.

All in all, I was very pleased with Kyoukai no Kanata. Not only did it please on a technical level (boy, did it ever), it also managed to pull out an interesting story by the end of it all. KyoAni’s been pretty good about pushing out sequels, and hopefully this one makes it on that list.