TYPE-MOON Review: Kara no Kyoukai/The Garden of Sinners Chapter 7: …not nothing heart (Murder Speculation Part 2)
It’s time for the big finale — at 121 minutes, Kara no Kyoukai/The Garden of Sinners Chapter 7: Murder Speculation Part 2 is the longest of studio ufotable’s anime adaptations of TYPE-MOON co-founder Kinoko Nasu’s late 1990s novel series. Set during February 1999, a month following the events of Chapter 6: Oblivion Recording, it’s the latest in chronology so far. Despite this being the supposed conclusion, we’re not done with this series yet — there’s still an OVA epilogue, a trio of short films, and a sequel movie to go, (plus a final — honest — text short story to round things out).
Murder Speculation Part 1 was the second chapter released, but first in continuity. It relates the story of how co-protagonists Shiki Ryougi and Mikiya Kokutou meet in high school, and of a strange series of serial murders that may or may not be linked to Shiki’s second, hidden, masculine personality. It ends confusingly, Shiki having sustained an unexplained head injury. Two years later, in Chapter 4: Garan no Dou, Shiki awakes from her coma with holes in her memory that correspond to the holes in the narrative. Those defects in recall occurred when her second personality sacrificed himself to preserve Shiki’s life.
Since awakening, Shiki has felt a profound emptiness and loneliness, and Mikiya has attempted to fill the void with his love and companionship. In Oblivion Recording, fairy-cursed mage Satsuki Kurogiri restores Shiki’s memories against her will, and now via flashbacks in Murder Speculation Part 2, we, along with Shiki, witness the full series of events from chapter 2 that were previously obscured. Anyone paying close attention to the previous chapters shouldn’t find anything too revelatory from the flashbacks. We see primary antagonist Souren Araya randomly apparate into the street to interfere with Shiki’s aborted attempt to murder Mikiya, and Shiki’s subsequent and desperately sad attempt to end her own life, throwing herself in front of an oncoming vehicle.
Back in 1999’s present, the Mifune City serial murders from 1995–96 have resumed, and with Shiki’s concomitant disappearance, she is of course a suspect — especially as “a woman wearing a kimono” is witnessed near the scene of each atrocity. And atrocities they are — each victim is dismembered, their bodies chewed up as if partially devoured by a wild animal. Mikiya, always trusting in Shiki’s true benign nature, conducts his own risky investigation into the city’s underworld to unmask the true cuplrit and save Shiki from her own worst impulses.
Of all the chapters so far, Murder Speculation Part 2 most closely fits the genre of detective noir, with Mikiya putting in the legwork, interviewing witnesses and following clues. Aesthetically the setting’s darkness fits the tone — dingy, barely-lit alleyways filled with blank-faced drug dealers, grimy nocturnal streets illuminated inadequately by sparse electric lamps. Into this nocturnal underworld Mikiya descends, unwary of the danger to himself. Meanwhile, Shiki stalks the night, tracking another one of Souren Araya’s dark-Shiki-mirrors.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW
Despite Souren’s demise in Chapter 5, his legacy remains — his first “recruit”, Shiki and Mikiya’s previous high school upperclassman Lio Shirazumi. During Chapter 2, he appeared briefly — rejected as a suitor by Shiki as being “too weak”, he proceeded to “strengthen” himself by murdering a fellow pupil in a back alley. On panicking about how to hide the body, he attempted to destroy the evidence by eating it. Found by Souren Araya, who complimented his thought process as “beyond common sense”, and therefore in direct contravention of humanity’s unconscious consensus, he then awakened Lio’s “origin”, binding him to his innate drives and instincts to “consume”. Lio was then guided by Souren to commit more murders, timing them to coincide with Shiki’s habitual nocturnal wanderings. However becoming dissatisfied with the feral Lio’s actions, Souren sought out replacements for him — Chapter 1’s Kirie Fujo and Chapter 3’s Fujino Asagami — all murderers similar, yet opposed in nature, to Shiki.
Although Shiki successfully dealt with both Kirie and Fujino, Lio has been waiting for her to wake from her coma, eager to unleash her true nature as a vicious murderer, for her to become his companion. Lio has taken to mimicking Shiki in appearance — in the novel it’s implied he’s even undergone facial surgery to feminise his appearance. He’s cut his dyed-blonde hair in Shiki’s style, plus wears a long skirt and red leather jacket. From a distance, in the dark, it would be easy to mistake one for the other.
Lio is feral, his strength and agility superhuman. The narrative’s main tension is between his drive to kill and Shiki’s reluctance to indulge in murder. For someone with an affinity for ending lives, Shiki up until this point has never actually killed anyone, and this fact drives Lio to distraction. While Shiki was comatose, Lio attempted to make others like him by using a potent strain of marijuana mixed with LSD, tainted by his own blood. Of course this failed, because his abilities are tied to his own origin, and awakening to his origin isn’t something he can induce in others.
Much of Kara no Kyoukai’s plot is based around two of author Nasu’s favourite philosophical concepts. Like Witch on the Holy Night/Mahoyo, Chapter 5: Paradox Spiral is primarily concerned with the Akashic Records/Spiral of Origin/Swirl of the Root, and the various mages who attempt to reach it. This concept is not unique to TYPE-MOON and originates in Theosophy, as developed by 19th century Russian occultist Helena Blavatsky. (Is it any wonder she appears as a servant in Fate/Grand Order?)
The idea of an “origin” seems more of a Nasu invention, though I may be wrong. It seems to be intricately associated with the idea that all humans are reincarnations of previous creatures, and if you trace the thread of reincarnation back far enough to its “origin”, i.e. the nothingness before the first incarnation, it begins with a concept. Shiki’s origin is “emptiness”, Azaka Kokutou’s is “taboo”, Kirie Fujou and Fujino Asagami’s are both “nothingness”, while Souren Araya’s was “stillness” and Cornelius Alba’s “refutation”.
Normally a human’s origin would not directly control their actions, but the act of awakening the origin makes the individual aware of it, and its influence almost impossible to resist. Hence Lio becomes increasingly animalistic over time, as he gradually loses control of his human side, becoming a slave to his drive to consume. Mikiya desperately wants to help his former friend, and even goes as far as to beg Shiki not to kill him — despite the fact he’s a serial killer with at least seventeen victims. Unfortunately, as Touko Aozaki confirms, Lio is beyond help.
One of the aspects likely keeping Kara no Kyoukai from more widespread mainstream acclaim is likely its reliance on such esoteric concepts as “origin”, because they require such prolonged and detailed explanations. That’s acceptable in a novel, but the anime version can get bogged down by exposition, and especially in this finale, the pacing really sags. It’s fine for something to be slow and contemplative, but Kara no Kyoukai is also dense, and along with its oppressive and dark atmosphere, it makes for a challenging and at times frustrating viewing experience. In text form, Chapter 7 is about two thirds the length of Chapter 6, however is adapted into more than twice the runtime. That does allow the story time to breathe, and it’s a good story, but I can’t imagine sharing this with almost anyone outside of the deepest depths of weebdom.
However, Kara no Kyoukai doesn’t appear to give a shit about its accessibility or otherwise, and for that I applaud it. It’s very much its own thing, and despite having different directors for each of its seven main parts, its consistency of tone and pacing is remarkably coherent. I doubt I’ve ever watched anything else quite so uncompromising in its vision of what it wants to be. Perhaps it’s a function of them existing in English as only an unprofessional fan translation, but I don’t find the original novels that compelling. The prose is lumpen, leaden with exposition, yet frustratingly vague when it comes to important plot threads. Honestly it’s a struggle to read at times, and I found myself needing to go back and read entire pages over again because my eyes glazed over while reading. Ufotable’s adaptation elevates the material probably much higher than it deserves.
Outside of Nasu’s musings on his favourite esoteric topics, I’m not sure what lasting value the story has. His characters are so vaguely sketched. Outside of a few cute scenes, it’s hard to know why exactly Mikiya likes Shiki so much. Yes, he tells us he likes her, but why exactly? Is it that he finds her cute? Or mysterious? Who knows? Why does Mikiya have such faith that Shiki isn’t a killer? Mikiya doesn’t tell us, and neither does Nasu. We’re merely left to accept what we’re told about the characters without being shown. Perhaps this is a function of Kara no Kyoukai being the first published work of a young author who hadn’t yet found his voice or ability to truly create well-realised characters.
Nasu’s worldbuilding is fascinating, detailed, and even quite logical (except when he uses nonsense contradictions), and I get the feeling that exploring his heady concepts was the main driving force behind the construction of his story. That Shiki is an enduring character is almost despite Nasu’s writing, rather than because of it. She’s more of a plot device than a human at times, and it can be hard to empathise with her. Often we observe her from a distance, through Mikiya’s confused eyes. Shiki can be unpredictable, and capricious in her affections — which is why I’ve often seen her described as “catlike”. At least in this chapter we finally see her as a whole person, reunited with her memories, fully aware of her nature and drives, and, unlike Lio, she is able to resist her urges.
Shiki’s “murderphilia” has always been the weak link for me in this story because it seems like a silly edge-lord concept. “Hi I’m Shiki and I’m really into murder.” Really? Who even says stuff like that? Every chapter she talks about how she wants to murder people, yet never actually goes through with it. It’s not a compelling, realistic or emotional conflict that I can empathise with, it’s like an epic self-delusion, and I’m not really sure where it comes from. I mean, my wife watches an unhealthy amount of disturbing true crime dramas, but would I describe her as “murderphilic”? Hopefully (for my sake) not. The fact that Shiki has multiple personalities is also a bit on the silly side, as is the repeated speculation about which part of her is actually a murderer or not.
One thread woven through the whole film is that “humans can only commit one murder and remain human,” presumably because after killing one person, if you kill any more you become an inhuman monster. Shiki finally gets to kill her one allotted person — though only after she thinks Mikiya is dead. I mean, after what Lio did to both her and Mikiya I’d want to kill him too, and I commend her for resisting as long as she did. Bastard stabs my boy in the leg, then blinds him in one eye, plus drugs and handcuffs my girl before slavering all over her, nibbling her breasts and biting her neck. That scene, by the way, is one of the most grossly uncomfortable scenes in all of anime. Thankfully it’s not framed as titillating — Lio is a gross monster, and the way he covers Shiki’s defenceless body in his glistening secretions makes me want to vomit just recalling it.
Suffice to say, as with most other chapters in this film series, Murder Speculation Part 2 is not for the faint-hearted, with visceral bloody violence, bodily mutilation, explicit drug use and a truly despicable, inhuman villain. It does seem like an odd sideshow in that main antagonist Souren was dispatched two movies earlier (and in fact Nasu did originally intend that to be the conclusion) — but it does bring more closure to Shiki’s story and to her relationship with Mikiya. It’s not my favourite chapter, but it’s a very important, and mostly satisfying one. I don’t think it needed to be two hours in length, and during its slower moments it really did its best to try my patience.
With a sweet post-credit scene where a more mentally stable Shiki comforts a physically-damaged Mikiya, one would naturally accept it as a very fitting, feelgood ending. But it’s not done just yet. Much like The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, this is a story that just keeps on ending. Over a three further animated entries, there’s another two-and-a-half hours of story to go. Why? I guess we’ll find out soon when I return to talk about Chapter 8: Epilogue (The Garden of Sinners.)
Kara no Kyoukai/The Garden of Sinners Chapter 7: …not nothing heart (Murder Speculation Part 2)
Directed by: Shinsuke Takizawa
Screenplay by: Masaki Hiramatsu
Story by: Kinoko Nasu
Based on: The Garden of Sinners/Kara no Kyoukai novel series by Kinoko Nasu
Music by: Yuki Kajiura, Kalafina
Production studio: ufotable
Original JP release: 8th August 2009
JP Distributor: Aniplex
UK home video release: 22nd December 2014 (Limited Edition DVD Collection), 25th November 2019 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray set)
UK distributor: MVM
Language: Japanese audio with English Subtitles
Runtime: 121 minutes
BBFC rating: 18
RRP: Blu-ray CE box: £180 (can be found online for as low as £90)
Fan-translated novel link: here
