These Movies Are An Eyesore: KSPAM Watches Kara No Kyoukai

These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies. These movies.

... Sorry 'bout that.

Well, a while back I read the trope page for Tsukihime. Intrigued, I looked for more by the author. Lo and behold, I found Kara No Kyoukai. And look! It even has a series of movies! Hmmm.. Let's consult the procedure for finding new anime.

Step (1): Research it.

Step (2): Locate it.

Step (3): ?

Step (4): LIVEBLOG THE SHIT OUT OF IT!

Teal Deer: Kara No Kyoukai. Liveblog. NAO.

1: Overlooking View

I spy with my little eye... A young girl looks out the keyhole in her apartment door. She sighs and opens the door for... Shiki? He greets our lovely young lady... SHIKI? WHO'S REALLY SHIKI HERE? AN EXPLANATION WOULD BE LOVELY, THANKS!

Okay, Shiki lets Not!Shiki into her humble abode, and he hands her a grocery bag, telling her to put it into the fridge. It's strawberry ice cream! I don't think she's really a strawberry gal...

"I don't like ice cream." But it's Haagen Dazs!

Not!Shiki apologizes for not getting something else. He just ran into a bit of a roadblock. Stawberry is the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks of her. He continues on a bit of tirade about how everyone thinks strawberries are cute but they're really a rose. It' just like Shiki. Wow. Real sensitive, ass. She refuses to eat it, as I expected. She slams it into the fridge with the last one he got her, still unopened.

And then, a shitload of butterflies, accompanied by some very unsettling vocals. Seriously, this is creepy. Stop it.

... Not much better. The next morning, Shiki dresses herself, stopping by the fridge for a bottle of water as she does so. Venturing out into the world, the news playing on the jumbo screen catches her eye. Apparently, the girl we just saw splatter was the fourth girl to commit suicide at the local Fujiyou Building.

Shiki ends up talking to red-haired woman at what looks like a television shop? I don't know. The red-haired woman talks of the suicides, pointing out to Shiki a disturbing similarity. None of the suicides ever left a note. As if they had nothing to lose and no one to say goodbye to. This clearly not being the case, they must have not intended to die.

Excuse me, come again?

Or so Mikiya said. The red-head probes around. "When is he coming back?" Shiki remains pensive, staring downwards at her coffee cup. The scenery shifts to a red night-time moon. Shiki meanders across empty streets. Amongst the desolate apartment complexes, not a soul resides. A single light shines upon a memorial. A small teddy, flowers, water, and a picture of three girls.

A dog walks past Shiki, leaving a crimson pathway in its wake. In front of her, a corpse swimming in blood. Another suicide. Backed by the scarlet moon, a dozen figures stand upon the sky.

Okay, now that drama time is over, would someone mind explaining just what the hell just happened? Oh, those were the victims? A quick conversation with red-head exposes the truth. Eight people will die at the Fujiyou building in accordance with the eight figures floating in the sky.

Explanation? Memories accumulate slower there. Memories of the victim's lives still aren't up to date. So they're ghosts? She goes on and on about the effect of heights on the human perception of the world. "Vision is not what your eyes see but an image your brain comprehends. Our vision is protected by our common sense. Humans cannot live outside their boxes... under normal circumstances." We're starting to get into some seriously deep shit here...

The news interrupts their chitchat. A sixth suicide has just been discovered. DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE FIND THE RAPIDITY OF THESE EVENTS A LITTLE DISTURBING?

Twilight arrives, and Shiki takes out another bottle of water. We flashback to earlier. Not!Shiki sits in the shop, perfectly still as he was before. "When is he going to come back?" He falls to the floor. Is he dead? He looks dead. *poke* Feels dead. *slurp* Tastes dead. He must be dead!

Shiki drops her water bottle and rushes through the streets. She arrives at the Fujiyou Building. Where, where, where-*SPLAT* A little slow on the draw there, Shiki.

Shiki ignores the only-moments-ago alive schoolgirl and heads towards the Fujiyou Building. Treading cautiously, she removes a sheathed knife. Police ribbons fall and Shiki continues unhindered. Crows nest on the interior. The ruins of what was once life remain scattered about a spider's nest of police tape.

Hahahahahaha! Shiki can hear them. Hahahahahaha! Shiki can see them. The ghost drags her along the balcony, forcing her to drop her knife. Her arm starts moving on its own, as the joints slowly mechanize. She narrowly misses being thrown off the edge repeatedly and finally pins her own arm down. She spots her knife glimmering only feet away. She seizes the opportunity, grabs the knife and impales her own hand on the wall.

Whew. Well that was certainly close. *WHAP* Yeah... GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! The possessed arm drags Shiki to the balcony edge by the throat. The ghost girl watches, waits. Shiki, growing desperate, resorts to her last trick. A GEASS!

YOU 'BOUT TO GET OWNED, ARM! *STAB* OH YEAH! CRITICAL HIT! SHIKI WINS!

Take that, arm! After a near victory against her virulent foe, Shiki grasps at her stump and limps off. Oh look! It's red-head! And she's an automail mechanic! Who'd of thought?

So Yeah, Shiki's arm is artificial. So why'd it bleed? ... Oh. OH! EURGH! Red-head goes on and on about how dolls are just containers, yadda yadda. Does she ever run out of meaningless words to say?

Apparently Not!Shiki was interested in her dolls, something that, combined with Fujiyou Building, is implied to have rendered him in his current state. And what is that? Death? Coma? Explanation please?

A quick flashback reveals whatever did it to him, it only happened in the last few days. I'm going with coma. Shiki dons her house attire, a single white shirt. The fridge, ever stocked with cold water, is ignored in favor of the freezer, which still holds two Haagen Dazs ice cream cups. With some maneuvering, she opens and eats the ice cream with her one good arm.

Cut to next day and the automail meat-arm is complete. She gives it a quick test drive. Hands on home row! Ready? Begin! aaaa bbbb ccc-CUT YOU! Hanging on the coat hanger is her red jacket, right next to the unconscious Not!Shiki. She snatches it and Touko asks her if she's going to take Not!Shiki with. "He brought it on himself."

You're like, seriously harshing my mellow, man!

That night, Shiki is once again at the Fujiyou Building. Not the smartest bulb, is she? Taking the same method of breaking and entering as last time, she's confronted by a self-opening elevator. Against all good judgment and common sense, she takes it.

The roof-top is spattered with rain. The circle of ghosts welcomes Shiki. Shiki has but one thing to say to them: BITCH PLEASE!

She activates the Geass and unsheathes her knife. One second later, one less ghost exists. With her eyes as her guide, she cuts through each ghost until only two are left. The brown-haired one and the Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl. The sky darkens to blackest night as the two try to flee. Shiki denies them this, flying through the air and impaling brown-haired one in the head all the way to the ground.

The last one, the ringleader, floats away while her comrade fades. Shiki gives chase, jumping from this rooftop to the net, rain-slicked one. She slides across it, grinding the rooftop until she comes to splashing halt before the ghost girl. She flashes with rage, pushing Shiki back with the force of her anger.

Shiki smiles and reaches out with her new arm. And Force Chokes the shit out of her until she falls to the ground. Upon which she stabs her in the heart, keeps on going and thrusts her entire fore-arm through her chest. After which she falls off the roof and bursts into a thousand lilies.

... Well... Shit.

Touko, on the other hand, has her own business to attend to. Awww! But I wanna see Shiki kill more dead people! Turns out, as random weirdness would have it, Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl isn't dead and thusly, isn't a ghost. Touko seeks out her room at the hospital and we get answers.

This blind girl had been controlling both her body and another body which resided at the Fujiyou building. She lived out her existence in this double, calling to the girls because she was lonely. Well, I'm sure that's great comfort to them IN HELL.

Touko asks if she’d kindly give back Not!Shiki. After a teary eyed talk in which we learn Not!Shiki had been visiting her in the hospital, Touko leaves. The girl gets into her wheelchair, and wheels out of her room.

"There are two ways to escape. Escape without purpose and escape with purpose. The former is called floating, and the latter, flight. You're the one who decides which one your overlooking view was. But it's a mistake to choose your path based on the sins you carry. We don't choose our path depending on the sins we carry, but most instead carry our sins on the path we choose."

She continues onwards through the city, a lone girl wheeling her way through the fiery city night. She arrives where we began, the Fujiyou Building. The elevator is waiting, like an old friend. She takes it higher, higher, tot he sky which she so long called "friend". Her wheelchair no longer needed, she abandons it and walks forward. Forward to the edge. With a smile and a sigh, she tilts forward, willing her own body to destroy itself. She falls.

Well that's sad. Oh look, Not!Shiki's awake! Sadness forgotten! He also remembers absolutely nothing about how he got so knocked out. Huh. The newscast totals the suicide count at Fujiyou to eight. Touko puts him to work immediately and he serves her coffee while she and Shiki have a psuedo-philosophical chat. "The words "fly" and "fall" are hooked together." Fascinating.

Later, Not!Shiki Mikiya talks with Shiki about suicide. DOES NOBODY JUST STOP TO SAY, "HEY BOB, HOW'S THE WEATHER?!"

Later still, he tells her about a dream, which inevitably ties back into the whole "flying" thing. I'm kinda getting tired of this, to tell you the truth. Shiki asks, nay, commands him to stay the night. BOW BOW *SMACK*

I have got to stop doing that.

Turns out she just wants him to eat the other ice cream. Well that's a paper thin excuse. He agrees, and Shiki turns away, blushing ever so slightly. And credits!

Well that was certainly fun. Join me next time for-Wait, it's not over? Oh, that's right, the ghost girl! As a newscaster reports, she was Kirie Fujiyou, daughter of the building's deceased owner. She was 27, terminal and had been in the hospital for ten years. As all of this is being told, a young girl, Azaka, tries to watch over the crowd but is called back by Touko. She asks her if she understands the minds of the suicidal, because she certainly can't. Touko replies there is no reason for suicide. She probably couldn't fly today.

Date: September 1998

... BULLSHIT!

There we are. Expect my next update in a few days!

edited 19th Jul '10 9:08:41 PM by KSPAM

The first movie is just weird. Not only is it confusing in its own right, its told out of chronological order and refers to things which we don't know yet. It's slightly better after you're already familiar with the setting. At least it's pretty though.

And the pseudo-philosophy doesn't stop.

Also, not quite relevant yet, but Touko doesn't collect bodies, she makes them. From scratch. Keeping the FMA reference, she's more of a human transmuter, although she doesn't seem particularly interested in giving them life. She's more of an artist, I guess.

edit: Oh, and Not!Shiki is Mikiya. In case you're interested in using his name.

edited 20th Jul '10 1:52:58 AM by Clarste

Let's see if I can remember the chronological order of the KnK movies right(when IllFlower wakes up I'll point him to this thread): 2, 4, 3, 1, 5  ^*

So the next movie is going to be the earliest one chronologically. It's also probably the slowest-paced movie(and KnK is pretty slowly-paced already) so if you're considering dropping after it, I strongly request you reconsider.

Oh, and I haven't played Tsukihime, but from what I've heard, Shiki Tohno's character design is actually based off of Mikiya Kokutou's.

edited 20th Jul '10 4:42:39 AM by Ponicalica

Kara no Kyoukai is pretty much the origin of all of Nasu's ideas. It's a bit unrefined and sometimes clumsy in its execution, but I find it pretty interesting. Doesn't hurt that ufotable put a lot of money into these movies.

^^ Yeah, he's sort of a combo of Shiki and Mikiya.

I thought "This chair." was from Tsukihime.

This is still the Nasuverse. It works.

edited 20th Jul '10 10:21:14 AM by KSPAM

this one has internal Anachronic Order—I still don't understand what's going on

Paradox Spiral is shown in awesome order.

Oh yes, Paradox Spiral(aka KnK 5) is very awesome. It's confusing, though. Maybe I'll understand it better with a liveblog, haha.

Paradox Spiral uses a nifty (if slightly contrived) sequential sleigh-of-hand in that the scenes are edited together in a way that's...intentionally misleading. It screws around with the "meanwhile" mechanic (I forget what the proper film theory term is, but it's related to the Kuleshov Effect): just remember that there's more than one perspective of time-progression going on at the same time.

(Also, my first post here in like, a month or something...)

edited 24th Jul '10 4:19:23 AM by zeroplusalpha

I'm just finishing watching movie two, so the next update should be up by the end of the weekend.

Cold pizza + Kara No Kyoukai. Not the greatest recipe for sleep ever conceived by mankind as it turns out.

Murder Speculation: and nothing heart

A snowy winter's night. The city lights paint the night sky orange, an oddly beautiful shade. But that's just me. This starkly contrasts the bare snow-laden street Mikya Kokutou finds himself on this night. He lifts his... umbrella? What, is he afraid the snow will spontaneously turn to liquid mid-drop and rain on him?

No matter. The still frozen snow is not the only white beauty out tonight. Shiki, garbed in a kimono so white it almost hurts to look at, stares out at the city. Kokutou walks onwards but stops. He bids her good evening, prompting her to turn her head to him. She smiles.

SHIKI SMILED! IT'S A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!

Some flashes of beautiful scenery later and we're at a high school entrance ceremony! A high school apparently lacking in uniforms of any kind, as Younger!Shiki walks about in a bright pink kimono. Younger!Mikiya gives chase, finally catching up through the crowd. He greets her, exclaiming that she is the girl he saw the previous night.

"Who are you?"

August 30th, 1995

Good to know we have a solid bearing on the day and age. Shiki strolls out of her forest manor for a midnight walk. She contemplates why. Is it because she wants to be alone? Or maybe only because she wants to thinks he is? Deep.

In the city, a gruesome math problem is taking place. A man is crossing the street at 1 mile an hour. A delivery truck cruises down the street perpendicular to the crosswalk at 55 miles an hour. If the human body holds 6 quarts (5.6 liters) of blood, how much of the sidewalk, in square feet, will need cleaning after the ensuing crash? You have five seconds to answer. *SPLAT* If you guessed 50 feet, you are correct!

Shiki stands over the rapidly gushing remains, bending down to meet it. She dips her fingers in the blood, raising it to her face. She paints it on her mouth like an artist, a macabre painting come to life.

SHIKI! THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

Later at school, we see a budding friendship between Mikiya and Shiki, who talks to her about her style of dress. He asks what her wardrobe plans for the winter are. Something tells me this is going to be a long movie...

Cut to Shiki out shopping for, what else, a winter jacket. Here comes her signature red leather jacket! Looks pretty good for three years old.

And then, RUNNING! OF THE DECIDEDLY UNPLEASANT KIND! A man runs under a large bridge, pursued by a figure cloaked in shadow. It corners him, and raises Shiki's knife, bringing it down into his throat with a solid stab. Now, just because we saw Shiki smear on blood as lipstick and also saw a person used her knife to kill someone, doesn't mean she did it. Right?

Oh who am I kidding.

Speaking of that little escapade, Mikiya reveals to Shiki what he thinks is confidential news of a recent murder. A corpse was found missing all it's limbs. Pleasant. Shiki asks if humans could really die from that. Maybe not if they're in Bleach...

She asks they stop talking about it. Not exactly meal time material. Oh do ya think so, Jimmy? Moving away from that, a police investigation finds the fourth body. If you could call a mass of entrails, a head, detached shoulder blades, many small finger chunks and smears of blood in the shape of a yin-yang symbol a body.

Later at school, Shiki is confronted by a boy who seems to know her secret. He leaves her be though, aborting that plot thread. She gathers her things and waits for her ride in her new jacket. Mikiya comes up from behind, offering an umbrella. He ends up just waiting for her ride too, humming much to the annoyance of both Shiki and me. This prompts the piano player out of hiding, who starts playing his music in the background. Shiki hums along until...

FLASHBACKS FROM HELL! Shiki reels from the memories of the murders, finally reaching a breaking point. SHIKI MUST CUT! Kokutou stop his humming and they switch topics. To the leaving upperclassman, Rio, who has find a new direction in his life and is dropping out of high school. Let's all celebrate the joys of a ruined future!

Shiki dons her red jacket for another night on the town. IT'S MURDERIN' TIME! She passes a police investigation, skirting what is most likely an investigation conducted on her work. Underneath the train tracks, a scene from hell itself plays out. The disembodied head which has no life and sees no more calls out through the train as Shiki stands in the wavering light of the metal worms above.

"The fifth one."

Shiki's in the dojo now, having a katana duel with her father. They swing and clash for about one week's worth of Bleach before her father kicks her while her guard is down, knocking her into the wall and ending the match. She leaves to change, a family servant helpfully holding out the clothes. She tells him to get lost and that he'd benefit more for serving her brother, the ultimate successor. He tells her otherwise. He can't inherit the family because he doesn't possess the attribute.

Oh great, we're getting into non-indicative titles already?

She undresses, looking in the mirror. she wonders what Mikiya will think if she tells him now. About the two Shikis. God this series loves its drama, doesn't it? Focusing back on Mikiya, he talks with Gakuto, a member of the judo club. He insists to know about his relationship with Shiki. They engage in a couple minutes worth of Will They or Won't They? talk before they both conclude he's in love. Excuse me...

AHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHA HA HA HAHAHAHAAA! OH THAT'S RICH! AHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE SO BONED! HAHAHAHA!

He finds an invite from Shiki in his desk. Later, he heads off to the designated location, the mall. Shiki greets him and-"Yo, Kokutou." Uhhh-"What? Are you pissed because I'm a little late? You're pretty impatient, man."

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH SHIKI?

They spend hours running about, Shiki acting more Genki than Haruhi. Finally, after the frolicking montage is over, Shiki breaks the news to him. It's a split personality! Yay!

She (the current one) is SHIKI, while the normal one is Shiki. Well that's certainly a creative name. She explains that the term is a bit loose in her case though. She's more of one half of the whole rather than an alternate personality. One side of the coin, with Shiki at the other. She's the rebellious impulse, Shiki's the suppressive impulse.

After a long talk about how SHIKI is still Shiki, she leaves, paying the bill and telling Mikiya they'll meet again soon enough. Because she likes him. Back at the Kokutou residence, Mikiya talks it up with his brother, Daisuke, about the murder cases. He recalls Shiki's work in a little too much detail, leaving me reaching for the Tums. He drops a picture to Mikya of the fifth crime scene, where they found his school emblem. Dasiuke gets up to help with dinner as the seeds of doubt are plated in Mikiya's mind.

Third quarter underway, Shiki has isolated herself further from people. SHIKI talks with Mikiya again, explaining why Shiki hates people. She never grew up imagining like most that the whole world loved her, a vital experience for later in life. Thusly, she never learned to love in return. All because she knew from birth that SHIKI was with her. She learned from birth what humans were like.

Good god! Okay, summarized version! SHIKI has been denied by Shiki. Denial being SHIKI's domain, this is troubling. SHIKI denies, Shiki affirms. The only emotions SHIKI can express is murder, which is not an emotion, because Shiki has been killing her, denying her suppressed thoughts. Shiki wishes to kill everything related to SHIKI. Anything that exposes her she destroys.

AND THAT'S SUMMARIZED!

At lunch, he talks with her again. She finally, finally gives it to him straight, revealing herself as the murderer in hopes to shake him off her. She even shows him an injury on her arm from her last kill. Mikiya being a Shinra Expy (or is it the other way around?), doesn't seem to care. He also doesn't seem to care that his parents dropped him a lot as a child.

He talks with his brother again that night, who confirms that after they found skin dug in the sixth victim's nails, they've concluded that the killer has a wound around their elbow. The same place Shiki had one. He goes on to say that now they have blood samples, meaning soon it's*looks around* CHECKMATE.

Mikiya has a premonition of Shiki standing over a corpse. He finds her house number and rushes off that night. BAD PLAN, MAN. BAD PLAN! He goes off to check her house. She isn't there. He heads off, returning later, walking the same cobblestone path. *drip* Oh jesus.

Suddenly, a shower of blood turns on like a water fall, illuminating the cracks in the path with a bright crimson. A headless corpse lays ahead, spraying blood in all directions like a fountain. True to his vision, over it stands Shiki, bathing in the blood-shower. He keels over, retching, as Shiki approaches. "Be careful, Kokutou-kun. A terrible vision tends to attract a terrible reality."

Don't bother honey, I already tried that.

Well, after all that, what does one do? Apparently deny everything, take a few days off and start stalking a murderer. FREAKING BRILLIANT. Shiki starts to ignore him at school and he continues to camp outside her house.

After a few seasons worth of this, she finally talks to him again. She asks why he continues to believe in her, despite her own word against it. Mikiya says he has no basis, only that he doesn't believe she could. He says he'll keep believing in her too.

Words fail me. Honestly, I have no words.

"You're a fool." Meh. Better than nothing I suppose. Later that night, he returns, even in rain. He waits outside like usual. Or maybe not so much. You see, tonight, we have a guest. A very special one in fact. A lady in red. Mikiya tries to get her inside. But Shiki... Shiki doesn't like that. A quick flash of silver and the leaves are painted red. Mikiya Kokutou has just been cut for the first time.

He finally realizes the truth and runs. Runs for his life. He dashes haggardly as Shiki hacks her way through the bamboo grove, chasing Mikiya. A person possessed by a single intent. To kill him. He dashes madly through the grove, his haphazard meandering followed by Shiki's smooth sliding. He finally runs out on his luck, tripping and spraining his ankle. He turns to face his approaching killer in the pallid light of the street lamp. She reaches down and sits atop his chest, her blade to hi throat. The distilled voices of the lost chant their slow song in the background.

"I don't want to die."

Shiki's stone gaze loses itself. Soft eyes, and a welcoming smile.

"I want to kill you."

And back to 1998!Mikiya. Wait, THE HELL? HE DIDN'T DIE? THE SHIT? We learn she failed in killing him. Expanding on the last movie, he details his Saturday visits to Kirie. He explains that the smile Shiki wore in those crucial moments was enough to convince him he was right.

Dude. She wanted to kill you. She was going to enjoy killing you. She was going to videotape it, put it up on You Tube and store the original away as a treasured memory. What part of that don't you get?!

"April, 1995. I met her."

FOR CHRISSAKES!

That's Kara No Kyoukai 2. Now if you excuse me, I have a boatload of stupid to wash off...

edited 24th Jul '10 10:12:29 PM by KSPAM

First note: SHIKI is called that because there's no good way to convey in English the fact that Ryougi Shiki's two personalities are written with two different kanji—SHIKI, the male personality, is 織, and Shiki, the female personality, is 式. It's confusing(but note SHIKI's absence in the first movie)

Second note: How Mikiya doesn't die will be explained in I believe the fourth movie. But yes, he is very idealistic. (Less stupid than you realize though. That'll all be explained later.)

Also, I'm noticing that I have a huge temptation to spoil things now. This must be what everyone in the RahXephon liveblog must feel like.

edited 26th Jul '10 3:53:40 PM by Ponicalica

I find very little difference between Wide Eyed Idealism and Too Dumb to Live.

Eh, it's hard to talk about this without spoiling it, but there's a reason it's called "Murder Speculation (First Half)". Which I note didn't get into your title for it...?

Incidentally, this work is Nasu's Old Shame, so it's not surprising that it's a bit clumsy, such as Mikiya's nonsensical devotion. It helps a bit to think of him of another crazy person though, as opposed to merely a "normal" foil for Shiki.

You should really be video liveblogging this, it's ripe for a commentary.

Sorry, my computer skills are lacking

So are you going to continue or did the first two leave a bad taste in your mouth?

I'm going to this weekend, I've admittedly been a bit lazy

EDIT: Stupid computer. YOU NEVER SUPPORT ME WHEN I NEED YOU! It'll be up today.

edited 2nd Aug '10 5:32:08 AM by KSPAM

Funny thing happened. While I was watching this episode, I got a sidebar advertisement. For Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream cups. *snicker*

Lingering Sense of Pain

We start in a dark, candle-lit room with loud grunting sounds. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is. Aaaaannnddd... it is. Eh. Not much to be said here. While these guys try to put the sensual back in non-consensual, let's move on, shall we?

Hey, it's Mikiya! Hi Mikiya! How's the stab wound rehab coming? Hey, it's the rape victim! Hi rape victim! How's the psych rehab coming? Oh, not so great eh? Turns out she's doubled over in pain on the ground. Mikiya asks her where she hurts, but she insists she doesn't. After a little prodding, she finally gives. She asks him if she can cry.

What, do your tear ducts need outside authorization?

He brings her back to the safety of his home. She showers and changes before promptly falling asleep. Mikiya covers her up and decides to do the same. Turns out sleep is the second most important thing here though.

"The scene of the crime is an underground bar that has been abandoned for half a year. The victims were seen going in and out of here frequently." Yeah! Give those bastards what they deserve!

"The limbs of the corpses were torn off by someone and the police are investigating the method of murder along with the whereabouts of the killer." Oh. Uhhhh... they will be missed? Okay, I've got nothing. And in the meantime, the girl has disappeared. I wonder where she could be?

But enough of this semi-tragic event, what's more important is that Mikiya's not getting his pay this month! Oh teh noes! Why? Because Touko saw fit to spend all her money on a Victorian-era Ouija board. BOOOO!

She then asks Mikiya if she can borrow some money. HISSSSSS! He leaves to scrounge for food in the italian restaurant's dumpsters and Touko briefs Shiki on her new assignment. Bring in the person who murdered the bar-slime. Dead or alive. Shiki refuses any more detail than this. After all, there's no need. They'll definitely try to kill each other the moment they meet. Someone's tapping into the Dark Side of the Force today.

Meanwhile, at the italian restaurant cafeteria, Mikiya tracks down the judo-club.. dude from last episode to ask for some cash. He offers it to him, but on one condition. Mikiya helps him look for an old classmate that's just gone missing. Keita Minato.

Meanwhile, the girl dials a number on her mobile. The number of a certain Keit Minato. The phone on the other ends chimes endlessly, to no avail. But no matter. A convenient meetup with another one of the bar rapists provides a possible solution. But sadly, he provides no answers. Oh well, I guess we just got to leave... him... Oh hell.

Well, off to find another source of information. Namely, Azaka, who is both Mikiya's sister and the classmate of this girl, Fujino Asagami. She promises her that her brother can find this Keita Minato she desires. Normally after seeing something like that, I'd be worrying about the strong possibility of brutal death and dismemberment. But remember, this is the dude who stalked Shiki Ryougi, a.k.a Killy Death Mc Stabsalot. I'm sure he'll be fine.

And suddenly Shiki. She tells Azaka that her bro stood her up (a disturbing choice of words if there ever was any) and that she's here to bring her back. But Azaka ain't having none of that shit. Fortunately for Shiki (or probably Azaka), the restaurant ain't having none of it either, and Shiki leaves without incident. But not before giving Fujino a quick rundown. "No, it's not you."

Ya sure about that, Shiki old girl?

Exit, stage left. Azaka apologizes to Fujino. Her only reply is that Shiki was beautiful. "But... I hate her." Meanwhile, Mikiya asks around, hoping to get the lowdown on Keita. He's surprisingly successful for interviewing random strangers. Apparently Keita's friends, the bar-slime, were all murdered in front of him and he has presumably gone into hiding to avoid the same fate. And a few reported meeting a young girl looking for him.

Speaking of Fujino, it's time for The Wheel! Of! Torture! Today's contestant must spin the wheel and hope he can avoid! His gruesome! Death! And heeere we go! *spin* Ohhh, so sorry. You've landed on Death By Bodily Dismemberment! Thanks for playing *cue screams* Join us net week, as we throw someone into a live volcano!

Fujino continues to twist the poor rapist's limbs into pretzels with her mind. "Bend." *snap* Ouch. After she runs out of appendages to turn into bendy straws, she goes for the finishing blow, twisting his pelvis until he snaps at the waist. "Only by doing this can I finally be like everyone else. In truth, I don't wish to kill people." "That's not true." And it's Shiki. Two bucks says she was watching up top with some popcorn.

"Since the time you lured that pathetic piece of meat out here, I've been here." Come on. Fork it over.

Fujino insists that she shouldn't call him a piece of meat, to treat him like a human. Shiki insists otherwise. "Hey now, humans don't die like that. A person who didn't end his life like a human isn't human anymore."

What is a man? Nothing but a miserable pile of secrets! But enough of this! Have at you!

They both activate their Geass. ROUND 1! FIGHT!

And then Fujino's deactivates. Shiki refuses to fight her, complaining that the sudden malfunction is such a turn-off. She flees the scene, advising that Fujino go home so that they won't ever have to see each other again.

That's it? I swear to god, if I don't get one hell of a fight scene later, I am going to punch this baby panda!◊ DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THAT?!

Setting that and the baby panda aside for the moment, a convenient flashback tells us that Fujino has never been able to feel pain. Recently though, that's changed. She tells Keita and Mikiya over the phone that now that she can feel pain, she finally feels alive. But she can't have anyone find out that she's a murderer. So, the only solution? Keita's got to go!

He screams at her over the line and flings the phone into the wall. Mikiya asks him to explain just what happened and what he meant when he said she was "weird from the start."

"We first did Fujino about half a year ago..." Oh boy, here we go. Get out your barf bags and voodoo dolls! "It was weird. It was like she was acting. All of her reactions were slow. She didn't make a face when we threatened her. She didn't change even when we drugged her. She acted like nothing happened even when she got punched. She looked great, but it wasn't fun doing her. It felt like she was a doll. But... Well, it was different that one time. It happened recently. One of my friends hit her in the back with a baseball bat. She was blown away and her face was twisted in pain. I was actually relieved to see that. I found out she also felt pain. I remember it because she acted like a human that night."

... Where'd I put that panda?

So, after hearing that sickening proclamation of depravity, what does Mikiya do? Punch him? Hand him over to Fujino? Take him home and protect him from the fate he so truly deserves? Wait, what do you mean you're going with the last one? Goddammit man. Touko reluctantly orders him to stay with Keita while they track down Fujino. Now, to summarize: Yadda yadda yadda Fujino's stomach hurts yadda yadda yadda she got stabbed yadda yadda yadda no wounds when Shiki met her yadda yadda yadda trauma induced psychosomatic symptoms yadda yadda yadda lingering sense of pain yadda yadda yadda pain brought back by shitwits with a baseball bat. And now she murders so she can feel pain. Brilliant.

Hilariously enough, Shiki is the first to protest her behavior. Mikiya decides to take a trip, to try and investigate Fujino's past. Touko lets him off, and he warns Shiki not to be reckless. "I'll try." Right.

The gang goes their separate ways. Touko investigates something about prescriptions, Mikiy finds the collapsed ruins of the Asagmi house and Shiki... roams the streets aimlessly. Way to be productive. All the while, a white light rushes towards Fujino... Oh wait, that's just a truck-*BAM*

Touko dials up the loacal police force to question them on a recent auto accident. A minor collision which somehow twisted the driver's head off. The driver? Unrelated to Keita. It's a random murder. Shiki refuses to wait any longer, hoisting her red jacket. Touko throws her some client cards made for her, emblazoned with the name Arya Souren. She orders Shiki to finish it off before Mikiya gets back.

Later that night, Fujino huddles in the bowels of an abandoned suspension bridge. The pain has grown worse. She flashes back to her junior high (I think) field day. She walks away with her friends but suddenly decides to tell them to go on without her. They agree, and she looks down solemnly at a large bruise on her foot. And then, Mikiya! Seriously, how old is this guy? He asks her if it hurts. She of course denies it. Being the creep chivalrous gentleman he is, he insists he give her a hand. Hoisting her upwards, he carries her off to get some help. That she doesn't need.

Awww, look! She's blushing! QUICK GET THE CAMERA! THIS IS SO A KODAK MOMENT!

She struggles outwards, calling out for him. For Mikiya. Speaking of struggling and Mikiya, guess who's back a day early? Well. This is awkward, isn't it Touko? Ignoring the Shiki situation for a moment, Mikya's learned something important. Fujino's CIP is artificial. Drug-induced, specifically by the medicine her father used to suppress her bending abilities. Too bad that only served to strengthen them upon the inevitable return of her ability to feel pain. Bummer.

Speaking of abilities, Mikiya finally seems to grasp the apparent fact that Shiki's missing. They roar out of the shop in... Touko's hot rod? Okay, minor question, how can she afford a hot rod when she's flat broke? No answer? Fine. Touko Did It. Whatever. And we're fed more plot twists, as we learn Fujino was never even stabbed. What.

That's right, she only thought she was stabbed. Right before she ws actually about to be, her sense of pain returned and she subconsciously defended herself, twisting off the bar slime's head. Because of the blood, she'd thought she'd been stabbed, when in fact she's been in pain all along.

Mind explaining from what, Touko?

Never mind that, here comes our fight scene! Remember *picks up panda* Shiki strikes first, throwing the dice and hoping to close the gap. Fujino reacts, warping space around Shiki. She jumps, narrowly avoiding the bend. She spidermans up the side of a shed and runs across the bridge, straight to the edge. And jumps.

I really don't want to punch this baby panda. BUT I WILL IF YOU TWO DON'T MAKE WITH THE MORTAL KOMBAT!

Back to Touko, who explains for us just why Fujino still hurts. She has appendicitis, explaining the pain in her stomach. Touko affirms Shiki's opinion. Fujino is beyond help. After the fifth killing, it was no longer murder, but massacre. There's a difference? Apparently there is to Shiki, who frowns upon indiscriminate murder.

So remember, if you're going to kill someone, make it pre-meditated! The extra prison time puts hair on your chest!

Fujino follows Shiki downwards to the lower level where she crashed, calling out for Shiki. BEND! BEND! Shiki keeps dodging while Fujino keeps bending. Everything is exploding! Whoooo! More! More! Shiki tries to cloak herself in the dark, debris filed tunnel. What is Fujino to do? What's that Sandvich? Tear things up until she finds her? GOOD IDEA!

Shiki's already prepared for that, and while Fujino's too distracted chewing the scenery, Shiki lunges at her from the door, trying to grab at her. Fujino twits her arm, just what Shiki wanted. While her grabbing arm is bust, she lunges with her knife arm!

COMMANDOOO!

Amazingly, Fujino ducks and Shiki only cuts off a clump of her hair. Fujino tries to bend where she lands but Shiki is too quick, outrunning the blast of shrapnel. She retreats to put her arm in a sling, get it out of the way.

Touko again. Goddammit, LET ME ENJOY THE FIGHT! FUJINO. APPENDICITIS. HALF A DAY TO LIVE. COMPLETELY FATAL. WHATEVER.

But Mikiya wants to try and help her. Too bad the client for the job is Fujino's father, who wants her dead. Sorry, thanks for playing! Speaking of playing, Shiki finishes her patch job and does the solemn walk towards Fujino. "You're great, Fujino."

"Bend."

Space begins to fold. Shiki waits, the wind around her rippling. She pots a flash of red and green, and slashes. The BEND is gone. So yeah, Shiki can kill anything. Well that's not broken or anything.

Bend. A slice. Bend. Another slice. No matter how much Fujino bends, she can't hurt Shiki. Shiki tackles her to the ground, hovering inches from her face. "Are you going to kill me?"

I don't know, let's ask Captain Obvious and YES! Well the. On to business. "BEND!" You're still trying-Why are we zooming out to the bridge... Oh. That'll leave a mark. Or two. OR a thousand.

Even in the face of pretzelly death, Fujino still clings on to the will to live. She struggles to her feet and clambers around the ruins. But the appendicitis finally makes her succumb, and she falls to the floor, coughing up blood. She raises out a hand, trying desperately to keep living. To keep loving Mikiya.

Well, he may not be Shiki, but he still has the Tohno gland all right.

HERE'S SHIKI! Aww, what's the matter? You hurting? TOO BAD, KNIFE TIEM IZ NAO TIIEM! Touko and Mikiya pull up right under the bridge, where Shiki stands int he rain. Mikiya tries to tend to here, but her first concern is complaining to Touko about Fujino's sudden development of clairvoyance. Now she can BEND without having to see her target.

O_O

So she's that kind of cheater, huh. Shiki couldn't kill her in the end after her insensitivity to pain came back again, so she killed the appendicitis. Bullshit. She killed her left arm as well because it was useless. Bullshit. Touko pays her for the job with a new artificial arm, which can grab spirits. And bullshit.

Mikiya finishes calling the ambulance for Fujino, apparently unconcerned with the fact Shiki's arm now looks like a sausage pretzel. Touko leaves while Shiki and Mikiya stay behind. Mikiya asks her if she still can't forgive Fujino. "I'm not interested in someone whom I've already killed."

Shiki asks him if he really can afford to let her run free. She's one of the murderers he hates. Both of them are. He just shrugs, resolving to bear both their sins in their place. We get a little Ship Tease and the screen fades to black.

July, 1998

Sorry for being so late. Oh, here's your panda back. GO LONG!

edited 2nd Aug '10 10:40:19 AM by KSPAM

So... you didn't punch the panda?

No. But I will if PR says to.

edited 2nd Aug '10 10:42:15 AM by KSPAM

I've always thought that that movie had too many plot twists just for the sake of having twists. As you noted, for the last few you don't really care anymore, and honestly it doesn't even matter to the plot.

Remaining Sense of Pain was actually one of my favourites in this series. Perhaps some may not like the plot twists and just want to see action, but I thought they were awesome.

I'm also guessing you don't like magic as explanations to why things happen so be prepared for more bullshit later on.

edited 3rd Aug '10 10:48:16 AM by Haak

I just didn't like that they never explained it was some form of magic, only implied it.