Time to review the latest movie release in the Kara no Kyoukai series. At just a little under 2 hours long it's the longest (that I can think of) of the movies so far and there is good reason. A lot happens during this movie and a lot of it is mind fuck goodness. The fifth movie in the series is entitled Paradox Spiral and the more you get into the movie the more it makes since as every bit of the movie has something to do with a spiral including the time shifting during the movie which at first seems random but by the end makes entirely to much sense.
If you didn't like the movie Pulp Fiction for it's jumping around the story line than you will absolutely hate Paradox Spiral. Actually if that's the case then you probably hate the entire series as it is. Anyways! The main plot of the movie is that the man introduced at the end of the fourth movie (also a little bit in the second one as well) Souren Araya a mage who knew Touko is out to pretty much end the world by finding the Spiral of Life (origin) in order to do so he builds a large Apartment complex that is used to capture people's tormented deaths and replay them over and over again so that Araya can find the origin. He realizes that he also needs Shiki's power of seeing death lines and that she is the ying or yang to the puzzle of the origin.
Which brings us to Tomoe a resident of the spiral apartment who believes he killed his parents and escapes from the apartment and during a fight with old high school bullies ends up meeting Shiki after she beats the crap out of the bullies because she wants to give the key back to Tomoe that he dropped. Shiki ends up letting Tomoe stay with her and later even takes him back to his apartment to find out what the gimmick is. There is a lot of stuff going on before Shiki and Tomoe visit the apartment but it's at that point where things really take off and the action starts to escalate. After visiting the apartment Shiki is actually captured by Araya after a crazy fight with the other dead residents of the apartment (probably one of the better fights of the series even) Araya lets Enjou escape and he goes back to Shiki's place
During all this Mikiya and Touko and themselves investigating the Apartment complex and the lives of those living there. Mikiya visites Shiki's place and encounters Tomoe and after a nice little visit they leave to save Shiki from the Apartment. Also heading to the Apartment is Touko to confront Araya and his accomplice the man in red (Alba). Mikiya and Tomoe split up Mikiya goes to the lobby to distract Alba and what not and Tomoe breaks in by way of the sewer system and finds himself in the basement. A basement full of brains where Tomoe finds his own brain and even though he already knew he was a fake it just cemented the fact. He has a nice little discussion with Araya ends up yelling that he has a mind of his own and jumps on the elevator to confront Araya. This leads to Tomoe's quick death as his puppet master turns Tomoe to ash after he tries to attack Araya. Mikiya wasn't having much a better day was he ends up fighting with Alba and has his head repeated bashed into the wall. Thankfully Touko shows up to save him and kill Alba
But first the major WTF! moment of the movie. Before Mikya and Tomoe find themselves at the apartment Touko arrives to battle Alba and Araya. The only weapon she brings is a suitcase. Thankfully that suitcase contains a spirit beast cat thing that makes quick work of Alba and does defeat Araya only problem is that Araya was a puppet and OMFG WTF!!!! the real Araya punches Touko from the back through her chest ripping out her heart. And smashes it in front of her before ripping her head off and destroying her body. Araya gives Alba Touko's head in a jar and lets him do what he wants with it knowing the Alba's fate has been dealt to him with giving him the head. Now Alba has Touko's head and Mikya enters the lobby which takes us back to Mikya getting his head smashed up pretty good and the second Touko pissed off from being called a dirty red (and for being killed) and we find out that it was a clone. She also has a second suitcase this time with a different monster in a suitcase that devours Alba.
It's pretty much by this time that everything has fallen into place and you have a pretty good idea of the huge scope that this movie was going for. It's also at this point that Shiki has woken up and is fighting her way out of the trap that Araya put her in. Shiki pretty much cuts Araya down to size with a katana that Tomoe brought with him to give to Shiki when he saved her. In order to escape Shiki Araya throws himself out of the apartment complex so that he can crush it down on top of Shiki in an attempt to kill her. Of course that doesn't work and she follows him right out of the apartment complex as well killing him when he lands on the ground and because he hadn't made another clone of himself he finally dies and the gang is all back and heading off to their next adventure.
This is by far one of the better movies of the series and will leave you wanting to watch it several more times because you realize what you've missed the first time and want to see it again so that it can make much more sense the second and third go round. Can't wait for the next movie. Oh and honestly if you want a much more in depth look at the movie you can read this blog entry about the movie as well.
If you didn't like the movie Pulp Fiction for it's jumping around the story line than you will absolutely hate Paradox Spiral. Actually if that's the case then you probably hate the entire series as it is. Anyways! The main plot of the movie is that the man introduced at the end of the fourth movie (also a little bit in the second one as well) Souren Araya a mage who knew Touko is out to pretty much end the world by finding the Spiral of Life (origin) in order to do so he builds a large Apartment complex that is used to capture people's tormented deaths and replay them over and over again so that Araya can find the origin. He realizes that he also needs Shiki's power of seeing death lines and that she is the ying or yang to the puzzle of the origin.
Which brings us to Tomoe a resident of the spiral apartment who believes he killed his parents and escapes from the apartment and during a fight with old high school bullies ends up meeting Shiki after she beats the crap out of the bullies because she wants to give the key back to Tomoe that he dropped. Shiki ends up letting Tomoe stay with her and later even takes him back to his apartment to find out what the gimmick is. There is a lot of stuff going on before Shiki and Tomoe visit the apartment but it's at that point where things really take off and the action starts to escalate. After visiting the apartment Shiki is actually captured by Araya after a crazy fight with the other dead residents of the apartment (probably one of the better fights of the series even) Araya lets Enjou escape and he goes back to Shiki's place
During all this Mikiya and Touko and themselves investigating the Apartment complex and the lives of those living there. Mikiya visites Shiki's place and encounters Tomoe and after a nice little visit they leave to save Shiki from the Apartment. Also heading to the Apartment is Touko to confront Araya and his accomplice the man in red (Alba). Mikiya and Tomoe split up Mikiya goes to the lobby to distract Alba and what not and Tomoe breaks in by way of the sewer system and finds himself in the basement. A basement full of brains where Tomoe finds his own brain and even though he already knew he was a fake it just cemented the fact. He has a nice little discussion with Araya ends up yelling that he has a mind of his own and jumps on the elevator to confront Araya. This leads to Tomoe's quick death as his puppet master turns Tomoe to ash after he tries to attack Araya. Mikiya wasn't having much a better day was he ends up fighting with Alba and has his head repeated bashed into the wall. Thankfully Touko shows up to save him and kill Alba
But first the major WTF! moment of the movie. Before Mikya and Tomoe find themselves at the apartment Touko arrives to battle Alba and Araya. The only weapon she brings is a suitcase. Thankfully that suitcase contains a spirit beast cat thing that makes quick work of Alba and does defeat Araya only problem is that Araya was a puppet and OMFG WTF!!!! the real Araya punches Touko from the back through her chest ripping out her heart. And smashes it in front of her before ripping her head off and destroying her body. Araya gives Alba Touko's head in a jar and lets him do what he wants with it knowing the Alba's fate has been dealt to him with giving him the head. Now Alba has Touko's head and Mikya enters the lobby which takes us back to Mikya getting his head smashed up pretty good and the second Touko pissed off from being called a dirty red (and for being killed) and we find out that it was a clone. She also has a second suitcase this time with a different monster in a suitcase that devours Alba.
It's pretty much by this time that everything has fallen into place and you have a pretty good idea of the huge scope that this movie was going for. It's also at this point that Shiki has woken up and is fighting her way out of the trap that Araya put her in. Shiki pretty much cuts Araya down to size with a katana that Tomoe brought with him to give to Shiki when he saved her. In order to escape Shiki Araya throws himself out of the apartment complex so that he can crush it down on top of Shiki in an attempt to kill her. Of course that doesn't work and she follows him right out of the apartment complex as well killing him when he lands on the ground and because he hadn't made another clone of himself he finally dies and the gang is all back and heading off to their next adventure.
This is by far one of the better movies of the series and will leave you wanting to watch it several more times because you realize what you've missed the first time and want to see it again so that it can make much more sense the second and third go round. Can't wait for the next movie. Oh and honestly if you want a much more in depth look at the movie you can read this blog entry about the movie as well.
