Anime: Gekijouban Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners

en esta review hablaré exclusivamente de la primera película de la serie "Kara no kyoukai", "El Jardín de los Pecadores", "The Garden of Sinners" o como prefieras llamarle, puede que en un futuro abarque las otras 6 películas pero lo veo innecesario puesto que comparten muchas características con esta.

KnK es la franquicia que definió al actual Ufotable, es decir, que fue a partir de la antes mencionada serie que las características típicas del estudio se crearon, anteriormente a esta sus producciones se caracterizaban por estar animadas por el culo y escritas con la misma calidad. Luego de ello, la compañía se alió con Type-Moon y lograron conseguir el efectivo para producir con una inmensa mejora en cuanto a valores de producción se refiere, solo comparen tsukihime, otro desastre de la compañía que medio mundo aparenta que no existe, y vean el nivel de ilustración, coloreado y movimiento con la película. Pero como todos sabemos una mejora así no se puede trasladar a nivel guión y si, KnK tiene todas las características que Ufotable mantiene a nivel argumental, o sea, una porquería ultra pretenciosa típica del Nasuverso. Realmente me sorprende como puede haber gente que siga contratando a Kinoko Nasu y no darse una palmada en la frente al ver los productos que haya sacado, o que aun peor haya gente que adore sus obras y las cataloguen como joyitas escondidas cuando son un desastres desmedido.

Pero dejando los parloteos y yendo al grano, la obra trata sobre una chica con doble personalidad, una es distante y poco sociable, la otra es una maquina sádica de matar, un rasgo heredado por parte de su familia para que sea una asesina feroz y se ponga a cazar a varios demonios y seres malignos, mientras al mismo tiempo entabla una relación con un chico llamado Mikiya Kokutou y con el paso del tiempo Shiki lo ayuda a resolver muchos crímenes de carácter paranormal. O por lo menos eso creo, porque ni tengo la capacidad de recordar de que iba esta cosa o si lo dije va esta parte de la entrega, y no, no es una negligencia mía sino del film, producto de tener una pésima continuidad, todo está desordenado cronológicamente a un nivel que no llega a ser muy entendible que carrizos está pasando, de un momento a otro ocurren eventos sin algún contexto que los justifique, otro problema de la narrativa es que esta peli es en gran parte un recopilatorio de eventos de las futuras películas de la franquicia, cosa que solo arruina mas esta porque todos los hechos ocurridos aquí no vienen al caso, para que metes eventos futuros que no vienen con lo que estás tratando en el presente? solo terminan por hacer que todo sea mucho mas difícil de entender, al menos si hubiese hecho esto pudo manejarlo como baccano, donde el salto de una linea a otra no afecta al ya haberse establecido previamente los hechos de ambas, y así no sería un enorme inconveniente y por el contrario los eventos se sentirían mas intrigantes. Otro gran problema que ocasiona esto es que es un enorme relleno, solo la mitad de la película sirve para presentar el mundo y el resto se va en peleas que Shiki tendrá con enemigos futuros.

Para seguir hablando de otras razones por las que no es fácil de ver son la exposición y el ritmo. Empezando por este ultimo, he visto series con un ritmo espantoso, pero dios, Kara no Kyoukai se lleva la corona de todas ellas. Es horriblemente densa, todo se siente que durase el triple de lo que debería, lo que solo provoca una inmensa apatía y aburrimiento que te noquearán mientras lo intentas ver, y no miento, yo mismo intenté verla dos veces y el resultado fue el mismo. Esto es a la vez fruto de la terrible exposición, es costumbre que las obras del nasuverso posean diálogos estúpidos y redundantes que tengan en medio pura terminología rebuscada en forma de exposición pésimamente manejada, pero KnK se lleva de nuevo la corona entre ellos, casi cada frase que dicen los personajes es tan rebuscada y densa que resulta ser incomprensible a la primera que sumado con su gran absurdo te verás obligado a oír tonterías muy extrañas que no entenderás fácilmente, o hablan de misterios mal estructurados cuyas pistas no tienen mucho sentido, o empiezan a filosofar sobre como son una mierda de personas y que son hechos así o por que no se matan, entre otros tipos de mariconeria emo, no solo se queda ahí, también les gusta decir que carajos están sintiendo, pensando o como son con los demás a cada rato, en lugar de, no se, expresarlo mediante su actitud e interacciones.

Y ya que hablé de los personajes, diré que es un plomazo ver como son, Shiki es tu doll girl a lo Rei Ayanami, solo que sin nada interesante, es tan blanda que solo destaca en las peleas y a un nivel superficial por lo badass que es, ya que fuera de las secuencias de acción no destaca en nada, mantiene una mirada y actitud seria a cada momento, solo para agregar mas sal a la herida y como dice la sinopsis tiene doble personalidad, o se pone como una muñeca sin emociones o como una asesina psicótica que disfruta matando y poniendo cara de yandere sonriente, personalidades que cambian en momentos tan convenientes y que provocan en extensión que el personaje no posea una personalidad real, la chica sirve mas como un gancho para que los otakus tengan a una waifu asesina y fría que como personaje, es como con Saber pero menos blanda. Y eso me lleva a hablar del otro protagonista (Mikiya) que es aun mas blando, quiere a Shiki a pesar de que lo puede matar y ni se inmuta o se pone a pensar en las consecuencias, fuera de hacer un contraste con su relación también tiene que trabajar con Shiki para resolver los misterios, y ni eso tiene sentido, por que meten a un chico promedio en todo aspecto que ademas tiene lentes en casos que requieren de una inmensa capacidad física y mental mas allá de la humana?, siguiendo con su relación con Shiki, esta es seca, se suponen que se aman, pero a cada rato mantienen una actitud seria el uno con la otra, no hacen actividades, no se muestran cariño, como esperan que me crea una relación así? y fuera de Shiki es chico es vació en cada aspecto, no tiene metas, ambiciones, o siquiera personalidad o algo que justifique lo que hace, es una hoja en blanco. En ese sentido es tu típico hombre beta para que te insertes y fantasees que tienes una novia cool y asesina, típico de las obras de Nasu. Los demás personajes de esta y las futuras entregas son al mismo nivel de inútiles y blandos como el dúo protagonista.

Para seguir con la tiradera de mierda los temas tratados y la relevancia de los eventos en la obra están expuestos de la peor manera posible, no profundiza un carrizo porque se queda estancado con los personajes siendo miserables y lamentándose por los monstruos que son, Shiki es una de ellos, los villanos van por el mismo camino, y eso que me hace preguntarme por que no se matan de una vez en lugar de lloriquear y con la relevancia de los eventos pues, no existe conexión uno con otros, es como con CSI o L&O, son puras tramas autoconclusivas que ni dan avance a alguna clase de trama real. Y para no olvidar los temas la serie también se pone super edgy por esto, como dichos personajes son puras bestias que matan por su naturaleza, la película está llena de escenas brutales, oscuras y trágicas llevadas a las patadas, donde un montón de gente es asesinada, mutilada o violada por ellos, esas escenas son una gran reiteración que sirve para que los edgelords disfruten del espectáculo de viseras, gritos y sangre, y ni siquiera de manera genial a lo hellsing, sino de la mierdosa forma de elfen lied.

Y ni siquiera se ven tan bien en lo visual, como mencioné con anterioridad, a partir de esta entrega Ufotable mejoró la calidad de sus obras, metiendole mucho presupuesto a sus producciones, lastimosamente eso no significa que el dinero compre una buena dirección, si bien es cierto que el movimiento es fluido a cada rato, que le meten muchos efectos para que todo se vea mas genial, como luces computarizadas que resaltan mucho el color y mejoran mucho el contraste, que la ilustración se ve asombrosa, con fondos y diseños detallados, y con peleas muy dinámicas, espectaculares y divertidas, también es cierto que el encuadre de cámara es problemático, por lo que las tomas a veces se ven incomodas a la vista, los movimientos de cámara solo hacen aun mas confuso saber el contexto de las escenas y que sumado a los efectos terminan por saturar a la pantalla y no dejan ver muy bien la acción durante las batallas, que se usa mucho CGI y efectos computarizados tanto para animar fondos como personajes y sangre en ocasiones que hacen ver molestas muchas cosas, en una escena enfocan al ojo de un hombre su que estaba animado en 2D y el ojo lo hicieron con un cutre CGI que intentaba emular la animación tradicional. Y en cuanto a la banda sonora pues, es funcional y esta buena, pero es algo genérica dentro del repertorio de la artista, que son la misma que compusieron el soundtrack de F/Z, no tiene mucha diferencia entre ambas, música orquestal sin mucha variación de tonos donde se enfatizan el sonido de los violines, pianos entre otras, sin embargo no es mala y en general es muy buena.

Para finalizar diré que esta cosa es infumable, fuera de la producción es una mierda en cada sentido, los temas de sufrimiento y suicidio son idiotas, su manejo es idiota, los personajes son una patada en las bolas, la estructura narrativa y flujo de información es un caos, es ridículamente aburrida y es probable que cuando la termines no recuerdes nada, si, no la recomiendo a nadie a menos que quieras dormir como nunca lo has hecho.

sugerencias:

Fate/Zero (es una kk pero al menos tiene sus cosas buenas y es mirable)
Fate/Stay Night
Tsukihime

Kara no Kyoukai is a highly-rated set of seven movies that each tell a usually-dark story while also comprising a greater whole. The entire, tense journey will take up 9 uneven hours of your life (movies 5 and 7 are 2 hours long). In my opinion, this would be a great use of your time as this definitely is worth it's high rating. Even if serious, supernatural, action-based, and thriller are not descriptions of series that you like, this series of movies is worth looking at, as it is pure eye and ear candy. If the above descriptors are in fact what you're looking for, then you'll also like the well-developed characters, and distinctive and engaging plot line.

The only reasons to stay away from the series is if you're looking for a harem with lots of fan service or are blood-adverse, as this was the bloodiest series I've seen in a while, as well as the one containing the most detailed severed limbs (still pulsating sometimes).

Animation:
I would have to be blind to give this anything other than a perfect score. The visuals in these movies are absolutely fabulous. Character designs look vaguely reminiscent to other Type Moon series and are well detailed. Backgrounds are likewise stunning in detail and lighting. There are quite a few battle scenes in the movies and I'm happy to report flawlessly smooth animation and great choreography. By far, the atmosphere of the series is its strongest point, and the animation does a lot to support this.

As previously mentioned, this series does involve quite a bit of gore and death, as well as sexual abuse (involving some nudity). If these are offensive to you then you might want to stay away from eps 5 and 3, respectively (though you'd be missing quite a bit as well). I will say that I'd expect a fair amount of people to be unable to eat while watching some parts of the show.

Sound:
Sound is the other part that completes the perfection in the show's atmosphere. Yuki Kajiura was in charge of the BGM/EDs of this so you should expect quite a bit. The BGMs create an immense sense of what can only be described as pressure. The closest thing to this is the BGM for Pandora Hearts, which Yuki Kajiura also composed. As for EDs, Yuki Kajiura created the group Kalafina for the SOLE purpose to perform the EDs in this series. Each movie has a separate ED and each one is very good (especially since the melody is linked if not used earlier in the BGM for the particular movie). If you happened to watch Eve no Jikan and enjoyed the extended ED, Kalafina did that as well.

Sound effects is another one of the highlights of the series. Whether it is the sound of air from a pipe or the melodious dance of two daggers, the effects were top notch and greatly contributed to the atmosphere and tension.

VAs in this show were strong, which was expected given the star-studded cast. Maaya Sakamoto does a great job leading as Shiki, I couldn't tell that it was the same VA for Lunamaria Hawke. The two early antagonists are voiced by Rie Tanaka and Mamiko Noto.

Story:
The story of Kara no Kyoukai is hard to summarize. It is definitely similar to Tsukihime as Shiki gains the mystic ability to see death lines (the same ability that guy-Shiki had in Tsukihime). Basically, mysterious deaths occur in the city due to supernatural causes, and the police are completely useless. Each movie explores a different scenario with Shiki and Mikiya unraveling the mysteries. Underlying all of this are deep themes and philosophical notions. What does it mean to kill another person? Is murder or suicide ever justified, and who has the right to decide such a thing.

One unique aspect is the usage of time. Each movie takes place in a different place in time, and the movies are not in chronological order. This was used to great effect in controlling what the viewer gets exposed to when. While each movie is a great thriller in and of itself, the entire series of movies does converge upon one huge climax at the end of the series. While the climax wasn't the greatest in my opinion (somewhat of a wtf, which was also what I felt at the climax in FSN), the execution in how they got to that point was right on target.

Pacing wise, movie 6 felt a bit out of place, as it focused on Asuza, Mikiya's (hot) younger sister. It came across as significantly lighter in mood relative to the other movies. But it didn't bother me too much as earlier in the movies I just happened to be wishing for more air time for Asuza. The series does spend a lot of time building the atmosphere, so it may feel a bit slow at times. Perhaps it's just enough time to recover from the excitement of that last critical battle.

Character:
All of the characters in the movie were well utilized and served their role well. I particularly liked the dark histories of the early antagonists. Likewise, I liked the depth of Shiki's character. While they tease a bit in each episode, you don't get the full picture until the last movie, all the while slowly deepening her relationship with Mikiya. Mikiya is your typical nice guy, though apparently somewhat smart as he often serves as the detective in the mysteries. He is also unexpectedly hardy, having survived some pretty serious injuries throughout the movies in his unwavering love for and belief in Shiki (despite being relatively weak himself).

I did feel that some of the latter antagonists weren't given as much attention. While it's hinted that some of them have an extensive history with Touko, these aren't explained at all. Furthermore, the true antagonist in movie 6 was never resolved. Despite these shortcomings, the protagonists were indeed well developed. If anything, the romantic aspect of the relationships in this series definitely took a back seat, this is definitely foremost a thriller.

Value:
This series at this point in time is for me the pinnacle of good atmosphere, combining the best aspects of animation and sound. This alone moves this series easily into a top 50 spot. While the story took an odd turn late in the movies, the overall execution was above average. It was in all a very tense, and involved watch and left me with some interesting philosophical material to mutter over. Definitely a worthy watch.

PROPER MINDSET
Based on a story that takes place in the same universe as Tsukihime, this is yet another psychological thriller around mysticism, and people who see death lines. It is also made in the unorthodox form of movies and not episodes, so each segment is given far more attention and care, instead of rushing through it in order to be ready in a week. It is an interesting watch for various reasons. You can watch it for the amazing atmosphere, or the smart mystery, or the jaw-dropping animation, or just to analyze the way each director handled each movie in his own private way. Or, if all the previous ones fail, having the pleasure to watch the second most pretentious anime ever made, topped only by Ghost in the Shell Innocence.

THE STAFF
Studio Ufotable went all out with the budget and created something extremely great to stare at. Although the studio’s roster doesn’t look that impressive as a whole, they also made the far more delightful adaptation of Fate/Zero. Compared to that travesty that was the sequel made by DEEN, I consider Ufotable to be good when it wants to be good (specifically only when making TYPE-MOON adaptations). A funky thing about the directing is that each movie was handled by different people and thus the feeling is different in each one. Despite the minor differences they all retain the same mood, which is that of a gloomy supernatural mystery.

PRODUCTION VALUES
Aesthetically, I have nothing but good things to say. The production values are flawless, huge amounts of cinematics, multiple details, and dozens of filters used in shading and lighting on surfaces created a masterful sight for sore eyes. Add to that multiple angles, very well made battle choreographies and (yes I never fail to mention as positive) zero excess in out of place erotic fan service to please the ronery folks out there. Well, there is some, but it fits nicely. The music score also consists of well made pieces that fit the mood and the dialogues are very well worked upon, with great voice acting. The character figures may appear average in design and thus not easily eye-catchy, but it is the wrapper around them which makes them interesting to keep watching.

SCRIPT
I also have a good opinion of the story, which is a very well made (deep breath) action/mystery/psychological thriller/fantasy told in non-linear way and often changes themes and sceneries to avoid becoming stale or repetitive. The thing is, the pacing is quite slow and the characters are less interesting than the overall mood of the story. Although one could say that giving the story its time can help you to immerge properly in the setting, it still gets hard to be appreciated if it is not your style of narration. And in my case it wasn’t. This is what most would call boring and dull, even if stuff is happening in it.

CAST
The cast is generally interesting, acting in a fitting way and looking eye-catchy thanks to the awesome animation. It is also dull or expressionless compared to the typical high-spirited and zany ones most are used to from shonen series but that is not a problem by itself. Issues can include not maturing or evolving as strong as others do, in other anime, in less time. It can be also annoying how they always say things which mean nothing if you don’t add content to them by yourself. This is where the notorious pretentiousness of this title comes in, since the dialogues are a bunch of fancy words that are supposed to be allegorical. It can get very annoying when you realize the characters are in a way autistic, speaking with hard to comprehend internal monologues, even when chatting with others. This makes them detached from everyone and everything, and with such poor interaction with others it is hard to even understand what they want half the time. It can get hard to relate to what is going on or even to like them.

LEGACY
What was my impression of these movies? “Jesus Christ, just get to the point already!”
Me and many others simply found most of the duration unexciting. The pacing was slow and the action wasn’t thrilling. That is practically half of my enjoyment gone right there (the other half being the amazing atmosphere). And it’s not like there is actual dead time since you are supposed to pay attention to the subtle details that give hints for the mystery, so forget about fast-forwarding it. It becomes a tedious watch after a point on.

Despite all that, The Garden of Sinners is a must watch for any anime fan, regardless of taste. It really does open the eyes to how much better an anime can be than all those mediocrities tv adores to broadcast. Most will appreciate it for the high production values and duration alone and it’s definitely a memorable watch. This anime is also honored of being a good adaptation; something which is very rare in anime. It is definitely not something everybody will enjoy but it’s still a special one.

Kara no Kyoukai is a bit hard to review as a whole, because there are major differences between the movies. While the weaker ones, like parts 3 or 4, are "kinda ok"-movies, they are overshadowed by the godlike parts 2, 5 and 7.
After you've been there and done that, you are left with an overall memorable set of movies.

Animation
The animation just blew me away. This is the most perfect animation in every aspect I have ever seen. Violence looks goddamn brutal, special effects are awesome, and the character designs are nice.
While there are not that many fight scenes, every movie manages to have at least one, and they are the most beautiful action scenes I've ever seen in anime. They have lots of special effecfts and cool acrobatics.

Sound
Voice actors were well cast, and I liked the sound effects.
Soundtrack is by Yuki Kajiura, and it is all over the place and amazing. It always succeeds in fitting to the mood, and is something you'll remember for long after you've seen the movies.

Story
Kara no Koyukai has a trademark anime story right down to the core. It is weird, but it works. Villains have odd motivations, main characters are insane, and the settings are original. The main storyline tends to drag, as half of the movies just ignore it and focus on a new villain. The stories also take place in a strange order, and the movies are nothing but linear. At first time watching you won't even notice that the first movie refers to things that happen on the second and fourth, which take place before it, and the overall confusing story might require a rewatch to undestand fully.
Every time I've watched a Kara no Kyoukai movie again, I've learned something new about the characters or storyline.
For the Kinoko Nasu visual novel fans this is a perfect movie storyvice. It has that dark and stange Nasu tone, but it doesn't need to make sacrifices on R-rated stuff like Fate/Stay Night had nor does it have to sacrifice on the lenght of the series or character development like Shingetsutan Tsukihime had.

Character
The characters were enjoyable and memorable, and the dialogue was well written, thought-provoking and philosophical.
I also enjoyed the twisted logic of some of the characters.
The main characters, Ryogi Shiki and Kokutou Mikya make a great pair, and watching their awkward interaction is fun. Shiki is a brutal murderer and a bit socially awkward, and Mikya is a nerd with lots of social skills and epathy. It was also fun to see a female character to steal the show for once, as Mikya serves only the purpose of investigating scenes and talking with suspects and Shiki gets all the action.

Value
I got interested in these movies after seeing user fnord (@AnimeNFO) call them modern classics. Usually I think calling a rather new movie "classic" is an overstatement.
However after watching the 7 movies, I can't but feel the same way.
Kara no Kyoukai is a very special set of movies, and they are something every anime fan should at least give a try.

Kara no Kyoukai is a stunningly beautiful series. In fact, more: it's the best looking animation I've ever seen. On any number of occasions I simply forgot I wasn't watching live action; even though the strangely saturated colour palette is heavily unnatural, so much of Kara no Kyoukai looks straight out of a photograph.

Long sections are a static as photographs as well, with characters holding the same pose to speak for minutes at a time. This is likely for budgetary reasons, but actually becomes a very effective way to emphasise the unnaturalness of the world. It also pushes Stanislavski's principles further than real actors ever could: the long periods of stationariness impart an incredible violence to even the act of, say, throwing away an ice cream tub.

More often than not, though, when our "actors" move it is already for direct violence. Kara no Kyoukai's fight scenes are almost too polished; the movements are perfectly smooth even as they run faster than the eye can follow, somehow giving a bizarre impression of poor camerawork - or perhaps of an earthly camera recording these unreal events as best as it can. To slow the fights down enough to be watchable would no doubt rob them of a lot of their impact, but as it stands the heart aches for this beautiful dance of which we can only catch glimpses.

While the fights are enticing, though, the characters are much the opposite. For the first four movies I found it a real struggle to relate to or even care about any of the characters; female lead Shiki is awesome but emotionless, while male lead Kokutou is utterly bland in a way that would make perfect sense if the source material were a visual novel. Things slowly build though; the fifth movie features a more human protagonist for the viewer to relate to, and as Shiki ever so gently begins to unfold, her earlier coldness heightens the impact. By the end of the series the characters are perfectly engaging, but this doesn't quite balance the emotional drought of the first half.

Plots are a real mixed bag. There are some interesting stories here and one truly chilling plotline, but there are also a couple of quite weak entries; the idea of impersonation is overused, without exploring it in any real depth. This series inevitably reminded me of Bakemonogatari, and Kara no Kyoukai comes out worse in the comparison.

Which means that, while the second half ranges from good to awesome, there isn't quite enough to keep one going through the start of this series. It's visually stunning but with the plotting very variable and the first half emotionally dead, I had to force myself to watch numbers three and four. Kara no Kyoukai does reward perseverance though; as a tragedy, "enjoyment" isn't quite the right term, and I certainly don't plan on watching it again for some time. But I am very glad to have watched it.

This is my first (and, probably, last, since I'm a bad critic) review. I wanted to review Kara no Kyoukai long ago, so at last...

First of all, I want to note, that I haven't played any games involving NasuVerse setting or characters. Thus this review expresses a view on Kara no Kyoukai as an actual anime, and not as an adaptation.

With that in mind, I'll continue.

1. Animation
Well, actually the overall mood of the series is expressed quite well by means of dark-palette tones and shady urban landscapes (usually night-time) with nicely-detailed textures. The quality of animation is top-notch, guess it is what they call "the best modern graphics has to offer"; thus it's very qualitative but far from distinctive. However, there are not-so-noticable, but still quite unpleasant features, such as the backgrounds and overall setting of episode 6 and those gory scenes, which invoke lots of ketchup splatter and human faces and limbs being mangled as if they were made from rubber. The characters were quite thoroughly worked on; Shiki's special eyes were also done quite nicely; there is no syndrom of "template faces" whatsoever. With that said, I should also note that, beside aforementioned eyes, there was nothing particular to remember about the characters.

2. Sound
Really no complaints here. Voice acting was good, since the characters had their personalities matched by correspondingly toned voices. No outstanding character voicings, just a well-done job, nothing more. The opening and ending soundtracks were indeed quite memorable - they really root you in place even when credits go on screen! All in all, the composer made quite a fine mix of electronics and classics-like musical themes. Also, every opening theme is unique, which is definitely a plus. The backround sounds were okay, since they didn't avert my attention from the series. The OSTs are also quite memorable (I liked Azaka's best, but that's probably because I watched the first five eps too long ago); battle scenes also have their dynamic background, which is quite fitting for the action therein.

3. Story (might contain spoilers)
This is a collection of movies, their atmosphere heavily suggested by the name of the show - full of usually bitter feelings and consequential actions, but with those extended by means of enormous pathos. Anyway, the ending suggests the main line of events - i.e., the development of the relationship between Ryuogi Shiki and an ordinary guy Kokutou Mikiya. This is where the mind fuck begins, since it's hard to put together all the emotions and cryouts, inspired by this show, into order.
First, let's repeat, that this is a collection of movies, and therefore, each part of Kara no Kyoukai is a full-length work, which has its own plot. Moreover, with some stories highlighting different events, most movies actually provide outlines for the series' scenery in global aspect, thus making it deep and polyhedral, which is quite respectful.
However, the show also has a lot of details - some of them small, some not - those are detective aspects of KnK. As some people love this kind of genre, I'm not one of those. The issue, however, doesn't actually lie within investigations going on inside the episode, but either in some of the characters' actions. The last, and most deadly thing for this anime's watcher without any knowledge of NasuVerse, is that those damned details invoke the rules of that universe! Okay, I admit it, it's very good, that the story makes you think about why who did what, but not when that gets into details you have no idea about, it becomes quite irritating.
Now, for a quick view on the eps. There are eps, where the main villains are actually desperate people, who had their pain of living eased by a mysterious man - guess, that's kind of a second storyline. The storytelling, however, appeared to be really gripping in episode 5, since it contained perplex storytelling, a sinister and quite complex plot, and again the damned Nasu details, which weren't fully explained. Basically, the events in each episode develop detective-vise: something strange starts to happen (usually involving murder, or suicide), and Shiki is sent to eliminate the cause of the issue. Of course, the identity of the culprit isn't obvious, and it heatens up the overall story flow. Basically, going into details will produce a lot of spoilers, so I'll just say that the template depicted above is fit for each movie. Throw in some mystic powers, the perplexity of character backgrounds, which is often used to explain their actions and sometimes ties up with the culprit - and there you have it!
Now, actually, I'd like to accent on the fact that episode 5 was the most exciting, since the story there was shown to the viewer in quite a brilliant, mixed way. The ending was rather disappointing, pretty cliche (I got disappointed in the middle of episode 7, since by that time I could predict the ending, which never happened in the previous eps), though it nicely wraps-up the series as a whole. Episode 6 stands out, since the atmosphere in pretty much differs from other episodes.

4. Characters (spoilers!)
My favorite was Mikiya, that clear Dostoyevsky-type character (for those of you, who read the book "Idiot"). The ending somehow spoiled the purity of his personality, which has been nicely developed throughout the previous episodes, but overall his devotion to his beliefs and strength of will earned my respect.
On the other hand, Ryougi Shiki turns out to be rather annoying. She is pretty much a super-powered, weak-minded kid who doesn't know what to do in her life, since she got lost after the car accident. Her male personality must've been even more crude. The one thing that really irritated me was her corny phrases, which she usually spoke before epic battles. She is more like a weapon than a human (or a mystical entity bearing human form), usually being guided and used rather than acting on her own behalf.
Other imporant characters include Touko and Araya Souren - one a guiding and caring woman, a powerful mage acting only on behalf of her interests and the other being a lawful villain with a rather deep personality (hence, he's not all about "Now the whole world is doomed, mwahahaha!" thing). The other villains also had there character properly developed, some mad, some yanderish, with my personal favorite being Fujou Kirie.
The "good guys" also had there moments of glory - an especially remarkable personality was Tomoe's. His desire for survival was even more fascinating then Leo's (who was supposed to be a predator), but that desire is inspired by rational thinking and unusual willpower.
Overall, most of the characters were quite deep, and the minus in score goes mostly for Shiki, and also for Azaka, whom I find disgustingly plain for the series.

5. Value
It seems, that, as an adaptation, it is quite worthy - that I don't know and really don't care. However, the rewatchability of this anime is not just high - it's almost obligatory! Some aspects could be understood only after rewatching. This could be considered a positive and a negative aspect altogether, depending on your preferences. Great animation and music make it memorable, however, the topics and the story couldn't be considered such. Drugs, sexual abuse, strive for power, revenge, rotten world - these topics have been shown a lot of times from different angles. The battle scenes were quite nicely done, both the ones starring Shiki, and the ones done by mages like Touko and Azaka, they were quite epic too, so they could remain memorable for a few weeks. Judging Kara no Kyoukai as an anime, and not as an adaptation, it doesn't bring on any new themes.

6. Enjoyment
I had a dual impression watching this. On one hand, there are a lot of Nasu details and Ryougi Shiki, whom I find annoying. On the other hand, art, soundtracks and the story itself were quite gripping, and watching "Paradox Spiral" really took me away from the real world. I also enjoyed Mikiya and Tomoe's personalities, with their purity of intentions. But, as I said, the overall topics under observation aren't new. With such a dual experince from watching the show, I give it this rating.