Kara no Kyoukai #5: Mujun Rasen (paradox spiral)
Of the five Kara no Kyoukai instalments on the fansub circuit the most recent, Mujun Rasen (a.k.a. Paradox Spiral), has been the one that fans have made the biggest fuss over. It’s certainly the longest: clocking in at a full two hours it uses this time to weave a convoluted and disorientating story that keeps the viewer on their toes from the first moment to the last. No wonder really that so many cite it as their favourite so far – it’s the most confusing and shocking but it’s a headfuck in the best possible kind of way.
Be honest now. would YOU live there?!
The editing and scene compositions, in addition to the tense atmospherics and poetic dialogue that have already made the series memorable for me, are particularly outstanding. I don’t want to over-emphasise a certain point I made a while back but even next to the previous four this one comes across as particularly cinematic and sophisticated. It takes longer to set out its intentions and see them through, throws out more intertwining story threads and also has a brazen desire to play mind games with the viewer on a scale that Satoshi Kon would be proud of.
The spiral motif crops up a lot here: there’s certainly something compelling, hypnotic and dizzying about it at the best of times (Junji Ito did after all make a whole horror story about the things) but Mujun Rasen uses it as a metaphor in several different ways and explores more avenues that tie in with what we’ve seen from the story to date. The most obvious one is disorientation: this instalment is particularly fond of sleight of hand, deception and showing things from unusual angles to give differing perspectives and get its messages across.
The dychotomy of Shiki’s personality is likened to the symbol of yin and yang, the graphical representation of which being itself somewhat like a spiral; the confusion in the building in which many of this episode’s events take place is also caused by a mechanism that uses spirals to exploit the ease by which we can be fooled and manipulated. The mechanics involved are pretty clever actually – it reminds me of the Jonathan Creek TV show in the way that an elegantly simple illusion can leave almost everyone baffled, even when it’s not using anything magical or otherwise supernatural.
The moments where we’ve seen Araya going about his shady business were all in aid of the events in this film: unless he crops up later on I reckon this is the culmination of many of the incidents that have previously occured. The story arcs involving Kirie and Fujino were apparently intended to put Shiki into a certain position at a certain time of his choosing; it paints Araya as the calculating type who tries to control people like chess pieces to reach his goal…a scary bastard indeed.
Tomoe Enjou takes centre stage as the emotional foil to Shiki’s tsunderisms but sadly at Mikiya’s expense…with the exception of the hilarious flying book incident thanks to his sister Azaka. Tomoe’s appearance in the bigger picture, as brief as it was, is nevertheless memorable (not just because he’s a spitting image of F/S N’s Shirou!) and additionally highlighted another facet of Shiki’s fascinating psyche. The dynamic between them was a nice change of pace: seeing her spend time with someone other than Mikiya meant she behaved slightly differently and spoke of issues that wouldn’t have been discussed otherwise.
The quality of the screenplay writing shines through here in that, after making up your mind about Tomoe’s parents, your opinion does a full 180 degrees; at least mine did. They’re not so much bad people as good people who made bad decisions I suppose, although Tomoe’s final moments lead me to disagree with Araya’s declaration that his origin is that of worthlessness.
It saddens me to think how rare it is these days to see a lead character who’s genuinely a break from the norm – even within the Nasuverse there isn’t anyone quite like Shiki. The tsundere aretype has been well-used over the years since the Kara no Kyoukai novels were first published but the wonderful thing about Shiki is that it’s a mere component part of a multi-layered personality coloured with family duties, inner conflict, a dual identity and a peculiar penchant for cold-blooded murder. It’s testament to how well-written she is as a character, really, that a stand-offish individual who has homicidal tendancies can be so damned appealing!
These occasions are the most unlikely “Squee~!” moments I’ve ever experienced
The moments where Shiki engages the Stringy Vision and takes out a corridor full of zombies never gets old it seems: I was grinning like an idiot just like I did during the first movie. The fact is, Ufotable have animated all this so beautifully which means it all moves along with fluidity and energy; even in the more unsettling moments the severed body parts are rendered with convincing anatomical detail. They certainly don’t pull their punches: there’s plenty more gore and mutiliation here, wowing you with the stunning visuals and shocking you with its brutality the next.
Given the amount of symbolism and exposition on offer, I think it’s actually important to have moments where the viewer can give his or her brain a rest and simply enjoy watching Shiki do her dance of death. Finding beauty and poetry in violence and destruction is no mean feat…a guilty pleasure perhaps but I’d be lying if I said it isn’t awesome.
Although Mikiya doesn’t get as much screen time as he has done in the past Touko is given plenty of attention, and not just in the sense that both antagonists of the piece are old acquaintances of hers either. Her supposed murder by Araya was particularly brutal, and Mikiya’s injuries at the hands of Alba were unflinchingly unpleasant too. It shows – to beautiful yet somewhat sickening effect – how messed-up Alba and Araya are but Touko comes across as being really switched-on and in control.
If there’s one thing that didn’t really work it’s Cornelius Alba: to be honest his character didn’t sit right with me at all. The madness and eccentricity at least were marvellous; I’d put money on him being British by birth, not just because he, Touko and Araya studied in London, but the fact that the best stereotypical Gentlemanly Mad Villains in cinema always seem to be British…it’s one area we still excel at I guess. Unfortunately his appearance looked like something copied out of a J K Rowling novel, so all the way through I was wishing he’d step back into the Harry Potter universe where he belonged and be replaced with someone more menacing instead.
Don’t ya know, PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY’RE KILLED LOL, etc., etc.
With the exception of this one thing, the film works wonderfully as a whole for me. The scene cuts flow with an audacity and maturity missing from even its live-action counterparts; the montage segments that depict the routine of Tomoe’s time spent with Shiki save time for jumping back and forth to build up that tension and disorientation when things get more eventful. The symbolism and subtexts reward repeat viewings too, not least because the time frames are revisited and little bits of foreshadowing catch your attention the second time around. The only question I have now is, how can the last two possibly match this?
I actually watched this for the first time late last night. On the whole, I came away a bit dissatisfied – not so much because it’s a bad film (it’s quite good, actually), but because I didn’t seem to enjoy it nearly as much as the previous four installments. For some reason, it wasn’t as engaging as what came before it. My initials thoughts are that it boils down to two things: 1) the grand scale made for a LOT of material, which, combined with the funky chronology and puzzling presentation, made the core narrative difficult to keep track of, and 2) it’s far less Shiki-centric than the previous films.
The latter is probably most important; I didn’t quite realize it until I finished Mujun Rasen, but the first four films are primarily focused on building up Shiki’s character (and unraveling the mystery therein), and it’s that common thread that binds them together. The associated narrative exists to support Shiki’s character development. She’s the star. In Mujun Rasen, however, I felt she was more a spectator. Because of that, the film felt detached from the series as a whole – even despite the fact it brings closure (or some element of closure) to core plot elements from the previous films.
I hope it’s more an abberation and less a matter of the series jumping the shark (I’m no fan of Nasu’s writing, to be honest; the fact that I’ve enjoyed Kara no Kyoukai as much as I have is a bit of a surprise… but it also means I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop). The preview for Oblivion Recorder looked promising, at least.
Rather oddly I’m a bit of a rarity in that I preferred the third movie out of the bunch so far, although this does run it a close second – Perhaps the fact that I marathoned all five movies in a matter of days makes the difference there.
That aside, this instalment certainly did a good job of making full use of the time allocated to it (which I doubted it would before sitting down to watch if I’m honest) – It’s one of those plots and stories that you can spend hours sitting and thinking about after the event, if only to marvel at some of the concepts it uses. I certainly agree with your comparison to Jonathan Creek – I remember my thought at the time when the true nature of the apartment block was revealed was “If Jonathan Creek was really fucked up, this was what it would be”.
Shiki is also a good example of a character who should be straightforward almost to the point of being cliched on paper, but thanks to both some great writing and character development she’s anything but – She really steals almost every scene in every movie so far, and shes one of the more fascinating individuals I’ve seen in any recent anime.
All in all, I’m definitely looking forward to the final instalments, however long the wait may be for the 7th movie!!
“Unfortunately his appearance looked like something copied out of a J K Rowling novel,”
I actually thought he looked like he resembled someone from one of Roald Dahl’s more famous works. :P
This was my favorite of the five movies, since I tend to love mindfucks that come together if you think about it for a bit. I also enjoyed seeing more of characters other than Shiki, and a little bit more about what makes these people tick. I mean, even though you might say there’s less of a Shiki presence here than in the first four movies, whenever she was present, the moments were still pretty important, eventful, and more informing as to who she is and how she continues to come to term with who she is.
And oh god the cinematography, especially during the final battle, was great. I feel like I can’t say that I love ufotable enough, since I feel like I say that all of the time. :P
Watching Mujun Rasen the first time through was definitely disorienting, as it was probably intended to be to a certain extent. I can safely say I enjoyed the mindfuck though. It took a lot of effort to sort out what exactly was going on while watching, even after reading the book. A second viewing of Mujun Rasen is definitely recommended. That’s when everything clicked for me and I was able to appreciate more of the subtleties of the movie, and not just the “ZOMFG THAT WAS SO COOL” moments.
Concerning Alba, his character was simplified a little from the novel. He’s supposed to be very powerful, even having a spell that is equivalent to a Noble Phantasm, but the film never shows him in action, so he becomes a bit of a joke.
“Finding beauty and poetry in violence and destruction is no mean feat…a guilty pleasure perhaps but I’d be lying if I said it isn’t awesome.”
Haha…that’s one of the things I love about anime. You feel less guilty about finding beauty in people actually getting killed (in serious manner).
Anyway, I did hear so much good things about Kara no Kyou 5, but I wasn’t that impressed with their first instalment. I liked it, just didn’t think it was mind blowing. A fellow fan recommended me that I should skip 2,3,4 and just 5th one. Do you recommend so too?
One of the things that I don’t think gets acclaimed enough about this film is just how good Nakata Jouji was at portraying an utterly disturbing and menacing antagonist in Araya. That vocal performance made the character and was just so… chilling.
Yeah, this was my favourite film so far too. There’s just so much in it to chew on. It’s like a puzzle that’s begging to be unraveled.
@gaguri: I wouldn’t, because the fifth film ties a lot of the earlier ones together.
@Jeff Lawson: it is a very confusing film – even having plenty of experience with this sort of thing (the aforementioned Satoshi Kon included) I still needed a rewatch to appreciate the plot because it jumps around so much. Does Shiki take a back seat in this one? I’m honestly not sure if that’s the case. There are quite a few little moments that add to her character but perhaps the overwhelming nature of what’s going on around her obscures that somewhat. I reckon you’ll enjoy it more the second time around actually, although I’m mindful of the fact that it’s quite a long film.
@Hanners: the third one is just as great in my opinion, although the sexual slant made me feel a bit uncomfortable (in contrast, I must be desensitised to blood spillage since this one wasn’t quite as bad for me in the “urgh!” stakes). As for Shiki’s character, Nasu and Takeuchi are really into recycling personality traits and physical features, yet despite this and the relative age of the piece she doesn’t come across as derivative at all. The quintessential heroine figure of her creator, much like Nausicaa and how she inspired Miyazaki’s character writing since.
@TheBigN: yeah, now you mention it he does have a Wonka-esque look to him! And the cinematography…it tops the third movie, which I didn’t expect at all. That’s what concerns me: how far can this upward curve go??
@GARbej: I think I watched it three times in total! Only then did I feel confident that I ‘got’ it but at some point I’ll rewatch all of them because the shuffled timeline allows you to see things from a different perspective. It is a shame that Alba was portrayed in the way he was here – his character felt a bit under-used actually. Can’t wait to read the novel if he has a Noble Phantasm-level ability, which ought to be out…any day now. Where’s the announcement?!
@gaguri: what Sorrow-kun said. I honestly don’t recommend missing any of the episodes at all. They’re not all the same in terms of length or content – the fourth in particular is quite short and at first glance uneventful, but I think it’s important to see them all through because explanations and connections crop up later. The first one isn’t the best either, so you may well be pleasantly surprised with the rest.
@Sorrow-kun: I don’t often pay much attention to the voice actors because I don’t feel I’m fluent enough in Japanese to appreciate the nuances, but in comparison with the typical anime villain Araya’s VA was particularly cool and restrained, which is more effective I think. Maaya Sakamoto shines as Shiki, but that goes without saying, right? ;)