Beyond the Boundary
12 Episodes + 2 Movies
2013 (Main Series)
2015 (Film 1 & Film 2)
Series Order
This excludes the OVA* and the ONA** series, but they are not required watching as they are merely bonuses. While the OVA* does not feature on the home video release of the main series, the ONA** series does.
Beyond the Boundary (Main Series)
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Beyond the Boundary -I’ll Be Here- Past (Recap Film)
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Beyond the Boundary -I’ll Be Here- Future (Sequel Film)
Alternate Title
Kyōkai no Kanata
Genre
Fantasy; Action; Drama; Comedy; Tragedy; Supernatural; Magic; Psychological; Romance
Synopsis
Akihito Kanbara is by no means the normal student he looks like; thanks to his hyper-regenerative abilities, he is nigh on immortal. He spends his normal high school life as one of the literature club’s three members, with most of the school unaware that half of him is Yōmu. In fact, the other two club members are hunters of such dark spirits! However, Akihito’s somewhat normal life is overturned when he spots Mirai Kuriyama attempt suicide by jumping from the school’s rooftop. His glasses fetish leads him to stop her, but as she steps away from the ledge, she suddenly stabs him. Mirai’s cursed blood manipulation has made her an outcast among the Yōmu hunters, but even she is not without work – and it just so happens that her assignment is to kill a certain high school student named Akihito Kanbara!
Content Advisory
This is not a comprehensive list of every individual use of strong content, merely a guide to show you how extreme it gets and how strong it tends to be. Also, the tags I’ve given each segment (e.g. Very Strong Language) is based on my own system and does not necessarily reflect the tags the BBFC (or other national equivalent) use. According to my system, the ‘Mild’, ‘Moderate’, ‘Strong’ and ‘Very Strong’ adjectives are based on strength, not on volume. Now, obviously, the strength of any type of content is subjective; what I consider strong might just be a relaxing weekend for you. Hence, I have added an explanation for my decision to allow you to make your own informed decision.
Please also note that the ‘colourful’ language I am referring to here is based on sentai FILMWORKS’s English Dub. The Japanese Dub may (and probably does) differ.
Strong Bloody Violence
Pretty much every action sequence contains clouds of blood being ejected from their participants and there are a number of occasions where one character in particular is stabbed.
One character has the ability to form their blood into weapons.
One character is immortal, which is often exploited to cause them grievous harm since they’ll just heal it back up.
Moderate Horror
Being a dark fantasy, it should come as no surprise that some of the Yōmu designs may be frightening to some viewers and the show has some more intense or frightening imagery depicted throughout.
Moderate Sex References
A number of accusations that some of the characters are perverts, one character has a glasses fetish and another has a sister complex. These references are played for comedy.
Mild Sexualised Nudity
No nipple or genital detail is depicted, but there are some bare bodies present.
Suicide Themes
The whole series begins with a character attempting to commit suicide – a moment which is referred back to on a number of occasions.
Reasons to Watch
This is the difficult part. I don’t want you to see this entry as an oversized ‘DON’T WATCH THIS’ post. Equally, I don’t want to influence your opinion with a biased review – there’s a reason this website is called ‘Anime Insights’ and not ‘Anime Reviews’! In this section, I’m going to try to convey to you some of the reasons (in no particular order) that I’ve seen this series’ fans give for enjoying it!
High production values (i.e. great artwork and animation) and directed by Taichi Ishidate (a teacher at acclaimed studio Kyoto Animation’s school of animation) alone make this worth a watch.
Those who generally find dark fantasy interesting but too serious for them, may find this show’s use of comedy and lighter, more fun elements to balance the drama and action a welcome inclusion. In other words, this may be a more accessible dark fantasy for those on the lookout for a gateway into the genre.
Barrier of Entry
For those in it for the brutal action scenes, you may be disappointed by its tamer approach to gore (i.e. it doesn’t have any – just lots of blood!).
Comedy is of course subjective, and some may find this lighter aspect of the series to be distracting.
Music
Opening Theme
Kyōkai no Kanata by Minori Chihara
Ending Themes
Daisy by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION (Main Series & Movie 1)
Pobi ni Kaerimichi by Yuri Yamaoka (Idol Trial ONA Series)
Aitakatta Sora by Minori Chihara (Movie 2)
Staff List
Animation Production: Kyoto Animation
Director: Taichi Ishidate
ADR Director: Christopher Ayres (Main Series) & Leraldo Anzaldua (Films)
Series Composition: Jukki Hanada
Music: Hikaru Nanase
Original Creator: Nagomu Torii
Original Character Design: Tomoyo Kamoi
Animation Character Design: Miku Kadowaki
Art Director: Mikiko Watanabe
Lead Voice Actors
KENN as Akihito Kanbara
Risa Taneda as Mirai Kuriyama
Lead Voice Actors (sentai FILMWORKS)
Clint Bickham as Akihito Kanbara
Krystal LaPorte (Series)/Kira Vincent-Davis (Movies) as Mirai Kuriyama
For Your Anime Dictionary
*OVA (sometimes also referred to as OAV) stands for Original Video Animation and is basically a straight-to-DVD episode. They tend to be fun self-contained episodes that have little to do with the main plot of the series, though there are many complete series that have been entirely made up of OVAs! Because they aren’t subjected to broadcast content restrictions, these can have more explicit content and any length they find suitable.
*ONA (or Original Net Animations) are episodes that are not broadcast on TV first, but instead debut on the internet via video-sharing sites (e.g. YouTube, NicoNico Douga, etc.) or Over-The-Top media services (e.g. Netflix, hulu). They tend to be short, low-budget productions with simplistic art-styles and a focus on comedy. Most are designed as fun accompaniments to a series, rather than continuations, but their actual quality and length can vary – some are even like full-length series!