Kara no Kyoukai movie 1 recap

- September 1998 -
- Overlooking View -

The mysterious Fujyou building suicides... none of them had any reason... Shiki goes on one of her late night walks and finds a bloodied corpse on the ground, looks up at the building, sees some flying ghostly figures... 8 of them. Shiki's mage employer, Toko Aozaki, explains her theory...

The Fujyou buildings were built during the economic boom of the 70's then later abandoned... The decision to demolish them was made years ago, but they weren't emptied out until just recently.

I don't know how to put it, but time is crooked there. You could perhaps say that the order is reversed? People's memory, no, records. The rate at which the records compile themselves is slower in that building. So the records from when they were alive haven't been brought up to date yet. As a result, their memories live on.

People don't just instantly turn into nothingness after they die, as long as people remember them. Just like how smoke doesn't suddenly disappear when the fire goes out.

Then she goes into that philisophical discussion about how a view from high up changes your feelings on the world.

A vision that's too large creates a boundary between you and the world. It's more correct for you to recognize the large world you see as the world you live in rather than as the small space around you. But you can't feel that you're living in this big world no matter how hard you try.

She also comments toward Mikiya Kokuto... "I wonder when he will return"... not sure what that's about... Mikiya hasn't talked at all since that scene at the beginning where he brought Shiki some ice cream... Shiki starts to freak out about Mikiya not being around... she here's someone fall off the building, and thinks it's Kokuto at first. She goes into the haunted building, and fights this laughing girl who starts beating Shiki up by controlling her fake arm... Shiki cuts her fake arm off and gets out of there...

While Toko is remaking Shiki's arm, she tells her about when she hired Mikiya... he learned about Toko's doll-making abilities and became fascinated enough with her that he managed to seek her out, even though her headquarters are well hidden and protected. She thinks that maybe Mikiya saw Shiki's former emptiness in these dolls.

Is that girl who Shiki's been talking to all this time, really Toko? She
looks at the unconscious Mikiya and says "He didn't listen to Toko's advice..."

After getting her new upgraded arm, she goes back to the Fujyou building and takes out all the ghosts... She has these demonic killer eyes while going all out against them. She looks much more full of life when she's killing than when she's not... then she goes and kills the last flying ghost girl, the one who has apparently cursed Mikiya. This whole action scene is really well animated...

Then the girl who Shiki just "killed", woke up in a hospital bed... someone shows up, and she tells her she likes the view from here... Then says "I guess you're my enemy?"
The mystery person says she's an acquaintance of "the one who attacked you and the one who you attacked."
She asks for her name... the red haired girl finally introduces herself as Aozaki Toko.

This girl in the hospital bed says she doesn't remember how long she's been here, and only remembers watching the scenery every day. She explains that she could still see the scenery even after she looked to the sky and lost her sight...

So your mind was in the sky. If the ghosts at the Fujyou building were your mind, then Shiki would have killed you by now.

The me that's at the Fujyou building isn't me. The me in the sky has gone away, abandoning the me in the box.

But then she admits anyway that her mind was controlling both of her bodies...

But then why did you need people to fall?

They were flying around me. I thought we could be friends. But they didn't notice me.

That's expected, since they aren't conscious.

But... I thought they'd notice me if I called to them and made them aware that I was here...

Are you going to take my boy with you?

She says she saw him visit this hospital every week with beautiful flowers... oh I think I get it, she's Shiki's love rival.

There are two ways to escape. The way without purpose and the way 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. Instead you must carry your sins on the path you choose.

This girl made her decision... She decided she can only float... That flash of death she felt in her other self...

The death that pierced me like a needle, like a flash of lightning... I'll try to come as close to that as possible.

Then she jumps from the building... and Mikiya finally wakes up. He's confused about what's going on...

Some more Toko philosophizing...

Hey Toko... Do all humans meet that fate when they are able to fly a bit like that?

Nobody in the past has tried to fly with just human powers. The words "fly" and "fall" are tied together. The more you're hooked on flying, the more you forget about that fact. As a result, you end up flying above the clouds even after you die.

She sums up the story for Mikiya...

There was a floating person at the Fujyou Building, and the ghosts of the eight girls who committed suicide there were flying around her. The question is, were they flying or falling? It's actually a simple story.

Then later Mikiya gets philisophical with Shiki... he says he wouldn't have the courage to keep on living if everyone in the world was against him...

A moment's courage versus continuous courage throughout your life. Do you know which one is harder to have?

He then explains the dream he had while he was unconscious...
[spoiler]A dream about a dragonfly. I don't know if I was watching it or if I was the dragonfly. Anyway, it was flying around so energetically. A butterfly came along and tried its best to follow the dragonfly, but it was impossible. It ran out of steam and fell to the ground. I think it would've been able to stay up in the air longer if it had just floated around. But the butterfly discovered something about flying. It could no longer put up with being light and merely floating. That's why it flew. It stopped floating around.

Whoa... Mikiya's dream mirrors what that girl went through...
Shiki suddenly tells Mikiya to stay over tonight, and tells him to eat his share of the strawberry ice cream. "Eat the damn thing."

The ending theme, "oblivious", has some really well-fitting lyrics.
Then after the credits, Toko talks to this young black-haired girl named Azaka...

Next episode is in 1995, when SHIKI was still inside Shiki.