The Garden of Sinners: Difference between revisions

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Shiki Ryougi is a girl who grew up in a family imbued with supernatural powers. In particular, certain members possess something close to dual personalities; the "male" and "female" sides, who are aware of each other, are both conscious, and essentially the same person with different qualities. This dual consciousness combined with her upbringing has led her to reject other human beings.

''I want to kill you.''

 

 

''Kara no Kyoukai'' follows Shiki and the ''Garan-no-dou'' detective agency as they meet various, seemingly unconnected aberrations occurring within the city which seem to have something bigger behind them than it first appears. It is one of the earliest works within the [[Nasuverse]], and as such also introduces most of [[The Verse]]'s fundamental concepts, including [[Our Souls Are Different|souls]], [[The Lifestream|Akasha]], [[Gaia's Vengeance|Counter Force]], [[Functional Magic|Magic and Magecraft]], and Origin.

 

* Volume 1:

** ''Panorama: Thanatos''

Each of the first seven chapters was adapted into a movie by [[Ufotable]] from 2007 to 2009, while the epilogue was released as a 30-minute OVA in February 2011.

 

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* [[Action Mom]] - {{spoiler|Ryougi Shiki in "Mirai Fukuin"}}

* [[Adaptation Distillation]] - The author of the original novels had hoped to rewrite several of the stories to be less "clumsy". Then he read the script for the first movie, and concluded that there was no need- they'd already addressed his concerns by cutting out most of the excesses.

* [[All There in the Manual]]

* [[Alternate Continuity]] - [[Word of God]] states that there can only be one user of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, which means either [[Tsukihime|Tohno Shiki]] has them, or this Ryougi Shiki. In addition, Aozaki Touko's goal contradicts with the existence of the True Ancestor Arcueid, also from [[Tsukihime]]. See the YMMV page for a different interpretation.

* [[Agent Mulder]] - Akimi Daisuke, but he never actually finds anything.

* [[Artificial Limbs]] - {{spoiler|Ryougi Shiki}}'s left arm, which allows her to touch spirits. {{spoiler|Her original was torn apart by Asagami Fujino.}}

* [[Audible Sharpness]] - Done to excess in the film adaptation.

* [[Ax Crazy]] - To an extent, Ryougi Shiki, although she's more knife crazy. Cornelius Alba is a whole lot of crazy, but with sorcery instead of an axe. {{spoiler|Lio Shirazumi}} is around five thousand different kinds of crazy, Ax Crazy being one of them.

* [[Badass Abnormal]] - {{spoiler|Lio Shirazumi}} in the seventh movie, after his origin had been awakened.

* [[Bare-Fisted Monk]] - Araya started as this. [[It Got Worse]].

* [[Berserk Button]] - Touko is usually pretty calm, but if you call her a "dirty red," calmness turns to [[Tranquil Fury]] and you're dead. It's her policy. But that's not even her real [[Berserk Button]]. Calling her a rotten red is just a way of mocking her and saying she plays second fiddle to her little sister. Her ''real'' [[Berserk Button]] is her [[Sibling Rivalry|little sister]]. Lets just say their rivalry has gotten [[Moral Event Horizon|rather bad]] a good few times in the past.

** It is also amusing to note that since the fifth movie came out, calling her a "dirty red" or simply mentioning that name on certain [[Image Boards|imageboards]] bears a similar result to saying [[Candle Jack|Candleja]]

* [[Bifauxnen]] - Shiki is described as both "handsome" and "beautiful".

* [[Big Bad]] - Araya Souren, who is pretty much responsible for everything bad that happens to Shiki after meeting Mikiya in high school; {{spoiler|Lio Shirazumi, the true culprit behind all of the grisly murders in the city.}}.

* [[Blood Knight]] - Shiki

** ...she's a modern day warrior woman who only feels alive in a fight to the death.

** ...her weapons of choice are the tanto (knife) and katana (sword).

* [[Chekhov's Gun]] [[Chekhov's Skill|(And Accompanying Skill)]] - It is mentioned in the second chapter that {{spoiler|Ryougi Shiki possesses a sword and is trained in its use by her father}}; it is later used in the fifth chapter, {{spoiler|though it is broken in the end.}}

** Also, in the first chapter, it mentions the Fujino case. Guess what chapter three is centric to?

* [[Compilation Movie]]: ''Kara no Kyoukai Remix: Gate of Seventh Heaven''. ''Totally'' incomprehensible if you haven't watched the full movies already, but at least they rectified Satsuki's complete lack of backstory in the sixth movie. It also adds in {{spoiler|the first meeting of Mikiya and "Void" Shiki}}.

* [[Convenient Coma]] - A big part of the overarching story; what led to and what happens during the coma, and the repercussions after the awakening.

* [[Cool Old Guy]] - Akitaka, the Ryougi manservant.

* [[Death Glare]] - Ryougi Shiki; those glowing blue eyes help.

* [[Death Is Cheap]] - {{spoiler|Aozaki Touko}}

** You can tell Aozaki Touko's mood by her glasses; if they're on, she's a [[Cool Big Sis]], but if they're off, she gets... unpleasant.

* [[Dissonant Serenity]] - Several characters.

* {{spoiler|[[Earn Your Happy Ending]]}} '' A prayer is something overflowing with the good news of the future...''

* [[Environmental Symbolism]]

* [[Evil Feels Good]]

* [[Evil Plan]] - As perpetrated by Araya Souren.

** Azaka bears a resemblance to Akiha from Tsukihime. In addition, when we see her as a child in the sixth movie, she looks a lot like Rin Tohsaka.

** Lio Shirazumi is probably the inspiration for Arcueid (in appearance only, though) (blonde hair, red eyes, claws, skirt/dress) and also a precursor to both SHIKI (being a sort of 'mirror image' of the protagonist Shiki as well) and to an extent, Nero Chaos's ability, what with the whole 'beast' thing he's got going on.

*** Lio may have been the inspiration for Apos as well. Anyone who watches both these movies and [[Mnemosyne]] will probably understand where I'm getting at.

** Nero Chaos is also evidently inspired by Araya Souren, going by their rather similar outfits and the weird lines they have on their faces. Hell, they even have the same VA in the movies/Melty Blood.

** A good samaritan has ''finally'' [http://emptyboundaries.wordpress.com/ provided] us with a full translation of all seven chapters.

* [[Final Boss]] (as much as a light novel/movie series can have a [[Final Boss]]) - Surprisingly, it's not {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Souren Araya]]}}; it's {{spoiler|Lio Shirazumi}}.

* [[Girly Run]] - Azaka

* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]] - The mystic eyes in the movies. Shiki's eyes glow ''once'' blue in the novels, when she's considering killing Enjou Tomoe because she's restless. She decides against it.

* [[Knife Nut]] - Shiki, very much so. {{spoiler|Not that she has anything against swords though, as shown in her fight against Souren.}}. {{spoiler|Lio Shirazumi}}, although he isn't limited to just a ''knife'' nut per se.

* [[Last of Their Kind]] - {{spoiler|Both Asagami Fujino and Fujyo Kirie are implied to be the last supernatural member of their respective families, and Kurokiri Satsuki is the last person ''on Earth'' that can use the Unified Language.}}

** Shiki's [[Leitmotif]] even finds it's way into [[Melty Blood]] Actress Again as her stage's music.

* [[The Lifestream]] - Akasha, the Root of everything and nothing, the beginning and the end, the Swirl of Origin, etc. [[The Nothing After Death]] would be more appropriate a description,though you're still sort-of conscious in it.

** Not only that, but in the original novels, he still had a considerable lifespan left ''after Shiki pierces him in his death dot.'' That's typical [[Nasuverse]] logic - the longer something has existed and the more magically powerful, the longer it will take to "die" completely when killed. There's some Dead Apostle Ancestors who have been dead for ''millennia'' and still exist.

* [[No Cure for Evil]] - Subverted, Araya is very good at healing, he repairs Fujino's cracked vertebrae and restores her sense of feeling. Yes, this is an ''evil'' act. [[And I Must Scream|Araya knows good and well why...]]

*** And the Japanese fans need to pay this for around ''$620''. The American fans are ''luckier.''

*** Meanwhile, in Germany: All movies are dubbed. Combined they cost 7 cents short of 175 €, that's currently 230,30 $. Guess we lucked out with our import.

* [[Ordinary High School Student]] - Mikiya in the beginning.

* [[Our Demons Are Different]] - [[Nasuverse]] makes a distinction between Eastern ''oni'' and "real" demons.

* [[Pet the Dog]] - Shiki does something roughly resembling this at times (mainly involving Mikiya). Hey, its ''Shiki'' we're talking about, we have to make ''some'' concessions with our standards.

** She also quite literally pets the dog in Oblivion Recorder, when Azaka's roommate's pet collie becomes attached to her.

* [[Super Weight]] - Lets rank 'em.

** ''Muggle Weight'' - Kokuto Mikiya ([[Unfazed Everyman]]), Enjou Tomoe ([[Ordinary High School Student]])

** ''Lottery Weight'' - Asagami Fujino (Super [[Mind Over Matter|Telekinesis]], clairvoyance), Cornelius Alba (High-speed spellcasting, powerful puppets), Aozaki Touko ([[Immortality]], superpowered puppets, rune magic), Ryougi Shiki (mystic eyes superpower, highest-ranking [[Super Speed]])

** ''Deus Weight'' - Araya Souren ([[Implacable Man]], [[Immortality]], [[Nigh Invulnerable]], [[Force Field]], [[Super Speed]], crushing space-time attack, [[Reality Warper]] inside the temple)

* [[Tranquil Fury]]

* [[Tomboyish Name]] - The "Shiki" in Ryougi Shiki is a neutral name, hence Tohno Shiki of [[Tsukihime]].

* [[Trademark Favorite Food]] - Bottled water, of all things, for Shiki (it's the only thing we ever see in her fridge). She says multiple times that she hates sweet food.

* [[Tsundere]] - Shiki towards Mikiya.

 

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The first chapter abruptly focuses on a mysterious series of apparent suicides, as schoolgirls begin throwing themselves off of a certain abandoned building without reason. Ghosts are seen <s>flying</s> floating in the area.

 

* [[Product Placement]]: Said ice cream is prominently stated to be Haagen-Dazs in both the movies and the original novel.

** And Shiki's fridge is shown as being empty except for the ice cream and several bottles of Volvic water.

* {{spoiler|[[Spoiler Opening]]}} - Who was the girl on the ceiling that commits suicide at the end of the opening credits? {{spoiler|Kirie Fujyou, the current antagonist.}}

** You know how these tend to be [[Nigh Invulnerable]] in most stories? Yeah...against Shiki, not so much.

* [[Suicide Is Painless]] - Basically the entire story has to do with this concept.

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* [[Dramatic Pause]] - Several minutes worth at the end. And good Lord, they were gripping.

* [[Mistaken for Murderer]] - Done straight and serious.

* [[Shout-Out]] - Two plushie cat dolls, one black and one white, both with ribbons, are won by Kokutou in a UFO Catcher game to give to Shiki; these are Len and White Len from [[Melty Blood]] in cat form. Appropriately, this is when Shiki tells him about {{spoiler|her multiple personalities.}}

* [[Snow Means Death]] - "April 1995. I met her."

* [[Snow Means Love]] - "April 1995. I met her."

* [[Time Skip]] - The end moves the story back to July 1998.

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Ryougi Shiki's first case after her awakening from the coma. The unassuming Asagami Fujino, a girl unable to feel pain, experiences life for the first time in the passion of killing. As Aozaki Touko and Kokutou Mikiya investigates the truth behind this murderer, Ryougi Shiki hunts her down, leading to a confrontation between the two very different kinds of Mystic Eyes.

 

 

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Ryougi Shiki awakens from her coma, and is immediately restrained after attempting to gouge out her own eyes. For two years, she has been staring into " " - not just "emptiness", but a complete void without meanings, forms, or concepts. And she is alone - SHIKI has disappeared. Chronologically the second chapter, this chapter covers Shiki's recovery, the consequences of her coma, and her struggle to survive while submersed in death.

 

* [[Eye Scream]]: One of the first things Shiki does upon waking up is try to claw her own eyes out, as the result of a [[Freak-Out]] upon realizing what her eyes can see.

* [[Out-of-Clothes Experience]]: While in the Void Shiki is depicted as being completely nude.

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Enjou Tomoe flees his apartment after killing his parents and unexpectedly finds sanctuary at Shiki's place. Tomoe then finds that his parents have apparently failed to stay dead, and that's only the first sign of the abnormalities surrounding the building. Things get bloody messy, and Touko meets some old acquaintances. This movie is notable in that {{spoiler|Shiki kills off the [[Big Bad]] of the series here, while the following two movies explore the loose and still-unused plot threads}}.

* [[Alas, Poor Yorick]] - {{spoiler|Touko Aozaki}} gets this treatment.

* [[All There in the Manual]] - The concepts in this movie are a ''lot'' clearer after reading the novels. The movie is also more passive over the fact that {{spoiler|Tomoe escaping and Shiki and Tohko getting involved (most of the plot, really) were caused by the Counter Force manipulating them to have the situation resolved.}}

* [[...And Show It to You]] - Araya ''rips out'' {{spoiler|Touko's}} heart, which is [[Beat Still My Heart|still beating]], and yet, being the Nasuverse, they still manage to have a philosophical conversation. {{spoiler|Touko gets better}}.

* [[Bloodless Carnage]] - Despite the large amount of blood elsewhere in the movie, the scene near the beginning of Tomoe killing his mother is oddly lacking. {{spoiler|This lack of blood is actually a critical clue to what's really going on}}. This also works as an effective [[Mind Screw]].

* [[Card-Carrying Villain]] - Cornelius Alba in the anime only. The novel gives him more depth.

* [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?]] - Enjou didn't have a chance against Araya. But ''damn'' did he tell him off.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]] - The ''thing'' in Touko's briefcase. Sometimes it just resembles a traditional [[Obake|bakeneko]]. Others....

** Maybe not so coincidentally, Mikiya himself has sung ''Singin' In The Rain,'' the song that Alex sung while raping a writer's helpless wife, ''twice'' in the film series.

* [[Eye Scream]]

* [[If It's You It's Okay]] - After thinking for a minute, Kokutou decides that he'd probably like Shiki the same regardless of her gender. Though he does add that he's pretty happy that she's a girl.

* [[Inn Between the Worlds]] - The Cafe Of Impossible Meetings, Cafe Ahnenerbe. Used in this series between Life and Death.

* [[The Man Behind the Man]] - {{spoiler|Araya reveals to Shiki that he engineered her conflicts with Fujino and Kirei as a part of his [[Evil Plan]] to reach [[The Lifestream|Akasha]].}}

* [[Talking Is a Free Action]]: Touko chatters on about her meaning of life for a ''while'' after {{spoiler|Araya rips her heart out}} and only seems to actually {{spoiler|die when he crushes it in his hand}}.

* [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]] - Subverted. Araya mercilessly ''destroys'' {{spoiler|Tohko, but keeps her head alive}} on purpose - she's {{spoiler|created an exact duplicate of her own body and linked them to herself. Whenever she is "killed" the other body awakens, allowing her to come back - when Alba crushes her head, she comes back}}. ''With a vengeance''.

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Azaka and Shiki go to the Reien Girl's Academy to find the culprit behind a rash of disappearing memories caused by "fairies".

 

* [[Breather Episode]]: Cute and light-hearted, almost as if preparing you for a soul-shatteringly traumatic finale.

** The film adaptation only, mainly due to the focus on Azaka.

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Azaka towards her brother Mikiya.

* [[Dark Magical Girl]]: Misaya Ouji. Is it any wonder she's voiced by [[Nana Mizuki]] in the movie?

* {{spoiler|[[Enjo Kosai]]: What Tachibana Kaori's class ended up doing, with ''their teacher'' Hayama Hideo as the pimp. Kaori herself was the last to hold out due to her Christian convictions, and ''[[Moral Event Horizon|was raped and impregnated by the said teacher as a result]].'' Both aspects were cut out of the movie.}}

* [[The Fair Folk]]: And were '''not''' talking about the packaged-for-kids Christmas version, oh no.

* [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]: {{spoiler|The random giant flower thing}} in the movie.

* [[Kawaiiko]]: Azaka-chan is a slightly older than usual example, but oh so very cute nevertheless.

* [[Les Yay]]: Between Azaka and Shiki, at least in the movie. Most notably when Azaka pins Shiki to the bed and straddles her while trying to take away a knife.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The '''least''' violent entry in the saga.

* [[The Ojou]]: Ouji Misaya.

* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: Implied of Ouji and Tachibana.

** In addition, the headmistress of the Reien Girls' Academy is mentioned to be one Mother [[Melty Blood|Riesbyfe, who has a large stringed instrument case]] in her office.

* [[Sneezing]]: Touko does this when Shiki and Azaka find her picture in the yearbook.

 

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The murders from before Shiki's coma resume, and both Shiki and Mikiya are trying to find the killer.

* [[Cry Cute]]: Is ''that'' actually {{spoiler|Shiki}}? My God she's ''adorable.''

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Averted, contrary to popular belief. {{spoiler|While it seemed as if Shiki was able to take out Lio quite easily in the final battle, she was actually experiencing extreme difficulty in keeping up with him. The novel actually elaborates on this outlining how Shiki was still experiencing the lingering effects of the drugs thus being unable to fight as well as she did before. It goes on how Lio was effectively weakening Shiki's limbs one by one like a predator slowly taking down its prey, with the final blow being directed at her neck}} (Shiki basically [[Counter Attack|took full advantage]] of the amount of space between them and took him out in [[One-Hit Kill|one fell swoop]] resulting in the fight to come across as a [[Curb Stomp Battle]])

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: {{spoiler|A few minutes from the end of the movie, Mikiya is apparently dead from a stab to the face, and Shiki's resigned herself to melancholy after killing Lio. The situation eventually improves.}}

* [[Eye Scream]]: {{spoiler|Mikiya loses his left eye towards the end of the movie. Considering Lio was trying to kill him, he may have gotten off lucky.}}

* [[Fan Disservice]]: Anything {{spoiler|Lio does to Shiki, especially the drooling all over her part after ripping open her kimono with his teeth. That he's modelled himself after her doesn't make it better.}} Yuck.

** Also anything {{spoiler|[[Ho Yay|he does to Mikiya]], including [[Eye Scream]].}}

* [[Fingore]] - Shiki breaks free of the bindings holding her hands by {{spoiler|''gnawing her thumb off!''}} Of course, {{spoiler|that was off her [[Artificial Limbs|artificial hand]].}}

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: {{spoiler|Lio, the true murderer.}}

* [[Ironic Echo]]: {{spoiler|Lio's diary starts with one. "April 1995. I met her."}}

* [[Not So Different]]: {{spoiler|Lio believes that he and Shiki are fundamentally similar, and that Mikiya is the only thing holding Shiki back from a murderous existence.}}

* [[Snow Means Death]]: {{spoiler|When Lio dies.}}

* [[Snow Means Love]]: "I'm never letting you go."

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Nasuverse]]

[[Category:Horror Anime and Manga]]

[[Category:Japanese Literature]]

[[Category:Light Novels]]