Wow, this is a very good analysis. It’s very rare (for me) to see someone understand this title this much.
I think there’s still something that could be added; here is my 2 cents:
“Human, as a particle… I mean a creature in the box”
The box does not only refer to the physical entrapment (like the room that Kirie has to stay inside for her life) but also boundary of human mind. We cannot understand, comprehend something that is outside our common sense or believe (our boxes). For example, we would never completely understand how animals think.
On the smaller scale, we cannot comprehend things that are outside our experience. People who born rich would have a hard time (or impossible to) imagine the lives in Ethiopia and vice versa. I think this is the same as Beowulf stated in Overlooking View context.
So what will happen when someone try to go outside their boxes? They would just turn into something not human, or they would not be able stay longer as a normal human. That’s why, under the normal circumstance, we can only expand the size of our boxes, but not go beyond it.
“Flying…. and falling”
Touko said that the word fly ties to the word fall. This imply to relationship of life and death. As Beowulf said, fly means to live with purpose (or live with strong sense of living) and we can imply that fall means death. This ties to the fact that every live will have to die, like you have to fall one day when you fly. But people sometimes just keep hooking to sensation of flying (living) and forgetting about falling (death).
This also goes with Fujou Kirie. She’s always wanting to live but in the end the only thing that remind her that she is alive is death that always stay side by side with her. And the last pleasure she could gain is the pleasure of falling.
“Kara no Kyoukai, The Borderline of Emptiness”.
I do believe that the title of this serie does have meaning in every movie.
As I said, human is creature who can live in their own individual boxes, even we all live in the same big boxes called “being a human”. No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape from our boxes and live move to live in other boxes as we always are different person. So, no matter how close we are, there will be a borderline of emptiness (Kara no Kyoukai) that separate us from other people, a borderline that no one cannot cross.
I think “far” has better meaning in this context because feeling something is far from you mean something that you cannot reach it.
In the novel, the concept of Overlooking View is further discussed. Touko compares the feeling of something being far in the horizontal and vertical direction. Even though they are the same distance, vertically will give you more impression of being far (well, that’s what it said in the Novel).
The next chapter will be even more…. confusing in my opinion. Because the next chapter will serve as more questions than answer the Chapter 1 mystery. But I do think that the next chapter is one of the most important chapters.
By the way, Nasu said that Fuukan Fukei is the worst chapter in Kara no Kyoukai. He felt that he wrote this chapter quite poorly (and he felt that the anime is a lot better than his writing). So we can expect some better story in the following chapter, no?
for the first guy who commented here, it really is very japanese.. good japanese movies tend to be very philosophical, which makes them very interesting for me..
anyways, good analysis, I cant figure that much from just watching it twice only i guess… thanks, your analysis broadened my perspectives more..:)
wow this movie looks very…japanese.
Comment by Yinyangham — June 2, 2008 #
How astute of you.
Comment by Beowulf Lee — June 2, 2008 #
Wow, this is a very good analysis. It’s very rare (for me) to see someone understand this title this much.
I think there’s still something that could be added; here is my 2 cents:
“Human, as a particle… I mean a creature in the box”
The box does not only refer to the physical entrapment (like the room that Kirie has to stay inside for her life) but also boundary of human mind. We cannot understand, comprehend something that is outside our common sense or believe (our boxes). For example, we would never completely understand how animals think.
On the smaller scale, we cannot comprehend things that are outside our experience. People who born rich would have a hard time (or impossible to) imagine the lives in Ethiopia and vice versa. I think this is the same as Beowulf stated in Overlooking View context.
So what will happen when someone try to go outside their boxes? They would just turn into something not human, or they would not be able stay longer as a normal human. That’s why, under the normal circumstance, we can only expand the size of our boxes, but not go beyond it.
“Flying…. and falling”
Touko said that the word fly ties to the word fall. This imply to relationship of life and death. As Beowulf said, fly means to live with purpose (or live with strong sense of living) and we can imply that fall means death. This ties to the fact that every live will have to die, like you have to fall one day when you fly. But people sometimes just keep hooking to sensation of flying (living) and forgetting about falling (death).
This also goes with Fujou Kirie. She’s always wanting to live but in the end the only thing that remind her that she is alive is death that always stay side by side with her. And the last pleasure she could gain is the pleasure of falling.
“Kara no Kyoukai, The Borderline of Emptiness”.
I do believe that the title of this serie does have meaning in every movie.
As I said, human is creature who can live in their own individual boxes, even we all live in the same big boxes called “being a human”. No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape from our boxes and live move to live in other boxes as we always are different person. So, no matter how close we are, there will be a borderline of emptiness (Kara no Kyoukai) that separate us from other people, a borderline that no one cannot cross.
Comment by Veldril — June 4, 2008 #
Awesome analysis!
You’re gonna do the same for the rest? (:
Comment by Exec — June 7, 2008 #
It’s really hard to say where this series will go from this point. So we’ll see.
Comment by Beowulf Lee — June 8, 2008 #
The far comment. Tohko says, sore wa tooi dayo.
In my dictionary, the meaning of tooi could be distant or far from.
Comment by random — June 8, 2008 #
I think “far” has better meaning in this context because feeling something is far from you mean something that you cannot reach it.
In the novel, the concept of Overlooking View is further discussed. Touko compares the feeling of something being far in the horizontal and vertical direction. Even though they are the same distance, vertically will give you more impression of being far (well, that’s what it said in the Novel).
The next chapter will be even more…. confusing in my opinion. Because the next chapter will serve as more questions than answer the Chapter 1 mystery. But I do think that the next chapter is one of the most important chapters.
By the way, Nasu said that Fuukan Fukei is the worst chapter in Kara no Kyoukai. He felt that he wrote this chapter quite poorly (and he felt that the anime is a lot better than his writing). So we can expect some better story in the following chapter, no?
Comment by Veldril — June 8, 2008 #
thank you very much, your analysis allowed me to understand the anime much much better
Comment by nene — July 6, 2008 #
for the first guy who commented here, it really is very japanese.. good japanese movies tend to be very philosophical, which makes them very interesting for me..
anyways, good analysis, I cant figure that much from just watching it twice only i guess… thanks, your analysis broadened my perspectives more..:)
Comment by spespoi — November 5, 2008 #
Extremely good analysis and definatly helps some of the people who didnt quite understand or grasp everything.
IMO Kara no Kyoukai is a really amazing series, although the 4th chapter is already out. Will you consider doing more analysis’s on the KnK series?
I found your analysis to be extremely useful, interesting and helpful. :D
Comment by PsyCLown — January 3, 2009 #
very good analysis!
Comment by halibonga — March 20, 2009 #
http://www.expériéce.com
Comment by Anonymous — April 25, 2009 #
now I’ll be tuned..
Comment by ZoowllauG — May 23, 2009 #