Ufotable is a famous animation studio thanks to the record breaking success of Demon Slayer. They are also the studio behind Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works, Fate/Stay Night the Movie Heaven's Feel Trilogy, Fate/Zero and even Toriko: Jump Super Anime Tour 2009 Special. This studio is very special to most anime fans because of the quality in animation they produced. They are so consistent in their animations even from the beginning. They have a very fluid animation that is very smooth to the eyes as well as how they make breathtaking sceneries as a background. The character design is also insane given that this studio has its own distinct type of animation. You can tell immediately that this character or anime is definitely made by Ufotable just by looking at its art style.
It's crazy to think how they managed to maintain this kind of quality. And all of their effort just paid off thanks to the super blockbuster hit movie of Demon Slayer. But with this praise we've been giving to this studio. I bet that most people only know Demon Slayer and Fate Series when we talk about Ufotable. They've been clearly overlooking the quality animations that Ufotable offered before it gets successful. And the best but underrated anime that Ufotable made is clearly:
Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners)
Kara no Kyoukai is an Anime Film Series adapted from the Light Novel of Kinoko Nasu. And the very first movie entitled as Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei was released on December 1, 2007. Imagine this anime was created almost 14 years ago but the animation quality it produces is much better than most anime today. This film is a very dark and disturbing that it can easily be My Top 10 Most Disturbing Anime if I include movie in that list. It is a perfect balance of Action, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural and Thriller that will certainly caught your attention.
It may be hard and confusing for some because of the number of films but one thing is sure. All of them are connected and answers are starting to unfold as the story move forward too. But if you really want to watch this films, you can follow this sequence.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 1: Overlooking View (Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei)
The first movie of Kara no Kyoukai. This is where it all started but to be honest it is a very confusing start. They gave us a very dark start because of the topic in this film. You can speculate many questions too, like how did they met, what are their goals and what are they actually?. But only one thing is clear. This anime is very straightforward when it comes to topic and they are good at word plays. This movie tackles a problem of multiple suicide incidents among young girls who jumps at the top of a skyscrapers. They believed that this is just an accident until the result of further investigation of Magus Agency, led by Touko Aozaki and her company Mikiya Kokutou and Shiki Ryougi. They found out that this incident is actually caused by a "being" unknown to man. They gave a few word play about suicide connecting to "Flying", "Floating" and "Falling". It is actually a genius work especially that this kind of thing is very rampant to teenagers nowadays.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 2: Murder Speculation Part A (Kara no Kyoukai 2: Satsujin Kousatsu Zen)
If the first Movie is a movie too beautiful but full of mysteries and questions then don't worry cause this movie will clear things up. This movie will introduce us who Shiki Ryougi is. As well as how did she met Mikiya Kokutou and what are their relationship. We all know that in movie 1. Shiki is a strong but hot tempered women capable of doing things and inside her heart has a darkness that even she also feared. And Mikiya is the complete opposite of Shiki, but ironically he is the only one that can understand her. In this movie, Mikiya saw a young girl wearing kimono staring at snow on the deep of the night. As he gazes to the girl, the girl also looked back at him and smiles out of curiosity. Later after that night, she met the girl again at their school and that's where he met Shiki. That's the name of the girl in kimono. He didn't know that he is getting attracted to Shiki until some incidents started to happen. A series of multiple murders and the victims died in a gruesome death. Shiki said that she is the one who is doing this crime, her other personality named "SHIKI" to be exact. But because Mikiya love her, he didn't believe that she will do such thing. Is Shiki really the culprit? And what really happened at the end of the movie which resulted to Shiki having a coma.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 3: Remaining Sense of Pain (Kara no Kyoukai 3: Tsuukaku Zanryuu)
The darkest chapter in this series. Literally the most disturbing of them all. Not just murder are portrayed in this part but also molestation and rape are involved. It is hard to watch but the story is so good that you need to finish this no matter what. The ending kinda sucks but still the entire film is not bad at all. In this chapter, Fujino Asagami was molested by the street gang in an abandoned bar. But no matter what kind of abuse the gang do to her, Fujino seems to not feel anything at all. Later a group of mangled body was discovered in the same building. Fujino began to search the only survivor of the gang to take revenge. As she seek revenge, Fujino began to enjoy killing and started to murder innocent people. Mikiya and Shiki need to solve this problem as they discovered that Fujino possess an eye that has a power to control and twist things. Shiki was put into this danger because only she has a power similar to Fujino that can stop her growing power. A sad and dark story of a girl who doesn't feel any pain.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 4: The Hollow Shrine (Kara no Kyoukai 4: Garan no Dou)
If you remember the end of Chapter 2, Shiki was mysteriously fall into coma after that night where she was supposed to kill Mikiya. She was bedridden in the hospital for how many years. Mikiya didn't gave up on her and still visits and bring flowers almost every day. At the moment Shiki woke up, she was startled because she has no memories of the past and started to see some strange black lines on the things around her. When she touched those lines, the thing suddenly die as if it sucked the life away. She learned that she activated the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception". Basically she can see the death of the person through those black lines. It is the same eyes and power Shiki used to fight against Fujino Asagami on the previous movie. This is where she also met Touko Aozaki and get recruited by her because Touko said that her eyes would be wasted if it didn't get used for something. This is also the chapter where Shiki killed her other self and started a new life together with Touko and Mikiya fighting and investigating incidents connected to magic.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 5: Paradox Paradigm (Kara no Kyoukai 5: Mujun Rasen)
The most solid movie in this series. No plotholes at all and the ending is very satisfying. They met the two classmates of Touko this time, Cornelius Alba which hold a huge grudge against Touko for surpassing him in their academic days. With his inferiority complex against Touka he join forces with Souren Araya to find the reason of human death. Souren has lives for 300 years witnessing countless of death that later triggered his aim to find the "Origin" or "The Roots of Soul". He is also the reason to trigger the power of Fujino Asagami and Kirie Fujou to fight Shiki. He is somewhat involve in the Shiki coma incident. And his role in this film is to capture Shiki to learn the roots of soul. He use Tomoe Enjou as he escaped because he murdered his parent. Later he found out what really happened to his parents and how he became the puppet of Souren to capture Shiki. A very beautiful of Family Love and the word play regarding death is just mindblowing.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 6: Oblivion Recording (Kara no Kyoukai 6: Boukyaku Rokuon)
This is the story of Azaka Kokutou the sister of Mikiya Kokutou. She is a student of at an all girls mage academy. She is an easygoing and cheerful girl but there is one thing she always kept a secret. She is inlove with her brother that he even go to school far away from him so that he will forgot that she's his sister. But one day there is someone that changed all of her plan and that is Shiki. She consider Shiki to be her rival in love that she will not accept Shiki to be her brother's love. But in this chapter, she ironically being partnered with Shiki to solve a mysteries of death in their school. The two have a hard time getting along but because the situation is getting worse, they decided to work together. They need to solve the mystery of other student's memories are getting robbed that lead to death. They found out that this is a work of another mage using fairies that steals memory and only Shiki has the power to see them. This is actually a fun chapter because this is where Azaka started to accept Shiki for her brother.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 7: Murder Speculation Part B (Kara no Kyoukai 7: Satsujin Kousatsu Go)
The continuation of the story in Chapter 2 where the series of death being pointed to Shiki as the suspect. This is a very solid episode too cause all of the answers lies in here. We will know who is the true murderer and its connection to Shiki as well as what really happened that night why Shiki was fallen into coma. The story started as the crime similar to the crimes happened before Shiki had a coma began to get active too. Mikiya's started to get concerned once again because he knows that Shiki might become a suspect once again. He investigated the crime and that leads him to some drugs that is popular to some streets where the crimes are rampant. He investigated the origin of drugs and that leads him to the real murderer. He will do everything to stop Shiki kill the true murderer so that Shiki can live a life with her hands clean from the blood. Even if it cost his life, he will do everything for Shiki because he really is atracted to Shiki from the start. The ending was unexpected but it was very beautiful. The story was cleared and all of the questions are answered. But it is not the final conclusion yet.
Garden of Sinners Chapter 8: The Final Chapter (Kara no Kyoukai 8: Shuushou)
The final and ending chapter of this story. All of the answers lies in chapter 7 but the closure can be seen in this beautiful chapter. It is actually a very short chapter because it will only give the moment to Mikiya and Shiki. Just like how those two met. This chapter also happened to be a snowy evening and Mikiya was walking and he met a Girl Wearing Kimono gazing at the white snow falling from the sky. She talk to the lady and greet it hello after for a long time. The lady was definitely Shiki and the two talk about various things. Shiki tells Mikiya that the one he is talking was actually neither the Shiki he know or the SHIKI which seeks blood. Rather she is the Shiki that represents various things. She is the true nature of Shiki that lies within her body. As the two keeps talking the final moments comes and it is the final moment that Mikiya spends with this Shiki. She bid farewell cause this is where She and Mikiya first and last meeting. She will return to Shiki deep within her soul to keep the balance of Yin and Yang (Good and Evil) within Shiki. So this short but very beautiful chapter really fits to be the ending and conclusion of this story.
Garden of Sinners: Recalled Out Summer (Kara no Kyoukai: Mirai Fukuin)
This is the last movie of this series and this Chapter is actually not related to the original story. It is more likely a side story than a sequel. It is actually good that you should watch it too after finishing the 8 chapters. It is the story of Shiki, Mikiya and Touko investigating a series of bombing. They believe that the bomber actually have a power to predict future. Incidentally Mikiya happened to found a girl named Shizune Seo troubling a stranger saying he shouldn't go because he might get caught in an accident. Mikiya started to get curious and interfered the situation. He promised to the girl that he will try to convince the stranger. Luckily the stranger believed and they are shocked that the accident actually happened. They barely survived and the stranger was safe. This is actually an interesting situation because Shizune can predict the future too. What is her connection to the bombing that happen lately? A very good episode in my opinion and it will be a shame if they will not make another story like this in the future.
I really wonder if Kinoko Nasu will continue this story because he is also the author of Fate series which are making a fuss lately especially that there will be a two Fate/Grand movies this year.
Important Note: Be Sure to Watch the quick parts after the Credits in every Movie. It will be serve as a bridge that connect to its sequel so it is very necessary to understand the story more.
I'll try to watch it, thanks for the recommendation. I'm out of anime to watch and this looks good. I'll definitely watch it.