Kara no Kyoukai

Kara no Kyoukai (空の境界) is one of TYPE-MOON's earliest works authored by Nasu Kinoko and illustrated by Takeuchi Takashi. It is also known under the name Rakkyo (らっきょ), and its tagline the Garden of sinners.

The series is regarded as being set in an alternate parallel universe to TYPE-MOON's other series, Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, which make references to Kara no Kyoukai. The protagonist of the series, Shiki Ryougi, possesses the same abilities as Tsukihime's protagonist, Shiki Tohno, and Aoko Aozaki's sister Touko Aozaki is a major character. In Fate/stay night, Touko plays a small role in one ending, although she is not directly named.

Setting
The events in Kara no Kyoukai takes place in Mifune City (観布子市), the story is set around the 90's. Notable locations include Hall of Monastery (伽藍の堂), an agency run by Touko runs that engages in cases with supernatural or abnormal elements, and Reien Girl's Academy.

It also introduces some of the most fundamental concepts in the universe of Type-Moon's works, including souls, Akasha, Counter Force, Magic and Magecraft, and Origin.

Plot
Mikiya Kokutou becomes intrigued by the mysterious series of violent deaths occurring in his town and Shiki Ryougi, a beautiful but unsociable girl. As he tries to become closer to Shiki, he realizes that Shiki is connected to the mysterious deaths and that the supernatural forces involved with both could kill him. It is revealed that in Shiki's family, certain members of her family possess two distinct personalities, both aware and conscious of one another, but possessing different qualities. The dual consciousness, and Shiki's upbringing as a demon hunter, has caused her to reject other human beings.

However, upon meeting Mikiya, she gradually finds happiness through their relationship and a schism develops between her two personalities. As a result, she winds up in a traffic accident and is left in a coma for two years. When she awakens, she finds herself unable to connect her past memories to her current identity. Reunited with Mikiya, now employed as an investigator for Touko Aozaki, Shiki assists Touko's detective agency, Garan no Dou, whenever combat is required, while struggling to come to terms with her identity.

Characters

 * Voice Actors listed are, first, for the drama CD released in September 2002, and second, for the upcoming series of movies.

Major Characters

 * Shiki Ryougi (両儀式)
 * A teenage girl, who possesses the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception", a supernatural ability that allows the user to see the "death" of everything in existence and kill the object by destroying its "origin". She recently recovered from a two-year coma caused by a traffic accident. Prior to the traffic accident, she originally had two personalities, a male personality named Shiki (織), and the original female personality Shiki (式). Children born into the Ryougi family are generally male and are raised with two personalities, so the male personality is customarily called the "yang" personality, while the female is called the "yin" personality. It is easy to tell which Shiki is speaking at a given time because they both have a distinct style of speaking, most notably that the female Shiki refers to herself with the pronoun watashi (私), while male Shiki refers to himself as ore (オレ). After waking from her coma, Shiki discovers that she can no longer feel the male Shiki's presence and assumes that he died because of the accident. She also feels a detachment from her memories before the accident, and while she knows she is Shiki, she does not feel that she is. In the hopes of regaining herself and the "dead" Shiki, she puts on a cold façade that somewhat resembles the male Shiki's and tries to act as the female Shiki did. Touko understands the sense of detachment Shiki feels, but considers the current Shiki a third, new personality.


 * Mikiya Kokutou (黒桐幹也)
 * Shiki's friend who, two years ago, made a promise with Shiki to attend college. He discovers a doll at an exhibition his friend asked him to and falls in love with its flawless craftsmanship. He is so charmed by it that he seeks out the maker, Touko, and then finds her residence. With his hopes of attending college with Shiki crushed because of her coma, he drops out of college to work under Touko as an assistant investigator. Touko holds his investigative skills with high-regard because of his ability to find her workplace, an abandoned building hidden to all except those who wish to find it. The male Shiki and the current Shiki call him Cocteau (コクトー) due to his last name's resemblance to 's last name, though the current Shiki dislikes it for an unknown reason.


 * Azaka Kokutou (黒桐鮮花)
 * Mikiya's younger sister, who loves him. She becomes an apprentice of Touko due to her rivalry against Shiki, and is talented in the magic of ignition. She is quite similar both in appearance and abilities to Tohno Akiha (though Akiha's ability consists of controlling external heat, whereas Azaka's ability is inducing ignitions).


 * Touko Aozaki (蒼崎橙子)
 * Appearing as a puppet maker, Touko is actually an extremely powerful sorceress. She runs a business in an abandoned building called Garan no Dou (伽藍の洞, 伽藍の堂), a detective agency consisting of only herself and Mikiya that only takes supernatural or otherwise abnormal cases. She is the sister of Tsukihime's Aoko Aozaki, with whom she does not share a particularly good relationship.

Sub-Characters

 * Kirie Fujou (巫条霧絵)
 * Introduced in 1/Overlooking the Scenery (俯瞰風景). A bedridden girl who controls a ghostly version of herself above the Fujou Building (巫条ビル). She is the reason behind the supposed Fujou Building suicides.


 * Daisuke Akimi (秋巳大輔)
 * Introduced in 2/Murder Study (Part 1) (殺人考察(前)). A detective working with the local law enforcement, Daisuke is Mikiya's cousin who acts as an elder brother figure to him. Despite his scruffy and laid back appearance, Akimi is a diligent investigator who’s put in charge of unraveling the truth behind a series of strange murders which he suspect someone from Mikiya's highschool. Daisuke hold's Mikiya's investigation ability in high regards, and often share some classified information with him for suggestions.


 * Lio Shirazumi (白純里緒)
 * Introduced in 2/Murder Study (Part 1) (殺人考察(前)). An older schoolmate of Kokutou who quit school because he found something he wanted to do.


 * Fujino Asagami (浅上藤乃)
 * Introduced in 3/Remaining Sense of Pain (痛覚残留). Classmate and friend to Azaka, who both attend Reien Girl's Academy (礼園女学院). A murderer in secret, her ability to feel pain was numbed since childhood to seal off her powers. Terrified of being seen as an abnormality, she hides her condition and her murders are seemingly a way of giving her inner peace. Fujino has the special ability to bending space/objects with her mind which she uses as a murder weapon, twisting the bodies of her victims until they are no more than broken bags of meat. She later also gains clairvoyance in conjunction with her power which allows her to bend objects without having to be able to see them. In the sixth movie, Fujino appears briefly during the opening narrative, using a cane to walk; she is then helped by Azaka down a flight of stairs.


 * Souren Araya (荒耶宗蓮)
 * Introduced in Intermission - Kirie/Fujino (境界式). An expert of magecraft and a previous acquaintance of Touko from the Mage's Association (魔術協会).


 * Enjou Tomoe (臙条巴)
 * VA (movie only): Kakihara Tetsuya (柿原 徹也)
 * Introduced in 5/Paradox Spiral (矛盾螺旋). A teenager that Shiki takes in. He claims to have killed his parents because of constant dreams of getting killed by his mother.


 * Kaede Enjou (臙条楓)
 * VA (movie only): Miki Itou
 * Introduced in 5/Paradox Spiral (矛盾螺旋).Tomoe's mother. In Tomoe's recollections, he stabbed and disemboweled her. However, in his nightmares, he sees her killing her husband, and then him.


 * Takayuki Enjou
 * VA:
 * Introduced in 5/Paradox Spiral (矛盾螺旋). Tomoe's father.


 * Cornelius Alba (コルネリウス＝アルバ)
 * Introduced in 5/Paradox Spiral (矛盾螺旋). Director of the Sponheim Abbey, and acquaintance of Araya and Touko. They were on good terms until the day Cornelius came to the realization that Touko was a better Mage than he was. Even though he was popularly considered a better Mage than her, he became so obsessed with this inferiority complex that he occasionally becomes deranged when speaking of her. He joined up with Araya not because of the latter's goals, but solely in order to kill Touko to prove his superiority. Though he is naturally more powerful than both Araya and Touko, he is blinded by his arrogance and is not nearly as versatile as they are.


 * Satsuki Kurogiri (玄霧皐月)
 * Introduced in 6/Oblivion Recorder (玄霧皐月). A magus designated to be sealed, known as "God's Word", with an ability to manipulate others through his words alone, causing them to believe what he says. He demonstrated this ability by "convincing" Shiki that she could not see him, and she was unable to cut him. Was also the one who gave Misaya Ouji the ability to manipulate the fairies, and was himself capable of manipulating memories, including recalling ones the target cannot remember.


 * Misaya Ouji (黄路美沙夜)
 * Introduced in 6/Oblivion Recorder (玄霧皐月). The daughter of the Reien's school chairman, was manipulated by "God's Word" into believing that her friend, Kaori Tachibana, committed sucide because she discovered that Hideo Hayama, a school teacher, was taking illegal drugs, and he drugged her in order to keep her silent, and nobody helped her. She planned to take revenge by using the fairies to force the students to commit sucide in the same way that Kaori Tachibana did, at the same site, but was stopped by Azaka.


 * Keita Minato
 * A member of the gang who frequently picked on Fujino, doing many cruel things to her like hitting her from behind with a bat as well as periodically raping her. Out of all the members of the gang, Keita was the only survivor. He was an underclassman to Mikiya, and was quite attached to him.


 * Akitaka Suzurigi
 * A loyal servant of the Ryougi family. He's only in mid 20's but does his job tidily. He's been looking after Shiki and believes she's the successor of the Ryougi family.


 * Gakuto
 * Mikiya's friend from high school. He wondered why Mikiya would like a scary girl like Shiki, to which Mikiya simply answered that she isn't that scary. He later appeared when Mikiya was having a financial crisis and gave him some money in exchange for making him look for Minato Keita, who had seemed to have gotten involved in something dangerous.


 * Hideo Hayama
 * The teacher who got replaced by Satsuki Kurogiri. He was hired as a teacher just because he was a relative to the chair person of the school. He's a criminal who was taking his students out of school for relationship money. After Kaori Tachibana died, he was question by Misaya Ouji, got in a quarrel, and got accidentally killed.


 * Kaori Tachibana
 * A high school freshman from the Reien Girl's Academy, who died in the fire incident. She was an acquaintance of Misaya since they were in the elementary level classes. She was forced to go outside by Hideo and got impregnated. Being a pure Christian, she struggled by herself for several months, and finally killed herself hoping that will be a way to save the souls of her guilty classmates and herself. If the person she talked to wasn't Satsuki, it wouldn't have happened.


 * Shizune Seo (瀬尾静音)
 * Introduced in Gospel in the Future (未来福音). Azaka's room-mate. Has a collie dog named Akira. She has a right eye which can see future events, a fact that she keeps as a secret but disclosed to Kokuto; who gave her a warm lecture on how she shouldn't feel guilty nor helpless about having her ability. Thanks to her power she is the top student of her academy even though she admittedly said that she is bad at studying. Her family handles a wine cellar.


 * Meruka Kuramitsu (倉密メルカ)
 * Introduced in Gospel in the Future (未来福音). A Bomber and 14-year-old boy, He posses a Right Eye can see the future, and a Left Eye that can see "the path" to achieve that future, he works as a for hire bomber. His ability was easily defeated by Shiki when she stated that a prediction and a path to the future where not hard targets to cut with for her eyes. Kuramitsu Meruka is actually a nick name, his adult self will become acquainted with Ryougi Mana.


 * Mana Ryougi (両儀未那)
 * Introduced in Gospel in the Future (未来福音). Shiki and Kokutou's daughter. She knows about her mother's male personality, SHIKI (織). Her wish is to "beat her mom so she can bring her dad back".

Chapter Listing

 * Chapter 1 – Overlooking the Scenery (俯瞰風景) Thanatos
 * Chapter 2 – Murder Speculation (Part 1) (殺人考察(前)) …and nothing heart.
 * Chapter 3 – Remaining Sense of Pain (痛覚残留) ever cry,never life.
 * Chapter 4 – The Hollow Shrine (伽藍の洞) garan-no-dou.
 * Intermission - Kirie/Fujino (境界式)
 * Chapter 5 – Paradox Spiral (矛盾螺旋) Paradox Paradigm.
 * Chapter 6 – Oblivion Recorder (忘却録音) Fairy Tale.
 * Intermission - Lio (境界式)
 * Chapter 7 – Murder Speculation (Part 2) (殺人考察(後)) …not nothing heart.
 * Boundary of Emptiness (空の境界)
 * Future Gospel (未来福音) recalled out summer
 * Final Record (終末録音) the Garden of oOblivion

Animated Films
The series has been adapted into a series movies divided into 7 chapters, animated by Ufotable. The first chapter was released in December 2007 at Theatres Shinjuku.

On the first day of Type-moon festival, they have annouced the upcoming movie Future Gospel (未来福音).

Movie 1: Overlooking the Scenery
Timeline: September 1998 Mikiya Kokutō brings over some ice cream while visiting Shiki, but Shiki is not happy to see him and says that she does not like ice cream so she decides not to eat it. Afterwards, Shiki and Touko discuss the recent spate of unusual suicide incidents where several high school girls fell to their death, but left no suicide note and had apparently no reason to commit suicide. Tōko concludes that the girls did not intend to die. At night, Shiki visits the deserted part of town containing the Fujō buildings which have now fallen into disrepair and are about to be demolished, and while there stumbles upon the body of newest victim. She also notices several ghostly figures floating above the Fujō building.

The next day, Shiki discusses the building with Tōko, as she can feel something abnormal about it. Tōko suggests that the figures are records and memories of the victims who have died so far but have for some reason not dissipated into the world. In the afternoon, Shiki is walking outside when another victim falls to her death. Deciding to take action, Shiki visits the Fujō building at sunset and battles a mysterious apparition that manages to take control of Shiki's left arm and tries to choke her to death with it. Using her mystic eyes, Shiki destroys her arm which is revealed to be a puppet arm that Tōko created for her. While the arm is being repaired, Shiki eats the ice cream that Kokutō bought using her remaining arm. The next day, Shiki takes back the repaired and improved arm, returns to the Fujō building and destroys all the floating figures and the apparition, who attempts to use her power of suggestion to make Shiki fall. It has no effect on her because she never had interest in such things.

Afterwards, Kirie Fujō awakes in her physical body on her hospital bed after being killed by Shiki in her spiritual body. Touko walks in and asks why she did it, Fujō replies that she didn't intend to make them fall, she just wanted to make friends with them, and so called to them, as she was stuck in the hospital with an incurable condition ever since she could remember. After Touko leaves, Fujō decides that the moment of her death when she was killed by Shiki was the most that she has ever felt alive, and wanted to relive that feeling. She wheels herself to the roof of the Fujō building, where she commits suicide by falling from the roof. Kokutō wakes up, feeling as if he had slept for a very long period of time, and Shiki demands that he stay over at her house to finish the ice cream he bought. In the Epilogue, Touko is walking near the Fujō building with Azaka Kokutō, where Fujō's corpse has been found. Touko comments that she just probably could not fly today.

Movie 2: Murder Speculation (Part 1)
Timeline: August 1995 - March 1996 Mikiya first meets Shiki in a white kimono during a snowing day. Later on, at the high school freshmen ceremony, Mikiya sees Shiki in the crowd and chases after her, introducing himself to her. At night, Shiki stumbles onto a fresh corpse of someone killed in a traffic accident, the blood still flowing. Kneeling, she applies the blood on her lips as lipstick and smiles. At school the next day, Mikiya discusses Shiki's choice of dress, a kimono, stating that it must be cold. Shiki replies that she will simply wear something over it when it gets colder, and Mikiya suggests a jacket. Shiki later on takes Mikiya's suggestion and buys her trademark red leather jacket. At night, a man stumbles as he runs in fear from an unseen attacker, who kills him brutally with a knife. The next day, Mikiya tells Shiki about the murder, saying he has an inside source as the murder is not on the news yet but Shiki is displeased that Mikiya is talking about something like that during lunch.

The police discover the fourth corpse, the school reacts to the news by prohibiting all after school activities. Shiki is one of the few people left in the school by this time, but bumps into someone she does not know, who reprimands her by asking her if four times isn't too much, even if she is irritated. Shiki refuses to reply. It is raining outside, and as Shiki waits at the entrance, Mikiya comes up behind her and offers her an umbrella. Startled, Shiki refuses, saying she has someone coming to pick her up. The two wait there in silence, until Shiki can no longer stand it and suddenly asks Mikiya where he was the whole time, and he replies saying that he was in holding a farewell party for an upperclassman, Lio Shirazumi, that was dropping out of school because he found something to do. Mikiya invited Shiki as well, but Shiki did not think he was serious. At night, Shiki finds the fifth corpse, but simply remarks "the fifth one" emotionally.

Shiki has a duel with her father, using real katanas, but loses. Her servant, Akitaka, remarks that Shiki is the real successor of the family, over her male brother, an unusual move as the male is the successor in traditional Japanese families. This is because only Shiki inherited the special multiple personality of the Ryōgi family who in her case, is male and Shiki wraps herself in bandages to hide her femininity. During lunch break, Mikiya's friend from the judo club, Gakuto, quizzes him about the rumor that he is going out with Shiki. He admits that he does like her, but they are only friends. Later on, Mikiya finds a letter in his desk from Shiki asking him out on a date. Shiki shows up, but talks and behaves in a boyish manner, leaving Mikiya confused. Over a meal, SHIKI, the male personality, writes out two different spellings, Shiki (式) and SHIKI (織), and explains that he is the rebellious impulse of Shiki, but lately they have been out of sync, whatever Shiki likes, SHIKI does not, and vice-versa.

Mikiya has dinner with his cousin, Daisuke, who is a detective and is investigating the recent murders. He reveals that they have obtained a recent clue, Mikiya's school emblem was found at the latest murder scene. After school, SHIKI has a frank talk with Mikiya, warning him that Shiki will try to kill anything that opens up her isolation with the world. The next day, Mikiya still offers to eat lunch with Shiki, leaving her perplexed. At lunch, Mikiya notices a bandaged injury on Shiki's left arm, who admits that she got it during the last killing. Mikiya doesn't believe her, but Shiki warns him again that if he doesn't back off, she will probably end up killing him. Mikiya once again has Daisuke over for dinner, who reveals that they found the killer's skin underneath the victim's fingernails, and that the killer probably has an injury around the elbow, the location that Shiki had bandaged. Panicking, Mikiya dashes out to Shiki's mansion in the bamboo grove, but Shiki is apparently not in. While walking around in the grove, Mikiya finds Shiki, drenched in blood in front of a fresh headless corpse spurting blood. As the blood splatters onto Shiki standing there in a trance, Shiki turns and smiles at Mikiya. Walking up to the terrified Mikiya, Shiki smiles and says "Be careful Kokutou-kun. A terrible premonition tends to attract a terrible reality."

After the cops find the crime scene, Mikiya pretends to not have seen anybody, but secretly goes back to keep watch on Shiki's house every night, and is easily spotted by Akitaka as he does not do a very good job of keeping hidden. This keeps up until Shiki loses her patience and has another talk with Mikiya, who still refuses to believe she is the killer, and she then asks him if he will be coming tonight. That night, Mikiya is still keeping watch, when Shiki in a blood red kimono shows up in the rain, and chases him while slashing wildly with her knife. Shiki chases Mikiya to the road just outside the bamboo grove, where Mikiya falls and Shiki straddles him, holding a knife to his throat. Tears streaming down her cheeks, Shiki asks Kokutō to say something, who can only reply with "I don't want to die.". Shiki smiles warmly and replies that she wants to kill him. Screeching tires are heard, and the scene switches to June 1998 where Mikiya has started working for Tōko, and visits the comatose Shiki in the hospital with flowers, stating that he has always believed in her.

Movie 3: Remaining Sense of Pain
Timeline: July 1998 A teenaged girl, Fujino Asagami, is being raped by a street gang in an abandoned bar. During one night, Mikiya finds a confused Fujino crouched in an alley and noticing she is suffering from pain in her abdomen. Mikiya accompanies her to his apartment where she falls asleep. In the next morning, Mikiya notices Fujino is gone and at the same time, the news report a murder scene in an abandoned underground bar where the victims' corpses were found with their limbs torn off.

Later, inside Tōko's office, Mikiya rants on Tōko about not having his monthly salary paid because she spent her money on a Victorian ouija board. Tōko talks to Shiki about the murder scene and asks Shiki to capture a suspected perpetrator per a client's request. Shiki, confident she will recognize the suspect because of their killing intentions, leaves without reading the suspect's background information. Shiki claims they will try to kill each other the moment they meet.

Mikiya asks his friend Gakutō to lend him money. Gakutō accepts, but in return asks Mikiya to help him find Keita Minato, a friend who was acquainted with Mikiya during his high school days. Fujino is shown dialing Keita's phone, but instead, Keita does not answer while he is cowering frightened. Later, elsewhere, Fujino is dismembering someone without actually touching him while asking for Keita's location. In another scene, Mikiya's sister, Azaka Kokutou, is chatting with Fujino in a cafe and Shiki approaches Azaka to tell her Mikiya will not come to see her. Shiki notices Fujino and stares at her with killing intent, but Fujino does not respond. Thus, Shiki does not recognize Fujino as the suspect during that time.

Later during one night, Fujino is dismembering another victim (In the novels, the victim was a friend of Keita who tricked Fujino to where she can find Keita but in reality he wanted to rape her). The moment Fujino kills him, Shiki appears to confront her stating that Fujino is similar to her because of her bloodthirst. As Shiki and Fujino get ready to fight, a sudden change in Fujino's character occurs that makes Shiki no longer desiring to fight and leaves. A flashback in Fujino's childhood reveals her playing with a knife along her toys, seemingly injured and bleeding. However, she continued playing as if she did not feel any pain. Back to the present, Fujino calls Keita's number saying she is finally feeling pain and therefore feeling alive. But she does not want Keita, the only survivor of the bar's crime scene, to tell she is a murderer so she can live normally and speaks of her intent to kill him.

Mikiya was with Keita listening to Fujino's phone call. Keita reveals he and his friends have gang raped Fujino for some time but she did not show any signs of pain or emotion except until recently when she was hit at the back of her neck by one of Keita's friends. Mikiya is disgusted on how Keita and his gang treated Fujino but he still helps him by bringing him back to Tōko's office for protection.

Mikiya then intends to talk to Fujino to stop her quest of revenge. Tōko tells him that Keita confessed that his friend stabbed Fujino in her abdomen in the night of the murders and that actually triggered her desire to kill. However, Shiki when she first met Fujino noticed she did not have any wounds. She states that her pain is still inside Fujino's body and she would resort to killing to relieve the pain. Mikiya leaves to investigate Fujino's past.

During one night, a driver is about to accidentally crash into Fujino, but is murdered before that happens. Shiki decides she must stop Fujino. A flashback scene shows that Fujino, with an injured leg, once met Mikiya years ago. As Fujino does not feel any pain, Mikiya thinks she is hiding her pain and tells her that pain is something that needs to be spoken about.

Mikiya discovers that initially, Fujino was able to feel pain, but her father (revealed to be her step father in the novels) artificially sealed her ability to feel pain in order to suppress her telekinetic powers. Tōko then deduces that Fujino was never stabbed in the first place, but she was indeed feeling pain the moment she was about to be stabbed. Her real pain is caused by an untreated and ruptured appendicitis and Tōko concludes Fujino does not have enough time left to live.

Shiki confronts Fujino on the sealed off Broad Bridge, a newly constructed that connects the two harbors. It is ten kilometers long in a crescent moon shape and it was planned to have a shopping arcade. Touko was against making something on an overly grand scale. They come this time both wishing to defeat one another since Fujino can feel pain and joy for killing. During the fight, Shiki's left arm is twisted and rendered useless by Fujino's power. After constantly fleeing from Fujino's attacks, Shiki is finally able to 'see' through her telekinesis and able to 'cut' them with her 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception'. Just before being delivered the final blow, Fujino uses her acquired 'clairvoyance' to destroy the entire bridge without the need to actually see her surroundings. An injured and agonizing Fujino tries to escape, realizing her desire to live and love towards Mikiya (and in the novels, her mother). She is found by Shiki who bends down and stabs her.

Mikiya and Tōko find Shiki outside of the bridge, who tells them Fujino lost her sensitivity to pain in the end and lost the desire to kill her. Instead, Shiki cuts through Fujino's illness. Tōko tells Shiki she will replace her left arm with a puppet arm capable of grasping spiritual embodiments. Mikiya calls a medical team to treat Fujino.

In the end, Mikiya confesses to Shiki that he is concerned about Fujino whose acts will haunt her mind and remain hurting her. Despite the terrible things she had done, she was more human than the gang who treated her. Mikiya also confesses he will stay by Shiki's side, by which Shiki also confesses she feels a 'small 'special' murderous intent towards Mikiya'.

Movie 4: The Hollow Shrine
Timeline: March 1996- June 1998 Following the incident in the second movie, Shiki is being carried by ambulance to a hospital where she lies in coma (the cause will be revealed in the final movie). Mikiya visits her very frequently, leaving rose bouquets which garner him praises by the nurses for his commitment to visit Shiki all this time. Time passes, and Mikiya graduates from high school and then meets Tōko Aozaki in a doll exhibition, who then hires him.

During Shiki's near death experiences within the Void, she encounters her male counterpart, SHIKI, who sacrifices its existence. After two years, Shiki finally wakes up and finds Mikiya's 'recover soon' note along with a bouquet of roses. However, at this moment Shiki does not recall Mikiya's name. As she looks at the bouquet, she sees cracks running through the roses and right at the moment she touches those cracks, the roses begin to whither and shatter. While being treated by the medical staff, who are unaware of Shiki's new ability, Shiki is able to see the cracks on them and on herself and visions appear where people and even herself are being sliced through those cracks. Confused and frightened, she injures her own eyes.

Mikiya is told Shiki has regained consciousness but visitors other than family members will not be allowed to see her. Tōko, disguised as a therapist, visits Shiki, who has both of her eyes bandaged due to her self-inflicted injury. Tōko introduces herself as a sorcerer and points out that Shiki's feelings of loneliness and hollowed heart can only be cured by the care of other people. Tōko tells Mikiya that Shiki is okay, but he should not visit her yet.

During nighttime in the hospital, Shiki is being haunted by spirits who try to possess her body. During the day, Tōko visits Shiki every day and discuss about Shiki's dual personality. Tōko states that Shiki's condition is special because both Shiki and SHIKI integrated a combined personality and realizes that as SHIKI is gone, Shiki's memory created a lapse and therefore will not be able to conclude Shiki's involvement in the murders two years ago. Tōko also points out that SHIKI sacrificed itself for Shiki to survive.

Shiki, still having her eyes bandaged, is told by the medical staff she has recovered and can go back home, but she refuses as she is deeply frightened by the world full of cracks she sees with her eyes. Later in the night she tries to stab her eyes with her fingers but is stopped by Tōko, who speaks with Shiki about the 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception'. Tōko tells Shiki she can teach her more about her new ability, which allows Shiki to 'perceive' and also 'touch' the 'death' of things. Shiki feels that is unnecessary as she does not feel the desire to live. Tōko points out that although Shiki does not want to live, she is also scared to die and under that condition, Shiki would be easily targeted by the spirits in the hospital and Tōko's magical protection would be voided. Disappointed, Tōko leaves asking Shiki if SHIKI's sacrifice was for nothing.

Later in the night, Tōko's protection shatters and a possessed corpse assaults Shiki. Back with Mikiya, Tōko describes Shiki's heart as being hollow and only through present and future experiences she will be able to build her new personality and 'shrine' in her heart. Mikiya starts singing softly 'Singing in the Rain'. As Shiki realizes how truly lonesome and frightful death is, she fights back the possessed corpse and both fall through the hospital room's windows. Tōko finds Shiki and tries to stop the corpse with her ignition sorcery but her attempt is unsuccessful. Shiki removes her bandages and battles the corpse using her newly acquired 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception' skill. Tōko hurls a knife for Shiki to use. Shiki cuts her hair and uses the knife along with her 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception' to slice the corpse. After rendering the corpse unable to stand up, the spirits possessing the corpse possess Shiki's body, but she fights back by stabbing her own body to reach the spiritual being's "existence" and cuts through them. Shiki erases the spirits and Tōko offers to teach Shiki how to use her mystic eyes. In exchange, Tōko asks Shiki to work for her.

Back in the hospital, Mikiya visits Shiki for the first time after her awakening. At the same time Shiki finally recalls Mikiya's name, saying that his (last) name sounds as a French poet's.

After the end credits, three people are visited by a mysterious man with a dark trench coat. He is shown with Kirie Fujō (from movie 1), granting her with a body that she can move; with Fujino Asagami (from movie 3), healing her back wound; and a down, blood-stained guy. When all three ask who he is, he responds, "A magus, Sōren Araya."

Movie 5: Paradox Spiral
Timeline: November 1998 Shiki's Arc

In the middle of the night, Tomoe Enjou stabs his parents to death in a fit of rage, before escaping his apartment in a panic. Not long after, a homeless burglar finds their bodies, but when he returns with the police, to his surprise, he finds them being greeted by the residents in perfect health.

Sometime later, Shiki helps fend off some school bullies that were attacking Tomoe. Seemingly taken by Shiki's presence, he quickly asks her to help hide him, ecstatically claiming that he is a murderer. Shiki agrees, and simply cites she “is the same as him” when he is surprised by her easy acceptance of his status.

For the next month, Tomoe stays at Shiki's place, their life punctuated with Shiki's nightly sojourns, and Tomoe waiting for the news report of his parents' murder. During this time, Tomoe notices a strange man in a red hat and coat following Shiki. Tomoe warns her of this fact, which she idly dismisses. When they get into an argument over this, Tomoe claims he loves her, and as he lacks any worth, he'd be willing to die for her. Shiki refuses the offer, and asks him to consider where he feels his real home is. Tomoe feels then that he cannot hide any longer with Shiki, and leaves.

Not long after, Tomoe is shocked to see his mother still alive. Confused, he returns to Shiki. To confirm Tomoe's murder, Shiki accompanies him in returning to his residence at Ogawa apartment: an ominous, circular complex colored red, which was completed recently.

When they enter the elevator, Shiki notices they are ascending in a spiral. Reaching the 4th floor, Shiki insists on not ringing the doorbell, and simply entering Tomoe's home. Inside, they are met with Tomoe's abusive family, even another Tomoe, and watch the family's final moments as Tomoe's mother succumbs to murder-suicide. Shiki explains that these are simply imitation puppets that are revived in the morning and are forced to relive their final day alive repeatedly. Because Tomoe did not ring the doorbell, they continued to act as if they had no visitor.

Shiki then brings Tomoe to the opposite side of the apartment, his “real home”. She explains that when elevator began operating, due to the construction of the complex, none of the residents realized the rotating elevator made them exit 180 degrees, into another set of flats. When they enter Tomoe's original residence, they find the rotted corpses of the parents. This side of the apartment is used to store corpses. However, this intrusion also causes the undead puppets of the other deceased apartment residents to attack them when they exit. Shiki easily cuts them down, but afterwards she is confronted by Souren Araya. It is revealed in a short flashback that sometime during the second movie, Shiki had previously fought Souren.

Souren explains that he controls the apartment, as part of an experiment that uses the building to simulate a “miniature world that concludes in a day”. After driving all the occupants to kill one another, he has been making them repeat their deaths over the past half year, hoping for a deviation in their deaths. He also reveals that he was the one who manipulated Kirie and Fujino in the previous movies to attack Shiki, as antithesis to her, in hopes he can force her to recognize her own “Origin”. As they are meeting early, Souren decides to capture her now.

Shiki's mystic eyes are unable to perceive lines on Souren's body, due to his great age (his Origin being “Stillness”) and mystical artifacts he grafted onto his left arm in preparation. She attacks, regardless, even able to cut through his defenses, but in the end, she is defeated by Souren, and absorbed into the building.

Tomoe, the lone witness of all this, grabs Shiki's knife and escapes back to her home.

Mikiya's Arc

Toko receives a tip from a friend on the police force rergarding a mysterious report made by a burglar that upon entering an apartment, he found a middle-aged couple murdered. However, when the police follow up and ring the doorbell of their apartment, the man who was seen dead by the burglar answers as if nothing was wrong. A particular interest is taken to Tomoe, the son of the couple, who is missing. Toko requests that Mikiya, who just returned from a month of driving school in the suburb to obtain his license, investigate the situation.

Mikiya finds the schematics of the strange apartment building, two separate semi-circular buildings that are separate apart from the lobby containing only one central elevator, and reports this to both Toko and Shiki. Apparently, the builder meant for the construction to be for a company dormitory, but instead opened it to the public. Mikiya also reports that the elevator was inoperable for the first month residents lived in the building and also manages to find background details on 30 of the 50 families residing within the building.

Mikiya is also given a katana by Shiki's family to deliver to her. Toko requests that she not assemble it within the office, as its age would cause all of the magical barriers to break. Mikiya also makes arrangements to meet Shiki, but is surprised to find her apartment locked, although there was never a lock on the door in the past.

Toko and Mikiya set out and investigate the building, Toko reveals that she helped design it and there is a reason only 30 of the 50 family backgrounds could be found, the others were faked using certificates of already deceased people. Mikiya is automatically affected by the strange building's architecture and design, which Toko explains were purposely designed in that manner to make the residents go insane. As Mikiya exits the elevator on the 4th floor, he is confused to find himself on the wrong side of the building than the blueprints noted, and is further confused when he checks on the residents of apartment 405, Tomoe's family, and finds them there, although they are supposed to be living in the opposite building in apartment 410. When asked by Toko to meet him one flight up the stairs, Mikiya is surprised to find that he arrived on the 6th floor instead of the 5th, although seemingly only going up one floor of the building. Toko tells him the confusion is due to the elevator rotating 180 degrees while lifting and augmentation to the stairway, which Mikiya deduces as pistons raising the stairwell one level, therefore effectively "switching" the apartments of the residents to the other half of the building after the completion of the elevator.

Mikiya then visits Shiki's apartment again but finds Tomoe there instead. He tells Tomoe that he is going to look for that now missing Shiki and questions Tomoe on his motives for helping to rescue Shiki. Mikiya brings Tomoe with him on the condition they make one stop first, despite disagreeing with Tomoe's sentiments that this is something he is just doing for Shiki's sake. Mikiya surprises Tomoe by bringing him to his childhood home where Tomoe regains his memories and realizes that he "has a home" and will fight for his own sake, not Shiki's.

Mikiya and Tomoe proceed to the apartment complex to rescue Shiki. They separate before entering, deciding to take separate routes, and agree to never search for each other again after parting so that neither one would feel guilty if something happened to the other. After bidding farewell to Tomoe, Mikiya enters the building and is confronted by Cornelius, a Magus from Toko's past, who assumes Mikiya is Toko's apprentice. Although Mikiya manages to stab Cornelius, it does no good. Cornelius superimposes his hatred for Toko on to Mikiya, even acting as if he were Toko, while slamming his head into a wall continuously, knocking Mikiya unconscious.

Final Arc

Movie 6: Oblivion Recorder
Timeline: January 1999 The movie starts off with an introduction from Azaka on who she is and how she plans to win Mikiya over as her lover despite the presence of a dangerous woman named Shiki Ryougi. Afterwards, Shiki is sent to Azaka's school, the Reien Academy during winter break in order to help investigate a series of reports of fairies stealing the student's memories, and a suspicious suicide. The two immediately clash as Azaka is in love with her brother (Mikiya) and considers Shiki a love rival. While walking around the school, Shiki notices a fairy, and chases after it. Azaka who cannot see the fairies, is left alone and is attacked by an unknown person and has her memory stolen, only waking up in the evening with no memory of what has occurred. They discover the magus using the fairies is trying to erase everyone's memories of the event, but the school has a written record of the investigation. Azaka goes alone to check out the suicide site in the old building, as Shiki does not want to wake up this early. While there, Ouji finds her and requests that Azaka pray with her in the chapel, after praying, she reveal she is the one using the fairies to erase everyone's memories, and tries to erase Azaka's memory, and that she killed Hideo Hayama (the teacher who went missing) and used his body to create the fairies (as you need a corpse of some kind to create a familiar). Azaka is knocked unconscious from behind by one of the fairies, but she retains her memory and is found by Satsuki Kurogiri, the teacher replacing Hideo Hayama.

Shiki arrives and tells Azaka that the students of Kaori's class have all disappeared. Azaka says she is going to check out the suicide site, but Kurogiri strangely tells her that there is nothing there...and when reaching there, she finds that a large section of the building has mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Unable to find a trace of Ouji, Azaka falls asleep, and is woken up some time later by the dog left by her room mate. Shiki tells her that she has a message from Mikiya, who informs her of Kurogiri's real identity, that of a magus known as "God's Word" and a counter measure to his ability, as well as the cause of Hideo Hayama's death. Taking Shiki's walkman and earphones, Azaka runs past Kurogiri without being affected by his ability, and heads to the suicide site to discover all the students there in a trance, with lighted matches and open canisters of fuel, Ouji intending for them to commit suicide in the same manner as Kaori. Azaka and Ouji face off in the chapel, while Shiki faces off with Kurogiri. Azaka tries to convince Ouji to stop, revealing that Hayama died from a heart attack due to his drug abuse, and that the information she gained from the fairies was just a rumour circulated by the students and Kurogiri had stolen her memory first to make her come to the wrong conclusion. Ouji refuses to stop, and tries to kill her with the fairies, but eventually they rebel against her and Azaka destroys them and the source of the magic. Kurogiri reveals that Souren requested he return to Japan in order to restore Shiki's memory, and Shiki tries to kill him, but Kurogiri simply says "You'll lose sight of me" and Shiki becomes unable to see him. After everything is settled, Mikiya tells Azaka that Kaori regained consciousness in the hospital. The bus arrives, but instead of getting on, Azaka pulls Mikiya away and insists on a date in order to make up for him going out with Shiki the other day (Movie 3, Mikiya is supposed to meet Azaka but sends Shiki to tell her he cant make it). At night, Azaka remembers a dream from her childhood, and remembers why and how she fell in love with Mikiya.

The restoration of Shiki's memory via God's Word as well as what happened to him after the events of the movie are left unexplained, though in the original novel much more about him is touched upon and he is killed by one of his students in a considerably karmic fashion.

Garden of Sinners Remix -Gate of seventh heaven- (空の境界 Remix -Gate of seaventh heaven-)
It was released in theaters on March 14, 2009. This remix collection extracts the key themes and scenes from first six movies. The hour long movie is organized in chronological order, beginning from the 2nd movie, followed by the 4th, 3rd, 1st, 5th and 6th. It's a mixture of mostly existing scenes, and some new scenes.

Movie 7: Murder Speculation (Part 2)
Timeline: February 1999 Set after Oblivion Recorder, a new spate of ferocious murders has caught the eye of both Shiki and Daisuke, Mikiya’s cousin who investigated the murders before. Shiki wanders the back alleys of the business district, searching for the murderer and avoiding attacks by local thugs while Mikiya becomes more and more worried about her, beginning his own investigation that takes him down a path populated by drug pushers and prostitutes. The perpetrator, Lio Shirazumi, finds Shiki first but loses an arm in the resulting scuffle; retreating, he discovers Mikiya in his apartment which has become a madman’s shrine to Shiki. She is captured and tortured by Lio, still struggling with murderous urges, her salvation relies on Mikiya who may befall Lio’s uncontrollable cravings.

Epilogue / The Edge of Emptiness (終章/空の境界)
Mikiya is walking along the road on a snowy night just like when he first met Shiki. He finds Shiki standing exactly where she was when they first met all so many years ago. Shiki explains to him her dual personalities and states that there is a third and that it is her. This Shiki is not the Shiki(式) which we have come to know through out the seven films and is in fact the very first Shiki which Mikiya meets when he walks along the snowy road at night four years ago. After explaining that the other Shiki(式) will not remember this day just as she never remembered the night that they first met and tells him not to tell her about the fact that it was she which caused Shiki to have her murderous impulses and it was not SHIKI. The reason of why the third Shiki wanted to meet Mikiya was because she could and wanted to grant Mikiya's wishes; Mikiya, however, stated that he was content with his current life and didn't really desired anything special, the Shiki pointed out that he was weird, as with his he could wish to undo the damage that was caused to him by Lio. At the end of the film she disappears in-front of Mikiya and he leaves.

Theme Songs

 * Each of the theme songs to the series are performed by Kalafina, a project formed by Kajiura Yuki.


 * Overlooking the Scenery (俯瞰風景)
 * "oblivious"
 * Murder Speculation (Part 1) (殺人考察(前))
 * "Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Yuku" (君が光に変えて行く)
 * Remaining Sense of Pain (痛覚残留)
 * "Kizuato" (傷跡)
 * The Hollow Shrine (伽藍の洞)
 * "ARIA"
 * Paradox Spiral (矛盾螺旋)
 * "sprinter"
 * Oblivion Recorder (忘却録音)
 * "fairytale"
 * Murder Speculation (Part 2) (殺人考察(後))
 * "seventh heaven"
 * Epilogue / Kara no Kyoukai (終章/空の境界)
 * "snow falling"

Chronological timeline

 * 1995


 * March


 * Mikiya meets Shiki for the first time on a snowy night.


 * April


 * Shiki enters high school and gets acquainted with Mikiya.


 * September


 * Murders begin to occur in the city. The most likely suspect is Shiki, but Mikiya thinks otherwise.


 * 1996


 * January


 * recalled out summer – Gospel in the Future (未来福音) Preface, SHIKI meets Mother of Mifune, who warns him of his imminent death.


 * February


 * Shiki encounters a traffic accident and spends two years in hospital in a coma.


 * 1998


 * March


 * Mikiya enters university after graduating from high school.


 * May


 * Mikiya sees one of Touko's dolls at an exhibition.
 * Mikiya meets Touko.
 * Mikiya quits university halfway.


 * June


 * Shiki awakens. After getting discharged, Shiki agrees working for Touko.


 * July


 * Shiki confronts an assassin that can bend things, and suffers from constant pain.


 * August


 * recalled out summer – Gospel in the Future (未来福音) Möbius Ring, Shiki faces of with the mad bomber while Mikiya meets Seo Shizune.


 * recalled out summer – Gospel in the Future (未来福音) Feline, Mikiya leaves a cat with Shiki for her to temporarily take care of.


 * September


 * Suicides occurring at a building, inhabitated by ghosts.


 * October


 * recalled out summer – Gospel in the Future (未来福音) Daylight, Miyazuki is recalling the suicide of one of her friends, who was a victim from the Fujou building and she happens to meet Fujino.


 * November


 * A boy escapes from home, after having killed somebody. His home seems to be a building that records the deaths of its residents.


 * December


 * recalled out summer – Gospel in the Future (未来福音) Say Grace, Shiki and Mikiya visit a temple


 * 1999


 * January


 * A mage resides in a girl's academy, using faeries to create havoc. Shiki infiltrates with the help of Mikiya's sister, Azaka.


 * February


 * The murders from two years ago resume, and Shiki finally confronts the killer.


 * March


 * Mikiya meets Shiki's third personality once again.


 * 2010
 * recalled out summer – Gospel in the Future -The Beginning (未来福音・序) Möbius Link, Mana Ryougi & Kamekura Mitsuru meet Mother of Mifune.

Development
The series originally began in October 1998 as a series of five chapters released online on Nasu and Takeuchi's doujin-based website, Takebouki (竹箒), with its final two chapters being released at the Comiket 56 in 1999. Nasu and Takeuchi were later to form TYPE-MOON, and in 2001, featured a portion of the book in its 2001 Tsukihime fandisk, Tsukihime PLUS-DISC, which saw it gain significant popularity, leading to its release as a doujinshi publication at the 61 on December 30, 2001.

The series is much the story of Souren Araya, so the original publication, Kara no Kyoukai Shi, on the main homepage in 1998 was considered finished as of Paradox Spiral. The subsequent chapters can be considered the epilogue to Shiki and Mikiya's story, released in the summer of 1999 as a sort of.

In September of 2002, a drama CD based on the series was released, and on August 6, 2004, noted publisher released the series as a commercial publication, which enjoyed immense popularity, with 5000 limited edition versions of the novel being sold almost immediately upon release. Both editions of Kara no Kyoukai altogether sold more than 500,000 copies.

In September of 2010 a web comic adaptation began serialization in the online magazine "Saizensen", with drawings done by Sphere Tenku.

Movie Releases
(The French DVD editions contain french, german, polish and dutch subtitles)
 * 2008-05-21 (Japan DVD 1: 俯瞰風景 - Thanatos)
 * 2008-06-25 (Japan DVD 2: 殺人考察(前) - ...and nothing heart)
 * 2008-07-23 (Japan DVD 3: 痛覚残留 - ever cry, never life)
 * 2008-12-17 (Japan DVD 4: 伽藍の洞 - garan-no-dou)
 * 2009-01-28 (Japan DVD 5: 矛盾螺旋 - Paradox Paradigm)
 * 2009-07-29 (Japan DVD 6: 忘却録音 - Fairy Tale)
 * 2009-12-09 (Japan DVD 7: 殺人考察(後) - ...not nothing heart)
 * 2010-07-07 (France DVD1: Thanatos)
 * 2010-08-11 (France DVD 2: Enquête criminelle)
 * 2010-11-17 (France DVD 3: Persistante douleur)
 * 2011-02-01 (France DVD 4: L'abîme dans le temple)
 * 2011-05-27 (France DVD 5: Spirale contradictoire)
 * 2011-06-22 (France DVD 6: Souvenirs Oubliés)
 * 2011-08-24 (France DVD 7: Enquête Criminelle 2.0)
 * 2010-09-24 (Germany DVD 1: Film 1 - Thanatos)
 * 2010-11-26 (Germany DVD 2: Film 2 - Mordverdacht Teil 1)
 * 2011-01-28 (Germany DVD 3: Film 3 - Verbliebener Sinn für Schmerz)
 * 2011-02-02 (Blu-Ray Disk Box)
 * 2011-03-25 (Germany DVD 4: Film 4 - Der leere Tempel)
 * 2011-05-27 (Germany DVD 5: Film 5 - Paradoxe Helix)
 * 2011-07-29 (Germany DVD 6: Film 6 - Verlorene Erinnerung)
 * 2011-09-30 (Germany DVD 7: Film 7 - Mordverdacht Teil 2)