ANIME TUESDAY: Beyond The Boundary – “Moonlight Purple” Review


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Previously on Beyond the Boundary:

Akihito & Mirai succeed in taking down the youmu that was living her Mirai’s apartment. After getting the youmu apparised, they are told via holographic letter by Akihito’s mother Yayoi, that a powerful youmu called the Hollow Shadow is approaching the city. Spoilers Ahead!

Yui

Yui

Mirai is chasing a low level youmu but when she once again hesitates to kill it, Mitsuki arrives and does it for her. Meanwhile at school Akihito is still trying to learn more about Mirai but runs into a wall when she once again spurns him and Hiroomi knows nothing of her when Akihito asks for his help. As the Hollow Shadow begins to descend into town Akithito visits Mirai, knowing that she’s going to try and kill it. She once again shrugs him off and races to confront the powerful beast, but when she gets there she encounters a face from her past who wants her dead!

Beyond the Boundary continues to be a gem with how it blends it’s world and characters together, couple that with KyoAni’s superb animation and you have one of the best shows of the season.

Hiroomi (Left) & Akihito (Right) in the club room

Hiroomi (Left) & Akihito (Right) in the club room

Similar to last week, this episode opens with a fight scene but on a much smaller scale. Mirai is chasing a low level youmu and while this scene isn’t too important it does reaffirm her position not to make friends when Mitsuki offers the reward of the youmu to her. She does have her moments of clarity however when Akihito offers the her the reward money (whopping 10000 yen) and despite her protests she takes it anyway.

This episode is pivotal as we get resolution on the revelation from last episode. Despite Mirai’s cursed blood she was taken in by the Inami clan where she befriended Yui, the family’s youngest daughter. However just before Yui entered high school, she was possessed by the Hollow Shadow and Mirai was forced to kill her. These moments were pretty well placed and show the burden that Mirai is going through, which she explodes on Akihito for later when he tries to talk to her.

BTB 3.5

Speaking of Akihito we see he is still trying to understand Mirai but she sees his efforts are doing more harm then good. He doesn’t want her to face the Hollow Shadow, but he still doesn’t know how to get through to her. He talks to Hiroomi about it but he doesn’t know anything about her. These scenes between Hiroomi and Akihito are humorous as we learn that Hiroomi has a huge sister complex and Akihito messes with him by saying that he had Mitsuki try on glasses in the club room (remember Akihito has a glasses fetish). Mitsuki and Akihito also talk to one another and she’s the one who tells him of Mirai’s intention of fighting the Hollow Shadow, this turns into another funny scene as the two are on an abandoned trian and Mistsuki makes a side comment about not resisting if Akihito took advantage of her while biting into a suggestively shaped animal cracker (tease).

Just one of Akihito's many fantasies

Just one of Akihito’s many fantasies about Mitsuki

The scenes with Hollow Shadow creeping into town are pretty eerie but also show off the diversity of Beyond the Boundary’s world. The shadow turns the sky purple (but only those who can see youmu notice it’s happening) and we get an interesting dichotomy between the different youmu. Human like youmu (like Ai, Aiya, & Akihito) act perfectly normal while low level youmus resort to acting like animals. Hiroomi and Aiya put up barriers until it passes through town but its influence still creeps in.

Mirai goes to confront the shadow but right when she finds it she is attacked by Sakura, another spirit warrior and Yui’s elder sister,and she wants Mirai Kuriyama dead!

Sakura (Left) attacking Mirai

Sakura (Left) attacking Mirai

“Moonlight Purple” is a good episode that does a good job of positioning action and development to move the story along. Akihito’s relationship with Mirai grows a bit more and the influence of the Hollow Shadow past and present show just how menacing it can be. Return next week as Mirai tries to fend off both the Hollow Shadow and Sakura.