16 reasons I recommend Kyoukai no Kanata

Disclaimer: All images are from the anime. We do not own any of it.

Now let's talk about KYOUKAI NO KANATA!

I present to you 16 reasons you should watch this anime. It has 1 season and 2 movies.

What is Kyoukai no Kanata?

It is originally a Japanese LN (Light Novel) written by Nagomu Torii. As a fan of anime, we are all familiar that anime is an 'animated version' of what is originally written or is a printed manga. Light novels and mangas are a thing! Sometimes fans read the original version to compare it to the anime.

In this case, Kyoukai no Kanata (or Beyond the Boundary) is an animated version of its light novel of the same name.

Premise:

Akihito Kanbara saves his classmate Mirai Kuriyama from committing suicide. We discover that Mirai is actually an Exterminator and Akihito being a half-youmu and half-human, something that our girl Mirai would hunt.

Let's get started!

Please note that I might mention names or powers but will try to be as general as possible to refrain SPOILERS.

Countdown starts with...

Honorable Mention: Mirai's Bonsai

She loves bonsai and 'smuggles' it inside the Literary Club.

16. Senpai Dummy

I guess we can start with this. So at the beginning of the anime Akihito is narrating stuff and then he meets Mirai for the first time. And she stabs him in their first encounter. Ever since Mirai found out that Akihito was Immortal she follows him around and she tries to kill him over and over. Akihito would run and say that he may be immortal but he can still feel pain. An awesome start, eh?

If it takes one episode to love the male and female lead at the same time, then that means the anime's characters are written well enough for us to be hooked up in this anime. Perverts are usually used for 'comedic relief' and our Senpai here, Akihito, is better than Jiraiya. He has his own charm.

15. Letter for Akihito

I just thought that I needed to add this here. Somehow, maybe Akihito actually got his charm and personality from his mother. In a way.

Akihito's mother, who is also an Exterminator, sends Akihito flashy letters at times. And for Akihito it's the worse and most embarrassing thing ever. He doesn't want anyone to see it, let alone have an audience as he 'reads' the letter.

Ayaka is, so far, the only one seen to be capable to 'decode' the letter for Akihito to see.

The letter is something like this. An image or hologram flashes from the letter and Akihito's mother would always wear a different outfit in every letter. And the outfit is always embarrassing for Akihito to see. And if everyone else sees it? For him it's the end of the world. He'd rather die, I suppose.

14. Clumsy Mirai

Our awesome main protagonist has her own charms, you know? She's got many memorable scenes, personality and habits. One of them being the one who chases after Akihito and later finds a bucket over her head.

Also, there's this one time when Akihito offered to assist her to chase her first youmu. And Mirai ran after the youmu that left her apartment, she carefully went over the fence so she won't break it. Nope, she's not in a rush. Not in a rush at all.

There's many more but it's best you see for yourself. But basically, the clumsy personality is already a trope. There are times where I don't find it funny because it's just exaggerated or the scenes are just not as funny as the writers intended it to be. In this case though, Mirai sure earned her spot here.

13. Money Problems

Another Mirai moment! So the thing that's so memorable about Mirai is that.. as Akihito said.. "she's poor."

Mirai cannot pay the rent, eats cheap food and has an enormous appetite. Because of her power, which we will discuss later.

Her lack of supply for money is, I guess, one reason she hunts youmu. Because after you kill a youmu you get some kind of stone and you can trade it with cash to an appraiser. And the thing about this little trade is that, every time Mirai cannot kill her hunt and other Exterminators come and help her kill the youmu, she always turns them down. And later she finds out that the stone will cost a lot if traded.

There's a lot of that going on so just check it out.

12. Wiping Glasses

This adorable habit of hers is just so cute. She goes all "W- w- what are you talking about?" While wiping her glasses. The stuttering is always there.

Just giving you another reason to love Mirai you know. Can't blame me.

11. Literary Club

The Literary Club is their hangout at school. Most of the time they're seen there if not in the classroom. And inside this club is where more comedy happens!

We have the recruitment of Mirai. They have to advertise of course, but Mirai turns them down until she saw the Garden Encyclopedia and immediately she changed her mind. At first you'd wonder why she wanted to read that but as I've written above, she loves bonsai.

Literary club scenes are LIT.

10. Fighting Scenes

Of course this anime is not all about comedy. It also has great fighting scenes. And chase scenes.

Either way it's all awesome. Although I wished that they showed more fight scenes.. or well.. more episodes. 12 is just a minimum, and it's kinda a cliffy. The fight scenes are unique in a way, and I wanted to see more of the characters fight. This part may make you want more of this series.

9. Hunting Youmu

They don't just fight each other. Like Exterminator vs Exterminator or upperclassman's sister vs Exterminator. There's also Exterminator vs youmu.

Hunting youmu is mentioned and showed slightly in the series but it's enough for us to understand how it works. And that's part of action. I think this counts closely to Fight Scenes (#10). I kinda like the idea they have here where killing monsters is not just all about the killing and the reputation, you get something like stones out of it and trade it for money.

8. Mirai's Power

Talk about Mirai's power being both unique and powerful. As always, a powerful ability leads to an extinct clan. Like the Kurta clan (Hunter x Hunter).

Anyway, she uses her blood to fight and she has a ring that suppresses the acid blood thing that can be dangerous even to an immortal like Akihito. And because she uses blood to fight, she had to replenish her strength after the battle, resulting to her big appetite. I mean, how cool is this power? Would be cool if they delved more into this. But then again, all of the scenes are compressed within 12 episodes and 2 movies.

7. Nino-san

We have the character that the anime bullies! Lol.

For real I love Nino's character and art. She's one of those types that s like Matsumoto Rangiku (Bleach) and there's no need to explain more. She did not get much screen time but sure hoped she did. She is a character that I wanted to see more in action and get to know.

Seriously, for some reason she's being 'bullied' but it's more because of the OVA I guess. She was on her way to the girls' sleepover at Mitsuki Nase's room and suddenly saw a sign that says 'only girls under 20' and which she's not.

But in the overall anime I don't think that's shown.

6. Shindou Ai

This adorable cat youmu here is seemingly innocent, but she's got a sharp tongue. Her presence in the series will give you delight.

5. Breather Episode

We all know that in anime there's always bound to be a breather episode. Something that sways off the main plot for a while. So far this is one of the best breather episodes I've watched.

Their goal here is to hunt this certain youmu that will be costly and Mirai really needs that so she obviously went after it without knowing the full details.

She later finds out, along with Akihito who chased her, that the youmu emits a really stinky liquid that will last them to stink for days.. or a week.

They had Mitsuki and Hiroomi join their cause. Even Ai and Ayaka. Although Ayaka only supported when they started their training. Training of what? I won't say more. You go ahead and enjoy it. I don't want to spoil but trust me, this is a special one.

4. Nase Siblings

We've got an awesome family here. The Nase family. So we got Izumi, Hiroomi and Mitsuki. Each of them are charming, attractive and amazing in their own way.

Having the outstanding and undefeated (for me she is) sister, Izumi Nase. She's always calm and composed and she's got this sisterly aura when she talks to her younger siblings. Overall she's matured enough to handle complicated tasks.

But the other two have more emphasis than her. They're kinda more of a main than her.

Hiroomi has a sister complex with Mitsuki which results to Mitsuki calling him a pervert brother. The two have hilarious banters but despite that they care for each other.

I remember one time Hiroomi shares to Akihito that Mitsuki wasn't always like the way she is at the present and even shows proof of it but now that she's grown the cute and innocent Mitsuki has changed.

3. Pervy Friends

Hiroomi and Akihito had some background before they became friends. Which I won't discuss.

Anyway, these two are a hilarious pair. They get along just fine because probably they have the same perverted thoughts towards the girls (Mirai and Mitsuki). Their overall performance together in the series is solid.

No, not promoting the whole pervert thing. It's more of, there is always this chemistry between friends that makes them special and lovable. Like Gon and Killua's friendship (Hunter x Hunter) or Goku and Krillin's companionship (Dragon Ball) or Natsu and Happy (Fairy Tail).

2. Pervy Senpai

Maybe the title is a bit misleading. But this is more focused on Akihito's fetish into glasses.

The poor victim of Akihito's glasses obsession is Mirai Kuriyama. Akihito's thing for glasses is unique from all other anime out there and most likely that's how we'll remember him. I mean, that is how I remembered him now. He buys pictures of Mirai from Ayaka and never fails to express his delight in glasses or bespectacled beauties (especially Mirai). Which I think is a less pervy than other fetishes and obsessions out there.

And lastly..

1. Cute Couple

This adorable couple is just too cute to be ignored. And I think past reasons help support this. Although the biggest support will be the anime itself. Make sure you go and watch the anime now or read the LN! You don't want to miss their love story!