Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners

Garden of Sinners is on my top 10 best novels list of all time. Let me explain Story, Characters, and Enjoyment: 10/10 The story is extremely great, and the dark atmosphere is there. It focuses on the journey of our main character, Ryougi Shiki, who is a broken woman, and also a crazy sociopath who loves to kill and has no one but herself. She has a unique ability called "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception", which allows her to see the lines of death of all things. She got it after trying to kill herself, but failed. After she got out of the hospital, she starts towork for an anti-crime company called Garan no Dou, which is owned by Touko Aozaki for Shiki to stop people from killing innocent people and investigate murders. As the story goes on, she goes to realize that she actually has someone, and his name is Kokutou Mikiya, and becomes more of a better person and more sympathetic. Kokutou is the complete opposite of Shiki, and is willing to help out even bad people even if he is disgusted by them, but he doesn't do it if he doesn't have a reason. This novel has multiple antagonists, all of which are extremely well-made, and have that dark nature in them. The best thing about the story is that the author want you to interpret what happens in a certain event, which that the author does it really well, and it also makes it more interesting. The characters are really well-developed and they are believable. Overall: 10/10 You guys should read this novel, it's amazing.

(This includes some thoughts on the 3rd volume which is not listed here but my rating stays the same) Very enjoyable series of novels. Nasu’s earliest work but his writing style didn’t come off as too amateurish, definitely much more intricate and nuanced than the average Light Novel author. I actually thought his tendency to overwrite was more subdued than in his later works although it still slips in at times. I think the amount of which a person is going to enjoy these novels comes down to how much ambiguity they’re willing to endure. Maybe this was just my Japanese being skill checked but I foundthe first volume to be very confusing, due to the achronological order, and come out the other end with more questions than answers. Thankfully things become much clearer with each subsequent novel even though the achronological order is maintained, although parts of volume 2 suddenly shift in perspective without much warning which made it a little jarring. However because of this volume 3 felt like one clean shot and was highly satisfying to read. Another debatable point is Nasu’s tendency to overwrite things. For the most part this isn’t necessarily an issue but every now and then there are massive walls of text which explain every last detail of the subject at hand. Most of the time this is appreciated because the world which he’s created is extremely intricate and an understanding of the powers at play as well as the techniques at their arsenal goes a long way, not only for these novels but for every subsequent one of his works. This also makes the action sequences much more lively as you read about each and every body part being cut apart or the length incantations and their aftermaths, it really pulls you in. However he is not indiscriminate in this treatment and at times can go off on length tangents about the most miniscule things, such as in volume 3 where he explains the usage of THC and LSD. I personally found this endearing and respect that he’s willing to give everything the same level of respect and treatment. Although I can’t deny that this does unsurprisingly lead to pacing issues, volumes 2 and 3 are 1.5x the length of volume 1, and while this is not a surprise as these are volumes in which you learn about the magic systems and Shiki herself, it does feel like there is a good amount of fat to cut out. For me the weakest element of the series was the characters. Which is a bit of a surprise given that I’ve seen them at the forefront of every review. However, understandably, they primarily serve as exposition machines and not much else and none of them necessarily stood out to me as notable. This is a bit of a surprise because I’m aware that Mahoyo is another one of Nasu’s earlier works and that has my favorite cast of characters of them all, although I imagine that was given much more time in the oven to be worked on given that it was the last of his major works to be released. I did find Shiki’s journey of self to be very compelling and she was definitely the strongest member of the cast although that has more to do with her internal conflict rather than her external character, which makes sense since that’s the entire basis of the story I suppose. Generally I think the characters are more enjoyable in the movie adaptations, they aren’t necessarily bad just unrefined and generally sidelined in favor of the atmosphere. These are definitely worth a read if you’re into his work I know they were recently translated in full (although I can’t speak on the quality of the translation). A very good introduction to the world and systems which are carried over to every other one of his works and it makes me wish that he put out more standard novels just to see how he fairs because there’s a lot of potential here. I will be revisiting these once I’m better at Japanese.

***this is a mixed review for the manga/series/movies*** I remember reading this online way back when! This was released first independently and then when it gained popular attraction it was released by kodansha - which really brought this writer to center stage, and helped with the release of fate/zero later on. Both series are really great imo but GoS is goat. I actually had not watched the series (and I still have not watched all of fate/zero series either), so watching this as an adult was both nostalgic but also really engaging. It is way more mature than I remember, so I think I took muchmore from it as an adult than I would have when I was younger. It is told out of order which is super interesting, but also really drives home the end pieces very well. I think ufotable did a really great job at organizing this series. The art, soundtrack, and general artistic take is really lovely in that mid-2000's style. This series grapples with really dark truths about reality (TW - rape, incest, murder, etc.), while also exploring taboo topics like religion, cultism, the supernatural - WHILE ALSO layering in metaphors about mental health and illness. It is truly something else. The plot isn't necessarily "female focused", as I feel the story is told from third person viewing in, but still somehow manages to be relatable from an untraditionally feminine perspective.