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２年間の昏睡から目覚めた両儀式が記憶喪失と引き換えに手に入れた、あらゆるモノの死を視ることのできる“直死の魔眼”。式のナイフに映る日常の世界は、非日常の世界と溶け合って存在している……！ もはや伝説となった同人小説から出発し、“新伝綺”ムーブメントを打ち立てた歴史的傑作――。
337 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
45 people are currently reading
506 people want to read
About the author
Kinoko Nasu
26 books103 followers奈須 きのこ, Nasu Kinoko, born 28 November 1973 is a Japanese author, best known for writing the light novel The Garden of Sinners and visual novels Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, and a co-founder of Type-Moon. Renowned for a unique style of storytelling and prose, Nasu is amongst the most prominent visual novelists in Japan. He graduated from Hosei University with a major in human science.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 3, 2018
Kara no Kyōkai is a worthy, highly enjoyable light novel (light novels=Japanese term for young adult novels, or ACG-based novels) I strongly recommend you to read it.
I learnt that this series started off as a highly popular online fanfic---I am not surprised, because I realized many settings are taken out from Tsukihime, a visual novel game by Type-Moon (a creative group of artists and authors). But unlike Tsukihime (translation: Moon Princess), so far I haven't seen any vampire, not yet anyway...
Not to mention the author of Kara no Kyōkai is also one of the script writers for Tsukihime; so both series share a lot of elements in common.
Still, despite being a fanfic at first, Kara no Kyōkai manages to establish itself as a well developed novel series of its own right. The story focused on a girl, Shiki Ryōgi, who woke up from a 2 years long coma only to find herself losing all her memory. Even more surprisingly, she now possessed the supernatural ability known as 'Eyes of Death Perception', which means she could see the death of everything and everyone and in turn, kill them.
And there's a young man, Mikiya Kokutō, who claimed to be Shiki's friend before she fell into coma, but the truth of their relationship is far more complicated than what Mikiya had let out. Meanwhile, a series of murders and suicides took place in town, and the two teenagers found themselves getting involved, whether they liked it or not.
It's a delightful, fast paced mystery and adventure story, with original ideas, cool characters, cool and refreshing supernatural events, cool dialogues, cool fight scenes and a very different world view, I like how the teenagers' personalities are being described,
Still, I hope the latter books will offer me something more than the coolness. Coolness is nice, but I would like to see the story and its characters showing a bit more depth.
Review for volume 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I learnt that this series started off as a highly popular online fanfic---I am not surprised, because I realized many settings are taken out from Tsukihime, a visual novel game by Type-Moon (a creative group of artists and authors). But unlike Tsukihime (translation: Moon Princess), so far I haven't seen any vampire, not yet anyway...
Not to mention the author of Kara no Kyōkai is also one of the script writers for Tsukihime; so both series share a lot of elements in common.
Still, despite being a fanfic at first, Kara no Kyōkai manages to establish itself as a well developed novel series of its own right. The story focused on a girl, Shiki Ryōgi, who woke up from a 2 years long coma only to find herself losing all her memory. Even more surprisingly, she now possessed the supernatural ability known as 'Eyes of Death Perception', which means she could see the death of everything and everyone and in turn, kill them.
And there's a young man, Mikiya Kokutō, who claimed to be Shiki's friend before she fell into coma, but the truth of their relationship is far more complicated than what Mikiya had let out. Meanwhile, a series of murders and suicides took place in town, and the two teenagers found themselves getting involved, whether they liked it or not.
It's a delightful, fast paced mystery and adventure story, with original ideas, cool characters, cool and refreshing supernatural events, cool dialogues, cool fight scenes and a very different world view, I like how the teenagers' personalities are being described,
Still, I hope the latter books will offer me something more than the coolness. Coolness is nice, but I would like to see the story and its characters showing a bit more depth.
Review for volume 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 4, 2019
Note: Seeing as no official English translation of Kara no Kyoukai exists, what I read was a fan translation. This particular translation admits that it is a "loose" translation at best, so make of that what you will.
While Kinoko Nasu's most famous contribution to weeb culture is undoubtedly the Fate franchise, we must never forget that he did write things before Fate. While still connecting to the bigger Nasuverse in some capacity (alternated timelines are fun like that), Kara no Kyoukai stands quite nicely in its own little corner (as it probably should, seeing how it's one of the Nasuverse's earliest entries).
While KnK has all of Nasu's strong points of fun characters, cool concepts and legitimately beautiful descriptions at times, it also has many of his failings. These include but are not limited to a lack of explanations concerning said cool concepts, the tendency to drag the story's heels on occasion and his usual overwriting. More than once the story halts to give way to several paragraphs consisting of monologues discussing the human condition that feel as if the musing character's personality has been removed and replaced with a philosophy textbook. That's the most frustrating thing about Nasu's writing style for me. While this first volume alone has quite a few genuinely beautiful, heart moving or unnerving bits, they tend to get buried under so many word-shaped packing peanuts.
All in all, while one of his firsts, this is a Kinoko Nasu work with all its usual trappings. If you are already a fan, you should know what to expect. Everyone else can expect a fun ride through a somewhat bumpy road.
While Kinoko Nasu's most famous contribution to weeb culture is undoubtedly the Fate franchise, we must never forget that he did write things before Fate. While still connecting to the bigger Nasuverse in some capacity (alternated timelines are fun like that), Kara no Kyoukai stands quite nicely in its own little corner (as it probably should, seeing how it's one of the Nasuverse's earliest entries).
While KnK has all of Nasu's strong points of fun characters, cool concepts and legitimately beautiful descriptions at times, it also has many of his failings. These include but are not limited to a lack of explanations concerning said cool concepts, the tendency to drag the story's heels on occasion and his usual overwriting. More than once the story halts to give way to several paragraphs consisting of monologues discussing the human condition that feel as if the musing character's personality has been removed and replaced with a philosophy textbook. That's the most frustrating thing about Nasu's writing style for me. While this first volume alone has quite a few genuinely beautiful, heart moving or unnerving bits, they tend to get buried under so many word-shaped packing peanuts.
All in all, while one of his firsts, this is a Kinoko Nasu work with all its usual trappings. If you are already a fan, you should know what to expect. Everyone else can expect a fun ride through a somewhat bumpy road.
May 24, 2024
Książkę przeczytałum z polecenia. Przyznaję, że momentami narracja mieszająca czas i perspektywy zamącała mi obraz historii, ale nie czułum się przytłoczone tymi zabiegami. Nie powiem żeby była to książka "lekka" w moim rozumieniu tego słowa, bo dużo wysiłku wymagało ode mnie rozumienie jej, ze względów wymienionych wyżej.
Nie jestem pewne jak się czuję z mieszaniem realnych zaburzeń z magią. Można powiedzieć, że jakoś oswaja to z tymi problemami, z drugiej strony czy nie dehumanizuje? Myślę, że nieco oba. Bohaterowie stworzeni bardzo interesująco, ale posiadają tylko te cechy, które popychają opowieść do przodu.
Podobało mi się, że opowieść zamknęła się z gracją, mimo, że istnieją kolejne tomy (po które planuję sięgnąć).
Cieszę się, że po nią sięgnęłum.
Nie jestem pewne jak się czuję z mieszaniem realnych zaburzeń z magią. Można powiedzieć, że jakoś oswaja to z tymi problemami, z drugiej strony czy nie dehumanizuje? Myślę, że nieco oba. Bohaterowie stworzeni bardzo interesująco, ale posiadają tylko te cechy, które popychają opowieść do przodu.
Podobało mi się, że opowieść zamknęła się z gracją, mimo, że istnieją kolejne tomy (po które planuję sięgnąć).
Cieszę się, że po nią sięgnęłum.
June 27, 2022
[Review rewritten on 06/27/2022, original can be found at the end]
“We don't choose the path we take because of the sins we carry. But we carry our sins on the path we choose.”
Some quick thoughts about Kara no Kyoukai vol 1 (I read the 20th-anniversary hardcover so it covers from ch1 to half of ch5)
First and foremost, the writing could definitely be better, it’s hard to follow, it has some big problems with the flow of the prose and just like writing in general (weird wording, weird descriptions, using difficult words that instead of coming off as intelligent just give off the feeling of the author being pedantic), and at the start, it just seems like Nasu made an active effort to make it hard to understand for the reader.
The story is an amazing concept. I have read part of Nasu’s tsukihime. I really like what the dude writes, and hell, Knk is a great thing in concept, amazing urban fantasy setting, great action, cool-looking characters, and mystery???? Sign me the fuck up.
And after having finished the first volume I can say that... yeah it’s kinda that, the execution could be better, I love the characters, I love the setting, I absolutely love the way action is written (as I’ve recently had to endure the horrible action scenes of the Ningen series by the palindromic spawn from satan; NisiOisiN), it’s just too good to be true... because it is, the story itself falls flat at a lot of points, chapter one is just an absolute mess to follow, it has no real mystery to it, and overall it’s just such a weird chapter to start the book with, hell if the “big action scene” of this chapter wasn’t so cool I could definitely see a lot of people dropping the thing entirely right there.
Then comes chapter 2, which fixed a lot of things (mainly, just finally introducing the characters), and it just plainly being a great slice of life with amazing characters, and a great mystery was really a pleasure to read, this chapter made me go “fuck, I’m in love with this,” ignoring that one time that one character said: “a girl like her can’t be a killer because she’s too pretty to kill someone” (paraphrased I can’t be bothered to look for the actual line). It was actually a good chapter.
Chapter 3 had some cool action, cool characters, but the same as chapter 1 had an ending that just left me, “not satisfied.”
Chapter 4 was once again like chapter 2 (flashback chapter) and hell this was also quite cool!!! But then it was like 40 pages long so uuuh, yeah onto chapter 5.
The first volume covers half of chapter 5, and woah this was so good. From the start I could definitely feel a change in tone, it was darker, it was more violent, it was to be honest, what I expected from the book from the very start. It had some terribly slow moments (an ffs I swear after a 30 or so page explanation about the difference between mages and magicians I remember absolutely nothing because of how boring it was ), then some cool mystery! Then some cool action! Then Mikiya is transphobic ?????????? oh but then there’s more cool mystery and action!!! It’s a great chapter (ignoring that exchange about trans people), I actually really fucking liked this one, looking forward to the second part on vol 2.
And yet, I can’t shake off the feeling that the writing is just very amateurish. It has a lot of troubles that make reading more of a chore at times. Hell, I've read difficult books in Japanese, but I think this may be the most difficult to understand I’ve read to this day. Everything is there to make an amazing book, but I can say that the writing ability of Nasu didn’t live up to the execution of it.
Kara no kyoukai 1 by Nasu Kinoko is a 7.5/10. It’s great but the author himself was his worst enemy at the time of writing this.
If there's anything to take from this is that Fujino is goated and I want her to twist my balls.
[ORIGINAL REVIEW 04/14/2022, edited because I didn't like it a lot of "comical" additions I made while sick↓]
“We don't choose the path we take because of the sins we carry. But we carry our sins on the path we choose.”
Some quick thoughts about Kara no kyoukai vol 1 (I read the 20th anniversary hardcover so it covers from ch1 to half of ch5)
When I started reading the debut work of Nasu Kinoko, "Kara no Kyoukai", I was suddenly surprised by the "style." Just because it's the work of a well known VN author which received amazing reviews here in goodreads, and "extraordinary consideration" in the form of a long commentary which spans both volumes from the literal antichrist; Kasai Kiyoshi, the veteran critic who founded his own school, that doesn't mean it received particularly severe evaluation. On the contrary, since Nasu Kinoko seemed to have received Kasai Kiyoshi's confidence (or maybe been caught up by him), and I also heard from a close friend who watched the movies that it was petty bad (with the exception of movie 5), I thought, "This man just has shit taste, Nasu can do no wrong." So, whether or not Nasu had ability worthy of "extraordinary consideration," from Kasai or “pretty bad” from my friend, I hadn't the slightest intention of hitting him hard...But, as I said, the style suddenly just got to me.
To be blunt, the writing is bad.
Yeah, the writing could definitely be better, it’s hard to follow, it has some big problems with the flow of the prose and just like writing in general (weird wording, weird descriptions, using difficult words that instead of coming off as intelligent just give off the feeling of the author being pedantic), and at the start it just seems like Nasu made an active effort to make it hard to understand for the reader.
The story is an amazing concept. I have read part of Nasu’s tsukihime. I like what the dude writes, and hell, Knk is a great thing in concept, cool urban fantasy, great action, cool looking characters, and mystery???? Sign me the fuck up.
And after having finished the first volume I can say that... yeah it’s kinda that, but the execution could be better, I love the characters, I love the setting, I absolutely love the way action is written (as I’ve recently had to endure the horrible action scenes of the Ningen series by the palindromic spawn from satan; NisiOisiN), it’s just too good to be true... because it is, the story itself falls flat at a lot of points, chapter one is just an absolute mess to follow, it has no real mystery to it, and overall it’s just such a weird chapter to start the book with, hell if the “big action scene” of this chapter wasn’t so cool I could definitely see a lot of people dropping the thing entirely right there.
Then comes chapter 2, which fixed a lot of things (mainly, just finally fucking introducing the characters), and it being a slice of life with amazing characters and a great mystery was such a pleasure to read, this chapter made me go “fuck, I’m in love with this,” ignoring that one time that one character said: “a girl like her can’t be a killer because she’s too prety to kill someone” (pharaprased I can’t be bothered to look for the actual line). It was actually a good chapter.
Chapter 3 had some cool action, cool characters, but the same as chapter 1 had an ending that just left me, “not satisfied.”
Chapter 4 was once again like chapter 2 (flashback chapter) and hell this was also quite cool!!! But then it was like 40 pages long so uuuh, yeah onto chapter 5.
The first volume covers half of chapter 5, and woah this shit was so cool. From the start I could definitely feel a change in tone, it was darker, it was more violent, it was to be honest, what I expected from the book from the very start. It had some terribly slow moments (an ffs I swear after a 30 or so page explanation about the difference between mages and magicians I remember absolutely nothing because of how boring it was ), then some cool mystery! Then some cool action! Then Mikiya is transphobic ?????????? oh but then there’s more cool mystery and action!!! It’s a great chapter (ignoring that exchange about trans people), I actually really fucking liked this one, looking forward to the second part on vol 2.
And yet, I can’t shake off the feeling that the writing is just very amateurish. It has a lot of troubles that make reading more of a chore at times. Hell, I've read difficult books in Japanese, but I think this may be the most difficult to understand I’ve read till this day. Everything is there to make an amazing book, but I can say that the writing ability of nasu didn’t live up to the execution of it.
Now Kasai, let’s talk about Kasai, in short, Kasai Kiyoshi is the worst human being on earth, his series "Vampire Wars", got a bunko reprint around the same time knk was published by kodansha, and that series had the same illustrator who did "Kara no Kyoukai" draw the cover for "Vampire War". As we can see from Kasai, doesn't plan merely to be seen as someone who well understands and is an ideologue for new adventure novels, but to piggyback on the popularity of game writers like Nasu Kinoko and TYPE-MOON, and to soon be an "active adventure novelist" who supports the boom.
However, the one who had the idea of having Takeuchi draw the bunko covers of “Vampire wars” wasn’t Kasai himself, but the editor-in-chief Oota Katsushi! What can I believe in anymore? It feels like I've been backstabbed by Oota, was he the man with the twisted brain who came up with such a twisted marketing tactic?
In any case, I have a high fever while writing this and I feel like what I’m writing isn’t coherent anymore, so uuuh.
Kara no kyoukai 1 by Nasu Kinoko is a 7.5/10. It’s great but the author himself was his worst enemy at the time of writing this.
If there's anything to take from this is that Fujino is goated and I want her to twist my balls.
References:
Some parts of this review are a parody of this masterpiece: https://www.tsukikan.com/misc/a-revie...
“We don't choose the path we take because of the sins we carry. But we carry our sins on the path we choose.”
Some quick thoughts about Kara no Kyoukai vol 1 (I read the 20th-anniversary hardcover so it covers from ch1 to half of ch5)
First and foremost, the writing could definitely be better, it’s hard to follow, it has some big problems with the flow of the prose and just like writing in general (weird wording, weird descriptions, using difficult words that instead of coming off as intelligent just give off the feeling of the author being pedantic), and at the start, it just seems like Nasu made an active effort to make it hard to understand for the reader.
The story is an amazing concept. I have read part of Nasu’s tsukihime. I really like what the dude writes, and hell, Knk is a great thing in concept, amazing urban fantasy setting, great action, cool-looking characters, and mystery???? Sign me the fuck up.
And after having finished the first volume I can say that... yeah it’s kinda that, the execution could be better, I love the characters, I love the setting, I absolutely love the way action is written (as I’ve recently had to endure the horrible action scenes of the Ningen series by the palindromic spawn from satan; NisiOisiN), it’s just too good to be true... because it is, the story itself falls flat at a lot of points, chapter one is just an absolute mess to follow, it has no real mystery to it, and overall it’s just such a weird chapter to start the book with, hell if the “big action scene” of this chapter wasn’t so cool I could definitely see a lot of people dropping the thing entirely right there.
Then comes chapter 2, which fixed a lot of things (mainly, just finally introducing the characters), and it just plainly being a great slice of life with amazing characters, and a great mystery was really a pleasure to read, this chapter made me go “fuck, I’m in love with this,” ignoring that one time that one character said: “a girl like her can’t be a killer because she’s too pretty to kill someone” (paraphrased I can’t be bothered to look for the actual line). It was actually a good chapter.
Chapter 3 had some cool action, cool characters, but the same as chapter 1 had an ending that just left me, “not satisfied.”
Chapter 4 was once again like chapter 2 (flashback chapter) and hell this was also quite cool!!! But then it was like 40 pages long so uuuh, yeah onto chapter 5.
The first volume covers half of chapter 5, and woah this was so good. From the start I could definitely feel a change in tone, it was darker, it was more violent, it was to be honest, what I expected from the book from the very start. It had some terribly slow moments (an ffs I swear after a 30 or so page explanation about the difference between mages and magicians I remember absolutely nothing because of how boring it was ), then some cool mystery! Then some cool action! Then Mikiya is transphobic ?????????? oh but then there’s more cool mystery and action!!! It’s a great chapter (ignoring that exchange about trans people), I actually really fucking liked this one, looking forward to the second part on vol 2.
And yet, I can’t shake off the feeling that the writing is just very amateurish. It has a lot of troubles that make reading more of a chore at times. Hell, I've read difficult books in Japanese, but I think this may be the most difficult to understand I’ve read to this day. Everything is there to make an amazing book, but I can say that the writing ability of Nasu didn’t live up to the execution of it.
Kara no kyoukai 1 by Nasu Kinoko is a 7.5/10. It’s great but the author himself was his worst enemy at the time of writing this.
If there's anything to take from this is that Fujino is goated and I want her to twist my balls.
[ORIGINAL REVIEW 04/14/2022, edited because I didn't like it a lot of "comical" additions I made while sick↓]
“We don't choose the path we take because of the sins we carry. But we carry our sins on the path we choose.”
Some quick thoughts about Kara no kyoukai vol 1 (I read the 20th anniversary hardcover so it covers from ch1 to half of ch5)
When I started reading the debut work of Nasu Kinoko, "Kara no Kyoukai", I was suddenly surprised by the "style." Just because it's the work of a well known VN author which received amazing reviews here in goodreads, and "extraordinary consideration" in the form of a long commentary which spans both volumes from the literal antichrist; Kasai Kiyoshi, the veteran critic who founded his own school, that doesn't mean it received particularly severe evaluation. On the contrary, since Nasu Kinoko seemed to have received Kasai Kiyoshi's confidence (or maybe been caught up by him), and I also heard from a close friend who watched the movies that it was petty bad (with the exception of movie 5), I thought, "This man just has shit taste, Nasu can do no wrong." So, whether or not Nasu had ability worthy of "extraordinary consideration," from Kasai or “pretty bad” from my friend, I hadn't the slightest intention of hitting him hard...But, as I said, the style suddenly just got to me.
To be blunt, the writing is bad.
Yeah, the writing could definitely be better, it’s hard to follow, it has some big problems with the flow of the prose and just like writing in general (weird wording, weird descriptions, using difficult words that instead of coming off as intelligent just give off the feeling of the author being pedantic), and at the start it just seems like Nasu made an active effort to make it hard to understand for the reader.
The story is an amazing concept. I have read part of Nasu’s tsukihime. I like what the dude writes, and hell, Knk is a great thing in concept, cool urban fantasy, great action, cool looking characters, and mystery???? Sign me the fuck up.
And after having finished the first volume I can say that... yeah it’s kinda that, but the execution could be better, I love the characters, I love the setting, I absolutely love the way action is written (as I’ve recently had to endure the horrible action scenes of the Ningen series by the palindromic spawn from satan; NisiOisiN), it’s just too good to be true... because it is, the story itself falls flat at a lot of points, chapter one is just an absolute mess to follow, it has no real mystery to it, and overall it’s just such a weird chapter to start the book with, hell if the “big action scene” of this chapter wasn’t so cool I could definitely see a lot of people dropping the thing entirely right there.
Then comes chapter 2, which fixed a lot of things (mainly, just finally fucking introducing the characters), and it being a slice of life with amazing characters and a great mystery was such a pleasure to read, this chapter made me go “fuck, I’m in love with this,” ignoring that one time that one character said: “a girl like her can’t be a killer because she’s too prety to kill someone” (pharaprased I can’t be bothered to look for the actual line). It was actually a good chapter.
Chapter 3 had some cool action, cool characters, but the same as chapter 1 had an ending that just left me, “not satisfied.”
Chapter 4 was once again like chapter 2 (flashback chapter) and hell this was also quite cool!!! But then it was like 40 pages long so uuuh, yeah onto chapter 5.
The first volume covers half of chapter 5, and woah this shit was so cool. From the start I could definitely feel a change in tone, it was darker, it was more violent, it was to be honest, what I expected from the book from the very start. It had some terribly slow moments (an ffs I swear after a 30 or so page explanation about the difference between mages and magicians I remember absolutely nothing because of how boring it was ), then some cool mystery! Then some cool action! Then Mikiya is transphobic ?????????? oh but then there’s more cool mystery and action!!! It’s a great chapter (ignoring that exchange about trans people), I actually really fucking liked this one, looking forward to the second part on vol 2.
And yet, I can’t shake off the feeling that the writing is just very amateurish. It has a lot of troubles that make reading more of a chore at times. Hell, I've read difficult books in Japanese, but I think this may be the most difficult to understand I’ve read till this day. Everything is there to make an amazing book, but I can say that the writing ability of nasu didn’t live up to the execution of it.
Now Kasai, let’s talk about Kasai, in short, Kasai Kiyoshi is the worst human being on earth, his series "Vampire Wars", got a bunko reprint around the same time knk was published by kodansha, and that series had the same illustrator who did "Kara no Kyoukai" draw the cover for "Vampire War". As we can see from Kasai, doesn't plan merely to be seen as someone who well understands and is an ideologue for new adventure novels, but to piggyback on the popularity of game writers like Nasu Kinoko and TYPE-MOON, and to soon be an "active adventure novelist" who supports the boom.
However, the one who had the idea of having Takeuchi draw the bunko covers of “Vampire wars” wasn’t Kasai himself, but the editor-in-chief Oota Katsushi! What can I believe in anymore? It feels like I've been backstabbed by Oota, was he the man with the twisted brain who came up with such a twisted marketing tactic?
In any case, I have a high fever while writing this and I feel like what I’m writing isn’t coherent anymore, so uuuh.
Kara no kyoukai 1 by Nasu Kinoko is a 7.5/10. It’s great but the author himself was his worst enemy at the time of writing this.
If there's anything to take from this is that Fujino is goated and I want her to twist my balls.
References:
Some parts of this review are a parody of this masterpiece: https://www.tsukikan.com/misc/a-revie...
September 29, 2021
3.5/5 estrellas
Resumen: para ser mi primera novela ligera, puedo decir que fue una experiencia agradable. De momento con solo este primer libro existe mucha incertidumbre hacia dónde se dirige la historia y cuál podría ser su premisa final, sin embargo hace un buen trabajo en despertar el interés del lector por seguir la historia y completar el rompecabezas que es esta.
1. Vista desde lo alto (3/5 estrellas): una comienzo intrigante y cautivador para la novela, aunque con algunos momentos un tanto lentos. Si bien la historia está contada de una forma anacrónica, sentí que este primer volumen fue bastante digerible.
2. Especulación de un asesinato parte 1 (4/5): hasta ahora es mi volumen favorito. En este volumen se obtienen algunas respuestas sobre los protagonistas y cómo inicia su “relación” por así llamarla. De igual forma se introduce la naturaleza y peculiaridades de la protagonista despertando aún más intriga sobre en el lector. El ritmo de este volumen no se sintió tan lento aun cuando no tuvo tanta acción como otros volúmenes dentro de este primer libro.
3. Sentido permanente del dolor (3.5/4): si bien este volumen contó con mucha más acción e intriga que sus predecesores, el ritmo resultó ser más tedioso en mi opinión. Dentro de la cronología de la historia, con este volumen se logra comenzar a unir ciertos puntos de la historia dando una sensación de avance, por así decirlo. Además, de unos cuando giros en la trama que dan a entender que queda mucho más de esta historia por delante.
Finalmente, en este primer libro se introduce un mundo que promete ser extenso e interesante que seguiré descubriendo en las siguientes entregas.
Resumen: para ser mi primera novela ligera, puedo decir que fue una experiencia agradable. De momento con solo este primer libro existe mucha incertidumbre hacia dónde se dirige la historia y cuál podría ser su premisa final, sin embargo hace un buen trabajo en despertar el interés del lector por seguir la historia y completar el rompecabezas que es esta.
1. Vista desde lo alto (3/5 estrellas): una comienzo intrigante y cautivador para la novela, aunque con algunos momentos un tanto lentos. Si bien la historia está contada de una forma anacrónica, sentí que este primer volumen fue bastante digerible.
2. Especulación de un asesinato parte 1 (4/5): hasta ahora es mi volumen favorito. En este volumen se obtienen algunas respuestas sobre los protagonistas y cómo inicia su “relación” por así llamarla. De igual forma se introduce la naturaleza y peculiaridades de la protagonista despertando aún más intriga sobre en el lector. El ritmo de este volumen no se sintió tan lento aun cuando no tuvo tanta acción como otros volúmenes dentro de este primer libro.
3. Sentido permanente del dolor (3.5/4): si bien este volumen contó con mucha más acción e intriga que sus predecesores, el ritmo resultó ser más tedioso en mi opinión. Dentro de la cronología de la historia, con este volumen se logra comenzar a unir ciertos puntos de la historia dando una sensación de avance, por así decirlo. Además, de unos cuando giros en la trama que dan a entender que queda mucho más de esta historia por delante.
Finalmente, en este primer libro se introduce un mundo que promete ser extenso e interesante que seguiré descubriendo en las siguientes entregas.
January 31, 2022
Nie, nie i jeszcze raz nie. Czytając miałam wrażenie, że ominełam co najmniej 3 tomy tej książki, bo praktycznie nic nie zostało tutaj wyjaśnione, ani moce głownej bohaterki ani jej pracodawczyni/znajomej(?). Dodatkowo nie podobał mi się zabieg przedstawiania historii od tyłu. Gdyby ostatnie opowiadanie, krótki czas po przebudzeniu się bohaterki ze śpiączki było pierwsze, a pierwsze 2 lata po obudzeniu było ostatnie, miałoby to więcej sensu. Zwłaszcza, że odniosłam wrażenie, że bohaterka ma więcej samoświadomości kilka tygodni po przebudzeniu niż te kilka lat później. Już pomijam wątek rozdwojenia jaźni, gdzie bohater używa męskich zaimków w dialogach, a następnie jest "powiedziałam z przekąsem". Czemu bohater używa męskich zaimków podczas mówienia, ale myśli w damskich zaimkach? Było to irytujące i nigdzie nawet ten zabieg nie był wyjaśniony. Niby było wspomniane, że te dwie osobowości współistnieją ze sobą, ale podobno kiedy jedna z nich jest "na zewnątrz", to ta druga nie ma zbyt dużej kontroli? Wkurzał mnie ten wątek po prostu, a zwłaszcza pod koniec, gdzie zauważamy, że albo jedna z tych osobowości znikła po obudzeniu się ze śpiączki albo się one połączyły, co nie jest ani trochę wyjaśnione, to dalej uważam, że taki sposób używania zaimków jest bardzo wkurzający i można by to zrobić lepiej, chociażby używając ich na zmianę, jeśli chcielibyśmy uwzględnić obie osobowości pod względem płci.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2022
Świetna, klimatyczna książka
"Granice są niejasne. To my je wytyczamy, ale decyduje o nich rzeczywistość na zewnątrz- a więc nie istnieją w ogóle, nigdy nie istniały"
"Granice są niejasne. To my je wytyczamy, ale decyduje o nich rzeczywistość na zewnątrz- a więc nie istnieją w ogóle, nigdy nie istniały"
October 26, 2017
I was quite hesitant as to how I should rate this book, ultimately because of the bad translation. Followed by more elements that annoyed me. The motives of murder -for example- are severely complicated and twisted beyond the actual need to convey the idea. There is deep philosophy here and there, yet it's tangled in a way that one must grab a pen and paper to draw the line between action and reason in order to reach a logical conclusion. Especially when the plot is shrouded by this Emo teenage attitude! You can't tell if the philosophy is brilliant or the writer is simply mocking you. In the end though, I have to say I love it. I have this weird connection with the characters that I can't explain, lead to turning quite sympathetic at some points in the story; Something which I'm not known for.
3 stars + 1 extra, since I assume its written way better in original Japanese.
3 stars + 1 extra, since I assume its written way better in original Japanese.
February 8, 2015
Fantastic narration, deep and well thought point of views of each characters and a very good explanation of the paradox of flying and floating. Kara no Kyoukai Vol. 1 is an amazingly written novel by Kinoko Nasu who wrote Fata Stay Night and Tsukihime. The light novel's psychological depth is one of its best areas that made readers adore the series. Kara no Kyoukai will surely tease you with its well thought psychological elements that blends well with mystery and the supernatural.
Highly fantastic and is fully recommended to those who enjoy reading psychological novels.
Highly fantastic and is fully recommended to those who enjoy reading psychological novels.
March 20, 2022
From "no way I like Nasu" to "no way, I like Nasu?????"
No siempre buena, a menudo raya un poco en lo ridículo. La protagonista es una edgelord y a veces las conversaciones parecen un diálogo platónico, pero me parece increíble que esta persona fuera capaz de escribir una historia atenazante y con temas interesantes (dentro de lo que cabe, claro). ¡Y sin dibujitos feos ni violaciones! Como sufridora de Tsukihime, me ha sorprendido gratamente.
No siempre buena, a menudo raya un poco en lo ridículo. La protagonista es una edgelord y a veces las conversaciones parecen un diálogo platónico, pero me parece increíble que esta persona fuera capaz de escribir una historia atenazante y con temas interesantes (dentro de lo que cabe, claro). ¡Y sin dibujitos feos ni violaciones! Como sufridora de Tsukihime, me ha sorprendido gratamente.
December 2, 2018
¡Adictivo!
Kara no kyoukai o La(s) frontera(s) del vacío: son un cojunto de historias en torno a un mismo centro. La temática me parece totalmente diferente e interesante y sus personajes principales están muy bien trabajados.
A veces, el ritmo de la lectura decae debido a la comprensión filosófica que nos intentan explicar. Sin embargo, adoro las historias en donde el lector debe de ordenar los acontecimientos por cronología.
Si uno ya vio la animación pensará que las escenas de acción se ven mermadas por el modo de estar escritas en primera persona y no abarca todo lo que pasa alrededor. Aún así, el autor pretendió con esta forma, identificamos más con cada uno de los personajes y comprender mejor su proceder.
Es importante señalar, que cualquier traducción (al inglés o al español) modifica ciertas situaciones o bromas que si las leemos literalmente no tienen sentido o son cambiadas por chistes locales; siento que ahí se pierde cierta esencia de la historia (aunque podamos leer las notas de pie de página, algunas abarcan hasta media cuartilla).
Y bueno, a seguir con el tomo II.
Kara no kyoukai o La(s) frontera(s) del vacío: son un cojunto de historias en torno a un mismo centro. La temática me parece totalmente diferente e interesante y sus personajes principales están muy bien trabajados.
A veces, el ritmo de la lectura decae debido a la comprensión filosófica que nos intentan explicar. Sin embargo, adoro las historias en donde el lector debe de ordenar los acontecimientos por cronología.
Si uno ya vio la animación pensará que las escenas de acción se ven mermadas por el modo de estar escritas en primera persona y no abarca todo lo que pasa alrededor. Aún así, el autor pretendió con esta forma, identificamos más con cada uno de los personajes y comprender mejor su proceder.
Es importante señalar, que cualquier traducción (al inglés o al español) modifica ciertas situaciones o bromas que si las leemos literalmente no tienen sentido o son cambiadas por chistes locales; siento que ahí se pierde cierta esencia de la historia (aunque podamos leer las notas de pie de página, algunas abarcan hasta media cuartilla).
Y bueno, a seguir con el tomo II.
December 25, 2020
Believe it or not, the movies are actually better than the book. [this review covers an assessment regarding the entirety of the KNK book series, so books 1-3.]
This is nasu's first novel from Highschool so the writing is quite amateurish but don't let that discourage you, the premise and cast is unique and captivating.
The biggest negative outside of that is pretty much every notable scene is displayed within the movies. I'd say 90-95% of the scenes are there. The animation by ufotable is top tier and Yuki Kaijura's one of the best musical composers in the world so the movie's really set the bar high and it's difficult to beat when compared to the book.
There are some minor omissions that do improve some side characters as well as one particular character who is of note within the later books / final movie, so I do think this is still worth reading if you want full coherency of the narrative. On top of that, Shiki's split personality is detailed much more succinctly in the books and the split is easier to digest here too, especially if you're unfamiliar with the storyline.
This is nasu's first novel from Highschool so the writing is quite amateurish but don't let that discourage you, the premise and cast is unique and captivating.
The biggest negative outside of that is pretty much every notable scene is displayed within the movies. I'd say 90-95% of the scenes are there. The animation by ufotable is top tier and Yuki Kaijura's one of the best musical composers in the world so the movie's really set the bar high and it's difficult to beat when compared to the book.
There are some minor omissions that do improve some side characters as well as one particular character who is of note within the later books / final movie, so I do think this is still worth reading if you want full coherency of the narrative. On top of that, Shiki's split personality is detailed much more succinctly in the books and the split is easier to digest here too, especially if you're unfamiliar with the storyline.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2025
All of Nasu's early works have this balance of interesting concepts but absolutely wonky delivery, and none more so than this. The structure is pretty interesting, combining detective fiction with the typical chuuni denki style of nasu's stories (i think Remaining Sense of Pain works decently as a mystery story, for instance), and the themes and philosophical angles it goes into are quite unique and interesting. There's definitely a world-view communicated here that you can't get anywhere else, even Nasu's other works.
Yet at the same time, man, a lot of times its just hard to tell what the hell he's going for. I think the story is being communicated in this super obtuse way and I feel like sometimes it harms what its trying to do more than it helps. And these characters are just really dry and its hard to get a good sense of them, there aren't many memorable interactions at all. In that sense you can see a huge improvement in post-Hollow Ataraxia Nasu. I think you could definitely keep the unique vibe and atmosphere of the story without having these characters be so vague.
Yet at the same time, man, a lot of times its just hard to tell what the hell he's going for. I think the story is being communicated in this super obtuse way and I feel like sometimes it harms what its trying to do more than it helps. And these characters are just really dry and its hard to get a good sense of them, there aren't many memorable interactions at all. In that sense you can see a huge improvement in post-Hollow Ataraxia Nasu. I think you could definitely keep the unique vibe and atmosphere of the story without having these characters be so vague.
October 20, 2023
No official English translation, and many don't speak fondly of Cokesakto's version. So for this I read the Baka-Tsuki translation. It was enjoyable, but it is definitely cut from the visual novel/light novel cloth so it is heavy on the philosophical back and forth. To an extent that at times it feels convoluted, but I'm a big fan of its pretentiousness.
December 12, 2023
Re-Reading Nasuverse as an adult hits even deeper.
Knowing the origin culture and the condition nowadays, I really hope everyone finds tranquility without crushing others.
Knowing the origin culture and the condition nowadays, I really hope everyone finds tranquility without crushing others.
March 3, 2025
在正常的邊緣游離著的不同。與「異常」。
因為是異常與生活互動的故事，所以也是連結的故事……？（企圖理解一些情不知所起一往而深……並決定不去理解直接感受大概比較適合
很喜歡第一篇的味道，雨將至的戲劇化，和一些細節時疏離的筆鋒——真是毫不掩飾、讀得真愉快
故事中的玄虛到底是什麼又會怎麼呈現倒要再看看XD
因為是異常與生活互動的故事，所以也是連結的故事……？（企圖理解一些情不知所起一往而深……並決定不去理解直接感受大概比較適合
很喜歡第一篇的味道，雨將至的戲劇化，和一些細節時疏離的筆鋒——真是毫不掩飾、讀得真愉快
故事中的玄虛到底是什麼又會怎麼呈現倒要再看看XD
July 21, 2022
I read the fan translation, but overall the atmosphere translates great though it wasn't as "flowery" as your usual novel would; it felt more like how you would read a diary or an ethnographic report. I'll have to admit Chapter 2's anime is so much better in the story progression, still all chapters delve into the characters' daily lives and the antagonist's way of reasoning which made it all more immersive to read.
September 8, 2016
Well I did give the anime a try some months ago and ended dropping it really disappointed. I was expecting way more of the author of Tsukihime vn
Now I have tried the books and man there is a lot of difference, because I really like how it is written and its atmosphere. Btw also enjoyed the occasional jokes (I actually laughed quite loud a couple of times reading it)
For the newbies this is about several incidents in Tokyo, which deepen in details of Nasuverse: a solid world with magic, magic monsters, humans monsters, associations, ghost, murder and other sins; in your everyday town dyed in red crimson (sounds good doesn't it?)
BTW you don't have to read any of the visual novels or other of his jobs, but if you do you may appreciate this better, or if you liked this I recommend you Tsukihime and Fate stay night (but only playing unlimited blade works route)
This would have the 5 if I didn't have already read Tsukihime (yeah I know knk was actually written first but I can't help it, I like Shiki a lot and all but come on Nasu it is like you didn't have more imagination left), and well there were a couple of details a bit forced too. Umm I also think I would liked more a chronological order
Now I have tried the books and man there is a lot of difference, because I really like how it is written and its atmosphere. Btw also enjoyed the occasional jokes (I actually laughed quite loud a couple of times reading it)
For the newbies this is about several incidents in Tokyo, which deepen in details of Nasuverse: a solid world with magic, magic monsters, humans monsters, associations, ghost, murder and other sins; in your everyday town dyed in red crimson (sounds good doesn't it?)
BTW you don't have to read any of the visual novels or other of his jobs, but if you do you may appreciate this better, or if you liked this I recommend you Tsukihime and Fate stay night (but only playing unlimited blade works route)
This would have the 5 if I didn't have already read Tsukihime (yeah I know knk was actually written first but I can't help it, I like Shiki a lot and all but come on Nasu it is like you didn't have more imagination left), and well there were a couple of details a bit forced too. Umm I also think I would liked more a chronological order
April 19, 2016
Kara no Kyoukai - Garden of sinners
Tri dily, psane jednim ze zakladatelu "Type-Moon" - puvodcu Tsukihime a Fate/whatever. Dej se odehrava ve stejnem svete jako vyse jmenovane francizy. Podle knih byla udelana serie cca 6 anime filmu.
Velmi dobre napsane, velmi dobry world building, atmosfericke. Ale dost pomale (hlavne prilis moc vysvetlovani), a pribeh (presneji jeho konec) me vubec neuspokojil, jak v knizce, tak ve filmech. Ale i pres to nelituju ze jsem to cetl (knizky jsou imo lepsi nez to anime).
Tri dily, psane jednim ze zakladatelu "Type-Moon" - puvodcu Tsukihime a Fate/whatever. Dej se odehrava ve stejnem svete jako vyse jmenovane francizy. Podle knih byla udelana serie cca 6 anime filmu.
Velmi dobre napsane, velmi dobry world building, atmosfericke. Ale dost pomale (hlavne prilis moc vysvetlovani), a pribeh (presneji jeho konec) me vubec neuspokojil, jak v knizce, tak ve filmech. Ale i pres to nelituju ze jsem to cetl (knizky jsou imo lepsi nez to anime).
March 21, 2024
Urban fantasy with an intriguing main character, mysterious world and plenty of introspective, philosophical discussions/asides.
I'm familiar with Kinoko Nasu's other works (and knew what to expect), so I enjoyed this.
I'm familiar with Kinoko Nasu's other works (and knew what to expect), so I enjoyed this.
July 28, 2012
An excellent supernatural light novel. The translation that I found was very well done.
Great use of the manipulation of chronology/time, perception and point of view
Great use of the manipulation of chronology/time, perception and point of view
November 25, 2013
AMAZING NON LINEAR STORY LINE HANDS DOWN KINOKO NASU IS THE BEST WRITER EVER.
August 12, 2014
Awesome anime.
February 19, 2020
Nonostante la traduzione amatoriale possa aver perso qualcosa, leggere volumi così densi, e al tempo stesso leggeri, è cosa rara.
Read
November 23, 2018Dobrze, że straciłam na tym pieniędzy... Czyta się strasznie ciężko. Ogólnie doszłam do wniosku, że gdybym nie oglądała filmów to bez najmniejszych wątpliwości nie odnalazłabym się w fabule, w tym co się dzieje. Wiele zdarzeń jest porozrzucanych, dostajemy jakieś szczątkowe informacje, które trochę każą nam się domyślać, co się stało, trochę same podpowiadają. Nie mniej, wiele tajemnic, styl autora niekoniecznie zachęca, a i zaskakuje "grubość" książeczki. Kurcze, pierdoła na 200 str kosztuje 30 zł!? Naprawdę. To coś jest 1/3 wielkości takiego Overlorda, ma mniej rysunków, wymaga o wiele mniej pracy, a cena taka sama. Nie wiem, co powiedzieć, ale raczej nie polecam :(
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