Beyond the Boundary

Beyond the Boundary is a 12 episode super natural shonen action series with a touch of romance.  The series aired during the fall of 2013 in Japan and is adapted from the light novel series of the same name.

    In the world exist hidden manifestations of human negativity known as youmu.  Rare humans have the ability to interact with them.  Most who can become Spirit World Warriors, utilizing special abilities to combat the youmu before they can cause harm to normal humans.  Mirai Kuriyama is the last member of a hated clan of Spirit World Warriors who use their special blood as weapons.  She has transferred to a new town to start her life over.  She discovers that her senpai, Akihito Kanbara, is a half human half youmu who can't be killed.  She uses his special power to become stronger...much to Akihitos dismay.  Akihito, an easy going glassess fetishist, convices Mirai to stop attacking him all the time in exchange for his help introducing her to the local Spirit World Warriors.  Things become complicated though when Mirai's troubled past surfaces and Akihito's youmu half begins to stir.

    As was explained in my overview of 2013 I had initially stopped watching this show and lost interest in it.  When I learned it was only 12 episodes long and I had already watched half of it,  I figured why not eventually finish it.  So I have finally done just that and rather think it was a good thing.  The second half of this series really turned it around,  especially the last 4 episodes.  Initially the character interactions annoyed me,  the surface level otaku pandering and cosplay set ups grated on me.  I stopped watching it because of these annoyances and my fear of it becoming like Bleach.  Fortunatly,  it didn't end up that way.  When they actually explained what was going on in the 10th episode I really started to like the show.  It wasn't just a series of fights against stronger opponents for no reason.  There is actually a series long plot, of which almost everything in the show deals with...you just dont know the big picture until the 10th episode.  So this series really redeemed it's self in the end and made me happy I decided to finish it.

    That said, this is a shonen action show which panders to a demographic that I have less and less in common with.  But it's not like Naruto or Bleach and doesn't fit the typical Shonen Jump patterns.  In general the characters a likeable and by the end of it the story is entertaining.  It would have been really cool if the series had ended more darkly but that's just me being a saddist.  The ending does keep it open for more though.  There is a 3 episode net series that was released after the TV show, but I think it's more related to some annoying idol type stuff that took place in episode 7 than a continuation of actual story.  I thought I had seen a news report on a second series to come out in 2014 but have been unable to confirm that.  I wouldn't mind another 12 episodes to explain some things that were hinted at but wouldn't be entirely sad if it never happened.

    The series is available in North America on Crunchyroll.