Kyoukai no Kanata
I just binged the anime in one go, and I need to rant so I'm going to go ahead and say what I thought.
Is this an anime that will keep me obsessed for months on end and craving more? Probably not. But did I enjoy it? Definitely yes.
The characters
They were all very lovable, and in the end I'm fond of each one of them. About the two main characters, Akihito is your typical good boy protagonist, but he lacked a couple of characteristics a lot of other typical leads fall into. Thus he felt like a breath of fresh air to me without straying enough from the norm to be easily likeable.
As for Mirai, I absolutely adore her character. How can someone be so cute and badass at the same time??
2. The art
I'm a sucker for good art (in fact, it's one of the reasons I started watching anime in the first place). I chose to watch this show because it popped up first on Google when I searched for anime with the most beautiful art. I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint. I doubt I appreciate it enough because I'm spoiled, but there were some gorgeous visuals here.
3. The mood
The show's recurring comedy scenes balance out the darker elements of its world building. Like this, I cannot describe it as angsty either, or as light-hearted. It's a confusing combination, but definitely an interesting one and imo makes it more enjoyable to watch as it has it both goofy and serious.
4. The romance
First let me say, that Mirai was a female lead done right. She had quite a lot of action in the whole, and overall her interactions with Akkey were enough and so emotional that this ship becomes very believable and before all: I am compelled to ship it. The scenes were full of little nuances, and I really loved watching their development.
5. The plot: Kyoukai no Kanata is a pretty short anime, 12 episodes only, and as such has to make do with them. I found, that it did pretty decently. There was plenty of character development, especially relating to the romance, also a lot of action scenes and overall a good consequent storytelling that just made sense. (Also I loved the unreliable narrator bit when it was revealed.) There were some plot holes (haven't seen the movie yet) and the happy ending did feel kinda fabricated, but it was inevitable - and after falling in love with the characters, I wouldn't have it any other way, so I'm content with what we got.
What I didn't like: While the comic relief scenes were needed, they were pretty much overusing the same joke. I didn't get annoyed by it even as I watched the whole anime in one go, but I feel that these scenes could have been replaced by more valuable content, such as character development or little additions to the plot.
Bonus: German dub
I watched this in German because I had nothing better to do. I loved their voices and the acting and interpretation, not only were they adequate and believable, but also pretty fitting and cool in some scenes. Also the translation makes quick work of the longer words and creates its own terminology which I found rather convenient. The only voice I had an issue with is Mirai's, since it didn't seem to suit the image of a petite cute girl... and some of the mood felt odd; but I'll die for her catchphrase in German, I absolutely loved it and also the nonchalant presentation, so this balances things out for me.
"Wie unpassend."
Final verdict: Totally would watch again.
