Overlooking View - SparkNotes

[Beowulf Lee]

I wrote something for the first Kara no Kyoukai movie which can be found here: http://loliliciousness.wordpress.com/20 ... s-edition/

I attempt to explain all the weird dialogue and the themes behind the story.

I originally wanted to post this here only, but the forum apparently didn't like the length of the post so I opted to post it on a blog which I made a year ago for no reason.

[Undream]

interesting, maybe that will clear some things for me...

[Infoceptor]

Thanks for the analysis and summary.

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The part about "the sins we carry" makes much more sense translated as burdens. I had no idea what Touko was referencing in the beginning. I also didn't really connect the retrovirus part as a reference to Kirie. It definitely takes more courage to live on with a bad illness than to take the easy way out and kill yourself.

Well, this is what i got out of the Kara no Kyoukai:

The movie is about escape. In life, we all escape pain in our own ways, whether it be through video games or music or sports. We escape reality temporarily and for the majority of us, that is enough. In essence, suicide is the ultimate form of escape, it is "flight" rather then just "floating". Some people are content with "floating" through life, without a true sense of purpose or direction. They live for the moment, so to speak. However, there are those who get a taste of what it is like to fly. What it really means to have a greater purpose, or perhaps, to get a glimpse of life from a high view. Once you know that feeling, you can never be satisfied with floating again. When you see the world from an overlooking view, you realize this simple fact: the world is so big. There must be something greater then our small, daily existences. Thats why everyone who does eventually jumps. Their perspective on reality, their view can never be changed back to what it was. They want to follow that dragonfly, even if it will cost them their life.

[Beowulf Lee]

There's something wrong with that though. Touko gave her two options: to fly or to float. From what you're saying, flying inevitably leads to death. Though it fits into the conversation later with her and Shiki saying that "fly and fall are tied together", giving Kirie the options to either die while high or to continue her crappy existence doesn't seem like sound advice from someone like Touko. I thought the same thing at first and that's why it gave me so much grief writing up the second part because it seemed completely contradictory. That's why I went with the circumlocutory explanation with her choosing "to fall" (because she couldn't fly and she didn't want to float). That's also why I said that not all overlooking views kill, only the ones that are too high (actually, Touko said the same thing I think, but she didn't emphasize it). So the general gist of my idea is this: You are the one to choose if you can "fly" or not. It's you're own decision. But to "fly", you'll need strength. Kirie thought herself as a "weak" person, so she decided she couldn't "fly". Her second body gave her a taste of "flying", and as a person who couldn't "fly", she got addicted to that feeling. She had obtained an "overlooking view" that was too high for her and that's what killed her.

But those are just technicalities. The sentiment behind what you're saying is the same. Overlooking View is a replay of Icarus.