This was an amazing movie. I would have posted this sooner, but square away a good two hour block for this movie or you'll end up lost.
The movie does introduce us to the Shirou look alike in Tomoe Enjo. Shiki comes to his aid early on while hes sprinting like hell to get away from some "friends". Of course you do have to realize that Tomoe thinks he just murdered his mother and father, so it adds to his desperation in the scene. Still Shiki offers him her place to hang out in, and out comes the "girly side" of Shiki. Besides being amusing it was interesting to see how she acted towards Tomoe most of the time. Hell, she even asks him if he has a girlfriend only to laugh off his confession towards her later on.
The plot centers around a spiral apartment complex run by Araya Souren, and what can only be described as an insane "Willy Wonka" like character in Cornelius Alba. Ooooooooh boy is Cornelius a fun one for most of the movie, even when almost beating Mikiya's head in. If there is someone who was set up for a tough set of circumstances in this movie it was him, but he stayed with it and got a blushing Shiki as his reward in the end.
But back to that thing called plot...
The spiral complex is a representation of the widely known “Yin and Yang" philosophy, which places like Wikipedia can explain better then I can. Still everyone living in the complex is doomed to a twenty four hour cycle of endless "death and rebirth" to see if some sort variation happens. This dooms the residents to basically repeat their "last day" over and over. The mastermind, Araya, has a room below the complex to rival anything you would see in the Ghost In the Shell universe in the "random brain and steamy wires" department.
The movie really seems to be about Tomoe’s journey of self discovery. Granted Araya is using him to get Shiki's "gift" so he can use it to see "The Origin" without getting torn to bits. But in the end the movie becomes solely focused on him and the role Tomoe plays in bringing down Araya. The fight scene between Shiki and the first wave of zombies was amazing. Shiki has such a great fluidity to her, a great piece of action animation. While heads were being snapped and fluids squirting everywhere, Shiki almost looked like she was taking part in a choreographed dance number. Fast forward to the final fight where Mikiya and Tomoe go in to save Shiki and you'll get another kick to the gut.
Be prepared to see Aosaki literally get her heart ripped out by Araya (complete with him crushing it) only then to be manhandled by Cornelius in front of Mikiya. Of course this is before poor Mikiya gets his head slamed into a marble wall until hes bleeding and unconscious, ouch! Oh don't worry, Aosaki created a double of herself, the real one is still alive and kicking. This is big news to Cornelius who almost goes insane seeing her alive again. Somehow it was fitting to see Cornelius loose it after realizing Aosaki was alive. Amusingly he was soon devoured by a Technicolor spider...
With Cornelius out of the way it was Araya's turn to face Shiki's and Aosaki's wrath. Aosaki explains that Araya had made the mistake of trying to close Shiki off in "dead space". Evidently she can easily escape from a void, perhaps he should have kept some of the building concrete eh? Tomoe ends up sacrificing himself to bring Shiki her new weapon, a full fledged sword. With Tomoe dead and the sword left in the elevator, Shiki appears and has an amazing battle with Araya. The battles climax sends both of them free falling from the crumbling apartment complex. If there was some sort of "Best action scene in an anime" award, this would surely get it.
Of course Shiki is freefalling after him, showing some of the most visible emotion we've seen from her, eventually sticking the sword right into Araya's chest. After the fall Shiki is unconscious, still holding the broken handle of her sword, while Aosaki talks to a dying Araya. Fortunately Mikiya wakes up even after having his bashed in for a good minute by “Mr. Insane Willy Wonka”. In a bittersweet scene, Shiki and Tomoe end up saying goodbye to each other forever in a dream, in what only looks like later on. We also get a nice scene between Mikiya and Shiki to conclude the movie. Shiki wants the key to Mikiya's place (since he has hers), which he gives to a blushing, curled up in covers Shiki.
The preview for the next movie looks like a lighter affair, with Shiki seemingly visiting a school for Magus. Oh boy, now that should be fun...
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