'Hollow Shrine' is the fourth movie of the series, set a bit over two years after the second one and about a month before the third one. Thus, we now know everthing that's happened before the first movie.

Sadly, what has happened can be summed up by a single sentence, maybe two if you want to go into detail. Similar to the previous movies, there's very little actual worldbuilding. At least we finally learn a few more details about some of the characters. After four movies. Ah... From a technical standpoint, the movie is excellent. The soundtrack is fantastic, the animation and background are lovely, the cinematography is well done.

I'm still not all that impressed with the actual content, though. It's barely interesting enough that I've put up with all the confusion until now. 'Paradox Spiral', the fifth movie (set after the first),is supposed to be better in that regard, but it's also twice as long... hrmm.

In 1996 Shiki is involved in an accident and for the next two years she is in a coma. When she wakes up something is missing; her second SHIKI personality has vanished leaving a void within her. She can also see the threads that hold everything together. She is approached by Touko Aozaki, her employer in the films set after this. Touko explains how this new talent is the 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception'. She also warns that malevolent entities will try to fill the void in her personality something she will have to learn to fight.

This isn't the most action packed instalment in this film series so far, although it does feature an exciting fight towards the end. It is however an impressive story that explains far more about Shiki's skills and personality and shows us the difficulty she initially has with these changes. Almost as importantly this sees Touko play a far greater role in a story so gives us a greater insight into this fun character. Overall a really good addition to the film series that gives important character development and a good story.

These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.