Souren Araya

Souren Araya is the main antagonist of Kara no Kyoukai. He is the driving force behind the actions of other villains in the franchise. He is voiced by Jouji Nakata, who also voices Nrvnqsr Chaos and Kirei Kotomine.

Background
Souren was a former Buddhist monk hailing from Tamil Buddhism who has lived for around 300 years. He witnessed endless death, and this gave him the twisted purpose of finding a reason for human death. He was excommunitcated by his master because he saw the origin of people.

Mage's Association
He later entered the Mage's Association Clock Tower in London with Touko Aozaki and Cornelius Alba. Souren Araya attempted to reach Akasha by tracing the roots of the soul, something that is there but not there, in order to reach a group consciousness.

1995
He is personally interested in the Demon Hunter Organization families, especially Shiki Ryougi.

He encounters Fujino Asagami, Kirie Fujou, and Lio Shirazumi, pressing them to awaken their innate abilities. He planned Fujino and Kirie to fight against Shiki in hopes that they would be able to defeat her, but also in part so the Counter Force would overlook his own operations.

Ogawa Apartment Complex
In his attempt to reach the Akasha, he perform an experiment on an apartment complex in Kayamihama, Mifune City. He used Touko's architecture blueprint to create the Ogawa Apartment. The Ogawa Apartment is the embodiment of Taikyokuzu (Ying and Yang); he placed the Taikyokuzu within a Taikyokuzu. Lio lived in the apartment for some time. The apartment walls has been inscribed with strange patterns which caused people to go into depression leading them to become insane thus driving them to their deaths.

He collaborated with Cornelius and in return; he will help kill Touko. Cornelius was responsible for the system at the Ogawa apartment, where only the brains of residents were kept alive and connected to puppet bodies. The experiment involved controlling the brain that was still functioning and implant their the thought processes into the replica puppets. There were 50 households in the apartment complex but only 30 of the household are real; the Enjou family were one of the subjects of the experiments. Araya created the Apartment Complex to create a cyclical loop in which the puppet residents repeat their last day before death as a means to discover an access to the Spiral of Origin. To avoid the Counter Force, he placed a powerful bounded field "Hounouden Rokujyuyonshou" so the experiment wouldn't leak out and the Counter Force wouldn't notice it.

Tomoe Enjou was able to escape from the repetitive spiral, something that Araya didn't expect. Before Tomoe left, Araya supposedly implanted an unconscious imprinting in this puppet to have an interest in Shiki. He plans to retrace the path of the Spiral of Origin by using Shiki's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. To do so, Araya plans to transplant his brain into Shiki's body.

Personality
Souren is a tragic figure. Originally a wandering monk, his inability to save the lives of so many gave way to depression. His faith in humanity nearly crushed, he made his goal to locate the Spiral of Origin so that he may see the ultimate end of humanity and find meaning for so many deaths. His imposing appearance is often described in the novels. Touko herself commenting that he was "a man of hell". She describes him as a clumsy man but his confidence was stronger than anyone else's.

Whilst seemingly an insensitive man who is only concerned with using others towards his goal, his actions towards Fujino, Kirie, and Lio all seem to imply that he was acting out of genuine kindness and not just self-benefit.