Kekkai Sensen

Sometimes, I don't get anime fans. If you've paid attention to the sales charts, you'll see that Blood Blockade Battlefront's current sales numbers are going toe-to-toe with Shirobako aka the most acclaimed and important anime series in recent times, and that just baffles me. I mean Kyoani’s own beautiful anime with believable character motivations, depth to its story, and (most importantly of all) actual challenges the characters have to overcome came out in the same season around the same time, and yet it just sold decently - which is below the studio’s usual standards. Okay fine, maybe this anime has a swanky soundtrack. Maybe it's being directed by one of the most dynamic TV directors in the current market. Maybe it has a character named Zapp Renfro. Maybe it had one of the most unique and eye-catching premises to come from the market in years. But BBB on the whole is just not the least bit good, and I don't understand why anyone is trying to convince me otherwise. The series is based on a manga written by Yasuhiro Nightow, who you may know as the writer of Trigun - a series that's kinda sexist when you think about it. Okay, it’s not on the level of Bakuman or even Rurouni Kenshin, but Vash is still a really f*cking stupid main character. But you know, as much as he grinds my gears whilst shouting his “Love & Peace” bullshit, at least Vash had a personal story and some important flaws, mishandled as they were, in regards to some interesting discussions about how to deal with criminals. So I was kinda expecting some similar moral quandaries in this new thing under the guise of a stylish futuristic noir setting. Unfortunately, Nightow decided for his new work that BBB would be a generic slice-of-life story combined with Baccano’s tone, and you know what that means? Let’s do absolutely fuck all whilst trying to cover up that fact with lots of energy! Honestly, I’m still racking my brains regarding who contributed more to BBB’s problems. But make no mistake: neither the production team nor the original writer helped in making this show good. The phrase “nothing interesting happens” is overused in general, let alone by me, but I can’t think of a better summary of the show’s problems aside from it being the equivalent of eating nothing but a giant bag of M&Ms for lunch. Sounds appealing at first until you become sick not even ten minutes, and you’ve still got five-sixths of the bag to go through. The main character is pretty bland as well. Leonardo Watch - and you can tell that someone involved with Gungrave worked on these names because they’re just as silly here as they were there - is a young boy with magical eye powers who comes to the Star Wars version of Chicago and ends up getting involved in a series of ka-razy events that leads to him getting recruited into an organization called Libra, a group of individuals much older than him that keep peace in the city through poorly stylized fight scenes against villains that are never developed beyond the concept and we’ll never see again afterwards. Whilst dealing with these episodic events involving their exploits, Leo routinely converses with an anime-original girl and boy at the beginning and end of each episode, cock-teasing a larger story involving them with his connection being incredibly arbitrary. In fact, Leonardo’s entire existence is arbitrary. Most of his screentime is just him being strung along by other people and most of the time, he doesn’t take a proactive role or solve anything on his own other than spotting the occasional enemy weakness - which makes him about as useful as Slippy Toad, so I have to wonder why he’s even the main character. Which come to think of it, didn’t he come to Hellsalem in order to help his sister? Actually, even I don’t even remember what was up with that mcguffin anymore. Something about her being sick because of some magic bullshit? Maybe if more than five minutes (in the first episode no less) were dedicated to that plot point, I’d care enough to look it up. BBB Writer #1: Hey, wasn’t there some plot thread regarding Leo’s personal life that we should at least address, BBB Writer #2? BBB Writer #2: Can’t seem to recall that, BBB Writer #1. Now let’s have the characters fight a Ninja Samurai Vampire, because that’s cool right? Every single scenario is ridiculously unimaginative and plays like some Hideo Kojima wannabe’s fanfiction come to life rather than pieces of a larger whole. And with each episode I watched, I just kept asking myself what the point of all this nonsense was. There’s one episode where Leo befriends a friendly mushroom-like fellow that’s experiencing racism because that’s just how it works in the city. And when Leo tries to help him, he ends up getting kidnapped (again) and forgetting said friend once the mushroom defends himself with some sort of pollen after getting beaten severely with a baseball bat on-screen. As much as I understand that racism is a subject that’s still relevant after all this time, this incident is never brought up again and doesn’t add to Leo’s character so I’m not really sure why you made me sit through that. And really, that’s one of the more focused episodes of the series. A large percentage of them are incredibly gimmicky fluff that accomplishes nothing more than saying something exists before pretending it doesn’t the very next week. Where are the episodic stories where the characters’ way of life is questioned or where some cliche yet relevant personal philosophy is imparted upon us or where something game-changing happens in the future besides introducing another throwaway character? Now I know the anime makes it clear at the start that Hellsalem is a place where anything can happen and that you could argue that’s the message of the anime, but I respond to that answer with “no fucking duh”. That sort of philosophy is functional as setup, but for the basis of an entire series, it’s simplistically dull because anything can happen in real life too (as Donald Trump’s campaign should show you, let alone the real New York). What exactly is this “anything can happen in Crazy Town” philosophy in aid of, Blood Blockade Battlefront? Because it sure isn’t about anything resembling a coherent whole, I’ll tell you that. Literally the only connecting thread are these twins that only meet with Leo at the beginning and end of each episode and pretty much disappear altogether until their story appears in that long-delayed finale where said delay either killed your interest or made you want to rewatch the show prior to its arrival because it’s been a season since you last watched the anime and your memory is that atrocious. But why you’d need to do that is a question that you’re going to have to answer to me in a really understandable way, because the hints to this finale were both barely there and don’t even involve Leo or the rest of the cast all that much, if at all. And the same is true for the finale itself, which without spoiling anything, is so anticlimactic and non-consequential to anything in the show, let alone the characters, that it makes you question the entire arc's importance for all the good it did. Speaking of the characters, I might have tolerated the lackluster story and Leo's non-existent importance if they had been the least bit interesting. But if you’re one of those people who think it’s not utterly dumb for every character to be a badass, then you can just disregard this review right now, because I honestly don’t see the appeal in a cast that doesn’t have any sort of pathos whatsoever. I don’t have a problem starting your story with fully developed characters since origin stories are overrated anyways, but there’s a difference between someone who got the way they are through hard struggles in their life and someone who’s the product of Mary Sue fanfiction. Especially when their attempts to be funny consist of jokes that have as much punch as a one-year old who hasn’t eaten in days and is chai…

For those who have long awaited for a reboot for Trigun... you are going to have to wait a little longer. Until then you can watch Yasuhiro Nightow's other manga get adapted in what I am sure is going to be the best anime of the season that feels like the spiritual successor of Trigun. Kekkai sensen aka Blood Blockade Battlefront. story and character 8/10: the story itself is not very complex. it can be simply put as an organization of super-powered people fighting against disorder in New York which has now turned into supernatural zone between the underworld and the real world that has been renamed Jerusalums Lot. What makes the story so good however is the execution. the way it goes about episode by episode is definitely not textbook "Monster of the week" type predictable battles where they have to simply find some weakness that was only apparent to the main character. There really is a lot of variety to this show as there are many important antagonists that shaped the way that Jeruselums lot functions. Its story telling style is a lot like Baccano or Durarara where there isn't really a main character and more of a main cast of characters to tell the story it presents. The characters in the story at the moment have not fully developed at the moment of writing so ill hold off on that till the end of the show. the character designs are unique and well done as are the plethora of background "beyondians". The show uses naming conventions that are similar to Trigun that seem so stupid for characters that they somehow end up being cool and memorable like Zap Renfro or steven starphase. Overall the entire cast is solid. Art and sound : 10/10: The artwork and animation in this show is too impressive to put to words. studio Bones went all out to really capture the setting of new york overrun by supernatural beings with such great detail while also giving all of their effort the extremely well animated and over the top action scenes. this is partly due to the director of Kyousou Giga, Rie Matsumoto using extremely interesting and stylistic camera angle choices and overlays to better convey a scene or simply keeping things interesting even when its simply characters doing some exposition. On the topic of sound I am currently waiting for the whole soundtrack to be released as I haven't heard a ost this good that incorporates jazz music since Kids on the slope. The musical composer Taisei Iwasaki is just starting out with making music for kekkai sensen so he is one to keep an eye out for in the future, the Implementation of the music in the anime is also well done as there are never times when the music feels out of place. there are no complaints on the voice acting however there is a small issue at hand with this series when it comes to audio. This show almost demands an english dub simply because of the setting they are in and that during certain moments of exposition it is almost impossible to keep track of everything all at once in an episode in one go requiring multiple re-watches to get all of it and naturally hearing it in a dubbed version would alleviate this problem. Overall: 9/10: This show has the artistic flair and character writing to shine and each element of the show embodies the theme of what made New York City an ideal melting pot of cultures and ideas from a diverse cast of characters to many different genres of music (with jazz being the most used) to the diverse population of monsters and super-humans and diverse stories they tell. this show is a definite must-watch this season

Finally after months of waiting saw the Last Eps of Kekkai Sensen And it was honestly a clusterfuck of nonsense, I loved it. Nothing made real sense, chaotic story telling and events happening here and there with no real explanation. Animation, art and OST were all beautiful Fight scenes were fluid and characters were as crazy as ever Storytelling is lost somewhere along the months of waiting for the last eps. I cannot say exactly why I really enjoyed the last eps, just that I simply did Overall I would never recommend this anime to anyone that focuses on story/plot or anything that makes sense or follows logic. BUT I do that those that simply want to enjoy, perky characters, High Tier animation and OST , Interesting character with a story that really goes nowhere fast but has enough stuff happening all at once that you'd be to focus on that to really care about the story. Sooo many negatives but the things that are positive of this series simply really appeal to me. Tbh I think there is probably more to the series than just the action and the colors but was too busy just watching the small detail happening in the screen There were hints at the end for a sequel I would LOVE an S2 just to see everyone back, I'd like some explanations but at this point I dont care that much anymore I just want to see randomness happen in a cool setting.

Kekkai Sensen is an ongoing manga from Nightow Yasuhiro, you may know him as the creator of Trigun. The manga started in 2009, but it didn't receive an anime adaptation until this year. The anime was handled by Bones, a Studio that has a pretty strong track record as far as their works I've reviewed go. Will this be up to their usual standards? Let's delve into it. Story: Our story opens in Hellsalem's Lot, formerly New York formerly New Amsterdam. The old New York city was destroyed by a portal opening to another world and this one didn't even have the good grace to have a giant squid monster. In this city, humans co-exist with all manner of strange otherworldly beings. In this city, there's a shadowy organisation called Libra dedicated to keeping the piece. Our protagonist, Leonardo Watch, encounters Libra through an odd coincidence and is given a position due to his mysterious “All-seeing eyes”Which are so strong that he doesn't even have to open his eyelids to see, apparently. The series follows several of Libra's escapades as they encounter various threats. The biggest flaw of the series is the end. It's a disjointed mess with inadequate build up behind it, poorly attempting to tie up all of the ongoing plot points. The series also suffers a bit from tone problems. Most of the time it goes for a more over the top and fun type of aesthetic, but it also tries to have some real emotional moments. The emotional moments don't work well and come across as out of place because they're so heavily divorced from the tone of most of the series. They're simply too few in number with too vast of stretches betwixt them. There's also the narrative device of Leo writing a letter to his sister. Ultimately, it contributes nothing and exactly what parts of the series are included is unclear. It can't be the whole thing since there are a lot of scenes that he isn't in and where he just has no way of knowing what happened. The episodes also vary pretty widely. Some of them are fairly entertaining while others are just kind of dumb. On the positive side, there are some intriguing ideas behind the series. If they had been better fleshed out, this could have been really good. The world building is pretty decent and I do like that the series tries to show some of the alien perspectives at times. Also, let me reiterate, there are some pretty good episodes thrown in. Characters: The characters really vary. There are some that are kind of interesting and have some depth to them, Klaus, Black, and White being the most obvious. However, most of the characters are pretty trite. Chain, Gilbert, K.K, Steven, Zed, Deldro, Dog, and a variety of other characters are just kind of there and only have a couple of very basic traits. Leo himself is kind of a boring generically nice but out of his league type of character. Art: The art is pretty good. The character designs are nicely varied and distinctive. The action sequences are pretty strong, although they suffer a bit from overblown attacks that have to be awkwardly labelled on-screen, and there are some really nice details both in terms of the various creatures and in terms of the backgrounds. Sound: The acting is all right. It can be really over the top but, for the most part, it's perfectly serviceable. The best performance definitely comes from Koyama Rikiya. Probably because his character is more subdued and doesn't really go into the exaggerated craziness mode that, say, Nakai Kazuya's character exhibits so frequently. The music is fine. Ho-yay: There's really not any in this series. Final Thoughts: There was some real potential for this series. It has some good ideas and a world with a lot of potential, unfortunately, it falls pretty short with writing and characters that are quite mediocre. My final rating is going to be a 5/10. If you're looking for an exaggerated action-oriented series, Kekkai Sensen will likely be satisfactory. But if you're looking for something with more depth to it, it's probably not going to do much for you. Next week I'll take a look at Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Vivid.

As an avid anime fan, I was excited to dive into Blood Blockade Battlefront, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. The plot was convoluted and confusing, with too many characters and subplots that never fully developed. The animation was lackluster, with choppy movements and uninspired designs. The voice acting was also subpar, with flat performances that failed to bring the characters to life. The main character, Leonardo Watch, was particularly disappointing. He lacked depth and personality, making it difficult to care about his journey. The supporting cast was equally unremarkable, with forgettable personalities and uninteresting backstories. The action scenes were the only redeeming quality of the show, but even they were few and far between. The pacing was slow, with long stretches of exposition and dialogue that failed to hold my attention. Overall, Blood Blockade Battlefront was a forgettable anime that failed to leave a lasting impression. I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a compelling story or engaging characters. 3/10

This looked like a really interesting anime from the cover, and from the first few episodes, I thought it was too. BUT, it was too jumbled. It had a good thing going, the only problem was how hard it was to follow. Story: I gave it a low score in this section because of how scrambled and hard to follow it was. I had a hard time understanding the powers in this show. From the blood thingys to the main character's eyes, it was all too difficult to follow. Although it didn't really have much of a plot and it might be unfair to grade it on this aspect if the anime can't even properly lay out the world's mechanics-whether it's filler based or not- then you can't really give the story aspect a good grade. Thus, if the story/world isn't good, the anime is most likely not that enjoyable. Art & Sound: I actually liked the ending song, was pretty nice, but I'm no good at these ratings. Character: The characters were quite enjoyable. Although it was hard to follow the story and world mechanics, the relationships between these characters were pretty easy and clear. The characters were nicely made and their attributes really helped with the comedy aspect of this story. The characters were the only thing bumping the overall and enjoyment score from a 3 to a 4. Enjoyment and Overall: Like mentioned before, the characters were really enjoyable. Watching the characters' reactions to the situation and each other was quite fun, but the story wasn't very entertaining. The world and how it worked was hard to understand, which took away a lot from the enjoyment factor. Would I recommend this anime? I really don't know. It has some good points, and the style isn't to my liking but it could be yours. If you like, say, Cowboy Bebop or Gintama, you actually might find this show more enjoyable to me, whereas I wasn't much of a fan of either and dropped both series. To add on, I didn't watch Kekkai Sensen & Beyond, so from all I know that season could be really great, but then again I don't know. So I might have to end up changing this section, but for now, Kekkai Sensen is something I might recommend depending on the person, although in most cases I would probably not recommend. In Short: If you like filler anime this might be something you can consider, if you're willing to ignore the confusing details on how this odd world works. If on the other hand, you enjoy plot filled animes and care a lot about their structures, don't even think about watching this.

Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront Review Story (6/10) Fair The story of Kekkai Sensen was fair, nothing uber complex, mind blowing or even addiction to get into in my personal opinion. But the story definitely wasn't bad. There were quite a few episodes that definitely felt like filler/episodic episodes some where good and some where just straight up irrelevant. But the overall story I though was fine. Art and Animation (10/10) Outstanding Studio Bones could not have done a better job at adapting this anime. The key animation done by Bahi JD the same dude responsible for the amazingly key animations for Space Dandy did his thing for Kekkai Sensen it's outstanding and I wish the guy was in charge for everything anime's animation I was watching because it's probably the reason I even gave the show a chance, the trailer before the anime came out and episode 1 sold me and it was mostly because of the art style and animation Bones and Bahi JD brought to the table. Sound (7/10) Good The sound for Kekkai Sensen was good. No BGMs that made my spin tingle or anything but the opening was catchy and the voice acting both JP and Eng Dub I thought were good. Everything sound related was all around good. Characters (6/10) More Specifically (6.75/10) Fine The characters in Kekkai Sensen were fine, interesting since episode on especially how well they were introduced. Majority of the cast are all more interesting than the MC himself and I wish we got more characterization on everyone but him honestly. Overall though I felt we didn't necessarily get that much characterization from any character in the anime through out it's 12 episodes because like I said before majority of these episodes were episodic/filler episodes and if there was any character that probably got a good characterization (but still not enough for me to be satisfied) was Klaus. Zapp got a little bit, didn't care too much for the MC and would have love to see more of Zed, but the season ended so oh well. Enjoyment (6/10) Fair More Specifically (6.5/10) With all the nice things I had to say about Kekkai Sensen up to this point my enjoyment is sitting at a 'fine'. The anime has a heavy focus on it's comedy aspect as one of it's key selling points and it didn't sit too well with me. The only episode that got me cackling was the episode where Zapp was stealing the MC's food but that didn't last too long either. Another thing that is an enjoyment selling point that the anime brings thanks to Bones and Bahi JD is the animation. The art style and animation on the bloodmoves and the little fighting choreography were all stunning I wish we got more that only gave of tiny bits of it and focus more on the comedy which I said didn't sit to well. The story didn't sit too well with me either and the episodic/filler episodes like I said before weren't that entertaining to me. Overall (7/10) More Specifically (7.25/10) Kekkai Sensen was a good anime but that's as much as I can get it. Episode one was hype and promising but after that it was episodic and filler episodes invested and like i said earlier those didn't sit well with me. The story I felt didn't really go anywhere, they had one episode that had to do with Vampires or something and I thought that was interesting but ultimately was ignored the next episode. I started Kekkai Sensen as soon as the subs dropped I was there day 1 ready and as far as I remember i stayed caught up weekly (I think I may have fallen behind once but was caught up majority of the time) and when that last episode took like FOREVER AND A DAY to come out I obviously put the anime 'On Hold' because I'm just not going to let it sit there in my watching section when I not really watching it. And when that final episode finally came out I didn't even feel like watching it right away because all of the disappointing things I remembered that bothered me about this anime started to rise. It was only till today after looking at my "On Hold" section that I decided to finish this shit off and I've heard that this last episode was worth it... it really wasn't.. But that's not taking away from the animation which I think is the saving point of this anime. With a mediocre story it kept it afloat and is probably the reason why it's still around a 7 to me but no more than that..

This is my first review on MAL, let me tell you this series is extremely overrated for a few reasons. 1. It is another show where people yell out their moves when the fight. 2. They went through all the trouble to make such a great world and great side characters. Then they throw a whiny baby in as the main character that has "special eyes" and that is his only strong suit. He has a few comedic moments in the show but other than that he is a terrible character. 3. The "villain" has no motivation other than causing havoc and the finale just leaves so much open without another season. At this point if there was another season I would not watch it. Now here is what the anime got right. 1. Art style, fantastic different take that didn't have characters with big eyes. They took a different approach and I liked the end result, Heck the main character rarely has his eyes open. 2. Sound design. Fantastic, intro and outro songs are also really good. 3. The side characters. They are fantastic and you will laugh a lot during the show at how the side characters play off of one another and the main character.

3 things will greatly affect your enjoyment of Kekkai Sensen. Number one is how much you crave a new story, and are tired of the same High School/harem light novel adaptations that come up every season. Number two is if you enjoy being given lots of bits of information that allow you to piece together a larger plot. Number three is if you enjoy fast paced and constantly changing camera shots and point of view changes. If you don't mind or even enjoy those types of things, you are gonna have even more of a blast with this show. Story 6- While it pains me to give a show with such good and funny writing a 6 in story, the way much of the exposition is told is all over the place, and occasionally paced very badly. Kekkai Sensen takes a very episodic approach to it's story, with no real 'major' plot happening until the last 3 episodes. In all honesty, much of Kekkai Sensen reminds of the show 'Seinfeld', in that much of it is, 'a show about nothing'. The majority of episodes are just fun world exploration/building, with the central idea being anything from fighting vampires, taking down drug dealers, underground fighting rings, and taking down Monster Trucks the size of a city block. The genius and also downfall of Kekkai Sensen's story telling is how quick and concise it is. Characters often drop quick bits of info that on their don't tell us much, but when all these bits are placed together, they make a consistent and intriguing story of this world. The problem is that there is a STAGGERING amount of information that Kekkai Sensen throws at the viewer, often intermixed with action and humor that make retaining these bits of info near impossible. Episodes 4 and 10 are good examples of both the good and the bad aspects of Kekkai Sensen's storytelling. Overall Kekkai Sensen's story is incredibly deep and shows huge amounts of promise, but the way it's presented needs to be approached a bit more carefully and equally proportioned out. Characters 7: Easily my favorite aspect of Kekkai Sensen, I think a lot of people will be turned off by them because of the way their character stories are told. Kekkai Sensen rarely, if ever, does the typical flashback to show a characters past, and almost never devotes an episode to a single characters arc (Which is a good thing, because it does that in episode 11 and feels reeeaaallllyyy boring and slow). Instead the characters past is given mostly through conversation and interaction with others. In short, the characters come fully developed, and we learn that through their actions rather than through monologues. The obvious downside to this is that the guys who get little to no screen time feel really under-utilized, and that kind of becomes a problem when you have a cast as large as this shows crammed into 12 episodes. Despite this, the cast is all likable and have very defined and unique personalities/design to them, so it's never hard to tell them apart. Art 9: Rewatchability. Just...Rewatchability. Kekkai Sensen does what very, very few anime have ever done for me, in that I will buy the DVD's just for the animation itself. The key to that? I feel like i'm watching a live action set, with all sorts of things happening in the background. No expense was spared in this regard, as there is almost always something interesting going on in the background. Sitting in a diner? The window will show the traffic passing by. In a room full of partying people? You'll see an entire drunken skit in the background. The only negative I can give this category is that there are a few minor scenes where characters look like they were drawn in a hurry, and because of the frantic activity that takes place in most shots, scenes that have little background and few moving objects will feel strangely lifeless. Quick word of warning, Kekkai Sensen uses lot's of different camera shots and frame changes. What this means is that you'll constantly be exposed to different points of view over the course of a normal conversation. This can be disorienting at times since the animation is so richly detailed that you'll constantly have your eye wandering and losing track of the conversations. I personally love this as that means I can see something new overtime I go back to watch the show, but some might not enjoy this technique very much. Sound 10: I feel a little weird giving a category that is completely, 100% dependent on personal taste, but I have no idea what else to do. The opening and ending are just so far above and beyond what I expect from most anime. They actually evoke feelings of nostalgia, happiness, melancholy and whatever else you might interpret from it. As for the OST? just listen to 'Catch Me if You Can' and 'White Gloves (Vocal Version)". If you listen to those two and don't like them, you won't like the soundtrack. Also I am of the opinion that your are a tone-deaf bastard :D If you prefer dubs over subs, then boy are you in luck. The dub nails the two most important parts of being a dub, getting the right voice for the right character, and not following the japanese script word for word. In short, Leo sounds like Leo, Zapp sounds like Zapp. The first episode sounds a little lackluster, but every episode afterwards is full of dynamic ranges of emotion, and the script was translated nicely into English, with some phrase changes made to better accommodate the humor. Enjoyment 10: While I attempted to be impartial in my above scores, the fact of the matter is that I am hopelessly a fanboy of this show. I mentioned at the beginning of this review that one of the defendant factors is how sick you are of 'current' anime trends. That was a little vague and kind of unfair. There are a number of shows that fall under those categories that I liked (No Pet no Kanojo, Campione!), but it's undeniable that there are just SO MANY of these shows that are released each season that don't attempt to do anything but tick a list of checkboxes, and are a criminal waste of really intriguing base material in favor of cliches so damn common I'm amazed people still like them. So when a show like Kekkai Sensen comes along and gives so many of those tropes a giant middle finger, and also happens to be really good, I can;y help but feel extra grateful towards that series for taking the plunge and trying to do something different from the rest of the pack.

PLEASE NOTE: This review was written before any episode past episode 11 a.k.a. episode 12 a.k.a. "Paint It Black". If this has more episodes past this one, I won't be updating this review. Kekkai Sensen, otherwise known as "Blood Blockade Battlefront", is an action comedy with lots of supernatural themes and elements. The show's stylish and fast-paced artwork and comedy lead you through scenes between intense supernatural fights involving anything from a man-eating car to vampires. STORY: 6/10 The story involves our protagonist, young impersonator of Pokemon's Brock, named Leonardo Watch. He was born with special eyes that have superpowers of some sort and is accidentally thrown into the world of the underground organization known as Libra, who fight to protect the citizens of the city they live in from disaster and ruin. Only one problem: The city's bonkers. There's so many different strange creatures, no two seem alike, and a lot of them are hostile. This leads to the city being hectic, dangerous, and crime-filled. When I said that Libra is a group of people who fight evil, they're more like a secret police squad. If it doesn't involve illegal activity, they don't bat an eye at the actions of the townsfolk. The story claims to have an overarching plot, but for the most part it is one or two-part episodes while the main villains in the background have a giggle at the goings on. That's not to say all the episodes are like this, but for the most part the episode involves the group having to do something totally unrelated in order to gain a tiny bit of information which may or may not take any part in what's going on in the next episode. ART: 7/10 When not in combat or making a joke, the animation and art style can be quite generic. Action scenes have lots of flair, lots of flash, and a lot of personality. Comedic moments reminded me of One Piece, in the way that faces could simplify, become jagged, or distort in order to further the comedy of the show. The alien beings can be very unique and strange, bringing lots of personality to the background characters or the rare side character for a one-off episode or two. SOUND: 6/10 The soundtrack is somewhat generic, with a tad bit of flair, but to be honest it didn't really stick with me. The OP is good and the ED is decent, though I prefer to watch it more for the visuals than the song itself. CHARACTER: 6/10 Here's where the show, to me, feels bloated and highly flawed. The show's current episodes, up to "Paint It Black", are filled to the brim with character introductions. We also don't get much development from our protagonist besides the backstory that is repeated a few times within the show. I wouldn't have a problem with a show with this many characters, but to be honest it felt like I would rather have had development of our current characters instead of constant introductions to new ones just so that they don't appear again, or if they do, appear once. ENJOYMENT: 4/10 I hated "Paint it Black", which is as far as we have so far. To refer to this as a "finale", it is one of the worst I've ever seen. Along with constant character introductions that made me wish for more protagonist or main character building or plot development, and the plot itself being decent to boring, it became a bit of a chore to sit through, even though it had a decent beginning. OVERALL: 6/10 A fairly average show with several things bogging it down, but occasionally nice-looking fight scenes. Once this gets more episodes, I would recommend you check it out because it will most likely continue with what we have now that all the characters are introduced, but until then you should probably avoid it.

Kekkai Sensen! I like to compare this show to a stereotypical American. It literally does whatever the fuck it wants. This show is pretty outrageous with its everything. Its story is just completely out of this world, and in my honest opinion, it's pretty hard to follow. I don't mean that in a "it's incredibly thought provoking" way, I mean't that in a "basically nothing makes sense" kind of way. Read the Disqus comment section of each Kekkai Sensen episode on Kissanime, and you'll see countless comments asking "what the fuck happened?" While the overall story line itself is fairly lackluster and a chore to follow, Kekkai Sensen excels splendidly in the portrayal of its world. I am a New Yorker (well, I live like half an hour away from the city), so I know what the city looks like. This show captured the atmosphere and design of New York City incredibly well, and it was a blast seeing the familiar sights, like Central Park and the Empire State Building. Despite the completely outrageous version of New York City, filled with these alien things and supernatural phenomenon, the show went the extra mile to make the city still feel... real... to some extent. Kekkai Sensen captures what New York City is really all about, and that is cultural diffusion! New York City has a bit of everything from everywhere, and this show was a great over exaggeration on the diversity of New York City. This is shown to a greater extent through some of the amusing situations that the characters get themselves into, such as trying to find a suitable restaurant (NYC is filled to the brim with restaurants), as well as interacting with so many different characters, both human and non-human. Remember when I said Kekkai Sensen does whatever the fuck it wants to? Well that's because this show has balls. Really big ones. It makes its whole world feel real through borderline copyright infringement material. It introduces stuff like Hainz Ketchup (with basically identical bottle design), Yo! Tube (which is probably the most accurately depicted version of YouTube in anime), and other little easter eggs that always bring a smirk to my face. Kekkai Sensen is incredibly fun to watch due to its attention to the details of its world. And... that's about it. Everything else about Kekkai Sensen was ok. Besides the hard to follow story, the art and animation were definitely good, but nothing particularly special. The characters have a lot of spunk to them, and go through some development, but they don't hold the long lasting impact that I like characters to have. Leo has cool eyes, and has an amusing personality, but in the end, he's almost like a not-so-pussy version of Shinji. However, he is a unique protagonist to the Shounen genre, as he has a unique power but it doesn't feel overpowered at all compared to the rest of the cast. So overall, Kekkai Sensen was fun due to its world building, humor, and attention to detail, but it is also boring when it comes to the main story line. There were many points where I was constantly checking to see how much time was left in an episode. But, there were also times when time flew by due to some of the hilarious scenarios that the characters end up getting caught in. TL;DR: The ED dance is literally the best part of this series.

Tenth Review - Kekkai Sensen! (or Blood Blockade Battlefront) This was a anime that looked pretty good to begin with - a city that exists with human and monsters together. The story revolving around this one lad with these cool looking eyes. At first it looked more like a comedy rather than a serious anime yet the more you watched it and let the story unfold you see that this is actually a well structured anime that has serious elements but also bonds together with humour in some areas. The story in my opinion at first was a bit rough round the edges and didn't take a major step in any direction, it was about this one kid and his awesome looking eyes but it was jumping from what the story really meant, was it his sister? the monsters? the magic? what? The story didn't really let you know what it's main focus was but slowly unravelled during the series. In all though the story was good in the end and how they portrayed the series to get to the story point was good. The art was my favourite in this anime, the art was magnificently done and was shown to be one of the key elements of Kekkai Sensen. When the opening picks up you can see the amount of design it took with the art and as the series goes on the art style is always tied together nicely, not one piece of scene was wasted on poor quality. If it's an anime where you love to watch them for art then this is one of them ones to watch. The characters during the series become very likeable, my favourite being the 'Invisible Wolf' Chain. The backgrounds of a few of the characters ain't picked up in the anime as much as the manga however you can still see their traits and characteristics. I love how it did show us the two main character stories of the main focusing characters though so that you wasn't confused, this was nicely done. All in all I actually liked Kekkai Sensen, it was a mix of ordinary meets the weird in a city where two have to coexist and live alongside each other in everyday life. It made me actually laugh in some eps when just some random rubbish will happen yet it provides you with more character development and story development in some ways. This is one of my favourites and I recommend it to anyone with a likeable side to the random, funny and magical elements to an anime. ~ Canaan

Spoiler free! The concept of the world is really cool. I think the powers these characters have are really cool. The songs of both season one and two were good and so was the artstyle. But I just didn't enjoy it that much. I think mostly that is because of how we get a ton of charcters in the show, but none of them seem to have been worked out. Whenever something new is going to happen in the story, they add new characters that never come back in the show. Overall I'd just say that the character development was very poor for this show. It had a lot of potential but it never made me eager for the next episode. I was kind of happy when I finally finished this show so that I could move on to a next anime. In my opinion the better things were: -Artstyle of the show -Music -Character designs -Cool superpowers In my opinion not so great things were: -Story gets the same after a while -VERY poor character development -Too many charcacters to really choose one to like the most -gets boring That's the end of my review.

Set in a fictional version of New York, where humans and bizarre monsters live together in not-quite harmony, Kekkai Sensen is one of the most successful shonen series of late. The show follows the adventures of Leonardo Watch, a kid with the gift of super-powered eyes, as he joins Libra, a quirky team of vigilantes who... protect the city… or stop crime… or something… let’s just say exposition is not this show's best suite. If there is a thing that can be said about Kekkai Sensen is that it definitely starts with a bang. The first couple of episodes are nonsensical action-packed trips that have most of their runtime taken by stylized special attacks sequences. The pace is kept high, the tone is always over the top, and the scenes alternate almost in a nonsequitor fashion. While this can be overbearing, it sort of works in its own totally insane way. The true problem comes when, after the first handful of episodes, the pace slows down and the storytelling becomes more straightforwardly delivered. The over the top action sequences, the humour and the rest of the nice stuff is still there, but it is just not that unique or impactful when the series starts taking itself more seriously. This is especially clear in the final couple of episodes, that serve to close a "macro plot" that is simply not that interesting or engaging (and to be honest, even a bit hard to fully grasp). As it may already have transpired, the best thing about Kekkai Sensen are the overall aesthetics. The visual style is vaguely influenced by western comic books (especially in the design of a couple of characters), the animation is obviously hi-budget and the soundtrack is just great, mixing jazz and orchestral music in a way that truly helps giving the show a unique and interesting tone. And while all this stuff is quite nice, If I had to be completely honest I’d add that there’s not really much else that stands out in the show, as what we are watching is still at its core your standard combat shonen fare, except for the fact that it is delivered in a very slick and unique package. This is not all bad though, as the short run of the show (a single 12 episodes season) doesn’t really give time to this package to get old, and helps keeping the focus on the series’ strong aspects. There's not much else to say about Kekkai Sensen to be honest, it is at its core a product with not many pretenses, if not the one to mindlessly entertain, and it almost succeeds at its goal. The action scenes are fun, the humour not completely awful and the animation flashy and detailed. Sadly the overarching plot is way too weak, making the home stretch a bit of a slug. Still, not an awful show by any chance… but let’s just say that I’m not really looking forward to a second season.

"Kekkai Sensen" is a unique and enjoyable experience that succeeds through its non-conventional use of visuals. For me, after I re-watch it, the show was still great.It’s smart, gives off a sense of uncontrollable energy and fun, action-packed and also builds in a surprising amount of heart and emotion. As for the plot, it was amusing, the comedy is on point, the characters were entertaining, the show's structure was original.Despite the delay of the last episode, well... I have to say they did a great job wrapping things up, sticking with the same themes of the previous eleven episodes: life and love; friendship and belonging; teamwork and cooperation, which prevail even on the darkest night since the First Collapse. Also, the OP and ED is pretty sweet. Simply put, very listenable. As for the rest of the soundtrack, your usual mediocre background tracks sprinkled with some great standout tracks in-between for good measure. To summarize: -Story: 9/10 -Art: 9/10 -Sound: 10/10 (Energetic and stylish! Fedoras and Jazz! What's not to like?) -Character: 9/10 -Enjoyment: 9/10 (re-watch and still enjoyable) -Overall: 9/10 (Kekkai Sensen is a tremendous series!!!)

Kekkai Sensen is a thrill ride from start to finish, throwing its viewers into a confusing mess of conflicts, monsters, and the awesome heroes trying to keep the city (somewhat) safe. With a sizable cast of eccentric characters and a wide array of conflicts and subplots, there is endless excitement to be had. Where Kekkai Sensen really shines is its captivating setting and unstructured plot. Incredible effort was put into developing Hellsalem's Lot, the dystopian metropolis that was once New York City before a mysterious portal opened up, connecting our universe to another and allowing monsters to flood the city. Not all of these monsters are unfriendly, however; most of them have assimilated into society and coexist with humans. Kekkai Sensen puts you on a tour of the city, showing you countless human and monster pedestrians and their bizarre lifestyles. The confusing, loosely structured plot has been criticized by many viewers, but I think it is one of Kekkai Sensen's greatest strengths. This isn't a linear story of one boy fighting the villain and saving the day. It's the story of an apocalyptic city and all of the calamity going on inside of it, and the stronger powers keeping this calamity loosely in check. There is Libra, the league of vigilantes trying to keep violent monsters at bay, there are large-scale criminal organizations, there is an ambiguous militaristic police force threatening to shut Libra down, and a few powerful individuals trying to take down the whole planet. It only makes sense that Kekkai Sensen is a chaotic mesh of storylines that our main character, Leonardo, gets caught up in. More than anything else, this anime is FUN. It is loaded with action, interesting characters, and plenty of mysteries to keep you watching. Libra itself features a strong cast of lovable characters. Klaus, the almost comically masculine leader who can fight harder and think faster than any other human. Zapp, the lanky, aloof wannabe tough guy who begrudgingly takes Leonardo under his wing. KK, the mysterious woman who is deeply dedicated to her son and fights with electrified bullets. All of the major characters in Kekkai Sensen are well-developed and unique, and each has their own demons to battle. Watching Leonardo join Libra, you can feel his excitement and nervousness as he enters a world full of powerful characters and the complex ties they have within Hellsalem's Lot. Then the anime twins show up. The super-crazy battle arena of an anime suddenly turns into an ultra-generic melodrama about some emotional 15 year-olds. All of the subplots that left you craving information are dropped entirely, Leonardo's status as a goofy kid trying to make a difference is gone, and suddenly all we're supposed to care about is the feelings of some sappy kids who lost their parents. The series essentially forgets everything that it achieved for 10 episodes and completely redefines the storyline to focus on a moody teenage girl, while every conflict is instantly resolved with the power of friendship. After watching 10 episodes of Libra causing thousands (they openly admit to this) of casualties in their effort to keep the city safe - rightly so, they blow up some buildings but prevent giant monsters from going on city-wide rampages - it becomes a bit difficult to feel sympathetic for the little girl who wishes she had super powers, and her emo brother who is too noble to save himself. I just watched Klaus murder 500 innocent people when he threw a giant monster into a skyscraper, now I'm expected to feel sorry for a little girl who doesn't feel adequate? Better yet, the entire story conveniently becomes centered on these moody teens, and saving the world becomes a matter of inspiring them (with a super cheesy "i believe in my friends!!!" monologue) to stop being self-pitying twats long enough for the world to not end simply because they're too mopey to lift a finger. I may be a bit too strongly opinionated, but Kekkai Sensen's evolution from Baccano-esque thrill ride to super cliche shonen crap left a bitter aftertaste. While I still think this show has immense potential to continue on as a great series, my interest will drop significantly if it doesn't go back to its strengths and start exploring the amazing world it has set up. There is so much potential for this series to really dig into any of the subplots it touched on throughout the first 10 episodes, like "Angel Scale" the mysterious super-drug, the seemingly corrupt police force patrolling the city, the source of the "blood powers" wielded by the members of Libra and the experiments that gave Klaus his incredible power, or Ulchelko the crime-boss chess wizard and the other powerful bosses of the alterworld. Anything to get more screen time in the awesome city of Hellsalem's Lot, watching Libra clown around and take down bad guys while digging into the underworld of terrible powers fueling the chaos withing the city. I give Kekkai Sensen a 6/10 for having an awesome story with a completely unsatisfying ending. I sincerely hope that this series gets a second season, and that it taps into the huge potential of its setting rather than make a story revolving around romantic teenagers. There are a lot of loose ends that could easily make for a few season's worth of content on their own.

I feel like I forced myself to complete the anime tbh. The anime lacked clarity in so many things and you can barely understand most of the events happening. It just feels like you missed something and I kept on replaying in an attempt to see what had I missed. They wanted to make the main character as someone who has high values other than his eyes bla bla .. but none of that was actually portrayed, everything they say to make him all the more valuable member of Libra I found to be a cliche just to make him sound more heroic!

For all the deserved and undeserved criticism it gets, Kekkai Sensen is, undeniably, one of the more unique shows to come out the past few years. And that is a good thing; a great breather from all the repeat-process shows coming out nowadays. Kekkai Sensen is about a group called Libra, an underground society charged with protecting Alien-Infested New York + Some magic. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty cool. But does it live up to its uniqueness? Its aforementioned criticism? Story (4/10) Kekkai Sensen is an episodic anime; meaning, 'villain of the week' or similar stories along those lines. Some people hate it, some people love it and being a slice of life junkie, I quite enjoy these kind of stories. But being episodic, it's something I can't really review unless I take down every single episode and analyze it in detail. Instead, let's look at the main plot and it... doesn't look so good. Though the show does very well to set up the villains, clues and the threat it has on our main characters, the way it was delivered was very poor, often clouding the good about this main story with minuscule details that don't make sense, a clusterfuck of events that don't mesh together and, simply, BEING UNABLE TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING. Unless analyzed by Albert Einstein, none of what happens in this story will make any sense, which is a problem if the anime is supposed to be an action show casuals alike will enjoy without using their heads. Instead, the show is forcing the viewer to think and since, on the surface, it doesn't make much sense unless watched twice or more. Is it a good marketing strategy? Probably. Is it a way to get good ratings? Most definitely not. Other than the atrocity known as the main plot, the filler episodes are seemingly enjoyable. There's not much to think about and all the nonsense that happens in these said episodes suits the atmosphere of the setting, where anything can happen and that is where Kekkai Sensen really shines. And it should have really stuck to that. Characters (10/10) I rate this a perfect 10 not because the characters are smart, complex or even relatable. I rate them this way because they're, really, the most fun I've had with a big cast in my years of watching anime. Their different personalities and interaction as Libra really gives the show its flare; how they speak casually, their bond as a team and the way they communicate in combat. I don't remember any of the characters for being boring, unless you count Sonic the monkey, and even he is pretty fun sometimes. There really is no main character to speak of (If I don't mention the horrid main storyline) as each of them can be the center of the show, be it Zapp, Blitz, Klaus or even KK. These characters are products of the show's setting and not fuck-a-lot archetypes placed in other strange settings, waiting for more boobs to grope (I'm looking at you, harem industry). And the same can be very well said for the villains. They're ecstatic, weird and overall, insane. Exactly what you'd expect from the setting. They never feel out of place and are always a joy to watch when they do something 'evil'. Other characters include Black and White from the main plot and, as I mentioned before, did very well in their set up for their clusterfuck of a conclusion. Art and Sound (10/10) This alone is a reason to watch it. I don't know what came over the director but Rie Matsumoto just took the entirety of New York and put it on paper. Despite the alien-infestation and whatnot, the way it's presented still feels very much like New York, with overblown skyscrapers, ungodly amounts of smoke and decaying buildings. The design is no exception either, as the characters look and feel like they're part of the backgrounds and setting. They would look weird anywhere else but they fit just right where they are. The animation? Amazing. Exactly the kind you'd expect from Bones, known for shows like FMA:B and Soul Eater. The sound is something I cannot overlook. As an underground music junkie, the vocal tracks just blow me away. It's very classic jazz and soothing to the ear, most notably 'On My Own' and 'World Goes Round'. The BGM itself is fantastic, making for engaging chase/fight scenes and, sometimes, more calmer moments. The OP and ED? Addicting and that's really all I can say. Enjoyment (9/10) I want to think of everything bad about this show and just toss it out the window. Kekkai Sensen is, in a word, badass. This all comes from personal taste as many of the things that happen in this series is awfully well presented filler and really, it needs nothing more than that. Overall (7/10) With a fun cast, amazing visuals, captivating sound and just some really badass moments, Kekkai Sensen is pretty damn good, with the main plot keeping it from being great. It's a series that, while off-putting at points, is well worth the fun and excitement. If you despise filler-induced shows with a passion or are looking for a more complex and smart action story, you high horse intellectual, you, then I cannot recommend this show. To everyone else? Go nuts! Just make sure to turn off your brain before watching.

This is my first time writing a review for an anime. *No Spoilers* Kekkai Sensen was one of my favourite anime that I've watch so far. Plot: The plot was all the place but I was still able to tell what was going on. At times I did get confused and I still have some questions about this anime. Art: The animation was outstanding and the art style was nice and refreshing. Sound: The soundtrack for this anime is amazing, it is hard too pick my favourite between the opening and ending songs. Character: I liked all of the characters but one thing that I didn't like was the fact that some characters didn't get enough attention as they should off. Enjoyment/Overall: Well in the end, waiting for the last episode to be released wasn't such a bad thing, in my opinion it was worth the wait. After each episode I watch I found myself wanting more and more. Unfortunately, some of my questions floating around my head reguarding the anime did not get answered but judging on the last clip of episode 12 we might be expecting a season 2(keyword is might). I would recommend this anime highly to all. Please don't leave any hate, don't forget this is just an opinion.

*Brief Review-Reflections* ~~ There is a bit too much *Baccano!* in here for my liking. *Kekkai Sensen* gets overboard with having too much fun in its rustic soulfulness, which though befitting the chaotic milieu of Hellsalem's Lot and for the benefit of creative direction, is too magnified that it forgets it has a story on a grand scale and characters playing different roles to progress it. Speaking of its characters, every one of them rather feel more like proxies for different types of comedic humor (with *straight man* the main filler of the uneventful minutes as always) than organic vessels of unique and entertaining personalities. They can be further simplified as try-hard badasses with unexplained sources of combative capabilities of which sprouted skills named in the spirit of a *chuunibyou* done tastelessly, with all the coolness extracted due to how serious it's making itself to be in that avenue. In those 12 episodes, only a really small handful of them was shown to seem relevant to the narrative, with said narrative somehow distilled into the story of the Macbeth twins, and of the said really small handful, none of them come off as characters with enough substance to solicit attention. Each and every one of the cast is a bland Xerox copy of already existing, highly stereotypical, oversaturated anime traits without an imaginative twist to at least make them refreshing to watch for a single cour. Sadly, such a troupe under an episodic anime that hinders the progression of its own plot, worldbuilding, and character development, and whose main character ends the season with one of the cringiest acts I've ever beheld (a feat in and of itself, truly), could really only feel like a drag, could never elicit responses entertainment creators wish to impose. P.S.: Amagranaf Rozontam Uv Li Neji, or Nej for short, is leagues ahead of the recurring characters in quality. For someone who only appears in a single episode to be considered as such compared to everyone else who keeps on filling up screentime, it tells a lot regarding *Kekkai Sensen*'s abysmal writing.