Review of Blood Blockade Battlefront

“The intersection between two worlds, Hellsalems Lot. Libra, a secret society of superhumans toiling in the shadows to preserve the fractured balance between worlds. These are the records of our covert missions.” The introduction to each episode sets up the basic premise of Kekkai Sensen (aka Blood Blockade Battlefront), a series about a group of humans with supernatural powers and their deeds to keep order in a society full of extraterrestrial life. The synopsis sounds promising but as this review will explain, Kekkai Sensen falls short in a number of areas. The series takes place in Hellsalems Lot, formerly known as New York City. Three yearsago a gate to beyond opened, trapping humankind and extraterrestrials in this large metropolis. Think of the setting as being New New York in Matt Groening’s Futurama, except it’s set during the present day instead of the year 3000. Hellsalems Lot is an intriguing and quirky world where you can expect the unexpected, and where death can strike randomly at any moment if you’re not careful. Why anyone would want to live there is anyone's guess. As our MC Leonardo Watch describes it; ‘It’s a noisy city where abnormal is normal.’ The story is seen through the perspective of Leonardo as he enters Hellsalems Lot in search for answers after he obtained the ‘All-seeing Eyes of the Gods’ at the expense of his sister's eyesight. He then unwittingly joins Libra in their mission to keep order in a fractured society.

By this point I was expecting the series to follow a linear overarching plot as it follows Leo in his quest for answers. The major flaw of the Kekkai Sensen though is that it fails the basic art of storytelling as it takes on a mostly episodic format that simply follows the daily missions and mishaps of those in Libra. There’s heaps of various monsters and fighting, but nothing more than that. There is supposedly a plot but it’s so disjointed between episodes that you can’t really tell what’s going on in the series. The episodes introduce various concepts and plot points, but none of these are particularly expanded upon leaving the viewers with more questions than answers. By the final episode I was starting to question what the bollocks was going on. I wasn’t questioning it because it was a complex story; I was questioning it as the storytelling was so damn poor that nothing made sense.

The poor storytelling also lets down the characters. Apart from Leonardo There are a couple of noteworthy characters that get decent screen-time including Klaus von Reinherz; the head of Libra, and Zapp; Leo’s superior with a hotheaded juvenile personality. Outside of Libra we become accustomed with White, a girl that Leonardo meets while in the hospital, and her brother Black. Each character has unique traits and personalities but it’s hard to become particularly attached to any of them as the series tends not to disclose their backstory. Although some episodes were dedicated to particular characters, it only details their actions rather than attempt to develop them. Ditto the supporting cast; despite some unique quirks we don’t know anything about them either. It’s the same problem with the antagonists; it’s hard to tell their motivations that attempt to justify their actions. It’s like they’re being evil just for the sake of being evil. Only once does the series attempt to provide the audience with an insight into two of the characters. This was one of the better episodes but due to the disjoined nature of the plot and their particular role, it didn’t do enough to make me feel more attached to them.

Despite the flawed storytelling and characters, Kekkai Sensen still does the basic job of entertaining the audience. It generally has a light hearted tone with moments of comedy and swearing/insults between the characters. It has a unique style and a sense of fun that kept me interested, not once did I feel bored while watching the series. For that I’ll watch the second season when it’s released later this year.

Being produced by Bones; the animation is at their usual high standard so expect a visual treat. The series has a slight noir feel with it with drawn blurred backgrounds and pale colour palettes which does well to depict the metropolis setting. This is also reflected in the soundtrack which has a Jazz feel to it with the use of trumpets and saxophone, but also has hints of piano and even choir/orchestra. It’s much better than the sometimes generic soundtracks that are found in some anime these days. It took me a little while to get used to the OP as its soft rock seemed out of place for a series that contains fighting and plenty of action. However with lyrics speaking of struggle, identity and searching for a sense of purpose, I came to quite enjoy it. I watched the dubbed version of the series and I can personally recommend it. The voice acting was at a high standard with the voices matching the characters perfectly. Personally I find it odd listening to Japanese voice acting in anime that have their settings in the west, so it’s a sigh of relief that the dub was pulled off nicely.

In conclusion Kekkai Sensen has an interesting premise. It’s a generally entertaining series with a unique sense of fun that is well animated and has a nice soundtrack. However if you’re looking for a series with a good story; look elsewhere as Kekkai Sensen fails the basic art of storytelling with a disjointed plot and underdeveloped characters.