Review of Blood Blockade Battlefront
It's 1am. It's 30c in my bedroom and I have no AC, I just finished the first season and, in rage, have decided to write my first ever review on this site. Blood Blockade Battlefront caught my eye, seeing it rated above a 7.5 I added it to my watch-list. Now having finished it, I am very confused as to why it is rated so high. Story - 5 The world of Kekkai Sensen is interesting, a city with a mix of huma/humans, and other creatures. We have this secret organisation who call themselves the good guys, who protect the city from bad guys, who never really get fleshedout.
We see the bad organisation leaders maybe 5 times, and they never seem to be doing anything at all after the first episode.
The main story doesn't make much sense, It feels much like a 90s kids cartoon show, where none of the episodes after the first and last matter. Every episode is a mini story, in which the main protag just seems to be along for the ride on someone else's adventure.
The Anime has an interesting idea, of certain characters being able to use their blood as weapons, however, this is never explained. Our main character sees this and never once questions it. It's a cool concept that just never gets expanded. We learn the main bad guys are vampires, and not much happens with this information, it's just a thing that exists.
Overall the story feels very disjointed, as if a meeting happened to get ideas, and they just tried to throw them all in, without making sure any would connect.
Art and Sound - 7
When it comes to what you see and here, this anime looks great, the city is interesting, the various creatures you see in background shots are eye catching and unique, with a cool opening that remains memorable.
Sadly a bad story cannot be carried by how amazing something looks or sounds.
Characters - 4
The show seems to treat every episode as a chance to give some development to a character that week, however we never get below the surface level of any character. We never learn their past, their ambitions, or even fully understand their abilities. While they may look interesting and have funny names, they never feel fleshed out, like a real character.
Even though the main protag never gets fully fleshed out, we know he is in the city to try to help his sister, as told in the first episode, but it never expands on that.
The boss type character is just your typical organisation boss character who can be used as a get out of jail free card. He looks unique and interesting, with some religious symbology on his outfit, but this is never expanded on, other than he seems to fight using crosses.
The rest of the main cast seem to get one episode each to try to explain their characters, but none are too memorable or feel alive.
Enjoyment - 3
Throughout the series they used Black and White to drop hints that something big may be going on, but with each episode feeling so disjointed you couldn't piece it together. Then came the final episode. Being 40 minutes long I had hoped they could flesh out the villains plot, have something happen and give our main character a chance to be useful. instead, everything just seems to happen and then unhappen because they wanted something for a final episode.
The entire 40 minute episode gets wrapped up in the last 5 minutes, with a resolution that makes no sense and did not resolve anything.
While I may have enjoyed some of the stories and characters, like the mushroom burger lover, The ending really left a sour taste in my mouth.
Overall - 3
Looking at other reviews, I see high scores from those who never finished it, and low scores from those who did.
I also see the sequel has a higher score than this series, and I am worried I will end up watching it in pure hope.
I just wish it made sense.
The entire show can be summed up as, they ripped out a few pages from a dot to dot book, and rather than trying to connect any dots, they grabbed a crayon, scribbled on the page, and then threw them in the recycling.