Review of Blood Blockade Battlefront
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 intothe 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.