Review of Blood Blockade Battlefront

For a show that had so much potential, Kekkai Sensen is fairly forgettable. Its conclusion is riddled with issues, made worse by the fact that it was delayed several weeks. However, that's not to say that the series isn't somewhat enjoyable. The first seven episodes of Kekkai Sensen are standalone stories, introducing different aspects of the show's universe. I say "introducing" because nothing is properly developed. After watching these seven episodes I can't say that I know anything about how Hellsalem's Lot works, what Libra's place in the city is, nor the extent of the powers of each character. Nevertheless, these episodes are entertaining enough, withplenty of action and comedy to carry the show. The characters aren't developed either, but they are still enjoyable to watch.

The problems really come to light after episode seven. For the rest of the series, there is a double episode on Zapp followed by the multi-episode finale. The Zapp episodes provide some insight into his life, but most of it is shallow and used for comedy. After that, we're at the finale without knowing much about the world of Kekkai Sensen or its characters. This makes it very difficult to understand or even care about what's at stake. The finale drags on with the tone changing constantly, making everything feel jarring.

There are many ways that Kekkai Sensen could have addressed these problems. The simplest would be expanding to a 26 episode series allowing time to develop characters. Another idea would be to use those early episodes to focus more on character development, taking away some of the time spent on comedy. Or, they could have begun the ongoing story leading up to the finale earlier. Either way, what the series ended up doing was falling short of all of these ideas.

Nevertheless, I still would recommend that fans of action comedies should give this anime a go, at least for the first nine episodes. The action is entertaining and there are plenty of jokes throughout. Visually it is nice to see the unique designs of monsters and the animations for the characters' fighting moves. The OP and ED is also pretty fantastic. However, I wouldn't recommend that anyone bother with the final three episodes as they are a waste of time.

I'd give the first nine episodes a 7/10, while the last three would be a 3/10.