Review of Blood Blockade Battlefront

A mess, a beautiful mess is how I would describe Blood Blockade Battlefront. I was at first drawn to it when I saw the studio behind it, Bones as they never cease to amaze me their caliber of animation and fighting choreography present in all their shows (except for Soul Eater Not), and a show with "battle" in the title how could I not resist!!! But I must say was disappointed. I was honestly going to drop the show at first since the first episode left me slightly confused and unsatisfied, but I marched onward! Only to be entertained yet disappointed... STORY - 4 The story isweird... but not in a good way. When I first watched this show I wondered "What was the point?" I thought it would have been about a series of stories occurring within the abnormal city revolving Libra, since the first few episodes were leading no where into forming an over-arching plot. Especially in episode 3 and 6. And when it starts establishing a main plot based on the vampires in episode 8 (even though the vampires were being first introduced in episode 4 it just seemed like another one-off story, I never would have thought the plot would go to revolve around them) it felt rather shoe-horned in and odd. Especially since we've been focusing so much on the city and its complexity that the vampires don't make sense with the world. If the story is about vampires, then why have the alterworld and its people?!
Also the story from there on doesn't progress that well. The motives of the villain were vague and aimless than when finally explained rather dull and superficial. It was just "this world is boring so seeing it thrown into chaos would be fun!!!" Then when it reached the climax it wasn't very good, I'd say why? but we would wander into spoiler territory. Simply put it's kinda anticlimactic.
This show I think would have been more successful if it introduced the Vampires sooner rather than later and made the villain more complex and tie his motive to why the alterworld collided with the human world. Having everything in the story somehow connect to each other.

ART - 9
The animation and direction of the animation were great. Just as you would expect with Bones. Helps immerse yourself into the bustling city and its characters. Very consistent animation.

SOUND - 5
I don't remember any memorable songs when watching. When briefly going over the OST it gives off a city aesthetic and sounds pleasing to the ear. There's nothing wrong with it but there's no one song that just stands out and WOWS! me, you know. Like Blumenkranz from Kill la Kill or Decereteum from Madoka Magica. Not saying the music is bad though. The only songs that stood out when watching where not original songs but rather classical songs that played in certain scenes just because I recognized them. One of the songs I recall is "Clair De Lune" by Claude Debussy.

CHARACTERS - 7
Even though I don't remember the main casts names and so on. I think the redeeming factor in this anime are the character-driven episodes. I find those compelling and fun to watch. Especially since it typically concerns the city is some form or another.
Their interactions and quirkiness are hilarious and interesting. Like Hummer's carefree attitude, Chain's indifference and stern personality, and the hilarity of Abram's curse. My favorite scenes stray away from the plot and instead focus on the characters. Episode 2 is an amazing example of this.
Still it is very superficial even with Leonardo, but that's fine. Their social interactions make up for it and what kept me to watch the show.

ENJOYMENT - 7
I enjoyed the characters and I was interested enough in White to even be ok with the main plot, but a major issue I has was with the lack of explanations in the story. WHY were things the way they were?

WHY are the most of the members of Libra able to use blood as a weapon? Do all humans or beings from the alterworld have this ability? If so WHY or WHY not? Did this ability occur before the introduction of the alterworld? WHY was Leonardo and his sister offered the "All Seeing Eyes of God"? Who was the being that offered them the power? Again is it a result of the alterworld? WHY is Chain classified as a werewolf in her introduction? Who and what are "werewolves"? Where and when did the vampires originate? How long have they and humans been fighting? Who are the people with psychic abilities? What are their abilities?
WHY? WHY?! WHY?!?

Many of the questions I listed above were never explicitly answered in the anime. This greatly hindered my enjoyment, as I was constantly confused on the nature of the world.

OVERALL - 6.4
This show had a lot of potential from the unique atmosphere of Hellsalem's Lot and its characters. I am ashamed to see the show fail to meet my predisposed expectations. Even so I plan to watch season two in hope that it can redeem itself. if you want to watch this anime do not expect an amazing story instead immerse yourself into the city and antics of the members of Libra