Review of Blood Blockade Battlefront

Set in a fictional version of New York, where humans and bizarre monsters live together in not-quite harmony, Kekkai Sensen is one of the most successful shonen series of late. The show follows the adventures of Leonardo Watch, a kid with the gift of super-powered eyes, as he joins Libra, a quirky team of vigilantes who... protect the city… or stop crime… or something… let’s just say exposition is not this show's best suite. If there is a thing that can be said about Kekkai Sensen is that it definitely starts with a bang. The first couple of episodes are nonsensical action-packed trips that have mostof their runtime taken by stylized special attacks sequences. The pace is kept high, the tone is always over the top, and the scenes alternate almost in a nonsequitor fashion.

While this can be overbearing, it sort of works in its own totally insane way. The true problem comes when, after the first handful of episodes, the pace slows down and the storytelling becomes more straightforwardly delivered. The over the top action sequences, the humour and the rest of the nice stuff is still there, but it is just not that unique or impactful when the series starts taking itself more seriously. This is especially clear in the final couple of episodes, that serve to close a "macro plot" that is simply not that interesting or engaging (and to be honest, even a bit hard to fully grasp).

As it may already have transpired, the best thing about Kekkai Sensen are the overall aesthetics. The visual style is vaguely influenced by western comic books (especially in the design of a couple of characters), the animation is obviously hi-budget and the soundtrack is just great, mixing jazz and orchestral music in a way that truly helps giving the show a unique and interesting tone. And while all this stuff is quite nice, If I had to be completely honest I’d add that there’s not really much else that stands out in the show, as what we are watching is still at its core your standard combat shonen fare, except for the fact that it is delivered in a very slick and unique package. This is not all bad though, as the short run of the show (a single 12 episodes season) doesn’t really give time to this package to get old, and helps keeping the focus on the series’ strong aspects.

There's not much else to say about Kekkai Sensen to be honest, it is at its core a product with not many pretenses, if not the one to mindlessly entertain, and it almost succeeds at its goal. The action scenes are fun, the humour not completely awful and the animation flashy and detailed. Sadly the overarching plot is way too weak, making the home stretch a bit of a slug.

Still, not an awful show by any chance… but let’s just say that I’m not really looking forward to a second season.