Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Blood Blockade Battlefront
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trilaan
 Posts: 1054 Location: Texas |
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I could have sworn the series had already procured 26 episodes. Guess it was wishful thinking. Still, *fingers crossed* maybe they'll manage 24? |
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Rederoin
 Posts: 1427 Location: Europa |
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Its acteally doing rather well in the pre-order rankings, better than most shows. |
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DeSpawn
Posts: 82 Location: Boston, MA |
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I still having problems following it spastic nature, not quite sure what type of formula the show is going to fall into. So far to me its falling into a episodic style were there is a thread of continuity between the episodes. (Ep 3) I'm enjoying it non the less, the style, the music, the quality of animation. I just feel deep down i need to know more about the source material to appreciate it. It feels like it jumps into situations the viewers are suppose to expect. Still i agree with the reviewer! This is going to be quite interesting series.
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Niello
Posts: 302 |
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If you look at the scenes again it showed Klaus sitting with a more modern laptop as he keyed in the words, and then the shot changed to zoom in on the screen as he typed the final "." It's Klaus, the clothing is definitely his. Also, little bit before there was a pan shot of Klaus just sitting down, then cut to the members with Leo asking about the game, and then back again to Klaus with the laptop. I think he is thanking Yamakawa for the Angel Scale's information, because they managed to successfully hunt them down. It's because of this kind of things that I'm loving Matsumoto and her direction so much, definitely becoming a favourite of mine if she isn't already.
Thank you. For some reason renovating an old building didn't cross my mind as a way to turn it into a hotel, lol. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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We're never shown the laptop when we see Klaus sitting outside, and we're never shown the typist beyond his forearms when we see the laptop. But! when we do see Klaus, we faintly hear typing, and when we see the laptop, the background is the same foggy mist as shown in the earlier scene of Klaus. So while you're right, I'm not gonna beat myself up too much about missing those clues as they flew by. 
As for the building, I think I chose the wrong term with "renovating", since the landlord seems intent on demolition to make way for a new building. But I loved looking at all his equally confused neighbors (and their apartments) in that shot. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3982 |
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Loving this show so far, one of my two favorites of the season
Last edited by DangerMouse on Sun Apr 19, 2015 7:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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Niello
Posts: 302 |
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Whoa, I didn't notice that typing noise, nice catch.
Yeah, it's demolition, although I did get the gist of what you actually mean. Talking about his neighbours, I wonder why the landlord d had to go specifically to Leo's room out of all those confused residents'. Another thing, White is not actually ghost right? I think there're enough evidences in the episode to come to that conclusion, but it seems like people are still thinking she's one, so now I'm not quite sure. |
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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Another good episode. I'll admit, I think the "A+" is just a tad high. It's more like an "A" for me
Honestly, I thought the "chess" match segment dragged a little, only because the first two episodes were so fast paced. In any case, this show continues to be packed with all kinds of creative ideas, characters and visuals. The background art for BBB is awesome. The whole scene of the characters walking through that room filled with paintings looked amazing.
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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At this point, if one of the main group of characters after a dramatic event turned to camera and said "Catchphrase!", I would be sold.
This is kind of incoherent storytelling to me so far, but style carries it for now. |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1390 |
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Would you mind explaining what makes it incoherent to you? Not trying to be combative, it's just that I've seen several others express similar problems with the show, but I just don't see it myself. The story seems pretty straightforward so far, save for a few hanging threads that are clearly meant to be resolved later. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I've heard it a bit too. I'm more inclined to call it erratic writing. For example, this latest episode starts off with the conversation with White, ends with her jumping, switches to Leo waking in his apartment, he gets evicted and has no where to go, Libra gets assigned to a case and find no leads, the bulk of the story focuses on the game, and then Leo is speaking with White. The show really jumps around there. There's no connective tissue between White and waking up. Viewers probably conclude that this will be a "Leo finds a new home" episode, because that's what these episodes usually are, but it's not. It's not an episode about the group's adventures digging up leads. So I think that's where the incoherent claim comes from. The show sets itself up with a bunch of fast-paced situations, usually confined to the first ~ 5 - 7 minutes, and then settles. I don't personally feel bothered by it, but I can see where someone might. |
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Gewürtztraminer
Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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Ok, Restlessone gave a pretty good view on problems with the story in the episode to a point. Once the story begins, right before the game starts: Klaus and yet another new character have gone to the Don seeking information THAT MAY SAVE THE WORLD IN THE BALANCE. Why do they blindly agree to let the other guy go first? Because it is cooler. Were the effects of the drug ever coherently explained? I saw security camera footage, that made no sense and had no impact on me whatsoever. What made it a world saving event? Because cool demanded it. I take it first guy was a chess prodigy, never exactly explained fully, and Klaus was trying to save him for humanities reasons... oh what what about THE WORLD BEING IN THE BALANCE due to odd drug? The game must take place in some region where time passes faster, 10 hours and then 99? World being in the balance and all.... If the world was truly in the balance, then sacrificing chess prodigy to make information easier to obtain would appear to be a no brainer.... But its not cool. New girl that met up with Klaus finds her time better spent smoking than tracking down leads that might save the WORLD IN THE BALANCE.... I assume she did not do this for 99 hours. The game itself had 0 tension due to plot armor. It could have been number guessing. When a new piece appears and a 36 hour assault is predicted, what are we to think? WOW that's COOL! And when it is over new girl is screaming into the phone to hit the supply points as quick as possible as hard as possible, while a drained Klaus lies unresponsive.... Why would ANYONE live in this city where rampaging giant monsters and terrorists regularly turn people into piles of red goo? There must be benefits (implied in first episode) but not explained yet... Because that obviously is NOT cool... Yet. New slogan: instead of Cute Girls doing Cute things.... its Cool People doing Cool things. Let me turn it back to you. Please explain what you find straightforward in any of this? |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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I will concede I mostly know the answers to these questions because I watched the episode a couple times, but then again, I didn't find it "confusing" or "illogical" before I knew the details backwards and forwards either. Anyway, all your questions have extremely straightforward answers.
Don Arlelelle made an appointment with Ulchenko first, on purpose. Klaus had zero choice in the matter. Arlelelle was going to see him first, that's what was on his appointment schedule, and he's the information broker. Not to mention that it was all part of a trap for Arlelelle to try and finally beat Klaus, as explicitly stated by K.K.: "This was his plan all along. We were tricked!" A game within a game. So that's why they didn't "just go first." That was not an option.
The drug is supposed to give people supernatural abilities of some kind, but they don't know the specifics. They had an enormous amount of trouble getting any info on it at all, so that's understandable. It's a world-saving catastrophe because the only video they have of someone known to be under the influence of the drug shows them threatening a man with a huge swath of bloodshed behind them, turning to the camera with a warped monster face, and then falling over dead. So this drug causes people to fly into a murderous rage as they turn into monsters, and then keel over dead. They don't know more specifics yet, but it's clearly an ongoing storyline, so we're supposed to learn more in the future. On top of that, it seems to have a twisted placebo effect on some users, as the guy that tried to attack Zapp was out of control and feral under its influence but was otherwise 100% human. So for some it may just make them feel like they have superhuman abilities, but they don't. Whatever the case, it seems like a real bad substance, especially if it leaves Hellsalem's Lot and enters the normie world. Libra's entire modus operandi is "keep Beyond stuff in Hellsalem's Lot," and Angel Scale is a drug from the Beyond. I think that's a fine amount of information.
Ulchenko was directly referred to as the International Grandmaster (of either chess or Prosfair), one of the most intelligent men on the face of the planet. Klaus says his loss would be a massive loss for the human race, so he probably deeply respects his skill for the game and looks up to him, as a fellow game enthusiast, even if he's making a huge mistake by playing a game against a superhuman master who trades in lives. Klaus felt confident fighting for Ulchenko's life as well as the information he wanted because he felt confident he could do it. He's a confident, rock-steady, intensely principled man who knows the limits of his own patience, which is what the entire episode was about.
Yes, they showed the Prosfair game to be taking place in a dimension with rapidly spinning clocks and hourglass sand, etc., while very little time passed outside. They could have had exposition about a quicker-time pocket dimension, but it would be a waste of time. The visual language conveyed it perfectly fine, and the exposition/visual language combo made it clear that Klaus was not the kind of man to "sacrifice" anyone's life. That's just not what he believes in. I don't think it's illogical to believe that there are heroic people like that, and I think his personality has been consistently reinforced as very superheroic.
No, as stated before, she was there for a very short time, certainly less than a day. You could probably have an exact amount of time worked out based on the number of cigarettes at her feet actually, which is why they were shown, to show the time discrepancy. That aside, there was no reason for her to do what at least three other agents were doing simultaneously, as shown in a previous montage. She was there as Klaus' backup, and he ended up definitely needing her. The very second Klaus was free of the game, she was there to both rush him in for medical attention and radio the information he successfully won through his bet from Don Arlelelle. If Klaus was there by himself, he would have won the game, been passed out for untold hours, maybe with no one to take him to the hospital, and gotten the information relayed to the field team waaaaay slower. K.K. accompanying him was totally necessary and super-smart.
The rules of the game are not important. It's a hard, eldritchian game being played against a mind-breaking master. That's all that matters about it, and exposition talking about the specific rules of the game would be a huge waste of everyone's time, like bad light novel writing. Whether it worked in terms of tension is up to the individual of course, but it was tense for me. I cared about Klaus, and he was clearly in pain, blood dripping out of his face from a near-aneurysm. That's real danger!
Right, so it's pretty important that she came along instead of being out there looking for supply points with no information, right?
People come there seeking power or the desire to make wishes come true, as evidenced by Leonardo and Ulchenko. I'm sure there are other reasons, but the desire for impossible power despite some danger is a powerful motivator that obviously sits at the thematic heart of the show. The answers are all there, and they're all pretty simple! The show just demands your full undivided attention. It's very cinematic and ambitious and a little cracker-pants, and I like that kinda stuff, but I get that it's confusing because information is conveyed quickly, contextually, and as naturally as possible. (Mostly. K.K.'s THIS IS WHAT KIND OF MAN KLAUS IS speech was the closest the show ever got to convenient exposition, but I still thought it worked. At least her characterization as "old flame of Klaus who still loves him but respects some sort of distance that's formed between them in past years" came across really well without any exposition needed.) I guarantee you the show would all be a lot clearer with a dub, though. It's a divided attention problem with a show that is paced much faster than most other anime, and removing the language barrier would make immersion into the cinematic language being used in the episode much easier. |
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Gewürtztraminer
Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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Excellent point (I was thinking it myself, hehe)! No doubt that is true, and it seems to be what is driven at given the setting of NY city. A dub is a no brainer and SHOULD improve things. Overall Funimation seemed to back off last seasons approach a bit, and EVERYTHING this season seems dub worthy (this show included) whereas there was a lot of stuff last season that did not seem to warrant a dub. I LIKE this show, it reminds me a lot of Heat Guy J, which some people may take as a joke, but I found a very entertaining episodic show. The start has been rocky and a confusing, but not totally off putting. |
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