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Review

by Jacob Chapman,

Blood Blockade Battlefront

BD+DVD - The Complete Series [Limited Edition]

Synopsis:
Blood Blockade Battlefront BD+DVD

One strange and fateful day, Manhattan was forever altered by forces from Beyond! Ever since a portal to other dimensions opened in the heart of the Big Apple, it's become a port city between the human realm and many alien worlds, with a dense layer of fog as the only barrier keeping the supernatural monsters that now live in this "Hellsalem's Lot" from infiltrating the rest of our defenseless earth.

Well, it's not the only barrier. A secret organization calling themselves Libra prowls the streets day and night to keep Beyond-born creatures from harming humanity or escaping the sanctioned city. Thanks to a case of mistaken identity, they have a new rookie member on their hands: amateur photojournalist Leonardo Watch, a completely normal human who accidentally ended up with "the All-Seeing Eyes of The Gods" in place of his own. He came to Hellsalem's Lot for his sister's sake, and now all he wants is to use these otherworldly new eyes to get back what she's lost, so he might as well join up with Libra and try to use his powers for good, right? What's the worst that could happen? Unfortunately, anything is possible in Hellsalem's Lot, and most of it can be pretty horrifying. Leo will have to steel his spirit if he wants to find his place in Libra and win the heart of a ghostly girl named White, who seems a little too interested in his all-powerful peepers.

Review:

It seems like an impossible task to pick out the one strangest thing about Blood Blockade Battlefront, even if you limited yourself to the very first episode. The show kicks off by ripping open its universe and ushering every supernatural and alien concept from Eldritch gods to Goetic demons into the heart of New York City, alongside blink-and-you-miss-them American pop culture references from Andy Warhol to Norman Rockwell to the wacky scientist duo from Pacific Rim. All these proper names have been swapped for tongue-in-cheek soundalikes in the world of Hellsalem's Lot, but the resulting pastiche of cosmic horror imagery with classic Americana would still be overwhelming and bizarre even if it wasn't hurled at the audience at maximum speed. Of course, much like its mascot, Sonic the Sonic-Speed Monkey, Blood Blockade Battlefront isn't interested in ushering viewers in gently with lots of meticulous worldbuilding or blocks of exposition. As the series plows through one high-octane adventure after another with its rapidly shifting cast of a thousand weirdos, it seems like the strangest thing about Blood Blockade Battlefront might just be that it was wildly successful in Japan.

This extremely high-concept sci fi action dramedy should never have been such a blockbuster, because apart from its impressive production values, the show almost seems devoid of the trends that everyone assumes will sell. The series is not only set outside of Japan but also contains virtually zero nods to Japanese culture in its giant pot of influences. It's also totally devoid of fanservice (despite its obvious men-in-suits potential appeal to female otaku). In a medium that often relies on a high tolerance for overexplained minutiae (whether to save on animation or because it's faithfully adapting a wordy novel), Blood Blockade Battlefront consistently explains too little in exchange for packing as many diverse ideas into each episode as possible. Each episode's plot is simple on the surface, but BBB's manic pacing, wide array of complicated characters, and numerous themes tied to complex symbolism (most of it Shakespearean or Catholic) demand ardent engagement from its audience, despite the show's frequent crass forays into gross-out humor and hyperviolent slapstick. One episode revolving entirely around jokes about shockingly disgusting restaurants from Beyond is followed directly by a low-key exploration of the complex psychologies that lead a pair of siblings down the road to tragedy. It's madness that's sure to polarize both action fans seeking simpler-minded thrills and anime scholars who might want fewer boner jokes with their philosophy, to say nothing of the notoriously fickle otaku market. How did such a risky hot mess become such a hit?

There's no one clear answer, but one of the show's most beloved episodes, "Don't Forget to Don't Forget Me," gives us a pretty big hint. When Leo tries to discuss alien rights in Hellsalem's Lot with his friend White, she makes fun of his newfound compassion for the Beyondians, teasingly asking if he went to a humanitarian seminar or something. "No, I just went to a burger joint," Leo grumbles back. His point is that injustice was easy to spot in even the humblest of places, and even though the agents of Libra battle new incomprehensible demons, monsters, and vampires every episode, Blood Blockade Battlefront remains focused on the humblest beliefs and emotions that we associate with "being human," drawing from the core themes of its source material and integrating them into a thoughtful and heartbreaking anime-original arc that bookends the season (while leaving the door wide open for more).

While the chaotic action of its heroes and mixed-up machinations of its villains may force viewers to rewind an episode just to figure out what the hellsalem was happening from one minute to the next, the series always falls back on clear emotional communication where it counts, valuing the importance of ordinary lives and loves above all the scheming demons with minds and motives too mad to indulge. The first episode sees one villain's convoluted plan being destroyed by a simple act of compassion, and the last episode's apocalyptic stakes ride on just one broken relationship that needs to be repaired. While these simple concessions to starry-eyed humanism won't win over everyone whose head is left spinning by BBB's insane ambitions, they're enough to make this potentially baffling explosion of ideas much less intimidating and more heartwarming than it should have been.

While the elaborate twists and turns of its story might divide viewers sharply between adoration and bafflement, Blood Blockade's baser appeals as pure popcorn entertainment are hard to resist, thanks to the wild creativity of original manga author Yasuhiro Nightow and the skillful adaptive direction of Rie Matsumoto and her crew of Studio Bones animators. Nightow's bold and scraggly aesthetic is given hot-blooded life through so many diverse and jaw-dropping animation sequences, it's hard to believe any of these episodes were finished on schedule at all. (The penultimate episode was delayed a week and the double-length finale was delayed by over three months.) It would be easy to recommend this show to comic book lovers of all stripes on visuals alone, but the series also sports a uniquely inspired musical score that pulls inspiration from various jazz, rock, and blues standards long associated with NYC, while finding a way to make them feel new. This bevy of beautiful insert songs would be impressive enough, but combined with the show's booming orchestral score for climactic moments and an absolutely killer pair of theme songs from the super-talented j-rock groups Bump of Chicken and UNISON SQUARE GARDEN, it stands as one of the most excellent anime soundtracks in recent years.

Unfortunately, Funimation's limited edition release doesn't include a soundtrack or any more tantalizing physical extras than a bevy of production art postcards (some of them just screenshots from the series). On-disc extras are more minimal than usual as well, with not even the requisite voice actor commentaries on episodes, just a pair of three-minute on-camera interviews with a few dub actors. The dub for this series is excellent, especially considering it was produced on a simulcast schedule, so it's a shame there's not more material on this release exploring its production, to say nothing of the complete lack of Japanese-side extras. The standard clean theme songs and a pack of trailers are all you can expect on this release, unless you count the inclusion of the show's recap episode an extra.

Disappointingly sparse release aside, Blood Blockade Battlefront is a must-own action series for anime fans who aren't afraid of the wonderfully weird. The story rockets straight for the stars by pitting gods and demons against the simplest sons of humanity, never so much as slowing down to breathe until its breathtaking finale. Even if this 12-episode season doesn't have the time to fully explain all the rules of its world or develop even half of the motley crew at Libra, Leo's story (and his girl White's) stands out for its emotional honesty as well as its surprising sense of joy in the face of impossible odds. By the end, Blood Blockade Battlefront really does feel like a humanitarian seminar disguised as a burger joint, and while its meaty excesses might be too much to handle at times, it's hard to resist coming back when you need that jolt of action-packed inspiration.

Grade:
Overall (dub) : A-
Overall (sub) : A-
Story : A-
Animation : A-
Art : A
Music : A+

+ Wildly entertaining action comedy with a ton of heart, inspired blend of high-concept fantasy with a lovable cast, impressive production design and killer musical score, anime-original storyline blends beautifully with the manga material
Recklessly fast pace and glut of ever-changing ideas can be disorienting, only a portion of the large ensemble cast gets time for development, bare-bones release especially for a limited edition

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Production Info:
Director: Rie Matsumoto
Series Composition: Kazunao Furuya
Script: Kazunao Furuya
Storyboard:
Michio Fukuda
Tetsuo Hirakawa
Tomohiko Ito
Rie Matsumoto
Yoshikazu Miyao
Kenji Nagasaki
Kotaro Tamura
Episode Director:
Masashi Abe
Jiro Fujimoto
Tomoyuki Kurokawa
Rie Matsumoto
Masahiro Mukai
Ikurō Satō
Seung Hui Son
Daisuke Tsukushi
Hideaki Uehara
Unit Director:
Masashi Abe
Masahiro Mukai
Music: Taisei Iwasaki
Original creator: Yasuhiro Nightow
Character Design:
Toshihiro Kawamoto
Koji Sugiura
Art Director: Shinji Kimura
Chief Animation Director:
Toshihiro Kawamoto
Koji Sugiura
Animation Director:
Atsushi Hasebe
Hitomi Hasegawa
Takashi Hashimoto
Kouichi Hayashi
Koichi Horikawa
Kazumi Inadome
Toshihiro Kawamoto
Kenji Mizuhata
Noriko Morishima
Kōta Moroishi
Takashi Murai
Chiharu Satō
Koji Sugiura
Takashi Tomioka
Sound Director: Rie Matsumoto
Cgi Director: Hiroki Matsuura
Director of Photography: Masataka Ikegami
Producer:
Naoki Amano
Taisuke Furuya
Ryu Hashimoto
Toshiaki Kaneko
Ryōsuke Mori
Mai Murakami
Wakana Okamura
Licensed by: FUNimation Entertainment

Full encyclopedia details about
Blood Blockade Battlefront (TV)

Release information about
Blood Blockade Battlefront - The Complete Series [Limited Edition] (BD+DVD)

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