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Blood Blockade Battlefront
Episodes 1-2

by Jacob Chapman,

New York City as we know it has been altered! Ever since a portal to "The Beyond" opened in the heart of the Big Apple (complete with giant other-dimensional tentacles), it's become a port city between the human realm and the alien one, with a dense layer of fog as the only barrier keeping supernatural monsters from infiltrating the rest of the world.

Well, 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 with the eyes of a god. He and his family originally came to this transformed NYC, now known as "Hellsalem's Lot," to find some otherworldly cure for his sister's disabled legs, but things didn't go so well. (The city's new name makes a lot more sense given that "heruseiremu" and "eruseiremu" are only one breath removed from one another in Japanese pronunciation. That would make it a reference to Jerusalem's Lot, Stephen King's infamous port-town-to-the-supernatural. It just works a little less smoothly in English.)

The hopeful visit quickly turned tragic for Leo and his sister when a horrible unnamed deity emerged through the portal, leaving the two siblings as the only living witnesses to his emergence. "I only need one witness," he says, and before Leo can object, his sister demands that the monster take her eyesight and spare her brother. The siblings are left orphaned, Leo's sister is now blind as well as wheelchair-bound, and she retreats to the countryside while Leo remains in the city with his gift/curse: eyes that can see the past, the future, and all details of the present, if he can only learn how to use them. He wants to get back what he's lost, but has no idea what he's supposed to "witness" for this nameless (and now absent) god, so he might as well join up with Libra and try to use his powers for good, right?

So this is essentially Yasuhiro Nightow's (Trigun) version of Baccano!, by way of Rie Matsumoto's (Kyousogiga) version of Kill la Kill, which makes it a horse of many different colors. The first episode is packed to the gills with wild alien imagery, colorful characters, and apocalyptic conflict, almost to its detriment. Almost. "Confusing" isn't an accurate description of the problem, because at second glance, the story is simple good fun, but you do need a second glance most of the time. The real issue is that there's so much to see in every frame, so much fantastic animation, brilliant shot composition, and terrifically weird ideas, that my brain couldn't really synthesize the onscreen fun and the information in the subtitles at the same time. This would definitely work better with a dub, but in subbed form, you might feel like you have to run the episode back 20 seconds now and again to keep track of just what the living hell is happening scene to scene. Sonic speed monkey? Invisible werewolf? The scientists from Pacific Rim?

All is forgiven by the second episode, which gives the audience a lot more room to breathe, meet the cast at leisure, and firmly cement just what breed of madness we're playing with in Blood Blockade Battlefront. If the show could be summed up in one word, it would be "joyful." It mixes stupid pop culture references with heartfelt melodrama, right before lancing into an action setpiece punctuated with goofy comedy, and all of it is just artists' bleeding hearts on a plate, delivered directly to your face. It was impossible for me to wipe the huge grin off my face while watching this show, especially during the more easygoing second episode, although the first one had plenty of jaw-dropping spectacle to make up for its hectic pace. While the story itself is simple "misfit superheroes form a family" material, it's the two powerful artistic voices behind the wheel that drive this setup over the edge to make it striking and unique instead.

First, there's Rie Matsumoto's "fly on the wall" direction, sharing an intensely well-researched view of NYC (hey look, it's Katz's Deli!) through camera lenses, dirty windows, and all other manner of peeping reflections that put us right in the middle of the action while still maintaining a kind of secret spectatorship. Her animation style is distinctive as well, reliant on sharp transitions between expressive keyframes, controlled and weighty in action while making the motion look so easy. This is most evident in the show's fantastic dance party ED, illustrating the most "drunk white people" anime dancing I've ever seen in my life. She's incredibly talented and knows how to get tons of information across in one image without going too far into busy-ness or confusion. She and "too many ideas" Nightow were basically born to collaborate, since his Eldritch/Catholic creations have proven too intense to animate in the past, while his incomprehensible action choreography begs for improvement through adaptation. BBB might be the show to finally give his art an animated life to match his story.

Needless to say, the Trigun creator's style is out in full force as well. He may only be known for one work (which he wrote for 12 years), but if you're familiar with Trigun, you know this is unmistakably the same guy. Like Trigun, BBB combines Nightow's love of ultraviolence with his love of pacifism. Tasteless imagery—like an alien disguised as a dry-cleaner's truck who stores people disguised as clothing in his belly—coexists with mushy affection for the human spirit and a respect for all life forms, even slimy monsters and thieving primates. Characters have names like Zapp Renfro, Steven A. Starphase, and Femt the Lord of All Depravity, along with flamboyant looks to match their monikers. It's dorkiness so passionate it comes back around to being cool again, like when the show's text introduction to Zapp labels him a "Dick Suck" and labels cute lady-agent Chain Sumeragi a "Shawty."

On top of all this, BBB has a fantastic musical score that almost deliberately hides itself from the audience, since most of the music is diegetic, meaning it is really being played in the story, on a radio in the background of a scene for instance. The ambient soundtrack is appropriately jazzy, and the many insert songs are largely imitation-based, pitch-perfect for giving the show a "real New York" atmosphere that just so happens to have aliens in it. The angsty Alanis Morrissette-alike tune that plays while Leo mopes in the diner is great. The upbeat Andrews Sisters-alike swing tune that plays during a chase scene is perfect. There's also a song introduced by an alien DJ as "What a Wonderful Beyond" by "Zalmud Le Zamwell" from 1967 that is so deliberately an homage to another New York-associated 1967 classic, it's perfection. It wasn't enough to pack the show with visual references, the aural ones have to be outstanding too! I need more of this soundtrack.

Because of the delayed simulcast, I ended up requesting this show to review on blind faith, out of my love for Nightow and Studio BONES. I figured that even if I didn't like it, I would have a lot to say about it. (I hadn't seen Kyousogiga yet and have since remedied that. It's a good thing it's short!) Anyway, I did not expect to fall so hard for this show right out of the gate, but I'm enthralled so far. This anime is almost too cool for my blood, and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future.

Rating: A+

Blood Blockade Battlefront is currently streaming on Funimation.

Hope has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.


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