After a breach opens between the universe and the netherworld, New York City is contained within an impenetrable sphere. It’s up to an underground organization called Libra to protect their home from a variety of monsters and other supernatural beings from Beyond.
Blood Blockade Battlefront (known in Japan as Kekkai Sensen) is a series from Bones, the studio behind hits like Soul Eater and My Hero Academia. It adapted Yasuhiro Nightow’s manga of the same name and aired two seasons, which are now on Blu-ray.
Characters
The characters in Blood Blockade Battlefront are what makes this an anime worth watching. Yasuhiro Nightow of Trigun fame has created a vibrant and distinct cast of super-humans, monsters and regular humans that all seem to be having fun at one point or another. The animation is no slouch either and the pacing is as tight as a pinstriped suit.
The show even managed to surprise me at times. The manga has been adapted for the screen by Kazuno Furuya (RahXephon, Fullmetal Alchemist) with Rie Matsumoto handling the directing duties. Using the most impressive and colorful VFX, Bones is able to create some pretty jaw dropping sequences. The most entertaining part of the whole shinogiho is the way they meld the science and art of animation into an exciting visual experience that will linger in your memory long after you’ve finished watching it.
The show was a lot of fun and I’m sure most of you will find at least a few characters that you’ll have to meet in person.
Plot
Kekkai Sensen (Blood Blockade Battlefront) is an anime from Studio Bones that produced hits like Soul Eater and My Hero Academia. It adapted the manga of the same name by Trigun writer Yasuhiro Nightow.
In this series, a portal opens in New York City, releasing inhuman monsters into the streets. Eventually, humans and monsters are forced into a sphere that surrounds the city. The crime fighting organization Libra fights to keep the situation under control.
Blood Blockade Battlefront was an incredibly enjoyable series. It was a mix of action, comedy, drama and tragedy that was fascinating from start to finish. It also incorporated several different art styles to great effect.
Animation
A portal known as The Beyond opens over New York and unleashes a horde of inhuman monsters. In its aftermath, the city is engulfed in an impenetrable fog and become Hellsalem’s Lot. The surviving humans and monsters are forced to coexist, while Libra – an underground organization of superhumans – is fighting to keep them contained.
Animated by Studio Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist, Space Dandy and Soul Eater), Blood Blockade Battlefront is an exciting supernatural adventure. It’s based on the manga of the same name by Yasuhiro Nightow, writer of Trigun.
The animation in Blood Blockade Battlefront is good and the characters are clearly realised within the context of the world they live in. It’s also a fun show full of action, humour and slapstick. It’s a very different kind of show from Trigun and Gungrave, but it doesn’t disappoint. The humour is often sharp and sarcastic, while the darker storylines rarely leave you feeling cheated or uneasy.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack in Blood Blockade Battlefront is a pretty high-energy affair, with an ost composed by up and coming Japanese composer Taisei Iwasaki. It features a number of jazz-driven tracks, including a few that are quite beautiful.
The show is produced by Bones, the studio behind many hits like Soul Eater and My Hero Academia, and it adapted the manga of the same name from Yasuhiro Nightow. It first aired in April 2015, followed by another season called “Kekkai Sensen & Beyond” in October 2017.
The story involves a portal to the netherworld opening over New York City, unleashing a horde of inhuman monsters on the Big Apple and forcing everyone into an impenetrable bubble that surrounds it. A crime fighting organization called Libra tries to keep the city’s shaky peace and fight back against the horrors of this new world.
