Blood Blockade Battlefront Review (Anime)
One thing I remember about Blood Blockade Battlefront when it aired was for how long the wait was for the final episode – it was about 3 months or so! Anyway, it concluded and proved to be popular enough for a second season (recently confirmed) so it was about time that I gave it a whirl.
It’s an odd show. The first episode sets up how over-the-top the series will be, the second episode is where the show managed to grab me and it wasn’t long until I’d watched the 12 episode series. The story is episodic and follows the group Libra as they protect the world from paranormal beings, and Leonardo Watch is a human who’s able to see all of these paranormal happenings when ordinary people cannot. Roped into a world he didn’t know existed until he arrived in Hellsalem’s Lot, Leo’s life is flipped upside down as Libra ask for his assistance in keeping away paranormal threats.
Whilst it has a good narrative which nicely wraps up in the end, it’s the characters who make this show shine.
Whilst it has a good narrative which nicely wraps up in the end, it’s the characters who make this show shine. Colourful and bursting with personality, each character is likeable and provides something to the show that the other characters don’t – Libra feel very much like a close-knit group, and it’s rather quite heartwarming! Leonardo in particular goes through some great character development and I’m eagerly awaiting the second season to see what Libra will get up to next!
Studio Bones, who’ve proved themselves time and time again as an outstanding team, keep up with the craziness of Blood Blockade Battlefront and it’s clear as to why they get so many great shows to work on. It took me a while to warm to a few of the character designs but now it’s hard to imagine these characters looking any different – they were never bad to begin with, anyway. There’s quite a lot of action (it does have the word battlefront in its title) and Bones unsurprisingly deliver. The more emotional scenes are animated very well too, with one particular scene managing to get me a a tad teary.
Libra feel very much like a close-knit group, and it’s rather quite heartwarming!
Blood Blockade Battlefront features a whole lot of characters as so many characters play large roles but only for one episode, and so there are plenty of voice-actors and actresses I could happily point out but alas, I shall not as you can look them up for yourselves – I’m writing a review, not listing off credits! To get you started though, because I love the art of voice-acting so much, you can expect to hear the wonderful tones of Aaron Dismuke, Ian Sinclair, Trina Nishimura, J Michael Tatum, Micah Solusod and Megan Emerick and more!
The soundtrack is rather cool too but it’s the ED, Sugar Song and Bitter Step, that really stands out and quickly became one of my favourite ED’s both visually and for listening – you should definitely look it up, quite a few anime have been used to re-create the ending so you may recognise it already! Really though, you can’t go wrong with the OP or other tracks either.
I’m eager to see more of the Libra team back in action.
Blood Blockade Battlefront admittedly caught me by surprise and whilst its episodic nature means it’s not so easy to binge watch, it does work in its favour and eventually everything comes together by the end. News of a second season makes me happy and I’m eager to see more of the Libra team back in action, and I’m interested in what the author and Bones have planned next for the series. I’ll tell you what though, I’m glad I didn’t watch this whilst it was airing where I would’ve had to have waited 3 months for the final episode!
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