First Impression: Kekkai Sensen

               Open your eyes, look up to the skies and seeeee. From what I can tell, this is a show about a kid who can walk, run, and play like any real boy without having his eyes open. Now if that’s not a superpower you want, I don’t know what you want out of life.

               Kekkai Sensen, or Blood Blockade Battlefront, takes place in a New York City where a rift opened up and let monsters and demons into the city. Basically, it’s the same general plot as Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans. Apparently New York City wasn’t cool enough of a name for the otherworldly creatures, so they renamed the Big Apple to “Jerusalem’s Lot”.

               The perpetually squinting MC goes by the name Leonard Watch and he’s on the grand ol’ quest to save his beloved imouto. He was given a superpower called the “Eyes of God” by some super creepy Pan’s Labyrinth type monster. Maybe that explains why he can see through his own eyelids.

               Leonard gets mistaken for someone else and is drafted into Libra, a crime fighting organization. The members of this organization have “blood battle skills”, or a boring excuse for a reason to have powers. So far we meet Klaus, the leader, Zap, the bloodthirsty fighter, and Chain. We don’t know much about Chain. She only appeared for about 7 seconds, but she’s definitely “badass brutal” type.

               We also get a glimpse at the most boring antagonist possible: Femt, the self-proclaimed King of Depravity. He’s basically the Joker from Batman but not interesting in the slightest. He just wants to play games with the people of Jerusalem’s Lot and hopefully lead them all to their death. And we all know he’s going to be thwarted by the heroes of Libra.

               Plot: 2.5/5- Our main character is basically characterless. There is nothing unique about him except for the fact he can blink with his eyes closed. The “blood battle skills” that were showcased were just boring, regardless of how cool you might think the name or concept is. The antagonist is just as original as the MC. And by that, of course, I mean he isn’t. Throwing random creats

               Art: 4.5/5- It’s a shame that the art is so good looking though. The backdrops and buildings are done in stunning detail. The character design isn’t too special, but their done with high quality. The colors might look a little boring, but I think the palette really suits an anime that is supposed to be dark like this one. A short scene of traffic was full of CGI cars, and that was very upsetting to see in an otherwise great looking anime.

               Sound: 3/5- The OP and ED weren’t present in this pilot episode, but we did get a nice MvC-esque jazz song, so that was nice.

Ask your doctor before using Leonard Watch Contact Brand

               Overall: 3/5- It’s really nothing special right now. Maybe it’ll get better with time, but this is definitely not the way you want an anime.

               TL;DR: It’s a big bag of meh. Characters are boring and the general plot is too. I’d wait for a few more episodes so you can see if you like it before having to wait week by week.

You can watch the first episode here.